Today's Learning Curve

Today I am learning about insulation for my walls & ceiling.  (A topic I thought I already understood.  Ahhh ha ha ha ha)  I am ready to start installing insulation in my walls and ceiling in the areas where electrical wiring will not run.  

In my floor I used two layers of Polyisocyanurate (polyiso for short) rigid board foam.  It has the highest R-value per inch (R-6.5 to R-6.8) of any rigid insulation. This type of rigid foam usually comes with a reflective foil facing on both sides, so it can also serve as a radiant barrier in some applications.

I planned to use the same material in my walls and ceiling - but I'm having trouble putting my hands on it in Dallas for some reason.  I know we bought it at the Home Depot in California for MAGIC Camp, but now I think Daniel must have custom ordered it because I sure can't seem to be able to walk into a store and buy it.

I called a local manufacturer, and holy cow was the woman helpful.  (Un)fortunately she also added about 5 things to my learning curve.  First, she ran through 3-4 possible products that would work in my space.  And then she rattled off  "15 minute thermal barrier" which made me look that up...  

The International Building Code (2006 IBC) requires foam plastic insulation to be separated from the interior of a building by an approved thermal/fire barrier of 1/2-inch gypsum wallboard or equivalent thermal barrier that will prevent temperature rise to not more that 250 degrees F (121 C) in a 15-minute time period. Codes regulating unoccupied or inaccessible areas, such as attics or crawlspaces, require that combustible building materials be protected against ignition. Other exceptions exist for special constructions and assemblies.

The 15-minute period is thought to typically be a sufficient time for occupants to escape from a building before they can be trapped, or overcome by smoke from burning wood, plastic or other construction and finish materials. Historically, code regulations regarding thermal barriers apply to occupied areas of commercial buildings, but have often been followed as safety guidelines for residential structures by local code officials.  Source:  http://www.foam-tech.com/theory/firebarriers.htm

Details are hazy whether (a) it's required for residential or just commercial buildings; and (b) whether it's required in RVs.  Disclaimer:  I have not made any efforts to research the answer to either of those questions.  Yet.  I did find a handy list of materials that meet the criteria and I printed that.  (You may view it as well via the link above.)

That lead me to Google "RV building code" and I downloaded the NFPA Standards for RVs (2011) since I would like to have my house licensed/registered as an RV.  I am pretty sure I don't want to read those.  I am also positive that I will... highlighter in hand.  This is fast becoming another chapter in my book - I have yet to find this type of data compiled neatly somewhere for us lay persons... 

In general news...

Just learned that my would-be plumber is meeting me at the house tonight to review the project.  YAY!!

No electrical quote yet... but Dave is probably getting questions answered first...

So I'm chugging along! 

More on Tiny House Plumbing

I know - it's riveting topic.  

The next step for me with my plumbing is to learn about reservoir tanks.  After reading a lot of (mostly mind numbingly vague) information online, I decided to I needed to speak with an RV repair specialist.  RVs use reservoir tanks, and being a visual person, I needed someone to help me get the overview of what my goal is.  Fortunately for me, I had a "power of who" connection and after a brief email exchange I was on the phone with Rodney, an extremely knowledgeable gentleman at an RV repair company in Dallas.  

We were on the phone all of about 6 minutes before he threw out the phrase, "tongue weight" -- said he was sure I'd heard about that -- and just barreled onward.  Whoa whoa whoa - tongue weight?  I have never in my life heard that phrase.  Back the truck up. 

Apparently "tongue weight" is common parlance in the RV industry.  There is a calculation you should do to make sure you position the weight on your trailer correctly.  In this case, we were discussion my water reservoir tanks that I plan to mount under my trailer, between the front axle and the trailer tongue.  A gallon of fresh water weighs 8.34 pounds.  If I plan on having two 20 gallon tanks of water sloshing around under my trailer, that is over 300 pounds.  

Then he started speaking about "sway."  Apparently if you ignore the tongue weight calculation, or do it incorrectly, and you are not within the high and low percentage of trailer tongue weight, once you hit a certain speed (this is starting to develop the feel of algebra, which I barely passed.  Pick me for your spelling bee team...) your trailer will start swaying on the freeway.  I'm told this is very difficult to control.  Awesome.

 

I found this article online that explains the calculation.  My eyes crossed at about paragraph six.  

Here's an excerpt:

Finding the tongue weight (TW) of any trailer can, at first, seem like a difficult task. Fine-tuning the tongue weight to fall within the 9- to 15-percent weight range of the gross trailer weight (GTW) might seem nearly impossible. You'll be happy to know that it doesn't have to be complicated at all.

(I don't know, that seems like a lie.) 

In other interesting news, a quick Google search revealed that if I can't find a tongue weight scale to use for free locally, I can buy one* for under $150.  They look like this:

Here's the link for that photo:  

http://www.etrailer.com/Tools/Sherline/5780.html?feed=npn&gclid=CKmIh6L267kCFUdo7AodXCMAsg

Rodney also gave me a couple of other advisories:

1)  My fresh water tank and my gray water tank should be identically sized.  Reason being, if someone leaves the faucet on and goes outside, the gray water tank will be large enough to accept ALL of the water from the fresh water tank.  I likely would have figured that out with my keen sense of common sense, but who knows.

2)  Buy tanks made from HDPE plastic, not ABS plastic.  I neglected to ask why that is because I was furiously taking notes, but I'll ask him next time we speak; it was something about the strength of the plastic, I think.

His company sells reservoir tanks, and I told him I wanted to talk with him more about all of this (hire him if necessary) and that I would order my tanks from him.  He said he'd need to see the trailer to know exactly what we are dealing with.  I promptly sent him my floor plan and some photos.  I'll be back in touch with him in a few weeks... 

I don't know why it took me so long to identify an RV repair place (and/or a marine repair place) as a great resource for this topic... but it's going to be a great help to me.  Hey, so I'm slow.  But I get there eventually...

Daniel also advised me that I want to place my tanks as close to where in the house that I will be using the water as possible.  Okay so that's logical.  Unfortunately, attaining that goal seems a bit tricky to me, because my kitchen and bath are not at the tongue end of the trailer; they are on the back end.  Dilemma.  We discussed me putting one tank behind the axles, and one tank in front of the axles.  That could be a solution...

So, some additional plumbing progress.  Still a bit to go, but I'm chipping away at it... segment at a time.

Boneyard Studios posted a very informative post about plumbing last year - you can read that here.


* At which point I emailed the link to Nina with the advisory that this falls into the category of, "who knew?"  and of course, because we are twins separated at birth, she wholeheartedly agreed with me.

Tiny House Bathroom Design

As my tiny house construction progresses, I have new sections of it to tackle - both design-wise and self educating.  Some portions are easier than others; I was familiar with framing, so that was easy.  Insulation I'd done before (traditionally and on another tiny house) so that was easy.  

Metal roof design?  A greater learning curve but pretty manageable.  (I still keep waffling on color. Colonial Red?)

And the windows - that has been the biggest challenge to date.  Holy smokes who knew there was so much to learn?

Next came the front door.  Design, and hardware.  I've got those figured out for the most part.

And now I'm facing some portions that are more daunting to me: Plumbing and electrical.  Plumbing seems like the most difficult, specifically those pesky reservoir tanks.  Where do they go?  How large should they be?  How and why do you access them?  The actual running of pipes doesn't seem scary.  And then there is the water pump, and the filters, and the tankless water heater... those?  A wee bit more challenging.

But before I get to plumbing, I must address bathroom design.  The toilet I've mostly figured out; I wrote about the various options here and I've decided to go with the bucket and sawdust as written about in the Humanure Handbook.  I may or may not add a Separett Privy Kit  to the set up later. So that leaves a sink, some bathroom storage and the actual shower design.

I started looking at the standard bathroom design for the Gifford, and the shower area is 24" x 24".  I'm not sure that I can wash my hair in that much space without hitting my elbows on the walls, and I'm positive that I'd have to be a contortionist to shave my legs in that space!  To remedy that I've decided to make my bath a wet bath - you know, like on boats, where the whole room becomes the shower.  I'll need to figure out a way to cover the toilet and storage, and I'll have a curtain that pulls over the window to protect it from water.  The door may or may not be waterproof - depends what it is made out of.

Japanese Ofuro Tub (the more I look the less crazy it seems...)

I've started researching what materials I could use for the floors.  I like the look of galvanized metal, and I found one couple that built their own.  They wrote a step by step instruction of how they did it, and you can read that here.  I am less excited about having metal on the floor in the shower - doesn't it seem like it would be freezing on your feet in the winter?  But I could put down my teak bath mat and that would solve that issue.  And I do have a couple of friends who do commercial metal working, so I think a design could be within reach.

Then with a few Google searches I found some commercial options that aren't metal - they look like they are rubber (I've always suggested I may need to be in a rubber room... here is my chance, lol.)  Here is one: Altro Floors.  They do floors and walls, and it looks like they come in a variety of colors.  Hmmm

And here is another idea: DIY Wetroom.  This kit gives you the option of a tile floor (won't work for me - the tiles will probably crack as I travel) or a vinyl floor, both of which can get wet.

I haven't researched those in detail yet, but pretty soon I'll be digging into the details.  I have a feeling I am going to be in a RV supply store before it's all over.  Or maybe a nautical supply - that sounds more fun.