It’s starting to look like a house. The front door is installed, which makes a big difference in houseishness. All of the windows are in, and I have trim around all of them. Today, finally, was siding time.
I barely want to talk about the trim. How many times have I said something is taking too long? My first instinct is to write about how long it took to finish the trim, and how unmotivated I feel. True. I’ll call it what it is: I’m getting burnt out, but I’m on the home stretch.
The insulation is done. It was almost-done forever, but it’s finally 100%. The insulation and trim were both tedious and time consuming. Both jobs are an example of something I can do much better next time. They started out as a slow fumble-fest, but in the end are reasonably precise and fully functional. For the final few cuts in the foam boards, I realized I was finally good at it. I could play varsity foam-cut if I tried out. But that’s over and the next step is to learn another completely new skill alone and from scratch. It will be that way until the end. This project is a mental marathon.
Siding is a confidence-builder. The house looks great. It has nice straight lines and adorable proportions. I’m proud.
I’m using manufactured wood siding. It’s the stuff that I got for free from Craigslist. It isn’t perfect. It’s been sitting outside for a couple years, and there are black and somewhat rotted areas on a lot of it. I decided I don’t give a shit. It’s mostly in fine shape, and it seems solid when I cut it or put a nail through. The primed face is good on all of it, and again, it was free. Best of all, it’s covering up the obnoxious Lowes housewrap which I was getting tired of looking at. Kristin and I picked out a color, and I can hardly wait to sling a brush around with it. It’ll look sharp.
I’m on the home stretch. Kristin is going back to school very soon. Probably a week. I don’t see how I can possibly be finished by then, but that’s not what I told her. I’ll try, but Kristin: this shit might not be quite ready. I’ll try to have it finished enough to move the bed in and not have sawdust all over. We have to get out there soon. The weather is nice, and the insects are making a delightful racket all night. It will be the most peaceful structure we’ve ever known.
As a final thought: I’ve never installed a 12v system before. Like every other thing, I’ve researched it and I have no hands-on experience.
Tiny House on Blocks 
Nice! I’m getting to a similar point. It’s nice, but kind of infuriating that the things that make the biggest visual difference tend to be the easiest. All the little nuance that eats time is never ever seen or appreciated.
It’s hard to do, but taking a little time off works wonders. I burned out about a week ago after a month plus straight. It’s important to achieve complete distraction – no physical or mental work on the project.
I took about four days really off and I’m back at it again, significantly less grouchy this time. Godspeed!
Dude, I don’t think I realized that you were building a tiny house right now. Did you tell me that and it didn’t click with me or something? I’m really glad you check in on these various blogs all like “look at this crazy bus!” etc. I’d be interested to know more about your project. If there is internet-info on it, you should post a link. If not, you should email me. I have questions. Size? Location / surroundings? Your building experience level before the project? Others involved? Reason for building?
Also, I see that you’re up at 3am. I’m very familiar with that hour too. Not the best time to be awake for someone who is taking building seriously, but that usually doesn’t stop me. If I had a big pole barn / garage and I could work at night in a protected workshop… that’d be awesome. Some day.
Best wishes,
Chris
email: sandwichbear is at gmail. (…or any other addresses you might have will still work.)
Also, anyone else can email me. I like email.