My Great American Novel. Chapter 1.

Writing my ( not so ) great American novel after being laid off during the covid 19 pandemic. This is a glimpse into my cluttered mind, stream of concious style.

Personally, I feel like the pandemic could have been really slowed down by every country in the world requiring anyone coming back from China to sit in a 2 week quarantine, but what do I know. I guess it is better having everyone in the entire world sitting in quarantine, right?

I have a tiny little keyboard meant for a pad computer hooked up to my phone. I went to get a picture of my setup and reached for my phone.  Then I was like, that is stupid, I can't get a picture of my phone on the pad keyboard, so just imagine you are seeing my phone with this same paragraph leaning back against the pad.

It really is a neat setup, technology is so great. It's not a flying car, but it is pretty cool. Oh yeah, I was unpacking the little storage building and found a folding table, so the workshop now has a table for my drawing board. And this little typing device too. And probably a few other things.

I have been offgrid for a couple of years now.  Yeah, I am one of "those" people.  But is is really cool to be able to run everything off solar panels.  Of course, I am poor, so everything I need is a lot less than most people.

I mentioned being laid off. But how can I be poor and be  working, you ask.  Let me tell you about struggling on 11 dollars an hour as a single older man with no utilities.

It sucks. Period. End of story. If you pay anybody working for you less than this, I seriously hope you burn in hell. Forever.

Wow, that turned dark quick, sorry about that.

I was falling further and further behind each paycheck. Basically one paycheck each month went to rent and utilities.The other paycheck I used to start building a very tiny little 100 square foot tiny house.  Food was optional.

Now, I had a lot of crap from life that I should have gotten rid of, like a beautiful roll top desk that is over a 100 years old. Can't get rid of it. Only thing left from my old life where I made over $200,000 in a single 12 month period.  Not always poor, I bet you didn't see that coming. Don't worry, I'll get back to that.

You probably noticed the Joose in the picture.  I lovingly refer to this can of wonder as a 5 pack in a can.  It is 23.5 ounces and 14% alcohol in a can.  Spell check just helpfully offered alcoholic as a suggestion.  It may be right.

I mentioned that I now have a workshop right?  I am building my second tiny house right now. A palacial 300 square feet. I finally finished the deck and... hold on a second.

The heater is kicking in right now.  30,000 British Thermal Units of glorious heat.  Very nice. I look at the CO detector and not a beep. No warning me to seek fresh air.

Sorry, where was I, oh right... I finished the deck for the new house,  12x16 feet with R-40 of fiberglass and R6.5 of  reflective foam  board to hold the insulation up. Put 6 sheets of dryply on that.

I can feel the Joose kicking in right now.  Feels nice. A little buzz. I am going to have to wait until morning to upload this little story. Steal some Internet from a friend.

I look around the workshop. I am warm and dry and very comfortable. The heater is clicking behind me as it cools off from shutting back down. I timed it. I runs 5 minutes on and turns off for 15 minutes when it is cold. It has a thermostat so it didn't run all day long today.  It was warm enough and sunny enough that it didn't need to run.  I have a double layer of plastic sheeting 5 feet high by 12 feet long facing south for heat. It works awesome when it is sunny.

So anyway, I have the platform insulated to R-46.5, but now I have to keep it dry, can't let the fiberglass insulation get wet so I throw a plastic sheet over it from a roll my friend has. It is for big truck trailers. Those huge trucks that put cracks in your windshields when you follow too closely.

So, I thought, this was before the pandemic, it was just a news story on tv affecting one province in china, I need to build a workshop on top of the platform. I need to keep the insulation dry anyway, so why not create a place to build the roof trusses and to unload the tiny house.

The tiny house is packed full of stuff. I have too much stuff.  I told you before I have too much stuff from my former life.  And I buy a little more stuff every 2 weeks when I get paid. Got paid.

I unloaded a lot of it into a shed whose roof I ignored until it was leaking water into the interior.

I admit it. I'm not perfect.  By the time I realized that the roof was leaking I had no room to move the damage anywhere, and I was having a stroke so I couldn't do anything about it anyway.  Couldn't lift more than 10 pounds.

More on the stroke later. Just so you don't worry all I have left from it is a touch of numbness in my right shoulder an an addiction to statins.

I just finished the Joose and realized it was too quiet. So I turned on the radio. I love 103.1, alternative music.   I have been skipping my statin so I can day drink since I was laid off on Tuesday, or Wednesday, I can't remember.

I almost cussed there, so I think I will sign off for now.  Don't want to offend anyone, and spell check is helping me more than I like to admit.

Stay tuned for chapter two, where you find out about how I made all that money and the stroke. And my coninuing saga of the tiny house.

Next Bigger Tiny House - Temp work area.

Second day.

The weather was perfect. This is where I was starting from the day before. My goal for the day was to get the platform covered for rain that is showing up Tuesday and going on into the next week. I needed the platform to stay dry because it is now insulated and to give me a place to work on building the wall and roof trusses for the tiny house.

I created a trash can by reusing a large bag that a copier came in along with 3 boards to hold it in place, just off the side of the platform. When I put the plastic sheet over this side I went over this trash can so it is accessible from the inside.

Reused pallet straps to brace the plastic sheet. I also put 2x4's across the center 3 walls as bracing.

I finished putting 2x4's as treads on the steps.

Had the plastic sheet up and over the house 3 times and the wind changed directions and I had to get a neighbor to help me.   The plastic sheet is for a big truck trailer and is like 40 feet long by 18 feet wide.

The view from the inside out the side window.  I ran 1x4's that I extended so they would reach from the peak down to the top of the side wall. This was to brace the edge of the roof so the plastic wouldn't tear on the sharp corners of the 2x4.  Taped holes that I made in the sheet having it over the platform to keep it dry.

A 30,000 btu heater.  Was heavy and awkward enough to need 2 people to put on the hanger.

Reused more packing material to create a southern facing window along one side. On a sunny day the entire inside is brightly lit by this window.

Put a tarp up on the other side. Need to trim off a bit from the bottom and put it on that little gap.

Planning on putting in a door. Putting corner braces in the top of the 2x4s that are holding up the plastic sheeting. Hooking up the gas heater. Putting some reflective foil insulation on the inside of the 2x4's for the roof to hold heat inside on a cold day and on a hot day help keep the heat out.

Next Bigger Tiny House, The Platform.

I have been living in a 100 sq ft tiny house for over a year now and I am loving it.  I heat the space with a 8000 btu heater for about a dollar a day all winter long.

The biggest problem has been fighting with the harbor freight solar panels and the cloudy winter to have enough power to run my fridge. If you go with these 100 watt kits, do yourself a favor and water proof the connections with heat shrink tubing. In the process of changing over the connections to standard solar mc4 waterproof connectors, wiring them up to a solar concentrator and convering my battery and inverter over to 24v.

But I just do not have enough space to live comfortably with all my stuff and be able to get to my art or electric supplies to do projects.  So I am adding another, slightly larger 300 sq ft space right next to the current tiny house. I am going to use a similar construction method, but want the walls to be 9 inches thick and the ceiling to go from 2 feet at the wall  to 3 feet thick as it reaches the peak.

Going to put shelves into the current tiny house and a work table and use this space to work on projects. Will connect the two houses with decks.

I built the 12'x16' platform out of 2x12 boards around the perimeter, with floor trusses that are 2x10 across the 12', with notched 2x4's that are 16' long that are at 90 degres to the floor trusses.  I did this to cross brace everything and so that there would be a thermal break so that the floor is not directly connected to the outside of the house envelop, except through 1.5" squares every couple of feet.

I used metal joist supports on each 2x10 and 2x4, both ends. Because everything was treated I had to use corrosion resistant supports and screws and heavily galvanized joist hanger nails. I painted everything metal that was exposed with rustolem heave rust spray paint. I painted the wood frame to help keep the preservative in the wood and not leach out.  I used lag bolts and corner braces.  Each post is lag bolted in place.  I have a tiny little 12v impact that is fantastical powerful and very light and drove

A friend used a tractor with a digger arm to hold up the frame for me while I ran around putting 4x4's in each corner.  We got it fairly level, but I am planning on fine tuning this one last time before I put the walls and roof in place.

I put 1" R-6.5 foam board underneath to hold the insulation inside the floor trusses, these are screwed up to the trusses with metal screws with large washers to distribute the load. I then taped the seams between 4'x8' foam boards with aluminum coated plastic tape to be air tight.

Once the foam was in place I put another 4x4 in the middle of each side, and in the very middle.  I am planning on digging under each 4x4 and putting in a concrete footer.

I put 9" thick R-30 insulation along the 2x10 boards, under the 2x4's, and saw that I could put another few of inches of insulation in, so I got another roll and pulled the layers apart to make 3" layers and ran in 90 degrees across the first layer of insulation, along the 2x4's.

I added little supports in the middle of each  truss, between the 2x4's to give extra bracing to the floor. Just blocks of 2x4 with a little cut off piece of reclaimed pallet wood to space it right.  I also had to cut 2x4's to fit across the center of the deck where the ends of the flooring met. They were not tongue and groove there, so I had to support them along their whole length down the middle. These 2x4's were about 23" long, were put so their wide side was down, and held up to the bottom of the floor with little chunks of the reclaimed pallet boards to maintain the thermal break.

I missed square by an half an inch, but it was too tough at this point to move things, so I am just planning on using some finishing boards on each end and just trimming the edge of the flooring to fake it.

Future plans for the platform. 

This paragraph is done!  This weekend I am going to build a temporary structure to hold a plastic sheet and a tarp overhead to give me a dry, warm work space to build the wall and roof trusses for the new house. I picked up a 30,000 btu propane heater, and will install this so that I can get it warm first thing in the morning or keep it warm if I work in the evenings after work.  Also build on a set of steps so I can get onto the deck without rolling around on the platform like a worm.

Tape the edges of the foam under the platform to keep out insects.

Install another 16' 2x12 under the length of the middle to brace the entire middle of every floor joist. This way the joists will only be spanning 6 feet.

Install corner bracing underneath the platform on the corners.

Install bracing for each post. Just a couple of 2x4's on each side that goes up to the bottom of the platform.

Put a plastic sheet under the whole platform on the ground to keep moisture from getting under the floor.

Line the ground under the platform with pallets for storage.

Run a  treated 2x4 along the bottom of each side to anchor the bottom .

Figure out how to create doors to get into space under building.  Perhaps have spaces to store different dimension lumber.

Use borox chemicals on everything outside of the platform to fight termites.

Use rigid mineral wool insulation from the outside of the platform to the ground. This will resist insects, especially if it is treated with borox.

Put concrete supports under each 4x4.  I am thinking lift up each side with a jack and bury them about half way under ground, then lower them into place. The middle support could just be on a concrete pad. Note to self, next time put them on these supports as I install the 4x4's.

Tiny home update: Siding/Roofing is done

My friend and I put all the sheeting on the tiny home today. He has to fear of heights, so he stood on the top of the step ladder and screwed things in, even 12 feet high.

At the hardware store.

3 sheets of siding/roofing done.

A view from the inside after 3 sheets.

Put on all 6 sheets of roofing/siding.

All buttoned up for the next phase.

Moved Tiny House to final location.

The day finally came where I needed to move the tiny house to its final location so I could finish it up enough to move into the place at the end of the month. The weather had been fighting us for weeks, either 120 degrees, or storming, or both.  A perfect day showed up and we took advantage of the break to move the house.  Just me and a friend moved it 100 feet.  But once it was on the trailer we could have taken it anywhere.

Lifted tiny house up.

Put trailer under tiny house and strapped it on.  Was so well balanced that you could move the tiny house up and down with a single hand.

Tiny house in its final location.  So pretty there. Like a park. 

Next up is tying it to the ground so it can't blow away, siding and roofing it. :D After that will finish the insulation and build windows and doors.

Just reached 100,000 page views.

Thank you all for your support. I could not have done this without you!!!

Mini house update.

An insanely strong storm had winds that tweaked the storage shed walls so they are leaning a couple of inches now.  The storage shed seriously needs plyboard sheeting on it.

The mini house with its curved arch wall trusses has stood up to the storms this summer perfectly. They don't even move in the winds.

I gave 30 days notice to my landlord at the apartment. Paid my last rent.   Scary that I am now forced to move over to the mini house and it needs a lot of work still.

I have all the shelves moved over to the 8x8 storage shed now and loaded up with stuff from the apartment. Sliced out a big chunk of my thumb knuckle taking apart the last shelf. Painful, but I heal absurdly fast.

This weekend I hope to get the mini house moved over to its final location and leveled on blocks.  This will involve a bobcat and a trailer and me and a few strong friends. :D

Then I have 2 paychecks this month to get the siding, roofing and insulation on the mini-house and the storage shed.


After that I need to build windows reusing the glass scanner tops from copiers.  I have about 100 of the glass tops in various sizes.  I also want to build a solar powered water distiller, a solar oven, and a solar composter.

I also managed to get some huge sheets of Plexiglas for free and I am going to build a large solar water heater using plastic tubing and a solar powered water recirculating pump.

I managed to find some 55 gallon metal drums for free that held glycol before.  Going to test build a large rocket mass stove that will heat the mini-home during the coming winter.

I will need to get a gravel road put in across fairly flat ground. And plan on putting in a 4 unit mail box with room for the mail person to pull fully off the road to put the mail in the boxes.  With a couple of large locking containers for packages.

My plan for the electrical system is to start with a 100W solar panel from harbor freight, charging a marine battery. Then use dc to dc converters to charge a single laptop, my phone, a monitor, led lights, and a 12v ceiling fan.  Once I figure out how much power I am using I will be able to add more panels over time to 

Once I am living in the mini house full time in September, I will have a lot more time to get these projects finished.  Will take plenty of pictures and post each project here as I work on them. :D