My previous posts have pretty much brought my story up to date. New posts will be at the mercy of current events as they unfold. Nothing much will happen until I make up my mind just what it is that I want to happen. And so in the mean time I will attempt to jot down whatever comes to mind so as to pass the time you might say. I do know not much will happen until the weather dries up a bit. And so for now this will have to do.
So. What's been on my mind? After writing at some length regarding my trailer, said mind tends to wander. It wanders to far off places such as where do I want to live and how do I intend to make a living? On occasion it will stop off at such topics as do I really want to build a trailer or would I simply be better off buying an RV, or wouldn't I be better off scrapping the whole crazy notion and looking for an apartment? Hmmm... It would appear that I have a lot of work to do.
MY CASTLE
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Living In The Present, and Where Do I Go From Here?!
I have now been living in my little trailer for almost nine months. Eight of those months have been parked next to my friends house in Washington State. With an extension chord running from the garage it is essentially like a detached bedroom. I have power for my space heater which came in handy this winter when it got down to about 10 degrees. I also keep my laptop charged and am able to recieve a wifi signal from the house. Lighting is handled by battery powered lcd lights. They do a pretty good job but are not quite bright enough to read by. As I may have mentioned previously, I have a small fold down table, a decent sized closet/cabinet, and my bookcase full of books. All in all, quite cozy.
As far as the not so stellar aspects of tiny trailer living. It can seem a bit cramped at times. Much of my possessions are stored in my friends garage. I did purge a lot of my stuff before this adventure began, however I still have a lot of work to do. It does fit into ( and on top of) my truck but isn't very accessible. My trailer is pretty easy to get into almost any camp site and I'd like to keep it that way, so I am leaning against a bigger rig. Which means I will need to get rid of even more of my treasures!
During the summer while staying in Ohio it got down right nasty. It was hot & humid with almost daily torrential downpours and thunderstorms with high winds. I don't think there were very many days without at least one tornado warning. I wasn't able to keep the roof vent open very much or it might have ended up blown half way across Kansas. I had my dog Charlie to keep me company (yes Steinbeck fans, travels w/ charlie) and he didn't like the heat any more than I did. AC would have been nice, but we made due with my little fan. I had to find Charlie a good home once I hit the coast. Another victim of the recession, but he's better off.
And now for perhaps the worst aspect of living small, at least in my case. Mold! My little trailer was not meant to be a permanent dwelling. It's primary goal was to get me across the country without having to rely on motels, with the odd bit of exploring thrown in. and to this end it did quite admirably. It has been a fairly warm, dry and snug little home. However, after one of the wettest winters and now spring, in the already moist pacific northwest, the lower un-painted portion of the interior has got a bad case of mold. With the poor ventilation, the mold has run rampant. I still don't know yet if it extends up the walls behind the panelling. If the weather ever drys out, I plan to gut the interior to asses the damage.
One possible option would be to use a liberal dose of bleach to try to kill off the worst of the mold and then when dry, sand down to bare wood and properly seal and insulate. But I would still need to deal with the lack of ventilation in order to keep the condensation under control. There's not a lot of room for a dehumidifier.
There is also the fact that the outer walls & roof are simply painted plywood. It has held up fairly well, but as stated before was not meant to last forever. I could add siding and a metal roof but that brings up another point. I only have about five feet of clearance inside and it would be nice to stand up straight, and so this got me to thinking I might want to replace the flat roof with a peaked one or bowed like a vardo/gypsey trailer in order to gain the additional head room.
And so with all the added work & costs involved, I am debating whether or not I would be better off starting from scratch. I've seem some very nicely done trailers while searching the internet and I do believe I could now design a much more livable teeny tiny house on wheels. Aint hindsight great!
My biggest concerns are much the same as when I started this whole journey back in Vermont. The costs need to stay low, as does the weight. I would probably want to keep my trailer as the base. I would like to make tiny house 2 as livable as possible within the small confines I have before me. Beyond that I will give it some more thought and post in future blog entries.
My closing question is, what do I do with the 1st tiny house? The options I see if I don't keep it are burn it, take it to the dump, sell it, or incorporate the framework into the new design. Since it is painted, I'd rather not burn it, and I'd rather not add needlessly to the local landfill. Recycling it into the new design might be more trouble than it's worth. Which leaves selling it. I don't know if any one would want to take on the hassle of cleaning out all the mold, even if I gave it away. And so as usual, I have some tough decisions to make. Until next time, Peace Out.
As far as the not so stellar aspects of tiny trailer living. It can seem a bit cramped at times. Much of my possessions are stored in my friends garage. I did purge a lot of my stuff before this adventure began, however I still have a lot of work to do. It does fit into ( and on top of) my truck but isn't very accessible. My trailer is pretty easy to get into almost any camp site and I'd like to keep it that way, so I am leaning against a bigger rig. Which means I will need to get rid of even more of my treasures!
During the summer while staying in Ohio it got down right nasty. It was hot & humid with almost daily torrential downpours and thunderstorms with high winds. I don't think there were very many days without at least one tornado warning. I wasn't able to keep the roof vent open very much or it might have ended up blown half way across Kansas. I had my dog Charlie to keep me company (yes Steinbeck fans, travels w/ charlie) and he didn't like the heat any more than I did. AC would have been nice, but we made due with my little fan. I had to find Charlie a good home once I hit the coast. Another victim of the recession, but he's better off.
And now for perhaps the worst aspect of living small, at least in my case. Mold! My little trailer was not meant to be a permanent dwelling. It's primary goal was to get me across the country without having to rely on motels, with the odd bit of exploring thrown in. and to this end it did quite admirably. It has been a fairly warm, dry and snug little home. However, after one of the wettest winters and now spring, in the already moist pacific northwest, the lower un-painted portion of the interior has got a bad case of mold. With the poor ventilation, the mold has run rampant. I still don't know yet if it extends up the walls behind the panelling. If the weather ever drys out, I plan to gut the interior to asses the damage.
One possible option would be to use a liberal dose of bleach to try to kill off the worst of the mold and then when dry, sand down to bare wood and properly seal and insulate. But I would still need to deal with the lack of ventilation in order to keep the condensation under control. There's not a lot of room for a dehumidifier.
There is also the fact that the outer walls & roof are simply painted plywood. It has held up fairly well, but as stated before was not meant to last forever. I could add siding and a metal roof but that brings up another point. I only have about five feet of clearance inside and it would be nice to stand up straight, and so this got me to thinking I might want to replace the flat roof with a peaked one or bowed like a vardo/gypsey trailer in order to gain the additional head room.
And so with all the added work & costs involved, I am debating whether or not I would be better off starting from scratch. I've seem some very nicely done trailers while searching the internet and I do believe I could now design a much more livable teeny tiny house on wheels. Aint hindsight great!
My biggest concerns are much the same as when I started this whole journey back in Vermont. The costs need to stay low, as does the weight. I would probably want to keep my trailer as the base. I would like to make tiny house 2 as livable as possible within the small confines I have before me. Beyond that I will give it some more thought and post in future blog entries.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
How did I get here continued...
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Genesis of my Tiny Travels, or How the Heck did I end up here?
So, how did I end up in this situation that I am in. Let me go back a year or two. I had already traveled cross country a couple of times, sleeping in the drivers seat of my truck, and had decided there had to be a better way. Since the back of my truck was full of all my worldly possesions of which I was reluctant to part (having already purged my junk over several moves), I came to the conclusion that a travel trailer would best suit my needs. Being that my little truck is only capable of towing a fairly light amount and that my funds are somewhat limited, I decided building something from scratch would be the best possible option. Lucky for me I already owned a small utillity trailer. I had used this to transport my motorcycle which I sadly had to sell, and this seemed the perfect base to build my little home on.
I then proceeded to spend most of last winter planning the build. I knew I wanted it to be small enough and light enough to fit into my 4x7 trailer and easily removable in case I want to use the trailer for other uses. I found some interesting ideas on the internet and was once again lucky in that I had a carpenter friend. I would have liked to do it on my own, but time was running short, the Vermont winter was coming to a close and I wanted to hit the road as soon as possible, not to mention my carpentry skills are somewhat lacking.
And so in the month of May, I went with my friend Dave to the local big box building supply store (which I conveniently worked at at the time) and loaded up my truck with 2x4s and plywood, not to mention loading up my credit card ( atleast I did get my employee discount- woohoo.). In about a week, including rain delays, my little hippy shack was complete...or atleast ready for me to paint. Thats about all to tell for now. Since I didn't take part in the actual build, I don't have a lot to report. The finished project is about five feet high inside and aprox. seven feet long and almost six feet wide where it kicks out over the sides of the trailer. The one window and rv type roof vent provide plenty of light and ventilation. There is rigid foam insulation in the walls and roof and a small space heater works fine even when its down to single digit temps outside.
I did build the little bookcase and when I take some more pictures they will show the cabinet my friend Jeff built as well as a little fold down table. I do plan to take a more active role in my next tiny house. But that is a story for a future post. I will try to write more of what it has been like the past eight or nine months living so small and what went write and wrong and how I hope to rectify any problems on any future build.
I then proceeded to spend most of last winter planning the build. I knew I wanted it to be small enough and light enough to fit into my 4x7 trailer and easily removable in case I want to use the trailer for other uses. I found some interesting ideas on the internet and was once again lucky in that I had a carpenter friend. I would have liked to do it on my own, but time was running short, the Vermont winter was coming to a close and I wanted to hit the road as soon as possible, not to mention my carpentry skills are somewhat lacking.
And so in the month of May, I went with my friend Dave to the local big box building supply store (which I conveniently worked at at the time) and loaded up my truck with 2x4s and plywood, not to mention loading up my credit card ( atleast I did get my employee discount- woohoo.). In about a week, including rain delays, my little hippy shack was complete...or atleast ready for me to paint. Thats about all to tell for now. Since I didn't take part in the actual build, I don't have a lot to report. The finished project is about five feet high inside and aprox. seven feet long and almost six feet wide where it kicks out over the sides of the trailer. The one window and rv type roof vent provide plenty of light and ventilation. There is rigid foam insulation in the walls and roof and a small space heater works fine even when its down to single digit temps outside.
I did build the little bookcase and when I take some more pictures they will show the cabinet my friend Jeff built as well as a little fold down table. I do plan to take a more active role in my next tiny house. But that is a story for a future post. I will try to write more of what it has been like the past eight or nine months living so small and what went write and wrong and how I hope to rectify any problems on any future build.
Monday, February 21, 2011
TAKING THE PLUNGE
Why am I writing a blog? A good question. I am not entirely sure why I'm doing this whole blog thing. I suppose I would like to get down in print just why it is that I am living in a trailer smaller than most peoples closets for the past eight months. I'd like to convey just what it's like to live in such a confined space and how it came to be that I am here and hopefully be able to answer for myself where I will be in the future. And amidst all this, maybe I'll be able to show others the advantages and disadvantages of such a lifestyle along the way.
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