We installed the paneling in the living room, so I thought I would post a picture of the finished wall.
And we took our tiny stove outside today to fire it up and make sure it was "sea worthy" for the home. I'm happy to report there are no issues with our 100 year old stove! I'm even cooking dinner on it tonight :o)
We put up a couple of sections of pipe just to get an idea of how hot everything will get (notice the temp gauge on the stove pipe). Once installed, it will have over 10ft of pipe all the way up so that it can draft well, but for now, we're just having fun with it outside in the driveway :o)
I grew with two wood stoves. One to cook on and one for heat. Two warnings: the first is that wood cook stoves even when the when drafting properly give off a surprising amount of soot. The second is to burn clean wood (not evergreens) and clean the chimney often or burn dirty wood and clean the chimney whenever you think of it. I the build up in the chimney burns hot enough to burn thru the metal of the pipe. I have seen it happen when we slacked on the cleaning.
ReplyDeleteYour house is very nice looking and I wish you well on it.
Hi Erik,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads up, we figured as much that having the wood stove would require a bit of extra attention on our end :o) Can't beat the warm heat though!
We've actually found that with our test fires outside, the chimney pipe doesn't get nearly as hot as we were told by "stove experts" that it would. I think it's because it's so tiny (the firebox is 8"x12"). However, while the chimney won't likely burn the house down....it won't burn hot enough to keep the creosote down, so I'm sure we'll be cleaning out the pipe multiple times throughout the wood burning season.
If you're in the area you should stop by and take a peek at the house sometime, it's certainly something to gander at! :o)
Your house is coming along awesomely!
ReplyDeleteI hope more interior pics will be coming soon.
I think having a wood stove is well worth the maintenance it requires; you're right, propane is expensive. For myself, I like the security of knowing that I'll always be able to keep my house warm - no matter what the future brings... (???)- and the independence that comes along with having a low tech system that doesn't require processed/refined/exotic fuels. There are other promising energy sources, but good old wood fire is a good base and as you mentioned, you cant beat the comfort and atmosphere it creates.
This must be such an exciting time for the two of you. I'm sure your entrepreneurial ambitions will blossom nicely and bare rich fruit as well.
Turtle
Hi Turtle :o)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words, we've ordered the appropriate roof items to install our stove and are waiting anxiously for them to arrive so that we can start being toasty.
I'm hoping that all of our hard work will pay off and we'll be able to help others realize their tiny home dreams as well :o)
And yes, it's very exciting!
Your house stands out among other tiny houses on wheels because of the way you have maximized the interior space while adhering to max road dimension requirements. I'm still in the designing/dreaming-up phase of creating my house on wheels, and I've been wondering if one could get a trailer custom made that was as wide as a deck over wheels model (8.5'), but without actually going deck over so that there would still be enough room for a loft at 13.5' road height. In other words, why not just build the deck frame out around the wheel wells? I think this is done on some enclosed car hauler trailers already. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteTurtle
children?
For us, it was cost prohibitive, but yes, it's possible. (Anything is possible and many problems are solved when you throw money at them, laughs!)
ReplyDeleteIt also added quite a bit of weight, which would have forced us into a 12k to 14k trailer which is another thousand dollars or so.....
For our trailer, we came out approx a full 8' in width, and then with the roof overhang on each side we are at the legally allowed width without having to obtain a wide load permit to move our home.
Our house is flush with the wheel wells, which are at the legal width, and we boxed in and sealed around the wheel wells, allowing us to go that wide without weather penetration.
So, with a little creativity, you can save yourself an extra $3,000 or so and get a standard width car hauler. We designed ours and then had it custom made as we wanted additional cross bracing underneath as well as the deck done slightly differently.
Were you inquiring as to if we have children? No...not yet :o)
We're planning to build another tiny home to add additional space when that day comes.
We love our wood stove, too (we call them Dover stoves - that is the make here in South Africa) - and we have an chimney which reaches 7 mtrs high internally - and 2 mtrs externally. But that equates to 7 mtrs of extra heat :-)
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, unlike you clever people we didn't fire it up outside initially, so we had an hour or so of terrible fumes to contend with (the stove paint burning) but the large window next to the stove soon sorted that out.
Definitely one our very best buys!
Yikes! Good thing you had that window close by :o)
ReplyDeleteWe just now got all of our supplies to install the stove, so I'm anxiously waiting on that now :o)
Mark & Olivia?
ReplyDeleteI posted a comment about your wood stove before I read your blog in it's entirety. What you two have done is amazing!
You have built a new home for yourselves, and it seems you have built yourselves a new business too :-)
Where are you going to park your new home?
I can't wait to read your future postings - well done again.
Dani
Hi Dani :o)
ReplyDeleteWe're currently looking for property at tax foreclosure auction, but it doesn't look like there is a whole lot that is interesting this year in the areas that we are looking. So, we'll keep our eyes out for something marvelous, but we're not in a huge hurry as we want our next move to be our last for quite some time :o)
I want to plant an orchard, raise animals, and get a large garden going, so we need acerage. But what we don't need is a huge house! This way, we can live in our tiny house and afford more property instead of paying for a home as well. Plus, we're hoping that with having a few acres, we might be able to build a few tiny homes and offer them for rent on the property as well, sort of a "tiny house community". It opens up the country and a peaceful setting for people who otherwise might not be able to make the move.
We'll see what the futre holds for us, but for now, we're loving living mortgage free!
Olivia
Wow, I love your house. My tiny house is just a fantasy (as per my latest blog post), but maybe someday. Your place is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI apologize if I'm asking too many questions... but why did you decide to add the additional bracing to the trailer?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I got what you wrote in the comment above correct: from the outer edge of one wheel well across to the other, it's the maximum road width of 8'6"? Did you have the trailer extended around the wheel wells to meet this width or did you just build the frame to that width (hanging off the trailer slightly)?
I'm trying to figure out a trailer design that's cost-effective but also sturdy - we will only be moving it 2-3 times once the house is built but of course we don't want the trailer to fail on us.
Oh and how much does your whole house weigh now, do you know?
Hi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteWe had additional bracing added to our trailer because of the length that we were building to. The rigidity of the frame isn't the same the further you go from the "core" so to speak, and I didn't want either end to flex while traveling or whatnot.
Our trailer width is 8'6" from wheel well to wheel well, and we extended the flooring joists to match that width.
As for weight, we are at just over 8,000lbs, but our trailer is also heavier than most due to the extra added bracing and length.
Have you started building your own home yet? Should be exciting!
Olivia
This was so long ago.. but in a post (http://tinyhouseforum.com/topic.php?id=18&page=2) you mentioned you were selling your neptune? this was over a year ago- but wondering if you still had it for sale..
ReplyDelete