“Trying to build a house to the accuracy of a CAD (computer aided drafting) program is impossible” I exclaimed at the end of the third consecutive work day on SHED as I simultaneously wiped the sweat from my brow and smeared a black streak of pro-formula caulk sealant. Without talking, Samantha and  I spent the next 20 minutes slowly putting away all of the tools and cleaning up the weekends mess. It was 5 pm on Monday evening and we were spent.

With the following two weekends booked up with side travels we pushed ourselves headfirst into a 3 day work fest as we tried to make as much progress as possible for an upcoming feature story in our local paper whose photographer was visiting on Monday for a final round of process photographs and B-role video footage. With no lack of hours invested in figuring out just how to detail our roof condition to achieve the desired aesthetic with logical construction practices we placed our roofing order just before the mid-Monday deadline in order to receive it that same week and on Friday a beautiful shipment of metal roof panels and even more custom trim and flashing profiles arrived just in time for the weekend.

We blasted into Saturday full of energy and after an hour or so of carefully bending, cutting and installing the matching red metal eave trim we were lifting the 20’-6” long roof panels up onto the long slope of our roof. We could feel the energy evaporate from our bodies as the temperature crested 90 degrees again for the 35th(?) consecutive day. We patiently and generously caulked, added foam closure strips and carefully screwed the panels to our roof deck while being forced to wiggle under, over and through the barns roof rafters as we tried not to become a victim of our newly created metal slip and slide.

The second day we returned and began to install the shorter panels on the taller roof section as well as that eaves full metal trim wrap. The full body tension experienced when precariously standing near the top of those flimsy orchard “ladders” becomes physically taxing and progress slowed as we began trimming out the gable ended condition of our roof, knowing full well that a mistake here would be visible forever. We first placed the red z-flashing upside down to cover the bottom edge of the trim board and then placed the gable end cap profile which starts up on top of the roof and wraps up, over and down the side of the trim board, over hanging by a ¼” and terminating in a angle drip edge to shed water away from the siding. We fell short of our goal of finishing the roof by the end of the second day and accepted the fact that “it always takes longer than expected.”

Come Monday we hurried along the final side of gable end trim as the newspaper photographer strolled in at the strike of noon, as she had done the previous two Mondays. She snapped photos of us finishing the roof line trim that makes our distinct roof profile pop and asked a few more final clarifying questions as we transitioned into an exploratory installation of our reclaimed corrugated metal siding panels that were salvaged from an 80 year old apple bin canopy here in the valley. We will talk at length about or siding in the near future but were really excited to see a couple panels on the wall, surrounding the windows and dying into the red roof line. We are so over roofing and so into siding:) One of the best things about building a tiny house is that right about the time a particular task becomes tedious and frustrating, you finish it and can move onto the next project!

And if you have read this far we want to talk about the best part of the past week[end] which has been meeting a new young couple that just moved to town in their, wait for it….TINY HOME! Enter into our journey, Steve and Kassie, who if you have been following the tiny home movement at all you may have browsed their blog over at Tiny Life for Two. These two Midwesterners brought their tiny house to reality in Omaha, Nebraska over the last 6 months and promptly towed it to Yakima where Kassie will be attending medical school at Pacific North West University in the coming weeks. We spent intermittent time together over a few days getting to know each other and perusing each others tiny houses. I think one of every tiny house builders biggest fears is actually moving their hand built pride and joy and these two crossed half of the country before ever spending a night in it! I could say more but I will let them speak for themselves and recommend you check out their most recent post that details “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly” about their first week of living in their tiny house.

We will share the link to the Newspaper story when it is published on Sunday.

Cheers

-R+S