Four years on…

And Casa Chica is still my permanent residence! Mostly. I was working full-time in Minneapolis for a spell in 2019 and signed a year lease on an apartment, so I decided to shut down the little house for the winter. It’s too hard (on my nerves) to make sure it stays warm enough if I’m not there mostly full time. So last fall I drained all the water (hopefully, we’ll find out in spring), added some anti-freeze, removed any consumables that shouldn’t freeze and shut the door. I check on it from time to time, and all is well. I miss it, but it is awfully nice living in a place where the water comes out of the tap without any more effort from me than a flip of the faucet handle and I don’t have to clean toilet buckets in below zero weather. I’m getting soft as I approach 50. But the hardest thing about living in Casa Chica is living in it in the winter. I haven’t had condensation problems that I’ve heard horror stories about, but I designed with that in mind (like with the passive air inlet) and have employed other solutions like running a dehumidifier on really cold nights to minimize the ice buildup on the inside of the windows.

I’m also happy to report that Casa Chica successfully moved over the road to her current  location! It was only a couple of miles, but we had to go up a very steep hill and I’ve no idea how much she weighs so we borrowed the biggest truck we could find (a full ton, I think, and it was struggling up the hill). I was nervous, but she did great!

Technically it’s still not finished. This fall I finally got the shower completed, minus hanging the shower curtain, although I’ve yet to try it out (but yes, I have showered in the past 4 years. Gyms and friends, or a garden hose in the summer). It’s still waiting on some interior trim, there still aren’t doors for the storage attics, and I never did give all of the interior wood walls a clear coat. That’s all coming. But as an update to my last post in September 2015:

• The exterior is stained! See photos. I used Bioshield Resin and Oil Stain Finish #3. My friend Andrea had to talk me into the two-tone, but now I love it. I had it professionally done and the painter had never used it before so he sprayed it on. This summer was particularly harsh to the stain on the southwest facing side so I put on another coat of blue and will probably have to do some work on the orange/red side next year. I think it needs to be applied thicker than the spray was able to achieve. I also had all the mis-matched window frames painted a dark brown to match the color that came on the front door.
• All water features work, and over the first few months of living in the house I developed a system for filling the fresh water tank and emptying the gray water tank (hint: do it at the same time, or run the risk of the gray water tank backing up into the shower). For the first two summers I kept the water hose connected to the house for on-demand water without having to fill a tank, but the hoses were out in the sun and got GROSS. And cleaning them was a pain. So for the past couple of years I’ve filled the water tank year-round, about once a week (without a shower). Not that big of a deal, but tricky in the winter. I’ve found it has to be above about 20F (and I have to move fast) to be able to keep the hoses from freezing so quickly they block the flow. I’m not super impressed with my PrecisionTemp RV-550 tankless water heater – it’s not exactly instantaneous so I try to collect the cold water while I wait for the hot – but I’m not sure what I would replace it with. And I did end up getting a small Flojet diaphragm pump that works great. It’s a bit noisy, but I’m used to it.
• I found that the cheapo (relatively) LED bulbs that came with my Home Depot can lights worked without buzzing, so that’s what I put in my track lights as well. I also learned that you can’t have dimmers on two switches on the same circuit. I got a seizure-inducing (not really) light show.
• All of the shelves and built-ins have been in since not too long after I moved in. That’s truly what makes the house 100% livable even though it’s 90% finished. Also in a long time ago is the 2-burner Ramblewood GC2-43P propane stove (love it, no complaints). I have a Broan Allure stove hood (I don’t think it’s made anymore) that doesn’t work as well as I’d like it to, but I think it’s a function of being too high above the stove than an equipment malfunction. There’s a window behind the stove so I didn’t have much choice on putting the hood lower. And I’ve learned that I can’t have the hood on high at the same time I have a fire going in the wood stove or I’ll fill the house up with smoke lickety split.
• Also in is the gorgeous cork flooring. I think everyone who has been on the house has commented on it first. I bought it through a green home designer/supplier in the Twin Cities that has since been bought out so I’ve no idea where to get it anymore. I haven’t washed the whole floor in the four years it’s been there (I take my shoes off at the door and spot wipe spills/water), and you can’t tell by looking. And it adds such character to the look of the place.
• I’ve been using my Kimberly wood stove every winter since I moved in, and I’ll be honest in saying it hasn’t been an easy road to loving it as I do now. A very large part of the problem (maybe all of it) was that I bought any-old-pellet-stove-pipe locally rather than the brand that Unforgettable Fire recommended, and it turns out that it’s not sealed as well as it needs to be for the stove to burn super efficiently. The dealer from whom I bought the stove, Vanessa at Eagle Rise Trading Company, has gone over the top in helping me troubleshoot via detailed emails, phone calls, and even a trip to Wisconsin to spend a long afternoon doing everything she could to “upgrade” the seals on the stove itself (mine was an earlier iteration) and check my installation (with live phone advice from Roger, the stove’s inventor and CEO of Unforgettable Fire). She also convinced me that I needed to replace the chimney pipe, which I did in 2018, and the stove worked like a champ last winter. I’ve also learned to use compressed sawdust logs when I want a long overnight burn, and with that I can wake up to coals 8 hours after I fed the stove before bed. Plus, it’s still so damn charming, especially with my custom metal hearth pad…

And what would I do differently? Not much, but:

• #1 for sure – I’d install a secondary source of heat that would keep the place warm when I’m not there, probably propane, like a Williams High Efficiency Direct Vent Furnace. Right now my backup heat is a plug-in electric heater, which is not very efficient or reliable. If the power goes out, so does my heater, and it doesn’t come back on (hence my reluctance to try to heat the house with it if I’m not there most of the time). I’ve tried an oil-filled electric radiator too, but the one I bought doesn’t have a thermostat so it’s really hard to know where to set it (again, hence my reluctance…) and it doesn’t heat the whole space as well without a blower (yes, I could use a fan, but geez). I could put in cheap baseboard electric, but I still want to leave the off-grid solar option open. So propane. I can still install a direct-vent furnace and may next summer, but it would have been a lot easier if we’d done it while the house was being built.
• I also may have given more consideration to installing a mini split system. It would be an efficient source of backup heat as well as a welcome splash of air conditioning on the few days a year it would be nice to have. It’s still not sufficient to get me through the coldest days of winter – the lowest temperature rating for any I’ve seen is -5F, and we can go into the -20s or even -30s – so I’d still need another backup heater.
• I’d put another outlet on the wall opposite my bed.

Onward and upward! And I’m looking forward to filling the tank and throwing open the windows this spring, and spending more of my nights sleeping in my tiny house.

The two-tone Casa Chica, at her new home!

A fisheye view of the kitchen and bathroom from the “living” room.

A fisheye view of the “living” room and bedroom. Note the Kimberly wood stove and custom metal hearth.

The bathroom built-in. Shower is to the right, toilet is to the left.

My kitchen sink area. The hot water heater is under the sink.

My house on wheels!

I love these built-ins. Tons of storage!

 

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Consistent progress, inconsistent blogging…

The fact that I haven’t posted anything in, what, 6 months, does not in fact mean that Casa Chica has sat idle and un-worked-on since she moved out of the shed. On the contrary! The biggest news is – she’s unfinished, but occupied! By me! Since just before Memorial Day. We also moved her to her “permanent” location and have made serious progress on the interior, although gardening and haymaking and other summer farm activities have slowed things down somewhat. But still, she’s now a home.

I’m going through my photo album to determine the order of things. A rapid update on progress requires a bulleted list, so here’s what’s been done since March:

• Exterior: Installed soffits and soffit vents, and the battens and all of the window and door trim are on. We still haven’t stained the outside, but the Seal Once waterproofer seems to be holding its own. Even in the remarkably wet weather we’ve been having lately, including a 5+-inch deluge a few weeks ago.
• The fresh water tank and water pump are installed and plumbed, but I don’t have sinks or a shower yet. I have all the necessary equipment and accouterments though, in boxes taking up half of the bathroom. Including the hot water heater – after reading some posts from other tiny housers who have one, I decided to go with the PrecisionTemp RV-550 tankless water heater. I had initially planned to get a small electric water heater, but the electricity vampirism kept niggling at me, since I am loosely trying to keep possible future solar panels in mind. And six gallons of hot water ain’t much; I didn’t go tiny to go Navy.
• Wiring is finished, so I have electricity. I have 50 amp service on a pole, and will eventually have my own meter so I know how much of the farm electricity bill is mine. Recessed lights in the bedroom and bathroom are all in, and enough track lights in the living room/kitchen to be able to function. Finding LED bulbs that don’t buzz (a persistent problem with LED lights on dimmers, I’m told) is the hold-up. The lovely and expensive SORAA bulbs I originally bought buzz like a beehive. I’m having better luck with cheaper bulbs but haven’t settled on one yet. And we’ve been having some hot weather of late so I hauled the ceiling fan out of the box and installed it. I bought a Wave by Minka Aire, in distressed koa finish to go with the other dark wood accents we have going on.
• Many of the built-ins are in! The installation of the bed and bedroom drawers was what allowed me to move in officially, followed by bedside tables, entryway and sitting area cabinets. Lower kitchen cabinets and counter top are the latest additions. And man-oh-man is everything beautiful! Maple with a natural finish, with black walnut tops and accents. The kitchen counter top is a laminate. I have more than enough drawers for all my clothes, more space in the six storage areas under the bed than I have stuff to put in them, and in general far more storage than I thought possible in such a small house. My brilliant designer friend (Andrea) and my artist of a cabinet maker (Scott) are having so much fun maximizing space (with my input, but the details make my head explode. I’m mostly the final approval authority with the checkbook). The built-ins are officially pushing this project into the “high budget tiny house” category (if there is such a thing), but for me it’s worth it. Building tiny is allowing me to be able to afford far higher quality materials, fixtures and finishes than I would if I were building a normal-sized house, even a small one.
• I also have refrigeration. I bought a Danby 4.4 cu refrigerator because of its relatively good energy efficiency. I loved the space in the refrigerator and the somewhat useful can storage (you can’t get a compact refrigerator without can storage in the door, which I find to be an almost completely useless space since I don’t do canned drinks), but decided I couldn’t live with the teeny-tiny freezer that wouldn’t even hold a pint of ice cream without squishing it in on its side. So I replaced the Danby with the EdgeStar 3.1 cu refrigerator/freezer that Tumbleweed recommends. Much smaller refrigerator space but much improved freezer space for me. And it’s still pretty energy efficient for a compact refrigerator.

Up next: the open shelves in the kitchen and the bathroom built-ins are in the works. I may have running water in the next couple of weeks hooray, and a working stove! The cork floor installation is fixing to happen. And the metal hearth pad an artist friend made for underneath my wood stove will deserve a post of its own once it’s installed.

Casa Chica in her “permanent” location! With her not-so-permanent front steps. Definitely not to code.

My bed platform! I have to move/lift the mattress to access the storage, so it’s for things like seasonal clothes and extra bedding.

Bedroom drawers, and one of the bedside tables. Almost more drawers than I need.

Minka-Aire Wave fan. Stylish and wayyyy functional.

This is what we’re calling the “hanging chair unit.”

The sink side of the kitchen cabinets. The missing drawer is getting dividers put in it. I’ve been using my camp stove since I moved in, hopefully not much longer!

The stove side of the kitchen cabinets, with the seating area. There will be a couple of stools under that overhang. I love the little cubbies for my TV and other things I don’t want out on permanent display.

The solution for the corner was a bunch of shelves rather than an awkward cupboard.

My little refrigerator.

Out in the sunlight!

OK, so I’ve mentioned before that we wanted to get Casa Chica out of the shed she’s being built in. The shed was a totally perfect incubator – it protected her vulnerable bits from rain and snow, allowed Mike to work in all weather, and saved hours of time of tarping and un-tarping that would have been required had she been outside (not to mention saving the cost of the tarps). But she had outgrown it, literally – Mike would have had to put on the ridge cap while lying on his belly and risk putting the hammer claw through the roof. So out she needed to go. But we had missed the window in the fall of weather warm enough to put any protectant on the outside, and even though the plywood is exterior grade we weren’t sure how much we wanted to test its durability through spring rains/late snowstorms. One can’t usually count on early March being warm enough to paint or stain, which was a moot point anyway because we still haven’t decided on paint vs stain, let alone colors. But! We got extremely lucky this year with an early warm-up – 50s and 60s for days on end! When I saw that forecast I was motivated to figure out some way to protect Casa Chica’s exterior so we could get her outside with some peace of mind, but without having to make any seat-of-my-pants decisions on exterior finishes. Surely someone makes a stainable/paintable wood protectant, one that doesn’t require major respiratory protection to apply or, if spilled, create a Superfund site? Yes indeedy, enter Seal-Once! Stainable/paintable, water-based, low/no VOCs, no heavy metals or other toxins. Nanomaterials yes (we took to calling them nanobots), and while there’s very little known about the health effects of nanobots, given the non-toxicity of the rest of the ingredients I felt the risk of it causing any problems is low (I’m an industrial hygienist, so I know more than a smidge about health risk assessments). There’s a dearth of information about Seal-Once on the interwebs outside of manufacturer propaganda, but I found a couple of positive reviews so I took a leap of faith and ordered a 5-gallon bucket of this magic material, enough (and then some, as it turned out) for two coats.

It arrived in the 2 days promised by Amazon Prime, and the forecast was still looking good to get it on while temps were above 35F per the instructions. Mike, bless him, spent last Thursday sanding the entire exterior, which needed to be done sooner or later because the plywood we chose was a bit “fuzzy.” And on Friday I was able to help with the application of the Seal-Once for a little bit before I had to run off to work. It’s interesting stuff – looks a bit like I bought a 5-gallon bucket of expensive skim milk. We used paint pads to apply it and the watery-ness required some trial and error to get most of it on the house and less on the toes, but once mastered it was a pretty easy job. We applied one coat to one side of the house, then went right over it with the second coat before moving on to the next side. We both noted the very faint chemical smell, but nothing that even approached being even slightly unpleasant to work in. It dried pretty quickly – to the touch in a couple of hours – and maybe evened out the color of the wood a bit, and it looks for all the world like it will be paintable/stainable later. So far I’m pleased with the decision to put it on! No idea how well it works of course, but we’re fixin’ to test it. I’ll report observations later. Rain is forecasted for Monday.

We let Casa Chica dry in the shed completely overnight before moving her out on Saturday morning. We’re not really sure how much she weighs or how much of the weight is on the trailer tongue, but we figured we’d try the farm’s full-ton truck with the heavy-duty shocks and springs first and, if that was a no-go, get out the tractor. No need for the tractor. She lowered onto the truck’s hitch beautifully, and, after trimming a couple of branches on the tree some yayhoo had planted right in front of the shed about 25 years ago, out she came! Narry a wobble or otherwise scary moment! Perhaps my concerns about my cheap, narrow old RV trailer frame not being up to the task are unfounded. She didn’t move far – maybe 75 feet – and the new location is only temporary (her “permanent” resting place is down a hill and on ground that is still waterlogged, so that move will come later), but it was a blissfully uneventful event. Yet still exciting, because it feels like a big step in her construction. We spent an hour or so getting the RV jacks back in place and leveling her up.

It was a beautiful cloudless day and the interior looked so lovely with the sun coming through the windows. The scene will be even lovelier, and I’ll post photos of it, when I get the bird crap and construction dust off the windows.

This is the stuff!

It even has the bluish tint of skim milk. But I’m pretty sure is isn’t.

The instructions said it could also be sprayed or rolled on, but we had paint pads on hand and they worked pretty well.

The first coat going on the first side. Once we finished that we went right back over with the second coat.

The next morning, all dry! It looks to me just like it did before we applied the protectant, which was in fact what I was going for, so huzzah.

And there she is, outside! This is a back side view. The little window is the kitchen window above the stove, back door, big bedroom window. She will eventually lose the “door to nowhere” look with a deck that can be removed or hinged up for moving.