It's been almost a month since my last update and really there isn't much to say. My dad had been working on finishing and cleaning up the garage with some help from my brother and I. After the drywall is up we're going to pull the trailer in for the winter and I will start working on everything again. I originally wasn't planning on having a weather safe place to store the trailer during the winter, but now that I do this means I can start construction earlier. If I can get paint, brakes and new tires done in a timely fashion, I would like to start on the sub floor. That way when the weather is nice enough again I can roll it outside and get the exterior walls up even faster.
While all of this has been going on, I've been rearranging and refining my bathroom design. This is the only part of the house I have yet to show people online, but I think it's nearly ready. Its overall dimensions will be 8x4 feet and will include a litter box for my (future) cat, my closet, a toilet and a small bathtub/shower combo.
From the very beginning for my bath and shower I didn't want just a plastic shower stall anyone can get at Home Depot; I wanted a stock tank. When I showed my dad my plans he gave me a look that said, "Okay Candace, it's your house do what you want, but....", but I really love the look of something like this:
While all of this has been going on, I've been rearranging and refining my bathroom design. This is the only part of the house I have yet to show people online, but I think it's nearly ready. Its overall dimensions will be 8x4 feet and will include a litter box for my (future) cat, my closet, a toilet and a small bathtub/shower combo.
From the very beginning for my bath and shower I didn't want just a plastic shower stall anyone can get at Home Depot; I wanted a stock tank. When I showed my dad my plans he gave me a look that said, "Okay Candace, it's your house do what you want, but....", but I really love the look of something like this:
I also like the option of being able to take a small bath if I've had a tough day. Or maybe I'll need a place to wash something my kitchen sink would be unable to hold. Someone else has actually done the same thing in their TinyHouse as well:
I've also seen a couple of painted galvanized tubs that look really nice too. Maybe I'll end up doing that, we'll just have to see as the project moves further along.
The other aspect of TinyHouse living that raises a lot of eyebrows is how to use the toilet. There are two options I see a lot of when looking at other houses; either plumb in a regular RV toilet including a black water tank, or make a $5 composting toilet yourself. I am really not crazy about either option. I refuse to have a black water tank where I'll have to haul either my house or some transport tank to the sewage dump at leas once a month. And with the $5 composting toilet, you need a place for a composting bin where you have to empty the toilet once a week and wash it out. God forbid you do it wrong too, or you could make people sick with your waste and everything stinky. This leaves two options for me. I can get a less time consuming composting toilet like Separett that keeps waste in the toilet and breaks it down enough for it to be nontoxic and more like compost. This is something I'd only have to deal with once every couple of months or so. The second option an incinerating toilet that just turns everything into ash that is completely safe and only needs to be emptied once every 6 months. However, both of these toilet systems are expensive, like very expensive for my budget. They start out at about $1,400 and can range all the way up to $4,000 for the really nice ones. After seeing what I'd have to pay for what I wanted I just decided I'd make the $5 composting toilet and deal with where I'd make a compost bin when the time came(which is scary considering I still don't know where I will park this). That is until I started looking into things again. Then I found the Dry-Flush.
When I was first doing toilet research I heard of the Dry-Flush but prices weren't listed online and I figured the system sounded so perfect it must be just as expensive, if not more, than the nice composting and incinerating toilets; I brushed them off. This weekend though I looked into them again and found some prices. The most recent article I found was from February 2013 which said they are selling for $420. I also found some videos from 2012 boat shows that listed them at about $500. When I saw this I thought, THIS IS IT! THIS IS THE TOILET FOR ME!
I really can't express how excited I am about this development. I will have to buy refill cartridges for the toilet which will be a monthly expense, but I personally feel like it's worth it. With the prices broken down, each flush costs about $1, which is a bit more than what each flush costs in an incinerating toilet. I am pretty confident in saying though I am going to find a way to make room in my budget for this.
Here is a couple videos showing the toilet in action and exactly what it is:
The other aspect of TinyHouse living that raises a lot of eyebrows is how to use the toilet. There are two options I see a lot of when looking at other houses; either plumb in a regular RV toilet including a black water tank, or make a $5 composting toilet yourself. I am really not crazy about either option. I refuse to have a black water tank where I'll have to haul either my house or some transport tank to the sewage dump at leas once a month. And with the $5 composting toilet, you need a place for a composting bin where you have to empty the toilet once a week and wash it out. God forbid you do it wrong too, or you could make people sick with your waste and everything stinky. This leaves two options for me. I can get a less time consuming composting toilet like Separett that keeps waste in the toilet and breaks it down enough for it to be nontoxic and more like compost. This is something I'd only have to deal with once every couple of months or so. The second option an incinerating toilet that just turns everything into ash that is completely safe and only needs to be emptied once every 6 months. However, both of these toilet systems are expensive, like very expensive for my budget. They start out at about $1,400 and can range all the way up to $4,000 for the really nice ones. After seeing what I'd have to pay for what I wanted I just decided I'd make the $5 composting toilet and deal with where I'd make a compost bin when the time came(which is scary considering I still don't know where I will park this). That is until I started looking into things again. Then I found the Dry-Flush.
When I was first doing toilet research I heard of the Dry-Flush but prices weren't listed online and I figured the system sounded so perfect it must be just as expensive, if not more, than the nice composting and incinerating toilets; I brushed them off. This weekend though I looked into them again and found some prices. The most recent article I found was from February 2013 which said they are selling for $420. I also found some videos from 2012 boat shows that listed them at about $500. When I saw this I thought, THIS IS IT! THIS IS THE TOILET FOR ME!
I really can't express how excited I am about this development. I will have to buy refill cartridges for the toilet which will be a monthly expense, but I personally feel like it's worth it. With the prices broken down, each flush costs about $1, which is a bit more than what each flush costs in an incinerating toilet. I am pretty confident in saying though I am going to find a way to make room in my budget for this.
Here is a couple videos showing the toilet in action and exactly what it is: