Cabinetry and Flooring

I don't think you can buy off-the-shelf cabinetry for a tiny house without wasting a lot of space or building around it. So I built my own.

Here is the window seat at the front of the house. Eventually some pillows on this will make it a bit more comfortable.

To get to the loft I built a ship stair - part stairs, part ladder I suppose. You can walk on it like a conventional stairs, but it runs much steeper.

You can also see some of the kitchen cabinetry in the back. Below is the range and hood. The range is a three burner RV range and oven running on propane. The hood is only 24 inches wide but more than covers the top of the small range. It provides ventilation, and some needed light for the kitchen area. The countertops are butcher block with a dark finish. After quite a bit of research I ended up going with a wood dye to color them, and a clear finish called Waterlox, which is waterproof, durable and safe for food preparation. The product has been around for a hundred years.

Here you can see the view from the bathroom door towards the front. Note the bar below the window on the left.

You can also see the flooring in this picture. I chose to go with Allure vinyl flooring planks because of the durability and lighter weight. Installation went okay, although it seemed harder than a traditional wood floor. Being thinner than wood, it uses a subtle interlock to hold the pieces together. And it was thick enough to be difficult to cut with hand tools. But I like the look, and it should hold up pretty well.

The bathroom features a tub and shower. The tub is small but fit the floor plan well. The shower walls were finished the same as the rest of the bathroom, with cedar and satin polyurethane. But sheets of clear acrylic were fastened to the wall and sealed with clear bathroom caulk.

The bathroom sink is set in the same butcher block as in the kitchen. To the right, above, is linen storage. And below, to the right, is the water tank, water heater, etc.

The cabinetry throughout the house is made of standard pine boards, with pine bead board forming the inside of the doors.

Bathroom Wall and Pocket Door

To finish the bathroom, the wall had to be built separating the kitchen and bath areas. A pocket door was used, taking up less space than a swinging door. Some of the electrical and plumbing was waiting on this step as well.

In this picture you can see the drain pipe and vent inside the wall. The pipe goes through the floor where eventually it will connect to a bathtub drain trap, and possibly a conventional toilet. The vent is a Studor vent which eliminates the need for a vent pipe through the ceiling. The drain pipe tees off to the front and back for the kitchen and bathroom sinks.

The electrical wiring for this wall was hanging out a hole in the side and pulled through this wall once built. It goes through two switches to power the lights and fan.

Here is the completed wall and pocket door.

Water Supply Plumbing

This part of the plumbing is actually a bit complicated. There is a lot more going on than one might think. At the top of this picture we have the inlet, including gravity tank fill hose (large), the hose line (white pex along the top), and the tank vent (clear tube).

The black tank on the right is a pressure tank which evens out the water pressure, especially for when the tank/pump is used.The water goes into the tank from the tee to its right, collecting water from the pump (below) or hose supply (above). From the tank, the water connects to the main cold water line to the tiny house and tees out to the water heater on the left. Hot water from the water heater goes to the main hot water line to the house. The connections to the water heater are female swivel adapters that are easily removed for draining the water heater for winter. While the plumbing inside the walls is all copper, pex, sharkbite fittings, and barbed fittings are used here. The gravity fill uses some PVC, copper and clear tubing. The clear tube that runs down the side of the tank is a sight tube so that you can tell how much water is in the tank.

The yellow hose is the gas line. The wiring is 12 volts for the water heater and the pump.

This picture shows the tank, drains, and supply line to the pump. The copper coming out of the bottom of the tank has two purposes. It serves to drain the tank through the appropriate valves down a hole in the floor. And it supplies water to the pump, upper right, through the RV supply line. A flexible hose helps eliminate pump vibrations that can reverberate through the entire house. This one is a special RV hose rated for potable water.

Not sure how visible it is, but in the back at the bottom of the wall are valve to drain the hot and cold water lines. All the water lines in the tiny house slope down to this point so now water is completely drained.

Although not part of the water supply as the title would suggest, I should note here the tub drain in the floor. You can't quite see it here, but it and the rest of the tub/shower plumbing are accessible here,  just beneath the pump.

Interior Walls and Loft Floor

I used western cedar tongue and groove for the walls and ceiling inside the house. This siding has to sides, a rough side, and a smooth side. Both look good. I used the smooth side for the bathroom and kitchen area, and the ceilings. The living room and loft areas use the rough side, for variety.

I had originally planned to use the same cedar for the loft floor. But I thought the cedar would flex too much and might dent too easily as well. I went with a similar pine product that provides more strength and a bit more variety in wood color.

All surfaces are lightly stained with Minwax Natural finish. It doesn't do much to the pine, but it does accent the cedar knots a quite a bit. The loft floor is covered  five coats of semi-gloss polyurethane so its is pretty tough I think. The ceiling, and bathroom and kitchen walls are covered with two coats of satin polyurethane. I think this makes for a clean look which is important in these areas.

Trim, not shown here, also used satin polyurethane. Window sills and trim use a semi-gloss spar polyurethane, so should hold up to Colorado sunshine pretty well.

Siding

I chose to use a product made locally called TruLog. It is a steel siding product that is made near Loveland, Colorado. It resembles logs, comes in three colors (I chose redwood), and being made of steel, it is lighter than wood and offers some protection against fire. The siding also include fitted foam insulation that helps the siding hold its shape and provides additional R factor, especially across the framing.

A starter strip is run at the bottom, just overhanging the bottom a bit. Each piece is hooked into the starter strip, and pulled upward until it latches, insulation inserted, and the strip screwed on. I could probably count on one hand the number of pieces that were installed without cutting around a door, vent, fender or window. I cut everything by hand using a set of Milwaukee shears. It really wasn't too bad.

Well, it was getting cold and wet. Still some trim and annoying gable pieces to install, but this was good enough for the winter.

Roofing

I ordered the roofing materials to the exact length I needed. The 4/12 roof needed sheets that were just under 5 feet long, while the 10/12 roof required sheets just over 5 feet. Drip edges were first installed at the bottom edges.Then the sheets were installed, starting at the back. The sheets were screwed down and sealed using butyl tape.

Then the ridge cap and gable ends were installed.

The metal is slippery. I could reach all but the bottom row of screws with no trouble from the ridge. The lower row of screws required the scaffold or ladder. The steeper roof, though, was a bit more of a problem. I made a 2x4 el frame that fit over the ridge and provided good support for me and my tools while working on that section. Not my favorite thing to do.

Insulation, House Wrap, and Windows

I decided to spend a little more and get the best insulation I could. I chose closed cell spray foam by a company called Ecofoam.

Ecofoam truck backed up and ready for spraying

They did the job in less than a day. I wouldn't say it was an easy job though. The tight quarters of a tiny house, and covering and working around the loft joists made it difficult. But it turned out well and this insulation in a 4 inch wall will hold up to a cold Colorado winter.

Technically, it isn't necessary to cover the plywood with house wrap if it is insulated with sprayed-on closed-cell foam as the foam itself is a vapor barrier. But I covered it anyway. In fact I used a house wrap called Insultex which claims to have an R value of R6. I don't believe it though. The product is very good as  house wrap. It has two layers, the outer layer looking like the material used in a plastic tarp, with the reinforcing fibers running through it. The inner layer is thin foam, similar to what you might use to cushion the contents of a small package for shipment. Clearly, the product has insulation value, but I think it is minimal and considerably less than advertised. Even with that, it may be worth a bit more than standard house wrap.

Anderson windows were used.I got triple pane to resist the cold, and tempered glass to handle road trips. Once the windows were screwed into place, drip edges were added to the top, and the windows  were sealed to the outside using flexible flashing. I used a variety of window types, including awning, casement, double hung and picture, depending on the size and location.

Plywood Sheathing on Sides

The sides were covered with 1/2" plywood. Holes for the range hood vent, bathroom vent, outside lights, windows and doors were left uncovered or cut out at this point. The plywood was glued and screwed to the framing.

It was in doing this that I realized just how difficult a bay window would be. I wished I had just put a shed style roof section over the window so it was just one piece, but probably would have had to settle for shorter windows. At least I could have made the slope match the 10/12 of the main roof and then I wouldn't have had so many odd shaped pieces of sheathing and siding.

The next step was to insulate the walls and roof. It had to be "dried-in" which in Colorado isn't usually much of a problem, but putting the tar paper over the roof was required a week or so before the spray foam could be applied.

Rough Plumbing and Electrical

Running the electrical and plumbing, both water and gas, was easier before putting plywood on the sides. Everything originated in the back utility closet area.

I used black steel pipe for gas. Very tough and not likely to get punctured. Plus the pipe is run low on the wall behind the range, refrigerator and bath tub, so it will be protected. The utility closet will hold one or two propane tanks for the water heater, range and optional heater. The only fittings are in the closet and where the appliances connect, so no fittings are hidden in the walls.

Tee for propane tank in closet

I used pipe dope suitable for gas lines and pressure tested the lines, at various stages,  to make sure there were no leaks.

Pressure testing left side gas line

Plumbing the water supply was a bit more involved. I needed to provide for a water tank with pump, and gravity intake, a hose intake, a way to drain everything for cold weather, and a water heater. I needed to run hot and cold lines to a bathtub, bathroom sink, and kitchen sink, and cold water only to the toilet. I used hard copper pipe in the walls, with soldered fittings coming out of the wall where needed for future connection to the various faucets and valves. The valves I used were Sharkbite, so required no soldering and are removable. Sharkbites don't seem like they will seal as they can turn on the end of the pipe, but they do. That ability to be turned is convenient when connecting faucets, etc. Both the hot and cold water lines were pressure tested in a similar manner as the gas lines.

Lines coming from closet into bathroom

Drain lines were not installed at this time. These will all go through the floor, or in the wall between the bathroom and kitchen area.

Electrical rough-in required  installing an electrical panel in the closet, and separate lines for outlets and lights. I chose to have three 15 amp / 14 ga. circuits (left side outlets, right side outlets, lights and loft outlets), and a 20 amp / 12 ga. circuit for an outlet near the stove to handle higher power appliances.

The electrical panel uses four CAFCI breakers to protect against arcing and a potential electrical fire. Although these breakers do not provide ground fault detection,  ground fault outlets will be installed in the left and right outlet circuits in the bathroom, so all lower level outlets, which are potentially near water, will be protected. A 100 amp breaker serves as a main breaker. A ground wire runs from the panel  to the gas and water lines and on to the bottom of the house where a ground rod will be attached when the house is set up.

Electrical boxes were installed at appropriate locations for outlets, switches, and lights. Wire was run from the panel to each box. Romex 14/2 was most common. Since four way switches will be used to control loft and living area lights from both areas, 14/3 was necessary between those switches. There are different ways to hook up four way switches, depending on the order of input power, switches, and lights in the circuit. the 20 amp circuit required 12/2.