Framing the Floor Pt. 1

Saturday was exciting! Here's how the 'plan' was written up: Thrift store junking' leaving around 9:30, Pawn shop for framing nail gun, Home Depot for nuts, bolts, drill bits and much more hardware; come home around 11:00 and put the entire frame on the trailer including the sub floor. That was the plan, but here's how it really happened: We had to clean the house before we did anything, left at 11:00(when we are supposed to start); Got to Thrift store and the shop had changed to where it was just junk; went to pawn shop and the nail gun was beat up and about $200; my father sees the Pawn shop put a nail gun an sale for $69 when brand new it is $79; go to HomeDepot and get a Husky nail gun and drill bits and the other things we need; come home and realize that the bolts are one inch too long; go back to store and switch them out; when we finally got home it was 3:00 but we had to get something done. Below I am explaining how the 'first layer' will be put on the trailer and the photo gallery from our excursion:

(Explaination)

(Almost Finished)

 

(Taking a Break)
 

 (entering the mothership)
 

(A Girl and Her Drill)

 

(Goofing around in the Home Depot)

 

(Price of 2x4x16 untreated wood planks

 

(Price of Framing Nails)

 

(Price of Lag Skrews)

 
 

(Price of the Washers

 

(My washers)

 

 

It is going to take all of the money in my little savings jar to build this house. If anyone of you would like to help me out, donate by clicking the support button on the right hand side. Thank you

EcoFoil

I finally got my Double Bubble Radient Barrier EcoFoil! It arrived at about three o' clock and I was extatic! This weekend I will put the floor frame, insulation, Double Bubble, and insulation on my trailer with my dad. I can't wait! Here is a picture of what it looks like:

 

(The moment it was plopped on my doorstep!)

 

(You can see the radiant, vapor, and pest barrier, the white)

My Trailer Puzzle

My EcoFoil Double Bubble is on the way; I got it for free thanks to my mother who says, ''They can't say yes if we don't ask!" I am so excited to actually start attaching things on my trailer! I purchased six 2x4x16 untreated wood planks from Home Depot (I didn't know this, but UNtreated wood is better because sometimes the chemicals in treated wood can be released and put harmful things in the small spaces of your house). Below you can see me explaining how my first layer of materials is going to be placed. Making a house is like a complicated puzzle!

By the way, TWO WEEKS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!! I am so excited. I get to see family! I will be taking lots of picture on my way there! Happy Holidays! And for those like my family (who celebrate multiple holidays)...Happy Hanukkah!

Support America

Because it is the Christmas season, I thought I would share with you a little thing each person can do to get our economy on track. I was watching ABC World News with Diane Sawyer and found out that the average American spends around $700 each year on Christmas presents. I know Jesus encouraged giving, but by golly!

I also learned that if we spend just $64 on American-made items we can create 200,000 jobs, so buy, buy, buy (useful things of course)! Many things are made in America, but they are under the shadow of foreign-made goods, so I thought I should help you out: Whitman's Chocolate, Blacksmith Coffee, Sundance leather, and Two Sisters are made in America. If you would like to see many more shops and products that are made in America, click here.

Frontier House

So far this week I don't have any exciting news to report, but I would like to share with you this cool project that was conducted in 2001. It is called Frontier House and I loved it! I hope you will, too.

 

 

(To watch the full episode 1 and more episodes click in the far upper right hand corner. Some are split into multiple segments)

Gifts From Sponsors

Exciting news! Today Phillip Howard from Howard's Wrecker Service called my dad and told him that he was done putting outriggers on my trailer! My mom, dad, and I went to see it with our own eyes and bring it home. This is the fabulousness that is my trailer:

 

(from the front)

 

 

(from the back)

 

 

 

(sexy time)

More good news! My mother knew the trailer was almost done and we knew we had to get a radiant barrier on the bottom of my trailer to deflect rodents and condensation and heat (oh my!), so she contacted EcoFoil and asked if they would be willing to donate some radiant barrier, and they said YES (supposed to be here this Tuesday)! We were very happy. We just got 500 sq. ft. of radient barrier for FREE, and it will help my tiny house instrumentally. As soon as it comes I will post more pictures, I promise. Now it is just time to put a deck on my trailer and get the shell of my house on so I can work through the winter. I am ecstatic, and I can't wait to start building!

If you want to help with the build, please donate what you can through my blog (it will all go straight to the tiny house, and you get a snappy little mention on the blog, plus and invite to the open house in May 2013), or contact my mom directly!

This post sponsored by:

My Free Workshop

Exciting news! On Monday November 19th I went to visit Andrew Odom of Tiny r(E)volution and see his (not so) tiny house. The reason I say not so tiny is because his home will be the size of two of my trailers back to back...not so tiny.

On our drive there we came across the funniest road sign:

 

(Bucksnort Road, and yes this is a real road)

I had a wonderful day with him, his little girl, Tilly and his wife Crystal. We (meaning the Odoms and my mother and me) talked and chatted about his tiny house, and I got some questions answered that otherwise might not have. Andrew answered my questions about water, plumbing, and electricity.

\

 

(Andrew's little girl Tilly)

 


Andrew showed me his tiny house binder, his manifesto and an unbelievable 23in. fan. It was such a cute fan; its blades were not even the length of my forearm, but apparently they do the job pretty well; they aren't supposed to cool you off, just move the air around for circulation.

All around it was a fun trip and I got so much knowledge out of that I think my mind went into over drive just thinking about it.

To end this blog, I want to say what I am thankful for: my family (I could do none of this without them), my softball team/my second family (they are always good for cheering me up when I am down)chocolate...it will always be there for me, yes, I am thankful for chocolate.

 

(Andrew and I)

My Podcast!

Here is my podcast! I hope you enjoy. Make sure to chack out Andrew Odom's blog while you're at it! Have a great week!

Podcast

I have some amazing news. Yesterday at approximately 2:15 pm Andrew Odom of Tiny r(E)volution called me to do a podcast interview. We had been e-mailing for about two weeks chatting and talking about tiny houses.  I have never done an interview of any kind, so as you can imagine I was freaking out! Even thought my heart was beating out of my chest I feel confident about the podcast. It was basically just an interview, and Andrew asked me questions about my house. I don't want to give too much away, so you will just have to wait a few more hours to hear me!

As many of you know, I play travel softball, and nearly every weekend is eaten up by softball tournaments or practices. Last weekend was the last tournament of the fall season...and we got second place! We played in the USSSA Children's Health Care of Atlanta (CHOA) softball tournament.

 

(My trophy)

The CHOA was a two-day tournament, and we got to get a hotel! It was in Conyers, Georgia, so it was 10 minutes east from the middle of nowhere. On Saturday we lost a game that we shouldn't have lost which made it so on Sunday we had to play five games in a row and then the championship. I felt like I was about to faint; it was just so exhausting.

To sum my weekend up...it was exciting, hectic, and triumphant.

Halloween Festivities

As you may know... yesterday was Halloween, or All Hallows Eve. Of course, since I am still the age where I can pass off as a young trick-or-treater; therefore I can get pounds of free candy for minimal effort. Well not minimal in my case. My neighbor hood has the houses just spaced the right distance apart to be horrible to walk to 500 houses. Plus a lot of the houses in my neighborhood decided to leave their porch lights on and not answer the door! Just a heads up to all you adults, when you leave your lights on...have candy ready or turn your lights off! Here is a photo gallery to show you the festivities I enjoyed! What did you do for Halloween?

(My CANDY haul!)

 

(Crazy socks)

 

 

(My Hunger Games Pumpkin)

 

 

(Dia de los Muertos sugar skull)

 

(The top of my sugar skull)

 

(My classmate Quinn's sugar skull)

 

(Pumpkin seeds)

 
 



 

(My first place trophy)

Over the weekend my team, the 12U Georgia Titans, won our first tournament! This is not just a regular tournament win, our team is now qualified to go to a USSSA national tournament. This is also our first tournament and it is a big vode of confidence for all of the girls (including me). You are reading this blog writen by the catcher that threw the last out to win our game. No biggie...

My Major Haul!

Today was a major score! We went shopping for my classmates and my small projects. I got sandpaper (three kinds, might I add), paint, and paint mixers. My paint is only samples because I don't need much. Below I'll show you all my supplies. Paints from Behr Interior and Exterior, and Martha Living  Specialty Finish. All of this was bought at Home Depot.

 

(The complete haul)

 

(Sandpaper and sticks)

 
 

 

(My paint colors)

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I couldn't get a picture...but my mother saw the paint with the totally blue lid and picked it up and shook it; it did nothing. She shook it again and splattered paint over Home Depot's floor. Way to go, Mom. I love you, though.

 

 

We also went to Atlantis Hydroponics for our brand- new student who is growing plants hydroponically. The dude there was awwesome. He gave us a rubber tree, an aloe vera, some NASA tomatoes, and other vegetables and fruits grown hydroponically. If you don't know what hydroponic means, you can go to the Atlantis Hydroponics website; they will tell you all about it. The man that helped us even told us that we can take a field trip there, or he can come to us, and he invited us to visit his personal greenhouse about five miles away from HoneyFern. AMAZING! What did you do today? I love my school!

Making My Bird House

Today I learned how to use a jig-saw by cutting the sides for my camper birdhouse! These are just a few pics from the experience...I'll start from the beginning.

 

(My plan for the birdhouse)

 

(As you can see, my dog is so helpful)

 

 

(That's me drawing...with the weird face)

 

 

(My finished, cut-out board)

 

(And of course I need a snack after my days work)

I also picked out a licence plate from the '80s for my roof So excited, but the one thing holding me back is sandpaper. We have none...thanks, Dad.

Follow My Friends!

Please, everyone, follow these awesome people!

Go Kart Go

This kid is amazing! He is building a go-kart from scratch, and he is hilarious! We both go to the same school, which brings me to the next awesome blog...

HoneyFern School

This is my teacher! She is the fabulous person who introduced me to tiny house movement and is allowing me to build a tiny house. She also has a blog...

HoneyFern's Blog

Vintage Teardrop Bird House

I just recently built my veggie oil heater as one of my small projects; my next small project is to build a bird house! I don't want to build a plain, cookie cutter bird house; so I decided to build one exactly like this...



I shamefully stole the design from this website, but I hope to build some with a few twists and sell them to raise money for my humble home.

Does anyone have any ideas for what my next small projects could be?

Completed Vegetable Oil Heater

This is my completed Veggie Oil heater! Enjoy!

ps. I got some great news today; I can't say more now, but stay tuned for details in the coming weeks!

Vegetable Oil Heater

Just started my veggie oil heater! Let  me show you how I did it in a few 'short' videos!

 

(Drillin' a hole like a boss)

 

 

Now here's me setting the can into a concrete base...

 

 

(My devoted father)



Gettin the Word Out

Thank you Mini House Builder for making my day.

In the morning, I wake up, get a cup of coffee, get some breakfast, and then I check my email and La Petite Maison. When I was checking how many views I got, I also saw where the views come from last, called trafficing sources. I saw a new source! Usually it's just Facebook and HoneyFern, But I saw a new site, Mini House Builder! I wasn't farmiliar with the site, so I clicked on the link, and it went strait to Austin Hay's blog! Austin started building his tiny house in 2010, you'll see him in We the Tiny House People, now he's 17 and his house is finished! He has open houses a lot, so check out his blog for the next upcoming one!

Jay Shafer says that Austin is the youngest tiny house builder that he knows of, I want to change that! Please, get the word out about me!

The Story of Stuff

I have some exciting news to tell!!! First of all, remember Howard's Wrecker Service? Well, we took the trailer (very rusted and homemade) to him and he told us he would put outriggers on! We first have to try and get some of the rust off by sanding it down, then we have to buy the steel for the out riggers, but we can go to shops where they have extra steel, maybe we could possibly get some of that scrap. Then the owner of Howard's will weld the steel in place, and he will give it a special finishing paint to stop it from rusting further. It is a wonderful thing!

Since that is about the only major thing that happened with my home, I will leave you with a moving video that will make you want to live simply too. It's called The Story of Stuff, and it helped me realize, we need to help our planet.

Resource Review

Latley I have been thinking, 'If I wanted to build a tiny house and I read this blog, I don't think I would be able to find many resources that would help me.' Well you are saved! This list will fill you on great resources.

We the Tiny House People 

This documentary by Kirsten Dirksen is amazing! I cannot reccomend it highly enough. It may not help you build your house; but it will give you idea on what to put in it. The documentary will also explain why people live in tiny homes. I cannot reccomend this video highly enough.

Deek Diedrickson

This guy is amazing! He is hilarious. Instead of building fancy tiny homes, Deek builds homes just big enough to lie down in out of recycled materials. These homes are perfect for little forts for kids, of for a camping trip. Maybe not necesarily to live in, but fun to build.

House Plan Guide

This is a wonderful site if you want to build a more formal home. This tutorial is for how to build homes that are 4,000 sq/ft; but you can easily adapt it to a 80 sq/ft home. That is exactly what I did.

Get Satisfied

This book is about how 20 people "just like us" simplify their life. This book is wonderful. The only think I don't like about the book is the last chapter.  Even when he realizes that he cannot live his life like he used to he ends up living in house that still is ginormous. I don't think he really simplified his life. This guy has a whole bunch of money, he has his own airplane, a ginormouse house, then he loses his job, he continues to say throughought the entire chapter he says, "You cannot understand how hard this was for me and my family." No, no I can't. He continues to try and live his fancy life style without a job. That is not going to happen.Post a comment on what you think about this guy.

Extra Extra, Read All About It!

 I have some GREAT news! Something that has currently come to my attention, my trailer is homemade. That means it's a little curvy; so I need outriggers (to make my trailer the same size all around) to be welded on. The problem is, my family doesn't own a welder, so we would need to find a machine shop to have the outriggers welded on. My father used to work as a tow truck driver for Howard's Wrecker Service (he now works at the Heartfield Jackson Airport for Infax). The shop that they fix the cars in happens to have a welder. Luckily we are good friends with the owner and employees at the shop. We went to their office on Tuesday and asked for their assistance. They were happy to offer it. (I just got a picture in my mind of 40-year-old men jumping up and down squealing like little girls out of happiness of helping me)

(Just like this, with the sunset and everything)

We are still unclear about how much the welding will cost, if there is a cost. Howard's needs to see the trailer first. Then they can assess what needs to be done.

My Materials... And a Little Extra

I know you've heard radio silence from my over the past week... but now your gonna wish you had that silence again. I'm comin' in hot, and you guys are going to be hearing alot from me.

I'm gonna start off with a photo gallery from the past week. I started on blueprints this week; I had no idea how to do them, but my fabulous mother found this website for me. Click here if you want to visit it and check it out. Blueprints are the last step; this website is also where I got all of the supporting steps following up to the blueprints. This gallery will show you all of my completed blueprints... and a few extra things. ;P

                              Front View

 

 

 

 

 

 



Double anderson window

 

 

My Bathroom Door

(with some cleaning up)

 

My Front Door

 

 

 

Metal Roofing Insulation

This is just a few funny happenings going on last week. Dont ask what the big poufy dress-skirt is for.

The excitment of building my house is almost overwhelming; it engulfs me and I am caught spending hour at a time consentrating so profoundly, that when I get pulled out, I'm aware that my stomach sounds like a dying wolf, my vision is blurred, and my legs are numb. I not aware of these things until I come back to reality. See the picture below? See the dog's eyes? See the bone? If this kind of laser focus continues on my part, My project will be done in two shakes of a lambs tail.