actually tiny

Plumbing the outdoor shower

November 10, 2019December 23, 2019Leave a comment

Today we plumbed the outdoor shower. Overall it went pretty well with the notable exceptions that the valve location feels about 6 inches too high and the escutcheon plate is positively atrocious.We both really wanted a vintage fixture for this but ultimately a single handle pressure balanced valve is just a lot more user-friendly...

Finishing the sewer connection + setting the toilet

November 9, 2019November 24, 2019Leave a comment

Finished the sewer connection today and set the toilet. It seems like most people are going with composting toilets in tiny houses, but I’ve never been a big fan of indoor composting toilets. We had outside composting toilets on my off grid farm and it was a great setup, but here in the city...

Blocking up the trailer

November 8, 2019November 24, 2019Leave a comment

Today we blocked up the trailer, ending my ill-fated experiment of building a tiny house with the weight on the wheels and keeping level by winding the leveling jacks down an equal amount of turns over the course of the build to prevent overloading them.This strategy didn’t cause any problems per se it just...

Timelapse: building the woodshed

November 6, 2019November 24, 2019Leave a comment

This little firewood shed means more to me than you might expect. One of the downsides of becoming seriously chronically ill six years ago was leaving my beautiful off-grid farm behind and moving back to the city where energy arrives at the flick of a switch with no visceral sense of usage and certainly...

Building a woodshed out of scrap

November 5, 2019December 23, 2019Leave a comment

We’ve spent these last few precious sunny days cleaning up the seemingly endless bits of debris from the build and repurposing as much of it as possible into a tiny firewood shed. This time it was me on the saw and Liz doing the assembly.I do my best not to save leftover construction materials...

Soldering the off grid hot water system

November 3, 2019November 24, 2019Leave a comment

Today we crossed the finish line on the soldering marathon of our hybrid solar thermal and wood fired hot water system.I’m really liking my new Ridgid 1/2- and 3/4-inch rotary tubing cutter, much better than the old style cutters. Once I have dry fitted the entire assembly I identify which points will be easiest...

The search for fixtures

October 31, 2019December 23, 2019Leave a comment

Ah the bittersweet first-world torment of finding the perfect shower and sink fixture.Looking for a well-styled inexpensive faucet that’s guaranteed to break immediately or leak within a year? Amazon is your place.How about a reliable brand with awful styling for an arguably acceptable price? Either big box store can help you there. (I don’t...

Outdoor shower details

October 29, 2019December 23, 2019Leave a comment

We finished the structure for the outdoor shower this weekend, just in time for my birthday today! Brian’s talked a lot about the construction in previous posts, but I’m going to walk through the details again here now that we’ve got photos to share.The roof of the shower structure will support the solar collector...

Timelapse: finishing the outdoor shower enclosure

October 28, 2019December 23, 2019Leave a comment

We finished building the outdoor shower enclosure today. This whole project has been really gratifying because it essentially built itself around the frame requirements to support the solar hot water collector which will form the roof of the shower area. Such a perfect way to get rid of leftover beams, siding and miscellaneous scraps...

Timelapse: constructing the solar shower deck

October 26, 2019November 24, 2019Leave a comment

We worked late to finish the outdoor shower deck and stairs. Very pleased with how it’s all coming together and grateful for the opportunity to use up lots of leftover wood and building supplies. It doesn’t look like Liz is doing much work in this video but she’s cutting, sanding, and staining wood as...