You’re going to build a what???

Of course, building/making anything is always an excuse to buy new toys tools and the tiny house is no exception. I generally have a pretty well equipped tool boxes (ok several toolboxes) up to and including a tablesaw, planer, jointer etc for my woodwork hobby, but this was something new. Aldi were selling a compressor and tools at rediculously cheap prices recently, and the thought of installing all the panelling, tongue and groove and cladding convinced me to pick one up. I have attachments for shot blasting which will help clean up the trailer prior to welding, spray guns for painting (and also for sealing the damaged solar panel) etc. But today’s best bit was putting the impact driver to use.

If you’ve ever watched Formula 1 racing, this is the tool they use to bolt the tires on and off. It makes an utterly awesome ‘whiiiiirrrrrrrrrrzzzzzzzzzzzzz’ sound, and I spent a few minutes playing with it and grinning. Then it was time to put it to work and it’s superb for getting rusted down nuts and bolts out, as you can see here,

where it was invaluable for getting the tow-hitch off the trailer frame. Today it’s the turn of my friend Benjy and his angle grinder, should be fun.

Toodle pip.

Dee Williams is featured along with some others doing the small house thing that you can view here.

I’ve been thinking about the best way to heat water for the tiny house this week, and have finally decided to go with gas. I had considered solar, which is in keeping with the green theme and off-grid nature of the house, but it would involve a lot of extra equipment and expense. To start with I’d need a water tank to store hot water in, and that takes up a fair amount of space, the panel would be large and, unless I built my own, quite expensive. I did think of building my own, that was my original way into green technology when I was about 14 and built solar water heaters that could provide hot water for washing up etc. But in such a small house it’s not really practical.

I then looked at a back boiler for the little woodburner I’ll be fitting for winter heating but again you need storage and additional plumbing. So I’m going to go with an instant gas water heater, which will be simple to install, cheap and efficient. Ideally I’d like one of the Bosch ones designed for off grid homes but you can’t buy them in this country and that makes it expensive to install.

Interestingly, there seems to be some confusion amongs manufacturers as to what you would need in a mobile environment and how to provide a suitable device. Ideally, you want a room sealed heater, ie one that takes it’s combustion air from outside and pipes it’s exhaust outside too. In fact, if you’re selling a device for motor homes, caravans etc, this is a requirement. It’s strange then, that the only one of these I can find requires mains electricity to run the igniter, whereas the heaters that aren’t room sealed (ie are for things like static caravans etc) are generally powered by a couple of batteries. Surely it should be the other way round.

In the end, I’ve decided that I’m going to go for a heater that isn’t room sealed, mainly because it will run for such a short time that there’s not going to need to be much air supply drawn from inside the house. It will only be one when I’m running hot water from the kitchen tap for washing up or when I’m in the shower, which won’t be for that long as I’ll be aiming to conserve water as much as I can. The heater I’ve found that looks a good buy is available direct from China on ebay

and details can found here

I’ve been working on designs for two water systems and the rainwater capture which I’ll post next time. Undecided on which one to go for right now, so more pondering to do.

When I bought the trailer for my tiny house, I was told it was weight rated at 2700kg. This was a little less than the 3500kg I’d prefer, but it was tough finding one of those second hand at a price I could afford, so I figured that I could build down to that weight if I was careful and was prepared to do things like drain water tanks and take out the big pile of batteries on what I hope will be the rare occasions that I move. It had been used as a farm trailer, towing machinery, landrovers, cars etc, and seemed strong enough, but didn’t have a plate on it. Some things you have to take on trust I guess.

Cleaning it up recently, I uncovered an old plaque on the trailer hitch you can see below.

trailer plate

Clearly stated, is the trailer hitch load limit of 1700kg. Damn. There’s no way that’s going to be enough. It does state that the weight limit is for a single axle trailer and I wondered if it would be double that for my twin axle trailer. So, I got on the phone to the manufacturer of the trailer coupling (there’s no trailer manufacturer plate) and had a chat with their technical bod who was very helpful. Turns out all their hitches share the same body, all the way up to the 3500kg model, the only difference is the draw tube inside and the damper outside. These can be replaced/upgraded for a moderate cost of £115, they’ll also give me a new plate for the uprated weight rating so it’s nice and legal.

That all seems fine and dandy, but supposes that the rest of the trailer is up to it. So, the next thing I’ve got to do is find out what the wheelhub/suspension units are rated for. If they’re up to the job and the rest of the trailer is strong enough, I can just swap out the hitch parts and I’m good to go. It’s a worrying ‘if’ at the moment. However, the trailer is solid box section steel, has plenty of reinforcing and appears to have held the weight in the past. In a week’s time, my big ‘brother’ John is coming down to stay for a few days and we’re going to get stuck in to stripping down and overhauling the trailer, hopefully having it done in the 6 days he’s here. I’m keeping fingers crossed for good weather.

Funnily enough, yesterday I applied for an evening class in welding, only to find that all the local places were full for the coming term, so I’m considering using what it would have cost to take the course to buy a welder and get my little brother to come over and teach me to weld, I also have some other friends who know a reasonable amount of welding so it looks like if there’s repairs needed then I should be covered with just some steel cost. I’m hoping fervently that this trailer will work out, otherwise it’s going to put a spanner in the works of getting it done in a reasonable time-frame. I haven’t seen a 3.5ton trailer go for less than about £1600, new they’re closer to £3k and that’s out of the budget. After doing so well on other purchases for the house there was bound to be something not go quite as smoothly, we’ll see what the next couple of weeks brings.

Since I bought the trailer a few weeks ago it’s been parked outside where working on it wouldn’t be possible. Not wanting to annoy the neighbours I’ve been sitting and waiting until I could find a place to park it for the duration of the build. Thanks to an incredibly kind couple who have offered me a piece of their land for the duration of the build, I have the most lovely little spot to work.

New home 1

New home 2

As you’ll see from the photos, it’s set amongst trees, away from the road, secure and sheltered. My first job will be to strip the wood off the trailer and lay it out as a base on the flattest part of the ground and then push the trailer on top of it. Once that’s done I’ll be getting some axle stands and using those to make it nice and level so that I can make easy plumb checks as I start building the walls and pull the wheels off to clean out and rebuild the wheel hubs. Once the wood is off and the trailer set in place I’ll spread a couple of tarps underneath to catch any debris and start cleaning down the metal work, checking for any structural issues etc before painting it with something like hammerite and possibly a coat of underseal.

Once that’s all done I can finally start on the fun stuff such as putting the floor on and getting the walls up. It seems to be slow progress so far, with planning, searching, stockpiling etc, and I’m itching to get to the point where I can start cutting and nailing wood. Still, planning is vital and it’s giving me time to search for particular items, research more on some of the trickier parts of the coming build and get everything ready for when the really fun stuff.

One of the things  that I’ve been trying to figure out is how best to build the bathroom in my tiny house. In the US, it’s common in new houses or renovations to use a shower enclosure that’s made out of a single fiberglass moulding. This makes it seamless and ensures there is no gap for water to leak through. Unfortunately these aren’t common in the UK and, when you can find them, they’re several hundred pounds, which is outside my budget. So, I figured I’d put in a shower tray and find a way to waterproof the walls.

I had considered just using plywood and coating it in marine epoxy. Not the prettiest answer but wouldn’t be too expensive, and would be reasonably easy to do. I don’t want to use tile because it’s too heavy and I need to keep the weight down to the trailer limit. I’m also not looking for one of the heavy ’stone’ shower trays which are most  common now. Then I discovered plastic wall panelling: It’s lightweight, warm to the touch so there’s very little condensation and available in nice designs. It’s still quite expensive though, and looking round suggested about £300 to make a 3 sided enclosure.

However, Ebay has, once again, helped me save money. I picked up a brand new shower tray for £12 from someone nearby. It’s white, 76cm on a side and will define the width of the bathroom. I also found some reduced wall board, probably and end of line, but enough to complete the shower, the ceiling above and possibly a splashback in the kitchen. It looks like blue tiles. With the edge seals and fittings it came to just over £100, and now all I need to do is keep my eye out for a suitably sized shower door,  mixer valve and waste trap. I already have a low flow shower head with an on/off button. Now, how shall I heat the water….