Painting is a long process

It took me and afew friends from my house church roughly 15 hours to paint my house, which include caulking, taping off the sun, painitng the main color and then highlighting the sun with the amazing yellow. I am not a big fan of painting and this has made it very clear that i am not meant to be a painter. And unfortunatley I am not quite done yet. I still need to touch up some spots, stain the front door and make sure it is weather tight for the summer. But overall I think that it turned out alright. I may in the future paint all of the areas between the batons yellow but that will not be until fall. If you want to coem see it the house is located off of boulevard on clegern in Edmond, OK. Please dont bother the resident in the garage apartment because she has a bad temper and a gun.

I have finished half of the board and batten siding detail and am about ready to finish the other half. Time is a valuble comodatity during these last few weeks of my college career, but it will get done. I leave in a few weeks for New Hampshire and must make sure that my house will make it through the summe alone. Failure is not an option. I did decide to put a sun on one of the sides but cannot decide if i want to put another object in the other side. If you have suggestions please let me know, but make it quick becuase I will finish on wenesday. I also installed the octagonal window in the loft area, which will be used toventilate and add character to the outside of the house. That window cost more than the other seven combined but it was a gift and I graciously accepted it. Thats about it. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

I see painting in the future

School is coming to a close and i find my self with less time to work on the house. Hopefully by this weekend i will have the exterior trimmed out and ready for paint. I am thinking of painting the trim a nice dark brown. Kinda like the color of the buildings at national parks. The main part of the house will be a yellowish brown. We'll see how it looks. Also if I decide to spend the time on it I would like to put a sun on the side of the house made from 1x2 material that i am using on the rest of the house. Finishing up the outside should not take very long and i hope to complete it by the Time I head to New Hampshire. Thankfully my house church has volunteered to paint the exterior, which should make the process go much faster. Well Bye

Thoughts on small house living

I know it may sound crazy but I have been thinking lately about whethe having a small house on wheels will tie me down to living in one place. If I have the desire to travel outsode of the country I will need to find a place to park it and soemone to watch it. This could cost money, which is something that I have little of and the little I do posses I try to spend on things i need and not luxaries like a parking spot. I have the desire to live without a mortage, rent or utility bill and paying for a parking space feels very much like having to pay rent. The thought of it Depresses me.

A new thought has entered my mind and that thought is to buy some land in the middle of nowhere for a few hundred dollars and build a house on it to serve as my base camp from where I can take trips and have a place to lay my head when I return. The thought of this is comforting to me, but the practicality of it is still hazey.

So many ideas and dreams are circulating through my head. Only one month until I graduate from college and I have no idea of what life will look like. I know no one looks at this blog but if you do keep your opinions to yourself. Three/fourths the fun of an experience is the unexpected. it will all work out. My faith is anchored is Christ.

This past weekend My dad and I finished installing the siding on the house. I chose to use 3/8 inch smart trim that comes in 4x8 sheets, because of its price durability and weight. Once I get it trimmed out and painted it will look really good. I am in the process of buying a truck that can pull my house. Please pray something comes along.

Deck, posts, front door and windows installed

Here is the progress of my house. It has taken alot of work and has negatively impacted my school work but it is worth it. This weekend I hope to enclose the wheel wells, work on the front porch, build the interior walls, cut a hole for access to the loft and build a ladder in order to do so. I am focusing on items that do not require much money. Hopefully these will be complete and I can finsih purchasing a door and windows. Once this is accomplished I will start on the roofing and siding. Here we go

walls, roof, and loft are done

Alot of pregress has taken place over the last couple of weeks. I was able to build the walls and trusses off site and put them on at my friends house. I have decked and sheathed the exterior of the house and wrapped the entire structure in tar paper. I must say that I did not picture the house being so large. It is right a 13 ft tall and almost wont fit underneath the powerlines in the front of the drive way. Tommorow I am pickingup four of the eight windows for $15 each in Paden Ok. Thos will hopefully go in this friday night as well as my interior walls, the wheel wells, and my deck. I will upload pictures soon to show the progress that has taken place. I just found out that I am headed tp New Hampshire this summer and the the thought of taking my house with me is exciting. We will see.

Floor installed on trailer

Today I installed the flooring I built onto the frame of the trailer. I do not know the exact weight but I am pretty sure it is around 500 pounds. I am still in the process of leveling the frame, but am getting closer. In the next few weeks I hope to gwt the entire structure framed and water tight. We will see.

Sub floor finished

Last weekend I completed my foundation for my house. I framed up the floor structure with screws 24 inches on center. I built it in three sections to make room for the wheels. I found some sheet metal on craigslist for a dollar a sheet. I covered the bottom side of the frame with it to prevent penetration from road debris. Before I installed the sheet metal I cover the bottom of the frame with a 3.5 mil plastic sheeting as a moisture barrier. I sealed every joint with silicone caulking and screwed the joints every six inches then tape the joint with metal duct tape. I then bolted the three individual sections together and sealed the seams. I then insulated the gaps with fiberglass insulation and coverered that up with 3/4 inch osb, which I attached with liquid nail and three inch screws. It is now ready to be placed on the frame which I got welded on tuesday by a friend. Saturday is the day to move and hopefully the weather holds. I still have to take the trailer to the car wash then apply a coat of anit rust paint. If I get that done early saturday I should be able to start framing later that day. I will post pictures as soon I have time. So far I have estimated that I have spent not including the trailer, around $300. So far so good

frame for the floor finished

I just finished framing the floor for my house. I used 2x4 I got out of a trash pile at a construction site. So I payed nothing for the lumber. I did choose to buy new screws to ensure the soundness of the framing. Tommorow I may insulated and seal the boxes but have to wait until later this week to install them on the trailer. I framed the floor joists at 24 inches on center. I am not sure how well this will work but we will see.

Here we go. It took longer than I expected but here is my new composting toilet. It cost me roughly 12 dollars to build, which is way less than if I had purchased one at a home center not mention the cost of istalling it in the house. I am still looking at my options for the rest of the plumbing and am thinking of using a gravity fed method in order to save on cost and th dependence of a water source. If I can carry a few gallons of water with me I should be fine. I am excited with the prgress I have made over the past few weeks and look forward to the weeks to come.

The snow slowed down my progress on the trailer but I was still able to get my heater up and running. I bought this heater off of craigslist last week for $25. I had rust on the top and peeling paint all around. I got it down to bare metal and painted it with a heat resistant paint. Hopefully I will be able to work on the brakes next week and then start building the foundation. I am currently working on plans for the interior and am still looking for ideas on materials I should use. Please let me know if you have any suggestions. My email is superedbaendip@hotmail.com

Down to the frame

It took 1.5 hours to remove the rest of the subflooring and sheetmetal from the frame. I used mainly a pry bar and a screw gun. Next I will be working on the breaks and then I will start building.

Day two and I am down to the platform. I should hopefully get the rest torn off and to the dump before the end of the week and will start building next friday night. I am picking up some sub flooring tommorow that I found on Craigslist that is $20 dollars cheaper than they sell it at Lowes. Also I bought a propane heater on craigslist for $25. It usually goes for over $150. I am only writing what I spend to keep myself accountable to my goal.

Building my small house

The only reason I am starting this blog is so I can keep track of the progress I make while building my first house. I have never undertaken this large of a project, although I have experience in many of the areas of construction. I generally dislike people who write blogs, so this blog will mainly have pictures and explanations of what is getting done. I may forget about this blog but we will see.

Just so it is clear I am not building this tiny house for some misguided environmental reason. I do appreciate this world and don't want to destroy it but the main reason I am building such a small house is so I don't have to stay in one place for to long and also because I do not want to have a mortgage or be in debt. I do not need a large home and do not desire one. I am building this house mainly from salvaged materials I find on job sites and in the trash. If you have anything you wish to donate I would appreciate it. I am only using money I have and will not be going into debt. I am cheap and am determined to stay that way.