Representative Wall Section

Yesterday we put up a "test section" of the knotty pine interior siding (5/16"-thick T&G) to see how it works. It seems doable (well, we ARE superheroes, after all). Here are some pictures to illustrate what the walls are like:
First you cut the insulation to size; if you're a perfectionist, you will spend waaay too long on this step making sure there are no gaps anywhere. Then you put the plastic sheeting over it (6 mils thick) and follow that with the siding itself. Alright! Now we know what a wall is going to look like.




Rather than using finishing nails we used some ribbed nails just in case. It is probably fine to use normal nails everywhere for the siding since if one is vibrating out you can just pound it back in. The rationale for using screws everywhere in the framing/sheathing is that those won't be accessible later and you don't want the house falling apart while driving/vibrating down the road/etc. For the interior siding we plan to use nails.

The area in the photo is directly above the porch. The thought was that this area will be much easier to access now (prior to installing porch roof) than later.

Roofing Part II

Per-panel installation time today was fabulous; two of us completed the entire other straight run of panels in less than 3 hours. All that remains is the front portion (aka complicated parallelogram fanciness) and then the roof will be water, snow, and weather resistant (not to mention resistant to alien lasers from outer space).

In the following image, the finished Side 2 of the roof is illuminated by a victoriously lofted work light. The raised arm symbolizes victory over difficult odds (the early time of sunset) while the scattered light (there are billions of photons) represents the infiniteness of human potential (there are billions of people). Fine art photography at its finest.

We will not reveal that this picture was taken with a camera phone.


Special thanks is owed to our generous friend who delivered tubes of 100% silicone to our doorstep just in time for us to install the final two panels, completing our goal of installing all of the long panels before the end of the day. Additional thanks to the Talking Heads for providing our inspiring soundtrack. This ain't no party. This ain't no disco. This ain't no foolin' around. This is a tiny house coming together little by little -- and with a nearly-completed roof, to boot!

Installing a Standing Seam Metal Roof

The roof is officially halfway done tonight! We started putting up panels on Saturday/Sunday; the panels on the straight sections go fairly quickly (~15 min per panel) but the front of the house (replete with complicated "dormer window"-style attic vent) is taking some time, so we put some focus on cutting panels for that and installing the hip ridge. The roofing system is great: steel SnapLoc panels by Admiral Bradco, pre-painted. In considering corrugated metal or other options this looked like a very long-lasting option which poses no prohibitive costs or installation challenges for the do-it-yourself house builder (specifically, this system requires no riveting). We were told the roof would last "easily 20 years" which is great. The panels are cut to a length 2" more than the length of the roof so that they can be hemmed over the drip edge (a piece which goes along the eaves). Someone with a fancy machine shop could use a sheet metal bender for this step (which can also be rented) but we found a 6"-wide "hemming tool" which has worked well. Tragically, it cost $70 (kind of pricey for a glorified set of pliers) and does not seem to have many other uses. However, buying this hemming tool was WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY cheaper than hiring professional roofers -- two different companies visited the job site and gave quotes of $900-1,200. I'd like to order one hemming tool, please.

Picture from Saturday afternoon:



And from just a few minutes ago:

A super cool thing about the SnapLoc panels is that all the fasteners are hidden; one edge of the panel is a standing seam and the other edge a smaller standing seam flanked by a flange (for fasteners). After you put the fasteners in you simply snap the next panel over the smaller seam. Voila! No exposed screws. A piece of butyl tape and a bead of silicone goop are applied to the J-channel piece at the top (beneath the ridge) immediately prior to installing each panel; hopefully this will prevent driving rains from getting underneath the ridge and under the panels.

White was selected for roof color in order to maximize reflectivity in the hot summer; we surmise that the loft could get quite toasty though it does have its own window. Plus, any moss/algae that grows on the roof in ten years will show up better against the white background than, say, dark green and therefore will be easier for future tiny house biologists to study.