Thomas Morogobo

Im guessing around 8 or 9 grand at this point.  (That does include some tools Ive been buying because I started with virtually no tools...)  I expect the total to come in between 12 and 15 grand.

Now on to the blocking and roof trusses.


Blocking is a family affair...
The diagonal bracing will help with shear, which is an issue since I'm not using plywood sheathing.  Running my interior siding diagonally will also help a lot with that.


I love the trusses.  Simple, low-tech, and amazingly strong.  A plywood gusset sandwich is nailed and glued onto 2x4s.


Putting up the first of the 10 trusses.




Redwood fence boards (2nds that I picked up for a dollar a piece) as skip sheathing on the roof.  I don't want to use plywood because it would ruin the breathability of my walls.






I decided to add one 36 inch strip of tarpaper along the bottom of the framing to protect the studs from saturated exterior siding.  Our winters here are very wet.  It shouldn't inhibit the ability of the walls to breath since the wall cavities will allow airflow all the way up and down.


And there we are.  Ready for the roof and exterior siding (which will be 1x6 tongue and groove cedar).  Only step left before that is tarpaper on the roof.


Thanks for reading!

Thanks for the comments!

July has seen a whirlwind of framing.  Two experienced builder friends of mine came through and helped me out for free, which has been amazing.  I'm so grateful to them.




Building all the walls on top of each other on the ground... a bit unusual


The wood is local spruce, strong and very very light.


All in 2 days... framing is the fun and easy part I'm told.

Floor put in 7/7

Put in 80 pounds of sheep's wool (about half a pound per square foot by 6 inch cavity) and attached tongue in groove 2x6 douglas fir flooring directly to the joists and furring strips. I used a nailer to put 2 inch staples into the grooves. Was worried about moisture getting into the wool at night so hustled it out in 1 day with the welcome help of my housemate.

Next will be the framing!

Also ordered a Hobbit cast-iron woodstove http://www.hobbitnorthamerica.com/ and an on-demand propane water heater, the Atwood OD-50. And ordered my Corten corrugated steel roofing http://www.cortenroofing.com/ which should come end of June.

Hey everyone,

I am building a tiny house on an 18 foot long 8 foot wide 10k double axle trailer. It's my first building project and I have a deadline of August 24th when our lease is up. I'm using locally sourced and milled lumber and sheep's wool from Oregon Shepherd for insulation. The roof is a Corten corrugated steel roof. I'm going with no plywood, no vapor barriers (except tarpaper against metal surfaces) and air gaps between my insulation and my siding to try and build a breathable wall system. No bathroom, we are happy to poop in the woods. The shower will be a showerhead coming out the exterior and we will build a little outdoor screen wherever we land. The sink will also have mirrored plumbling to the outside allowing an exterior sink to be attached as well. I hope to hear your advice and experiences as my build progresses and learn from you all.

Started in May, which is subfloor/floor month. June will be framing/roof/exterior siding, and July and August will be everything else.

Here are my plans to begin with:

The fridge will be propane... same with the stove and the on demand hot water heater.

Trailer with aluminum flashing and tarpaper attached

Attaching 2x4s with self-tapping trailer deck screws. 2x8 joists will be nailed into these. Most of my lumber is spruce- light and strong

Screwing and nailing in the joists (went with both)

Subfloor and sill plate finished. 2x4 furring strips bolted and screwed in. The floor will be 2x6 shiplapped fir that will run horizontally, nailing into the furring strips and the joists. The sill plate pictured is some reclaimed old growth redwood, which is also bolted and screwed in. Finally, there's 1x wooden spacers attached across the bottom. I stapled plastic nursery netting to this, and it will provide my air gap for my wool insulation. Theres my newborn baby too
I welcome all comments and will update soon! Thanks!

Hi Terry, can you post a sample wall system for a thin-wall stick construction?

Thank you very much for the reply Terry. I will get that book.

I am curious what an example of a traditional envelope for a wood-framed building was- excluding cobb or plasters just as a hypothetical (since I want to build on a trailer and that would probably creating a cracking hazard).

Was it as simple as wood ext siding, sheeps wool, wood int siding?

I know this is a gross oversimplification and you have an expert's knowledge and detail-oriented approach, but is that a fair statement or at least a starting point for ideas?

Jay,

Apologies if this is in the wrong thread, I see you are recently active in this one.

Ive been reading through a bunch of your threads and Im fascinated by your approach to ventilation, timber building and moisture. Some of the threads Ive been able to understand and some have been too technical for me. I am planning on building a wooden mobile tiny house and I want to work with the moisture by having a breathable structure rather than attempting to seal it and inevitably trapping moisture in my walls and insulation (probably natural wool).

Although I have millions of questions I can boil them down to one: Can you point me to some essential reading material for building in this way? There must be a bible or some books which describe this tried and true philosophy of construction in detail. All I seem to find online is endless industry misinformation dubiously labeled as "green building."

Thank you.

Thomas