Sunday, February 26, 2012

Interior Siding Wave Action

Indeed, interior siding is now complete on the shelf area adjacent to the front door and directly above the Reading Room. The shelf has been framed. A wintertime plug has been made for the attic vent. What more could one want? Trim was added just for grins.

Friday, February 24, 2012

The Rising Tide of Interior Siding

The shelf above the library is being framed here -- joist hangers are used to enhance strength and stamina of said shelf. A plug will be made for the attic vent to avoid wintertime draftiness.

Nailers were installed on either side of each monkey bar. Siding to follow...
Here is the "view from above" ("view from the loft") of the shelf and front of house -- siding has begun to creep up the left-hand wall, almost to the level of the monkey bars. Attic vent remains petulantly unplugged. Astronauts are nowhere to be found -- probably hibernating for now.

Heater and Chimney Installed!

Work continued fastidiously on the chimney last week and the effort paid off! After reading the Dickinson Marine P9000 heater manual for ten hours (just joking: 25 minutes) it was discovered that the chimney should not endure too tight of a bend. Circumferential springs serve as spacers in between the exhaust pipe and the outer pipe -- we moved two of these so that they were located at the bend site to help alleviate pressure / avoid any hotspots (where the inner pipe might touch the outer pipe). The space between the two pipes is the intake. So clever!
Just as certain Aztec gods might be involved in really well-written myths and stories, the God of Fish is the protector of the Weebee heater in this particular story. In a fitting twist of fate, it turns out this is a boat heater -- what one might use on a personal yacht in the winter time (though it seems likely that no tiny house owners are also yacht owners) -- so the God of Fish is indeed pleased. A small fish talisman has been placed on top of the heater to ward off evil spirits (aka to protect the shiny metal finish of the backplate while construction proceeds).

The next step here will be to actually install a propane tank and propane lines. Until then, electric space heaters and work lights to the rescue!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Installing Chimney -- Step 1

We considered installing the chimney in the roof as per normal instructions --- but found that the maximum allowable lengths of chimney (as per Dickinson Marine spec sheet) did not permit the heater to be located underneath the appointed window. Hence, thus, and ergo, a completely new heater site was inspected and selected (not to mention neglected and infected). With this new development, a chimney hole would be needed in the SIDE of the house. Work proceeded according to the new plan.
First, the nibbler tool was used to excavate a square-shaped area from the exterior siding (see above). Cedar blocks were installed here to provide a backing.


3" hole saw enabled accurate hole drilling.
A scout was sent in to examine whether or not the insulation was adequately distant from the perimeter....

And an elite team of excavators followed him, with all manner of tool and toy, to complete the work. Quarters were cramped but, after all, this is a tiny house.

We continue to not take ourselves too seriously. Stay tuned for more developments from Team Chimney!