Maya is still in Maine and I have been taking advantage of the good weather to make progress on the tiny house.  After completing the wall framing on two sides of the house I began installing the remainder of the drain pipes and the HVAC mini-split refrigerant lines (covered in black foam insulation). The latter are often run on the outside of the house inside a bulky cover. Routing them inside the walls is much more aesthetically pleasing but a lot more work. Pictured above is the arrangement I came up with for the washer/dryer drain, kitchen sink drain, HVAC condensate drain, and stack vent.

Normally roses are photographed when they are at their peak splendor.  These, a gift to Jeanine from her husband, appealed to my eye even as they were heading for the compost pile. Had I taken the time to place them in front of a better background this might have been a very compelling photo.

One of the most challenging construction elements of the tiny house is the grey water drain plumbing.  In a normal house you can run these lines (with a constant downward slope) between floor joists. Not so when your floor joists are made of steel,  run the wrong direction and have all voids filled with foam core insulation. Many tiny home builders simply run their pipes down through the trailer and make all the connections below.  That is not an option for us as we are designing for the Northeast’s cold winters.  Our challenge involves the shower which by its nature has a very low drain point and therefore is very difficult to route to a lower exit drain while staying above the subfloor.  To make a long story short we had to employ an oddly angled pipe straight from the shower drain trap to the exit stack.  This angle created a baseline for the rest of the plumbing which is 12 degrees off axis to our walls and there is no such thing as a 12 degree pipe fitting. To get back on axis, I decided to make my own 12 degree fitting by cutting out a section of a 22.5 degree fitting and solvent welding the pieces back together. I hot melt glued the fitting into a cutting fixture which held it in perfect alignment as I made the necessary cuts. The new fitting worked perfectly and I was rather pleased with myself for the idea and its execution.

UPDATE: I eventually decided to replace this fitting for fears that the solvent weld would not stand up to the stresses of road travel.  The consequences of a failure and the difficulty of repair led me to a more complicated but bullet proof solution. After cutting the fitting out, I tested to see how strong the joint was.  I was able to make it fail but only under very high torsional stress.  The joint would have lasted a lifetime in the trailer but I had no way of knowing this without testing it to the failure point.

My sister-in-law Lauren and her husband were in the vicinity of Schenectady and decided to visit my mother while in the area. Between her ballroom dancing and gardening, my mother remains in good health and great shape even as she approaches her 89th birthday next month.

Maya and Caleb are off to Acadia National Park for a4-dayy camping trip. Working on the tiny house has been more physically exhausting than I would have ever imagined and I am happy to have the day off while my boss is on vacation.

The absence of bread in the house prompted a family breakfast out this morning.  It was a nice departure from our normal routine.

Intermittent rain and an imminent thunderstorm at the end of the day helped push us to complete the roof sheathing this afternoon. Kyle’s assistance throughout the day proved critical. He would single-handedly lift a pre-cut sheathing panel to Maya and I at roof level.  We would then align and place it into a bed of construction adhesive before fastening.  Maya by virtue of her size and gymnastic abilities was the designated roof rat, spending much of the day on top of the roof driving fasteners. We finished with just enough time to tarp the house before a massive torrent of rain passed through.

When we visited Sweden several years ago to visit with Jeanine’s relatives I remember hearing an expression that has stayed with me to this day. “You are not a man until you have built a house, planted a tree, and fathered a son.” It occurs to me that my role in Maya’s tiny house project satisfies my only uncompleted item from this list. I feel I am also entitled to bonus points for having fathered a daughter as well. Jeanine, I believe, might argue that this list should be expanded to include … “has learned to show empathy, can prepare a meal without the use of a toaster, and understands the consequences of not putting the toilet seat down.”

All this aside, I can say that working with Maya on this project is one of the most satisfying things I have ever done in my life. This photo, courtesy of Kyle, is one I will cherish forever.

An early start and forecasted rain made for significant progress on Maya’s tiny house today. We were determined to get as far as installing the ridge beam so we could tarp the house in a fashion that would shed rather than pool water.  Despite having to make two unplanned trips (1 hour each) to Home Depot for additional hardware and lumber we managed to reach our goal and then some. The roof will have a steep section (pictured) at the front and back with a dormer over the loft for increased headroom.  In the last hour of the day, we were able to install all of the rafters for the steep section. Hard to believe this was a flat platform just two days ago.

Maya invited Caleb, Sarinnagh, and Taylor over for a morning work party. We needed all hands on deck to place the 250-pound loft into position 80 inches off the floor.  Also installed were the shower stall, bathroom wall, and pocket door.  The pictured sheathing is for temporary stabilization and will be removed when additional framing has been installed.  

Jeanine prepared a lovely lunch for the worker bees who were more than happy for a break from the physically demanding work.

Rain is forecasted for Tuesday so the race will be on tomorrow to erect the ridge beam which will allow us to cover the house with a giant tarp.  Our chances of finishing in time are greatly enhanced now that Kyle is available to help.  He just returned from a ten-day visit with Nico in Colorado and has offered to lend a hand.

Pictured below are the hurricane ties we are using to handle the wind load while driving.  All framing members are being fastened with screws rather than nails for much greater strength.

With no rain today, Maya and I were able to complete the installation of the subfloor, sill plate, and tongue extension platform (key to making our tiny bathroom more spacious). 

Maya and Jeanine have been invited to the wedding of a friend’s son. He is marrying a woman from India in a ceremony in the tradition of that country.  This evening they attended the groom’s party dressed in the outfits they obtained while in India for Maya’s Coming of Age adventure.

Work on the tiny house began in earnest today with the arrival of our trailer. Despite constant rain, we completed insulating the floor (6″ of foam core – R30) and partitioning the porch from the house foundation.

Kyle and cousins Rory and Mario are visiting Nicolai in Colorado for a camping adventure.  Radio silence was broken today when we received this proof of life photo from the road.  We are looking forward to learning more about the reunion when Kyle returns.

From a yoga retreat near Katahdin Mountain in Maine Jeanine sent these photos.  She is enjoying a week of healthy eating, exercise, and meditation.  I can’t imagine a more tranquil and stress-free environment.  Looking forward to hearing all about the experience and to additional photos, perhaps a headstand on the edge of a cliff.

Maya is on Nantucket visiting Sarinnagh, Kyle is in Colorado visiting Nicolai, Jeanine is at a yoga retreat in Maine, and John moved out and into his new apartment today.  I worked on the pocket door that will separate the bathroom from the kitchen in Maya’s tiny house. We are using linear motion bearings on a rail to minimize the width of the pocket wall.  With a fixed-size trailer base, it pays significant dividends to save a few inches everywhere you can.

Maya left for Cape Cod this afternoon to join Sarinnagh for the 4th of July but not before cutting to size all of the plywood needed for the bedroom loft and bathroom wall.  She is cutting two sheets at a time using a circular saw with a home-built guide to follow a straight-edge clamp. She also cut and pocket-hole drilled all of the internal ribbing that will be used to give the loft its strength.