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

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]

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.

FIVE ESSENTIAL Tools To Build Your Own Tiny House

Hello out there, We decided to do a blog post on tools you need to purchase to complete a tiny house from beginning to end. You may think the list would be huge, but you don't have to spend a fortune on tools. You may need to borrow from friends or family here and there to get by but the main tools you need to purchase to do the bulk of the building are on this list.

1: Cordless drill with two good rechargeable batteries-  Buying a good battery drill from the beginning will save you lots of time on recharging batteries and less hassle of dealing with extension cords. It's worth buying name brands and spending the extra money when it comes to buying your drill.

2: Circular Saw- This will come in handy during framing, finishing and general building. Every nog (dwang- look it up) in our house was cut with this incredible tool!

3: Hammer-  Self explanatory.

4: Measuring tape- Make sure you have a few of these lying around where you are working, because when you need one they are never there.

5. Table saw- This tool can be pricey but it necessary near the end of your build. We held off as long as we could, but it has already proven itself in terms of usefulness for finish work. In our last post we were only able to install tons of wall boards because of the table saw.

We had a productive weekend again. Finally installing the lockers!

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.