Mexico Vacation... kinda

Vacation or work? We spent December 22-Jan. 30th at the Sayulita RV park near town and the beach. The closer we got to New Years Eve, the crazier things were getting in town so we packed up and headed out our land. We were hoping to have water and a septic tank but as things often go in Mexico, we found ourselves behind schedule. No worries we thought, we have on-board holding tanks for freshwater, gray water and black water. It was harder than we expected to conserve water, especially because it was hot and for the first few days, we had the RV facing the wrong direction and we were fully exposed to the sun. We eventually turned "Punchita" around so that the sun was blocked most of the day and we could rest comfortably under the neighboring Mango tree. Nice! 

Here you get an idea of our lot and the land surrounding it. That's the ocean in the background, about 15 minutes away. Muy tranquilo!

If you walk further up the hill you get a better perspective. Thats the river in the background, which runs full durring the summer rains. Pretty dry right now.

Once were at the lot we quickly realized just how important it is to have fresh water. We told the builders to abandon the hole they dug for a septic tank and asked them to continue to dig, and don't stop until the hit water. It took 2 guys, 2 more hard days of digging but they hit fresh water at 5 meters. Big props to these guys. They worked harder than just about anyone. I certainly wouldn't want to dig a well by hand.

Here I am showing off our new fresh water supply. They'll finishing digging and building the walls next week. The whole project should be completed in two weeks. 

Lastly, here's a video of the area around our lot. You'll need to cut and paste the link into a new tab. Warning: It's a little long!

http://youtu.be/P2uChcGkGw0

Mexico Progress!

Teodoro, our builder in Mexico has been busy clearing the brush and starting on the fence.  I can't believe how much this grew in just 6 months! They say that the vegetation grows one foot every week during the rainy season.  

Making really good progress on the fence. We're also having the gate built and installed as well as hanging the chain link. Once everything is installed, we'll plant some vines to grow over the chain link and some buganvilia near the road, and hopefully a couple of palms. Can't wait to see the gate installed.

Pretty good lifestyle being able to hang out with your grandson and dog while working outdoors at the end of a beautiful and peaceful road. How do I get one of those jobs?

Winter Hiatus

I missed my goal of having the exterior done by winter and so I decided to take a winter hiatus. This project is supposed to be enjoyable and freezing my arse off in the drive-way doesn't sound like much fun.

This opened up a bit of extra $ that we'll be using to put the finishing touches on our Mexico property. We're finishing the fence and gate, installing the septic and water, doing some landscaping and possibly building a small deck. We're also moving the RV from the nearby ranch where its being stored to its more permanent home on our lot. Pictures to follow upon our return.

In the meantime, I picked up 200 sq. ft. of Storm Guard I'll need for the roofing. I'll also continue to search for the few more materials I need to complete the tiny casita. Metal roofing, interior paneling, insulation, etc.

Happy Holidays!

Once to figure it out. Do it right the second time.

Dig it: When it comes to projects, generally, I just dig in fearlessly and start figuring it out. I've learned a lot, sometimes the hard way, by doing it this way. Most people say "do it right the first time". Well, I say "do it once to figure it out, and then do it right the second time". But building with repurposed materials makes this theory harder to manage. If I make a mistake and run out of something, I can't just run up to HD and grab more plywood for instance. 

Uncharacteristically, I've been stuck in my head lately, second guessing my design and wondering if building this thing out of metal studs is going to work. :(

Less time dreaming: There is a tiny house blog out there somewhere and one of the post was a question about what would you do different on your second tiny house, or regrets on your first. One guy responded that he would spend less time "dreaming" and more time "doing".  He's right! And with beautiful, though slightly windy weather, its time to get back out there, make mistakes, and figure this thing out!

One wall at a time. Here's the first wall (front facing bedroom). You can see that the 4' x 4' windows are really big, maybe even too big. Another disadvantage of building with reporpuposed materials is that you don't have the luxury of being picking. On the other hand, it will be bright and light inside the tiny casita.

Here's the second wall (back facing bedroom). 

Here I'm working out the pitched roof. I thought of making one side of the trailer 4" or 5" taller and just laying the roof on top but, I want the ceilings on the inside to be flat, not angled to match the roof. I'm feeling pretty good about this design. It will be very strong and have slight pitch. All the water will run to one side of the casita so that we can collect rain water. 

Three walls and one roof/ceiling section done today. Might have done more but I ran out of track. I'll run up to Resource in Boulder today and see if they have more. 

Weather Proof!

Snow! Snow! Snow! Crappy weather and chores slowed me down a bit lately. I did get the plywood sheathing painted with two coats of weather proofing stain; regular price $179 , purchased for $20 (oops paint) at HD. Because mold and mildew is a problem in tropical climates like Sayulita, we need to take extra precautions to assure this thing is water tight. 

All the panels we double coated on all sides. Not fun and time consuming but will make a difference in longevity and comfort of the house. 

Also, I found a few insperational images while waiting out the snow inside. 

Love this tiny kitchen with a top that folds down when not in use. 

This kitchen design is a perfect example of just how simple things should be. Too many gadgets = too many things to keep clean. Most of the cooking will be done outside on the BBQ anyway. 

Great example of using 1x1's as siding and security.

Wake to the sound of crashing trees.

Crazy how fast things can change here in Colorado.... Good thing I had the mini-house covered. 

1 step forward and 2 steps back

Another major score: I got 20 sheets of 5/16 plywood for $4 per sheet. I also hit Repurposed Materials on the way home in hopes of grabbing some free tapered insulation. By the time I got there however, they were out of the free stuff. Still got a good deal.  4x8 sheets of 2-1/2 insulation for $10 per sheet. Not bad.

After a sleepless week of worrying that the original foundation design wasn't strong enough, I took the whole thing apart and started over from scratch. This time I doubled up each stud and made the space between them closer together. Also, screwed the studs together where the back-up to each other. Instead of just metal on the bottom, I used sheets of plywood coated with water-proofing stain ($7 per gal. oops paint from HD). EVERYTHING is glued with construction adhesive. 

Here's a shot of the front section. You can see the doubled studs. The insulation sheets can be cut with a box knife and snapped, or with a hand saw. I prefer the hand saw as the edges are cleaner. Once the insulation has been placed, spray foam into the empty spaces, glue the top of each stud and install top sheet/subfloor. 

Here's the finished back section. Very strong now! Seems like this would be a piece of cake looking at it, but there are a million sheet metal screws, glue and cuts.

Then I flipped the whole thing over to install the metal moisture gaurd I saved from the camper. Not a fun job and easy to get cut. Once I had the metal in place, I covered the whole bottom with some roofing cement I had laying around. This should keep it dry and, keep any creepy crawlers from getting inside. 

Here's where I ended the weekend. Way behind schedule, but at least I know it's very strong now... and I learned a lot along the way. Next weekend I'll finish the foundation and if I'm lucky, start on the walls. In the meantime I need to track down a good deal on some recycled metal roofing.

The weather was too nice to spend working all weekend. Another beautiful day in Boulder. So spoiled!

Bed Rails?

I switched out the wood blade in the chop box to a metal blade. Makes a pretty good cut-off saw. 

My welds aren't the prettiest but their strong! I welded a 2 foot extension to the back of the trailer and 6 "outriggers" to the sides. I also plan on drilling and adding a couple bolts on each side of the rear extensions.

Side view. Built the first of three platform/foundation sections. My first time working with metal studs and I can tell you that they're great! I cut them in groups on the cut-off saw, screwing them in place is fast work, and, if you make a mistake and need to adjust, its as simple as re-screwing. 

I used old bed rails for the side angle iron. It's "spring iron" so, to my surprise, it welds great. Just really difficult to drill threw. There's about a 1/2" gap on each side so that when the siding is in place, it will sit down onto the angle iron. When the siding goes up, I'll screw the foundation to the trailer at the bed rails, and under the trailer.

And from the back.

Ah Oh!

I found a guy selling steel at a great price from an empty lot down by the railroad tracks.  Also, it's been a long time sense I've been in a smokey office with the guy behind the counter openly chain smoking cigs like they're going out of style (which they have). Sounds a little sketchy right? Despite the smokey atmosphere, Dean was a good guy with fare prices. I scored about 45' heavy gauge 3.5" "mini channel" for $60. Not bad, not bad at all. 

Now comes the Ah Oh! 

With the camper (finally) off the trailer I could go back to my plans and make sure that my original measurements we're correct. (The original plan was based on rough measurements.) Even though the camper was 20' the platform that the camper sat on was just over 18'. Bad news as I was originally hoping to build a 24' mini-house. Adding a strong extension to the back of the trailer doesn't scare me as much as the position of the axles, which should be about 10% back from center. Adding 1' to the front and 5' to the back puts the axles too far forward and just doesn't look safe... and 2000 miles is a long way to drive with an unsafe trailer swaying behind. Sadly, I needed to tweak my design (updated, but not completed,  design below).

Funny how things work out. 

I actually like this new shorter design better. I was beginning to think that 24' was too big and starting to move too far away from the original concept of what a tiny house is all about. Small and cozy, just enough room for the bare essentials, easy on the environment and most importantly, efficient and inexpensive. With the the axles slightly back of center, I can safely add 1' to the front and 3' to the rear for a total of 22' I'm losing most of the 2' in the bedroom which likely means a full bed instead of a queen, or maybe a Murphy bed. How much time do you spend in the bedroom anyway? I would rather have a larger kitchen and living area. I also tweaked the design to accommodate the new 4'x4' windows.

Landmark!

I squeezed in a couple hours of work tonight and managed to get the platform completely off the trailer. HUGE day!!! I saved a boat load (err, trailer load?) of money on the trailer but I'm not sure if I would demo a camper again. It was a tremendous amount of work, and it will take me weeks to get rid 

of all the trash. 

I'll pick up some angle iron this week and start welding. I need to add a couple feet to the overall length and add a few more "outriggers" to the sides. I also need to swing by Repurposed Materials (http://repurposedmaterialsinc.com/) in denver to pick-up some pallet tops for my floor. If I get good weather this weekend, I just might have the foundation/platform completed. Fingers crossed.