Generator acquired.

I bought the generator I went to look at this morning.  It is a Porter Cable 5500W generator, big enough to run the house once I am done using it to build.  It was a ways to go for one, but it was a pleasant drive on a bunch of roads I have never been on before.  I tested it, ran a drill off it and probed the outlets to make sure they were at 110V.  They came in at 108, which is close enough.  The generator is being stored under the old truck cap to keep it out of the the rain.  The guy used a pretty close to normal procedure to start it: turn on the gas, wait a minute for the filter and whatnot to saturate, turn the choke on, then he pulled it over a few times very slowly which he said was to prime it (he always runs them dry).  Then it started first pull.





Due to the off and on rain, I haven't gotten much else done, but did get some cleaning done in preparation for Dad's arrival next weekend. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice, so I will hopefully get the subflooring started.  it is supposed to be reasonably nice the first half of the week, so I will hopefully get the joists at least cut and read to install before Dad arrives.

Prep work and details for the subflooring.

Not much going on today.  It was a nice day, just did a little paperwork and a bit of browsing.  Because of the issues getting an electrician, I am looking at getting a generator.  I found a couple of cheap ones on Craigslist, a 4kW for 100 and a 5kW for 150.  I will call the 5kW one first, since if I plan to use post-construction, a 4kW isn't really sufficient, given that my heating system alone is 3.5kW.  Add in the fridge and water pump, and it would be game over pretty quick.

I also planned out the subflooring, creating the final BOM (bill of materials).   I started looking up board prices on Home Depot's website, and will call Ace tomorrow to get theirs.  I still need to measure the wheels, but these are pretty close estimates.  A couple things of note:  I avoided any outer framing joints on a 16" boundary, staggered all joints in the framing, and kept the area around the wheels free of joints.

Note that the scale on this drawing is 16" per square, most of my others were 12" per square.  Everything lines up better when framing that way.



My final BOM is:

• 11 2x6x8'
• 4 cut to 67".  These are the inner joists inside the wheels.  
• 2 cut to 80".  These are the outer framing for the inside wheels joists.
• 2 cut to 72".  These are for outer framing
• 3 of them will be cut to fit for inter-joist supports.  Most will be 14.5".  This isn't actually enough supports, but I will have enough scrap to make the rest.
• 17 2x6x10'
• All cut to 99".  These are the joists (and 2 are outside framing).
• 1 2x6x12'.  
• Left at 12'.  This is for outer framing
• 2 2x6x14'.  
• Left at 14'.  These are for outer framing.
• 8 2x4x8'.  These will be cut to fit, they are to double up the outer frame since I am putting the wall directly on the frame, not onto subflooring.
• 38 joist hangers

For reference, if I were to only go to Home depot for the lumber (which means buying 16' for the 14') the total cost would come to $243.76.  Not bad.  The expensive part is not the framing though, it is the plywood.

Still waiting on the septic approval.

I had another meeting with the town tonight, this time with the selectman with regards to the septic.  Pete had a preliminary design that he brought, with the septic going in the front yard, that didn't meet a couple of setbacks, but was as close as possible to meeting them.  He has to get a hold of the town highway department regarding a flood zone, but otherwise the meeting mostly went positive.

The unfortunate part is that this was the last selectman meeting before Dad comes up.  Since the plan wasn't approved, I didn't get the building permit.  I don't intend to prolong the building any longer though, and will be starting on it if the rain ever stops.

I also will be seeking a second opinion on the electric.  The quote I got was a lot steeper than I expected, it was 1600.  I was expecting 500-800.  If that isn't done, I can get a generator on Craigslist pretty cheap.

Official approval arrived, and some other odds and ends.

Mother nature decided to play Jekyll and Hyde again today, but a little work got done today.

I received the formal letter of approval from the zoning board.  Apparently I can't copy PDFs into the blog, but the rundown of the constraints is:

1. A septic approved by both the town and state EPA will be installed.
• Not a problem.  The design is underway.  I knew this would need to be done.
2. A new well will be drilled.
• I already have the well quote.  I knew this would need to be done.
3. The tiny home will be located on the slab.
• Not sure where else I would put it...  But this was the intent all along.
4. The variance is only valid for 5 years.  At the end of the 5 years, it must be either removed or converted into a non-dwelling structure.
• 5 years ought to be long enough to get the real house up there.  I might have liked a bit more time, but 5 years is sufficient.
5. A valid driveway permit is obtained.
• I have the form and sketch required ready to go.
6. Construction of the house may occur simultaneously to the installation of the septic and well.
7. A certificate of occupancy is required before the tiny home can be occupied.
• I am not entirely certain what this entails, but I knew it would have to be done.
8. I actually follow through with the rehabilitation of the lot that I claimed I would.
• I wasn't blowing smoke when I wrote out that plan (and a lot of it is already done actually), so no problem.

I also picked a fridge today.  Originally the guy listed it for 25 bucks, but because he couldn't find the rails for the drawer shelves, he gave it to me for free.  It is in a bit rougher shape than it looked on craigslist, but it works, he had it plugged in when I got there. It is now in front of the stove, propped open.

It is a bit dirty too, but nothing I can't handle.

Even comes with an ice maker.

The shelves were intact, but got jostled around on the ride up.  Oh well, I can put them back together.

The missing door rails.  I will either pick up a cheap set on ebay, or just build some rails for it.  

It even came with some free Mexican Urine.

I might want to get around to leveling the approach to the shed at some point as well.  The camera was level when I took the picture.  Made it interesting to push the fridge out.

A couple of other things: I also got the front mowed before it rained on me, and I brought a bunch of the parts I have collected up and are in the shed now, the first step towards cleaning up the second bedroom.  

Despite temperamental weather, weed whacking started.

The weather was kind of temperamental.  It has gone from sun to rain to sun to rain.

Apparently this weed wacker only likes to run once.  I got it running after the fuel lines, and when I went to start it today to actually use it, the primer bulb gave up the ghost.


I picked one up and got it replaced.


I finally got it running and used it.  I have confirmed no leaks, though it didn't run for long, It ran for a few minutes, then stalled out, with a bunch of smoke billowing out of it, but I think that was just burning the cruft off.  It is almost like it was overheating, but the fuel was mixed properly.  Hopefully this is just due to the fact that it was coated in fuel from the leaking.  I am also thankful that it idles high enough to use without giving it gas, so I did that for most of the trimming today.  It didn't seem to stall out when I was doing that.

I cleaned up the driveway a little bit, up near the top.


The front corner of the slab


The front down the old well.  I will need something a bit tougher to take out all the other stuff.  Might be time for a chainsaw.  I want to take out everything but the actual trees.


Out by the road, I can finally see when I go to pull out again.


I pushed back the other part of the front as well.


I also started to go towards the back when I ran it out of gas.


Almost all of what I chopped down was the Japanese knotweed that I mentioned in a previous post.  I chopped down a lot of it.  This is just at the corner of the driveway.

Getting close.

I had the second meeting with the zoning board today, and got my approval!  There were a few conditions, but none that made me nauseous, so that's good.  Next up is the selectman, round two.  I have a meeting Monday with them to discuss the septic design, and then all I need is the building permit, so things are moving along which is good.

It was too late afterwards to go up and weedwack, so that is still on the docket.  If it isn't too wet tomorrow, I might do it anyways.

But all in all, pretty psyched :)

Weed wacker running again.

Today's big project was getting the weed wacker running again.  I got all the fuel lines replaced.  The stuff Barry gave me was Tygon tubing, so it shouldn't be a problem ever again.  It is a high end soft tubing (developed by Saint-Gobain actually), but it is what he uses when he needs to replace fuel lines.

All tubed up.


The fuel filter is oversized for the engine, but it should work fine.


I got it all put back together, and it took a little bit to get it started, but a few cycles of primer x 6, turn it over, and so on, and it fired back up.


It was a little dark when I finished (thus the flash in the last pic) so I couldn't clearly see if there were any leaks, but I couldn't smell any and didn't see any in the darkness.  I will look at it more closely next time I go to use it.

I also stopped at the highway department today, the markers that I saw are the right of way markers, so I will update the lot map accordingly.  According to the guy that was there, he says that round-up will kill the Japanese knotweed that I mentioned yesterday, so I will knock it down and spray it this weekend.