Work has begun!

Well, life's been moving really fast, but events have been progressing.  I'm working for Canyons River Company this summer (http://canyonsinc.com) and have been on the river a lot so far.  I got off the Middle Fork of the Salmon on the 24th, drove home, then drove to Gresham, OR and picked up my trailer on the 25th.  Drove back on the 26th, then flew into the Middle Fork put-in to drive the shuttle rig back out. Whew.  

picking up the trailer

 It's amazing how much more real this all feels now that I have a trailer.  For now, it's parked in my parents' driveway, but I'll move it to an indoor location in a few days.  Dad and I framed the subfloor yesterday, which went really quickly.  We clamped a rim joist on the inside of both long-side square tubing, then hung joists from the rims, just like any other floor system.  I'm pretty excited about the PAD trailer, except for one thing: the bolt holes in the square-tubing for mounting the rim joists were slightly offset, so I destroyed two drill bits trying to drill the rim joists. (Picture below.) Oh well.

For floor insulation, I've decided to use a blown-in urethane insulation from EnergySeal, a local company. (http://energyseal.net)  While there's certainly some legitimate concerns about off-gassing, I think that having the floor completely sealed is important; unlike a regular foundation, this one has airflow underneath it.  Also, it's pretty cost-effective for me: since my foundation is a trailer, I will tow it to a jobsite that EnergySeal is already working at, have them blow in the insulation, and be on my merry way.  It's a win-win: EnergySeal doesn't have to set up their equipment for my tiny project and I get a price-break on the insulation.

Flying over the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness

Offset drill-holes

 I've posted part of my materials list on this blog.  Hopefully it will be a useful resource for anyone else thinking of building a tiny house and give you all a sense of what I'm using, working on, struggling with, etc.

bolting the rim joists

Floor framed!