Mounting the Solar Panels

Hi Everyone, This weekend at the Tiny House we mounted our solar panels to the roof. I had help from a good friend from work and it went really smoothly. We installed two 265 watt solar panels and two 12 volt 325 amp hour batteries to create a 24 volt system. Our goal from the beginning of our build was to be free of electric bills. We are now generating our own electricity and it is amazing to see the whole thing finally come together.

Thanks for reading! Next up- water, deck and a toilet.

-Pat and Cori

Prepping for Eco Week

Hello!

This coming week is ECO WEEK, sponsored by the Canterbury Sustainability Department. We were asked to participate by hosting an tiny house open house. Check out the website: http://www.sustain.canterbury.ac.nz/ecoweek/!

There will be a few visitors to the tiny house this Tuesday, so we made a big push to get a lot of stuff done (plus cleaning!). Enjoy.

BATHROOM

TRIMMING MISSION: Cover up the fact that our plastic wasn't long enough to reach the floor...

CORI CUT ALL OF THESE (FYI, I do more than just take pictures.)

ALL DONE! Now on to the light and fan!

And now to clean up the look of the sink. First we peeled back the plastic and then came up with this brilliance! 

Just an old suitcase with an attitude, came free with an old newspaper from 1975!

Next up: Kitchen!

A nice curtain rod in anticipation for an actual curtain!

We needed some more storage!

And EVEN MORE STORAGE!

Why so SERIOUS???

We also finished some trim if you can tell. 

 

We also installed our bench top. And added some hinges and protection.

I know you have seen our letters but we finally finished all the electrical in the house today! All we have to do is test and mount our solar panels.

This is the cleanest we could get the house!

Thanks for reading!

-Cori and Pat

Trimmyity Trim Trim! (and a door)

Hello blog followers, We got a lot accomplished at the tiny house today. The trim around the entrance door and kitchen windows is complete. We were able to use the rimu we got for free from some friends. We cut all the pieces to size and stained them before brad nailing them into place. We also installed a barn style door to the entrance of the bathroom only using some recycled materials we had laying around. I love it when things come together!

Now watch as Pat explains his recycling magic! 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxjD0k7ICXo&w=420&h=315]

It Moves!

Hello everyone, Today at the tiny house we did a bunch of little things including trim, kitchen lighting, vinyl in the cabinets, and some decorating. We also lowered the trailer off the four blocks its been resting on for over 7 months. We hooked the trailer up to our truck to test the lights and towing capabilities. After filling all four tires on the trailer with air we shifted the tiny house with no worries. Success! Watch the drama unfold!

Below is the first long distance photo that we have been able to take without a fence in the way!

Nice view!

Pat getting ready to try it out!

Finally got the kitchen lighting up.

I found these in a store in Wellington, three for $12! It took us a while to decide where to put them.

If you look closely you will see the vinyl that we glued to the shelves of the kitchen cabinets. It makes it look so much better!

This thing is really coming together huh?

FINALLY some trim!

I am embarrassed to say that this took me a good 30 min to do!

So it doesn't going flying open while we transport our house!

We also have a few videos if you are interested!

Inside a Moving Tiny House!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Vf6ZXasg_8&w=420&h=315]

Towing the Tiny House

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kK_c4IvfcU&w=420&h=315]

https://youtu.be/XsTZm70acEc

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsTZm70acEc&w=420&h=315]

Painting & Trim

Hello bloggers, It certainly is spring. This is the second weekend we have been rained out, making things at the tiny house difficult. We have still managed to get things done though.

We painted our lockers, storage cabinet, and kitchen cabinets. I also have been hooking up some of the electrical outlets and switches as I go along.  We did the trim above the kitchen all out of recycled timber. At this stage it is really difficult to use recycled materials to do the finishing work because their imperfections make it difficult to be satisfied with the result. This is new territory for the both of us and we keep losing our patience. Building a tiny house is hard work but we had a unexpected visitor today which boosted our morale.

And that's All Folks!

It doesn't seem like much but it is coming along. We did some more major clean up because our tiny house is going to be a part of Eco Week! A sustainable themed week long series of events hosted by the University of Canterbury. Following Eco Week we will be moving our tiny house to our newly rented lot in Christchurch. Everything is happening so soon! Stay tuned for more ;)

Pat and Cori

Paint, Bathroom Progress and Electrical

Hi Readers! Last weekend was one of the first weekends we worked on the tiny house that was cut short by bad weather. But Pat still managed to paint the beige walls (you probably can't tell from the pictures but the walls were scratched and dented). So this weekend we made a huge push to make up for our lost day!

This Saturday we lined our bathroom with plastic we got for free from a friend. We didn't have enough to cover the ceiling as well so once again we used up some scraps! At least our whole house (inside and outside) matches! We also had time to install our sink that had been lying dejected in our shower for ages!

This is the floor I did a while back, finally you can see it ! Previously we had used cardboard to protect the flooring but this weekend we brought the vacuum cleaner along with us. 

We spent the rest of the day cleaning, laying down blue plastic and checking on our bathroom walls.

Sunday was a later start. We got began by hooking up our plug outlets and our lights. Check out the difference it makes!

We finished up the day by finally putting a door on our storage cabinet (we also shortened it!)

  

It def needs some tweaks but it is on its way! We had a great weekend with lovely weather and our house looks and smells brand new!

Thanks for reading, next weekend hopefully we will have a couch installed and some more trim!

Please enjoy our first attempts at using the panaromic feature on Pat's phone ;)

Signing off!

Pat and Cori

Saturday Tiny House Work

Hello blog followers, Today at the tiny house we finished off the door for the utilities box, secured the last bolt fixing the house to the trailer, removed our kitchen cabinets to sand and repaint, and built a small shelf for the kitchen out of some free items we had laying around. The weather turned out to be really nice!

Ceiling Insulating and Covering

Hi everyone, Today at the tiny house we insulated and covered our ceiling. It has felt like forever that the ceiling has been not finished, but today we got it done! Some really good friend of ours had some extra polystyrene laying around. We took what they gave us and bought what we needed and today got around to finishing our ceiling. That stuff sure does make a hell of a mess but in the end it worked out well.

After the insulation was up we calculated that we had enough left over roofing material for our ceiling. The rust, holes, scratches, and all kinds of minor imperfections gives it a good rustic look.

We also had time to build a door for our utilities box completely out of scraps we had left laying around.

Hope you like it!

Think I am looking kind of stiff haha!

Pull-out rubbish bin

Hello everyone, We installed a pull out rubbish can underneath our counter. We paid 25 dollars for it on trade me, a few days later we saw it for sale at Bunning's for $125! We really know how to find a bargain.

After the trash cans were fitted, we tackled the storage crates by cutting them to size and fitting them so the bed can still pull out in between them.

Roof and corner flashing

Hello everyone, Today was a beautiful Autumn day in New Zealand! I finished the roof and corner flashing but still have to flash around the windows at a later date. I attached the Flashing with some rubber washer screws and sealed the corners and seams with some waterproof sealer. Looks pretty flash haha!!

Finishing the Exterior

Hello everyone, We have finally finished the outside minus a few bits of flashing around the windows and on the corners of the walls. 

Behind this wall with the two windows is going to be our kitchen. We are going to install two planter boxes underneath the windows for fresh herbs.

Exterior walls and windows

Hello everyone, We started to clad the outside of our tiny house and installed the front window and door. I first nailed strips of thin timber over the outside of the building paper to attach the exterior wall to.  We used some metal wall cladding we bought from a recycled building materials company. This material is actually brand new. Its really exciting to actually see it look like a house. I still have to finish the back and the side of the house.

This is the friendliest most talkative cat I have ever met. She is curious of what we are doing and checks up on us every time we are there. She is scared of the llams, they come after her when she enters the gated area.

Framing and cladding the roof

Hi everyone, Cori and I worked on framing and cladding the roof today. We framed it with the same building timbers as the walls: lightweight and cheap! The walls and roof were first wrapped in building paper, then we used the second hand corrugated iron we bought for the roof. It worked awesome!!

Silly old Llamas!!

We thought it would be nice if we could get some extra light in through the roof, so we added a skylight.