Circuit Breaker Box

 For some reason I was sweating nervous about installing my circuit breaker box. It didn't look quite like any of the diagrams online, so I couldn't follow their instructions blow-for-blow... and I really, really, really didn't want to do it wrong. Electricity has the tendency to inspire fearful respect, and if you're an amateur electrician who feels otherwise, then you're probably also a fool.

Just sayin'.

Electrical Wiring - Part 1

Disclaimer: Electricity is dangerous, so I am never going to write a blog post about How to Wire a Tiny House as if I'm now an expert or something. There are books about wiring; read those if you really want to know the nitty gritty. All I'll write about are my impressions of the process and my personal experiences with wiring a tiny house made of SIPs.

So, how was it? Well, for at least the first 90% of the process, it was... torturously slow and rife with hand-wringing impasses and ignorance anxiety. One of the first receptacles I wired, I re-wired twice before I was satisfied. I scratched my hands all up, I cussed a lot, I even accidentally stabbed myself in the face with needle-nosed pliers.

This stuff is harder than it looks!

Walls - Day 5-7 - The Fourth Wall

There it is, everybody. The fourth wall is up (thanks to our neighbor Leif for helping with the big lift!), the window rough openings are all framed in, and we are ready for the top plates. Back to that in a minute...

Yesterday (Day 6:) we mostly spent puzzling over electrical wiring. I had planned to have a very simple wiring schematic, with no complicated three-way switches or anything like that... but then (with Dad's help) I realized two things:

Walls - Day 1-2 - 50% Done

 (~12 hrs)

(Photo credit: Rachel Escher--thank you!)

Walls! Dimensions! My house is starting to look like a house... if you face a certain direction and don't look up!

I had predicted that it would take us three days to complete the walls, but at our current rate of two panels per day, it's going to take four. That's okay.

Big thanks to Mom and Ellen, Chuck, Troy, and Rachel for helping Dad and me these past couple of days! 

Today's post will be photo-heavy because I don't feel like writing. (I feel like going to bed.)

Design Thoughts and Updates: Siding, Roofing, and More

Good news, everyone! I heard back from the structural insulated panel manufacturer! It turns out the file format of the plans I sent to him were not openable or something. Drat. I reformatted and re-sent them, but before I re-sent them, I realized that I needed to change a thing or two. Which bring me to the topic of today's post!

I've made some minor changes to my design since I started the blog. I switched plans from a 24"x32" RV bathtub to a standard 32"x32" shower pan. I discovered the possibility of using a fold-away pot filler faucet in the shower stall to serve as a sinkless hand-washing station, rather than a fixed faucet that might get in the way when I'm showering or not reach far enough when I'm using it. I decided that it would be okay for my required 4'6" of bed alcove headroom to be measured between the loft joists, rather than under them--a decision that adds 5.5" to the headroom upstairs, in the loft. I figured out how to hang joists on a SIP wall without interrupting the SIP, by screwing or bolting a rim track made of 2x lumber flat against the interior side of the SIP and hanging the joists with joist hangers from it. And I learned a lot about plumbing and electrical work thanks to a visit to the local library's nonfiction section.

Some of my other design considerations are more of a quandary... or are at least more interesting to discuss.

For example, I wrote an entire post about my electrical system design! But since that might be of limited general interest, here are a few of the more aesthetically-minded design updates.

Designing the Electrical System

Designing a tiny house involves tackling tons and tons of semi-separate, interlocking design problems (in the sense of "math problem," rather than problem problems). One problem that I've been wrestling with lately is electricity. Oversimplified, the big question is just a binary:

Do I need 30 amp or 50 amp electrical service?

But it's tricky. I'm learning a lot about electricity and wiring these days, but I'm still working on this one. Today I sat down and calculated the total wattage and amperage of all the electrical appliances I plan to have to determine whether I need a 50 amp RV electrical hookup, or if I can make do with 30 amps.

In case that's as opaque a concept to you as it was to me a few weeks ago, here are some electricity basics:

The PAD Tiny House Basics Workshop Weekend!

My first major investment in my tiny house was a pair of tickets to the Nov. 1-2 Portland Alternative Dwellings (PAD) Tiny House Basics Workshop. This was intentional: I didn't want to take any concrete steps toward building my "Going Home" until Dad and I had had time to attend the workshop, hear from the experts, get our questions answered, and actually spend time inside an honest-to-goodness tiny house on wheels. And I'm very glad I did!

Here is my (very long and somewhat thorough) report on that weekend.