Wednesday, November 19, 2014

My Tiny House is Safe from high winds!

Today Tod and his son from Randall Manufactured Homes came out to install my mobile home tiedowns.
This was their first ever Tiny House! So first task was figuring out where to put them!
Once that was decided The augers came out!

Long augers that are slowly turned into the ground. With a very heavy motor, attached rails are to lean on for even more weight 
if needed!

The finished product! One in each corner, not cheap, but with the high winds common here, it is well worth it!
Now Tod was so impressed with my tiny house, he mentioned they have just purchased a mobile home park in Boron, CA, and in about 2 months will be happy to welcome Tiny Houses! Space rent should be around $200 to $220 per month. So if you don't have to be close to a major metro area for work, and are looking for somewhere to park your tiny home..this could be a great place!
You can contact Tod and Alison at (661)855-4567 or (760)373-8277 Just tell them Grandma's Tiny House sent you!


Monday, November 17, 2014

Beautiful Porch and Ramp.

With the help of my work party folks, My porch and deck got their first coat of all in one stain on Sunday and today I was able to put the second coat on to finish it up!
The posts are beautiful! They almost glow!
But the porch and ramp are absolutely gorgeous too! 
Even though it feels like everything happens much slower than planned, it is wonderful to see the progress as it moves along!


Work Party!

Sunday dawned clear, cold and calm. The calm part is very unusual for my windy home. But very helpful for my Work Party!
Here are three of the four folks from the 
San Diego Tiny House enthusiasts
MeetUp group who made their way up the hill to help me prepare and stain my deck and ramp. Also in attendance were two remarkably well behaved kids, who played quietly and napped in the back of their small SUV for the entire day!
Here is the final member of the crew cleaning the wood to prep for staining.
Believe it or not, while the others went to Target to buy sweats (they didn't realize how cold it was at near 4,000 ft) He worked in shorts and a short sleeve shirt! 
I made a big pot of chili and two batches of cornbread to ensure no one wilted due to 
lack of nourishment.
It made for a wonderful day. I so much was thankful for their help, as my broken rib is acting up again. I had thought I was done with the annoyance of that, but it reared it's ugly head again a couple of days ago.


Thursday, November 13, 2014

It's about more than just the House.

A big part of living in a Tiny House is Downsizing. So yesterday I took 5 trash bags full of clothes to Goodwill and now my closet shelves look like this..
These two shelves represent ALL of my clothes except bras, jeans and hanging dresses. So all my underwear, shirts, T's,  pants, socks, sweaters and sleeves for my brace are here! I know that much will fit in my Tiny House! I feel so much lighter:) 

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Roof!

The roof is coming! Slow but steady. Due to cold and winds it is taking longer than expected but it is getting done.
Sunshine, but really cold and windy!
I'm amazed that my roofer can still wear shorts! It's pretty frigid out there...burrr!
So, it's starting to look like a real house. One side almost done, soon I can start on the siding! I can't wait!
I am beginning to realize that I just need to assume that everything is going to take three times as long as I think it will. But, I'm in no rush so I will be patient:)

Saturday, November 1, 2014

RAIN!!!

Rain and WIND! luckily, I had just installed my front door. But the rest of the house needed a raincoat and fast!
So my Daughter and her Husband came over and in about 2 hours, we had the roof tarped and then I spent another couple of hours covering the sides, porch and ramp.
Then if was off to their house to babysit while they went to a midnight showing of "The Rocky Horror Show" for their anniversary.
While I was there, I listened to the winds scream across our flat desert landscape. Then it started raining. About 2:30 I was headed for home, dreading what I might find.

It was just as I had feared, the whole roof was exposed! The tarp had blown completely off the roof! Pulled out of all of its tiedowns.

I grabbed a flashlight and went out in the rain to access the problems. There was no way to fix the tarp. The roof was already wet. Tarping it now, even if it was possible, would just hold the wetness in the wood. So I went inside.

The good news was it looked mostly OK!
Small leaks around each skylight (Because they don't have their flashing yet, that goes on with the roofing) So it was time to grab bowls and settle in.
My bed for the night

This was NOT how I had imagined my first night in my Tiny House! But I slept well, even listening to the wind and rain lash the house for hours.
Here is what I found in the morning light.

My tiny house weathered the storm!
Now I just need to wait for the roof to dry out and get those shingles and flashing on!!! But for now, it works:)
I have company coming for the next week so it should have lots of time to dry out.