Walls Y'all

Tricky Tarpery

Well, the forecast calls for rain so we'll be using tarps to cover sheathed walls until we get it all up and ready to wrap.  We have 3 days off and hope to have all 4 walls by Wednesday...

Awestruck by Autumn

Windows to the Future

The past week before this one was fantastically dreamy weather.  We were bundled up, but dry and there was plenty of sunshine.  And in October in Western Washington, that's pretty lucky.  We finished the 2 short walls before the rain started sweeping through this week.

 The windows came in so we tried one out.  It's satisfying to see this but we're hoping Mother Nature gets this out of her system quickly.  Just a few more dry days and we could be walled in...

Walls For Our Wheels

Many careful measurements and the lessons of learning to focus are leading to a sound structure.  We put up "caution tape" to create "work space"  since my brother's family includes our neice and nephew who are 3 and 5. (Although one of our nephew's friends noted that our cheaper tape didn't say "caution" on it-either a future lawyer or victim of branding.)  We are using untreated douglas fir and medex to frame and sheathe the walls.  Thanks to D K's twin Adrian for delivering wood and polystyrene, to my bro Jon for  ordering the medex and cedar, and to D K's dad Yoshi for hauling our trailer.

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A Firm Footing

These snaps were taken about a week ago.   D K chose this stuff called Medex for the subfloor.  The plans call for knotty pine tongue & groove flooring installed without a subfloor.  We chose a sustainably harvested, non toxic cork flooring so a subfloor is necessary.

Medex is a MDF (medium density fiberboard) that does not contain formaldehyde, a carcinogen that's  in the glues that hold most types of fiberboard together.  It makes a very fine dust when sawed that made my eyelids puff up, so I'll try to steer clear of the dust, but it's super tough and seems otherwise safe.  We got it from Edensaw Woods.

We used razor blades to trim the spray foam that expanded past the floor surface after a couple hours.  But we wanted to allow a full 24 hours for it to cure and out gas just in case,  so we measured and cut the medex and called it a day.

The next step was to apply an extra layer of protection in the form of a vapor barrier called tutuf,  held in place with Mean Green adhesive, I dare the cold to get in! :)   Tutuf can be purchased at nontoxic.com.


After marking all the studs, D K screwed down the medex, and we have a solid floor.

 

Sealing the Deal`

  Flashed and flipped, squared and secured.  D K is adding L shaped brackets that the plans don't call for.  We will bolt up through the bottom and through the frame later.  We have further plans to ensure we're secure that we'll post on later.

Next, we cut polystyrene insulation to size to insulate and waterproof the floor of our trailer.  The closed cell foam didn't make me react at all but I know some people with MCS can't tolerate it.  It comes in big sheets that we cut with boxcutters.  We had the shop-vac handy to suck up li'l bits 'o foam that chipped off.  That did cause a reaction that I wasn't expecting.  The smell of the shop-vac motor and exhaust air was sickening. Guess I haven't vaccuumed out our car in awhile to have realized this:)

Jon is filling all the flashing seams (which fall on trailer planks below) with Mean Green adhesive.  We layered a 2 in. and a 1 in. layer of the polystyrene into each space as we couldn't find the 3in. the plans call for.

This is not a kit.  It's a set of pricey plans that leave a lot to the imagination and many things must be modified to fit your specific trailer.  Fine with us because we're building our safe haven just how we want it and with our own hands. We are fortunate to have my brother, Jon's expertise, advice and hours of labor, not to mention a chunk of his yard and accomodations due to my MCS.  Jon leaves off the hair gel and deoderant and walks far down the road to have a cig and Lisa holds off from running the clothes dryer while we are there.  Canaries count these blessings as HUGE!

In the last pic you can see we added a cedar skirt.  We also used a product called Fomo Eco foam to fill the seams around the polystyrene.  It is soy based and the best we could find but- holy nasty!  Let someone else do this for you if you have MCS or are chemically sensitive.  It's probably the propellent because in an hour it was cuttable and inoffensive.

A friend from the Canary Report posted an idea for testing tolerance and if something is still out gassing.  I've heard of doing this with water, too:  the jar test.  Just put the possible offender in a jar for 24 hours, then open.  Canaries know!