Winter Project Number 1 will now commence! As soon as I got back from my pilgrimage to Nara, I immediately went to our land to make some inspections on the shipping container that I will convert into a tiny house. Before anything else, I would like to share the reasons why I decided to build a tiny house.
What is a tiny house?
First of all, what is a tiny house? Simply put, a tiny house is a house smaller than the normal houses and usually these tiny houses are built on trailers and renovated shipping containers. There is already a tiny house movement going on around the world. Since the tiny house is built on trailers or shipping containers, they usually require no city permit to build no building tax. This is also an alternative lifestyle to minimize waste, consumerism, and move towards a more ecological and sustainable lifestyle.
Living in a big house requires a lot of energy!
Cooling, heating, lighting, and regular maintenance of a large house requires a lot of energy. I am now living in a house for one family and the amount of wood I am using to heat the house is more than I anticipated. The house also has poor insulation so all the heat simply dissipates away to the roof and walls! A tiny house requires smaller energy for heating and with proper insulation, heating the house will be more efficient.
Live in my own Land!
Building my dream house will require meticulous designing and since I have no professional experience in building a house, it will take a lot of time. So, in the meantime, I wanted to live in a tiny house while slowly building my dream house. I am still renting a house in a nearby house so I had to drive back and forth to my land. I wanted to live in my own land as soon as possible so as soon as I wake up, I can immediately see how my land looks.
Future Guest, Volunteer, Staff House
When I was looking for a land, I volunteered at different farms and lived in different conditions. I experienced some living quarters with no toilet, no bathroom, no heating, no privacy, and some have one of these or a combination of these. It was a great experience for me to be grateful for whatever I have right now and I realized that living is really supposed to be very simple. So, for my future guests, volunteer, or staff, I wanted to provide a better living quarters than what I have experienced. So, after I finished building my dream house, I can allow volunteers and guests to live in this tiny house and experience living simply with all the needed facilities.
Shipping Container Inspection
The shipping container is a nominal one (8ft wide, 8 ft 6 in high, 20 ft long; 2.44m wide, 2.59m high, 6.1m long). How the heck can we live in such a small space?! Well, the answer is, we can. With compact design, less possessions, and creative thinking, we can. The shipping container has about 2 to 3 inches of insulation(glass wool). There was already an electric connection from the grid which saved me a lot of work! This was used as a place to rest by the previous owner.
Emptying this place is going to be a big job!
Upon further inspection of the container, I noticed a wet spot on the ceiling with some rotten wood around it. I was worried that there may be a leak on the roof so I removed the ceiling on the part where the ceiling was rotting and lo and behold, rat poop rained all over!
Glass wool with sprinkles of rat poop
The glass wool was a perfect haven for field mice- it's warm, fluffly, and humid. So, the number of job increased! I now have to remove the ceiling, replace the insulation, and rewire the electric connections! I looked closely at the walls too and noticed some wet spots as well. When there are wet spots on the wall, one highly possible problem is condensation.
Condensation Problems
Imagine a cold glass of water in a warm room. You will start to notice droplets of water forming on the surface of the glass, this is condensation. When warm air and cold air meets on a surface, the difference in the temperature causes the water vapor to condense on the surface. In tropical countries this is not a big problem because there is no big difference in room and outside temperature but in cold climates, during winter, because the house is heated and the outside air is cold, the wall becomes the condensation surface. This problem occurs especially when there is no insulation on the walls. Insulation acts as a barrier between the warm air inside and the cold air outside. Venting, or air exchange between inside and and outside is also critical to prevent condensation.
Wet walls due to condensation on the metal container walls
Condensation on walls becomes a problem when the wood starts to rot. This becomes a habitat for insects and pests such as rats. Molds also grow resulting to poor air quality. The number of job again increased! I have to remove the rotten wall panels, place a proper insulation, and reframe the walls and panels.
A few days into this project and I can already see the project taking longer than planned. I learned from a carpenter that after planning a building project, multiply the amount of time and budget by 1.5 times and this will be a good estimate. Along the way, for sure there will be unexpected problems that will cost time and money.
Now, onto deconstruction!
