Happy Thanksgiving! Yeah, I know, it’s a little late, but we were a bit busy around here visiting with family, eating too much vegan food, and working on the tiny house. But we did get a fair amount done and for that we’re thankful. We’re also thankful for a bit of a build break. We needed it after the last two weeks of hitting it non stop.
After the walls went up we rushed to get the roof sheathing and metal roof on before it rained. It sort of worked. Needless to say we still had to go out and buy a roll of 10′ x 100′ plastic sheeting to protect our poor tiny house from inclement weather. And then we got a bit more done and it rained again and we had to break the plastic back out. But when we saw rain in the forecast for Wednesday, we were all, “You know what. We don’t even care. Let’s veg on the couch and watch TV all day.”
We didn’t do that, either. Josh had a video editing project to work on so he was at that all day and I caught up on some pitching I had been meaning to do. But we managed to take our car to get the tires replaced and wheels aligned, which was a plus, we even worked a bit on the house on Thanksgiving, finishing up the last of the flashing around the doors and figuring out the door jamb situation. See, we bought a glass door at the local ReStore for $15 not thinking that we’d also need a jamb and doorstop and such for it. And hardware. Sometimes we don’t make wise choices. All said and done we could have probably saved ourselves quite a bit of time by spending slightly more on a door that was ready to hang and already had a knob and deadbolt. But you live and you learn.
Friday we took it easy again, relishing the extended break. Weather was again a little spotty, but that was just an excuse we used as Josh still had to finish up that video project and I wanted to go black Friday shopping to pick up some stuff for the house. I actually hate black Friday shopping, but we didn’t go super early and there were some killer deals on a few kitcheny things we needed that I couldn’t even have gotten that cheap used, so it wasn’t so bad. And we did still manage to hang the first two siding panels that evening (the first piece is the hardest!), so the day wasn’t entirely wasted. Plus it gave us the stamina to wake up Saturday ready to hit it hard.
And we hit it real hard. We got all but two top pieces of siding up on the entire house with the help of a whole lot of friends and family. No joke, there were so many people who came to help on Sunday that I literally didn’t know what to do with them (and that’s an appropriate use of literally)! They helped paint trim, caulk windows and doors, hang siding, and take down the braces inside, which made the interior look super spacious. We’re only bummed we can’t ride the wave into tomorrow and totally finish the exterior; guess we’ll have to start building the lofts!
Also it’s getting really cold here in Ohio and I don’t appreciate it. My tiny little body doesn’t have the built-in insulation it needs to cope with Ohio winters. I think years of living in places like Florida, Texas and Australia has thinned out my blood and now anything under 45 degrees (Fahrenheit) is just too cold. And once the sun goes down? Fuhgetaboutit. I’m going inside before my toes freeze off.
Alisha is a freelance outdoor journalist and photographer based in Ogden, UT. She loves backpacking, hiking, mountain biking, kayaking and snowboarding (even though she’s terrible at it). She’s also pretty sure she’s addicted to coffee. alishamcdarris.com