April 2018 - Tiny Living Living Large

Finally

The weather got warm enough so we could do our install of insulation. Without it, we could not progress much further with the interior. Over the last month or so, we have been watching the weather, prepping the inside, installing LOTS of wire and in-wall plumbing.

Preparation

There are quite a few items that require us to put wires, tubes, etc. through the walls. This includes our bathroom fans, our outdoor shower unit, the Lunos heat recovery ventilation (HRV) system, the kitchen vent, wood stove vent, and several electrical plugs. We are coordinating the kitchen and wood stove vents with the roof installer. This is to ensure the flashing is done just right. The outdoor electrical outlets are just a simple wire, so we can do that at a later date. But the rest all had to be in place. After some back and forth, we also decided to draw speaker wires for the outdoors and the lounge. Yes, we could go wireless, but sound is important and we wanted the option to go direct.

We figured the insulation company would cover up windows, floors, and anything we did not want sprayed. However, having read about a few horror stories, we thought we would do our own prep too. We thought it best to ensure all the electrical boxes, fans, hanging wire, and any plumbing lines, were all covered.

The crew arrives and insulation work begins

The day finally arrived and the Truck and Trailer of the installer smoothly backed into the driveway and started up the machinery. There was a crew of three. The master sprayer (he had 15 years of experience and was a bit of an artist with the spray gun) and two others who did the prep and cleanup. Plastic sheathing went on all the windows, floors, and even the stairway and loft support pole were covered. Nice job.

Closed Cell foam insulation is made of two separate chemicals that are heated and fed into two separate hoses. They are mixed and combined with air pressure when sprayed onto the surface. It expands very quickly and seeks every nook and cranny, turning solid hard within minutes. The result – an airtight and very rigid structure.

As you can see in this picture here, proper protection is required during the application process. However, all gasses dissipate within minutes and the resulting foam is actually biodegradable.

After the interior was done (and it took probably 4 hours), the underside of the gooseneck and a couple of spots under the trailer were also sprayed.

The wrapup

The cleanup crew now went at it, removing any overspray, cleaning the studs, and taking care of any areas where the insulation found a gap and expanded to the outside.

We had been awaiting for this day for a long time and were also very nervous, hoping that everything would go smoothly. Given the perfect weather we are so glad we waited rather than push for an earlier date. Here is a summary video, including a side by side compare.

Planning

As we are leading up to the day of our insulation install (Closed Cell Foam), we had to ensure that all the electrical and any in wall plumbing was completed. We honestly did not think that it was going to be that big of a deal. A few lights here and there, some plugs, the appliances…. well, 500+ feet of regular wire and 500 feet of low voltage wire later, and we have one wired house. And actually, this is just the rough in.

We started off to make a plan of where we wanted electrical plugs and switches. We then checked all the appliances and other electronic components to understand their draw and circuit requirement. Lastly, we drew a plan for all the lights and what we wanted controlled by our automation system. You can see these sketches here.

The way the automation system works is that all the switches are on regular 110v and all the lights are on low voltage. When you turn on a switch, the signal goes back to the main controller. The controller then sends a signal to that light (or group of lights) using low voltage. This means that every single light or group of lights you want to turn off or on, needs to have a direct feed. It also turns out that most of the appliances suggested a dedicated electrical circuit, which meant they needed a separate wire going back to the panel. We may have overdone it, but better safe than sorry, so we erred on the conservative side when faced with an option.

Beyond the obvious

Our water pump needs 12volt as does the fan for the compost toilet. We are hoping to install a Orbital Shower of the Future in the fall, so it needed to be wired as well.

Because tiny houses are so well insulated with little to no air escaping, we also have to handle the natural condensation that happens. So we installed a Lunos ductless, simple, and highly efficient heat recovery ventilation (HRV) system. It required thermostat wiring between the main switch and each unit (one in each end of the house). Here are a couple of pictures.

Lastly were a few speakers for the exterior which were easily wired. We will then simply mount and connect them once we park at each destination.

Plumbing

Now for the plumbing, it was significantly simpler. We used PEX because it is very easy and fairly fool proof to install. (you see some of it in the main picture above) It uses red and blue tubing and a simple ring that you clamp around the connectors using a special tool. We only had the bathroom sink, washer, pot filler, and outdoor shower to connect. The rest is all accessible after the insulation goes in. I will do another post on the actual plumbing with the tanks, pumps, filters, etc. That is a whole science in itself.