Thank you.
By the way, I've been trying to figure out where I'd heard of Lake Charles before, after looking at your location. Just figured it out:
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Tiny House Build
- Thread starter -Shaun-
- Start date
Thank you.
By the way, I've been trying to figure out where I'd heard of Lake Charles before, after looking at your location. Just figured it out:
That looks like a fantastic job, and certainly somewhere I'd be happy to live.
I saw your picture in the 'pictures of you' thread with your lovely lady, bass, and clever amp storage solution, and I had an idea you were in a small space.
I love the use of wood, and the sense ofspace you've created in such a 'small' area.
Y'know, if a lot more people learned to live 'minimally' like this, we'd all be in a better situation.
Well done, sir.
I saw your picture in the 'pictures of you' thread with your lovely lady, bass, and clever amp storage solution, and I had an idea you were in a small space.
I love the use of wood, and the sense ofspace you've created in such a 'small' area.
Y'know, if a lot more people learned to live 'minimally' like this, we'd all be in a better situation.
Well done, sir.
Thank you, Oddly! I'm happy to hear you feel that way about it. I'm rather proud of the whole thing.
By the way, I've tried to add myself to your map, but it says I need either a password or to be logged in?
Okay, one last update before hitting the hay.
After the framing came scaffolding, building wrap, cavity battens, flashings, and cladding. We got a very high performing building wrap. The blue stuff in the photos below. Unfortunately, we ran out towards the end and had to get a small amount of a generic type for the top end of the house, which you can see is white in the photos. Ironically, this is probably also the area where water ingress is most likely to occur. We didn't have time to order more of the fancy stuff, and I feel relatively confident with off-the-shelf products in NZ, although they're pretty poor compared to European materials.
The wooden cavity battens are fixed to the outside walls and roof of the house. They are designed to create a space between the cladding and the building wrap for any moisture to run down. They also provide fixing for the cladding to be screwed into. They are technically not necessary when cladding with vertically-running corrugated steel, under the NZ building code. However, we thought it's another layer of defence against moisture. Better to have and not need than need and not have. We also had to put a layer of DPC over the battens, as we did between the treated timber joists and the trailer, as the battens are treated too and coming into contact with steel.
The next step was our biggest stumbling block. We attempted to cut, fold, and fit the flashings around the windows and doors ourselves. We were trying to do as much of this ourselves as possible. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing and made a total mess of it. Something to keep in mind, for anyone reading this who is ever building anything that is clad in vertical corrugate: When you think about where your openings will be (doors and windows), you also need to think about where that sits in regard to the peaks and troughs of the corrugate, as you need a minimum of two peaks covered by flashings. That means you might well have to get flashings made up that are wider on the left than they are on the right if you don't place the openings and think about their width carefully.
Anyway, we had a go at doing the flashings for about a week, averaging about one window a day. It was slow, stressful, incredibly frustrating work, and just looked awful. We were scratching the cladding with the steel, and the flashings wouldn't have stopped a sunshower. In the end, we thought that there are some jobs best left to the experts.
Our efforts:
What it's supposed to look like:
You just gotta pick your battles, I guess.
As you can see, flashings also coincide with cladding going up. We chose this colour, called karaka, because it's very simple and blends in well whether in urban or rural settings. It's almost like camo. And considering the legal "grey area" these structures inhabit, low profile is always good. Where we live now (not where these photos were taken) our house cannot be seen from any road or by any unknown people. How I like it. In some lights, the colour appears black. In others, it appears a rather brighter green. Many tiny houses use mixed cladding - corrugated steel here, timber there. Not wanting to knock other peoples' design choices, but it's just never made sense to me. Especially on such a small structure.
And without the scaffold:
The resemblance to the Jawa Sandcrawler from the first Star Wars has only just occurred to me!
Anyway, that's enough for today. The next steps are insulating, lining, framing internal structures etc.
Thanks again to those who are reading and replying. I had a feeling there would be one or two of you who may be interested in this.
After the framing came scaffolding, building wrap, cavity battens, flashings, and cladding. We got a very high performing building wrap. The blue stuff in the photos below. Unfortunately, we ran out towards the end and had to get a small amount of a generic type for the top end of the house, which you can see is white in the photos. Ironically, this is probably also the area where water ingress is most likely to occur. We didn't have time to order more of the fancy stuff, and I feel relatively confident with off-the-shelf products in NZ, although they're pretty poor compared to European materials.
The wooden cavity battens are fixed to the outside walls and roof of the house. They are designed to create a space between the cladding and the building wrap for any moisture to run down. They also provide fixing for the cladding to be screwed into. They are technically not necessary when cladding with vertically-running corrugated steel, under the NZ building code. However, we thought it's another layer of defence against moisture. Better to have and not need than need and not have. We also had to put a layer of DPC over the battens, as we did between the treated timber joists and the trailer, as the battens are treated too and coming into contact with steel.
The next step was our biggest stumbling block. We attempted to cut, fold, and fit the flashings around the windows and doors ourselves. We were trying to do as much of this ourselves as possible. We had absolutely no idea what we were doing and made a total mess of it. Something to keep in mind, for anyone reading this who is ever building anything that is clad in vertical corrugate: When you think about where your openings will be (doors and windows), you also need to think about where that sits in regard to the peaks and troughs of the corrugate, as you need a minimum of two peaks covered by flashings. That means you might well have to get flashings made up that are wider on the left than they are on the right if you don't place the openings and think about their width carefully.
Anyway, we had a go at doing the flashings for about a week, averaging about one window a day. It was slow, stressful, incredibly frustrating work, and just looked awful. We were scratching the cladding with the steel, and the flashings wouldn't have stopped a sunshower. In the end, we thought that there are some jobs best left to the experts.
Our efforts:
What it's supposed to look like:
You just gotta pick your battles, I guess.
As you can see, flashings also coincide with cladding going up. We chose this colour, called karaka, because it's very simple and blends in well whether in urban or rural settings. It's almost like camo. And considering the legal "grey area" these structures inhabit, low profile is always good. Where we live now (not where these photos were taken) our house cannot be seen from any road or by any unknown people. How I like it. In some lights, the colour appears black. In others, it appears a rather brighter green. Many tiny houses use mixed cladding - corrugated steel here, timber there. Not wanting to knock other peoples' design choices, but it's just never made sense to me. Especially on such a small structure.
And without the scaffold:
The resemblance to the Jawa Sandcrawler from the first Star Wars has only just occurred to me!
Anyway, that's enough for today. The next steps are insulating, lining, framing internal structures etc.
Thanks again to those who are reading and replying. I had a feeling there would be one or two of you who may be interested in this.
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Very nice. I hope once you’re out of lockdown you get a chance to have Bryce come and film your place.
I think I half follow that channel just for his positivity.
That’s a lot of framing! Is the Japanese cedar more expensive than similar dimension pine?
Does house construction in NZ use this wood as well? Here in Canada, framing is almost always kiln-dried untreated SPF (spruce, pine or fur)…because we have a LOT of trees of those species in Canada. Usually 2x4 studs and 16” oc.
Good call leaving that detail work to the experts! I’d have done the same thing.
Shaun, I had to block access as some idiot had started editing other people's entries...I've opened it up again. Should be ok now. Let me know if you're still having a problem.
Also, you're so right about the Jawa Sandcrawler look...you guys simply have to get yourselves some outfits...
Here's a link...
Rubie's Men's Star Wars Jawa Costume, Standard, CHEST 44", WAIST 30 - 34" : Amazon.co.uk: Toys & Games
That looks great. Congratulations on your project and downsizing.
We went from 1,800 square feet to 340 square feet in May of 2017. One of the best decisions the wife and I ever made. No regrets.
-Mike
We went from 1,800 square feet to 340 square feet in May of 2017. One of the best decisions the wife and I ever made. No regrets.
-Mike
340 square feet?? Pics??
My garage is 360 square feet and about 10x smaller than I'd like it to be.
Only a few cents per meter more than pine. And while it does look like a lot, there aren't a whole lot of meters of timber in there, so the 10 extra cents, or whatever it was, didn't break the bank.
Cedar is basically never used in construction in NZ. Perhaps sometimes for small sheds. Older houses were native timbers like kauri, rimu, matai. Different timbers were used for different parts of the house, depending on their properties. These days it's exclusively pine. Kiln-dried pine is only allowed to be used in places where there is no risk of dampness occurring (internal finishing, essentially). All framing timber needs to be boron treated.
We wanted a simple life that would free us up to travel as needed for disaster relief work around the USA and international if needed.
We raised two children, and we grew tired of having so much space and things. We started learning first to live with less, so when it came time to downsize, it was relatively easy.
I was tired of working full time and my wife was tired of working altogether. As a result of the downsizing the wife was able to retire and I work reduced hours. We also now have the freedom to respond when called upon for volunteer work.
-Mike
I just came across your thread. Great read, so far!
I iake it your brother did those renderings? Nice job!Did you size the interior for tatami mats?
Your wife would feel claustrophobic in our house. The ceilings are only 8 1/2' high.
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We should have hired you two to re-build our enclosed porch last year! But, we did manage to find some good local help.
He wasn't one one them... Besides, that guy looks more Mennonite than Amish.
I just came across your thread. Great read, so far!
Did you size the interior for tatami mats?
Thanks Jeff!
Yes, he did. It's remarkable how similar the finished house looks to the renderings.
You know, we actually thought about having tatami on the raised sleeping area, but thought the headache of building a floor that is recessed deep enough for the tatami to sit in while also having storage space underneath just seemed like too much. Not to mention the cost of getting tatami here!
Okay, I've got a bit of time on my hands.
The next step was wiring and insulation.
We were lucky enough to come across a lovely couple who live in a truck and drive around the upper North Island doing electrical work for people. They're both fully qualified of course, and they teach you how to do some basic things along the way to save their time and, ultimately, our money. Although the house is small, you still need sockets for your regular things and enough lighting, so lots of holes drilled and wiring pulled.
After the wiring was all done, we started to put in insulation. Luckily, I have a friend who was working for a wool insulation company at the time, so we got it at about half the price. It's just mostly sheep's wool with some recycled polyester from the offcuts at a carpet factory to help it keep its shape. There are a lot of reasons I wanted to use wool. One is that you can handle it with your bare hands and not worry about itching like you get with fibreglass. It is a much more environmentally friendly product, and I would personally like to see NZ's wool industry make a comeback. It'll never be where it was at its peak, with all the cheap synthetic fibres available now, but hopefully enough for even some farmers to start running sheep again instead of intensive dairy farming. Also, it smells pretty good. Once all the insulation was in, it smelled like being in a big woollen jumper (sweater?).
We put it in the walls, including the internal walls, the ceiling, around the bath, and in every space we could find.
The next step was wiring and insulation.
We were lucky enough to come across a lovely couple who live in a truck and drive around the upper North Island doing electrical work for people. They're both fully qualified of course, and they teach you how to do some basic things along the way to save their time and, ultimately, our money. Although the house is small, you still need sockets for your regular things and enough lighting, so lots of holes drilled and wiring pulled.
After the wiring was all done, we started to put in insulation. Luckily, I have a friend who was working for a wool insulation company at the time, so we got it at about half the price. It's just mostly sheep's wool with some recycled polyester from the offcuts at a carpet factory to help it keep its shape. There are a lot of reasons I wanted to use wool. One is that you can handle it with your bare hands and not worry about itching like you get with fibreglass. It is a much more environmentally friendly product, and I would personally like to see NZ's wool industry make a comeback. It'll never be where it was at its peak, with all the cheap synthetic fibres available now, but hopefully enough for even some farmers to start running sheep again instead of intensive dairy farming. Also, it smells pretty good. Once all the insulation was in, it smelled like being in a big woollen jumper (sweater?).
We put it in the walls, including the internal walls, the ceiling, around the bath, and in every space we could find.
As the insulation you used doesn't have a paper vapor barrier to staple down to the studs I see you used furring strips; appropriate for wool!
When we did our enclosed porch project I was seriously looking into tatami mats for flooring, but as they have specific dimensions it would not have worked. The room's dimensions were pretty much set from the original porch's dimensions that we demolished to build the better one we now have.
When we did our enclosed porch project I was seriously looking into tatami mats for flooring, but as they have specific dimensions it would not have worked. The room's dimensions were pretty much set from the original porch's dimensions that we demolished to build the better one we now have.
