Painting the trailer

If you look at the pictures, you can start seeing how the trailer is now. The last picture shows how it was before.
We bought a very robust trailer, but with some rust. That's why we decided to paint it with Bondex - corrostop, which is a treatment for rust and prevents the reappearance of it. 
Here are the charateristics:
Características

Tipo	Esmalte
Indicado para	Exterior
Efeito	Liso
Aplicação direta sobre a ferrugem	Sim
Superfície de aplicação	Metal
Necessita primário	Não
Base	Sintética
Número de demãos	2
Rendimento	10 m²/L
Tempo entre demãos	6 horas
Mais vantagens	Excelente aderência, boa cobertura e secagem rápida
Marca	Corrostop

I loved doing this task. It reminded me a lot of my Grandfather Ramiro. He was a handyman and this was one of his works.
Looking forward to see what's the next step!

Love,
Raquel

Being with what is

As you have been noticing, building our tiny house is more than just physically building a house.
The process is quite magical.
Since we started, a lot of things "came to the surface" - this meaning that behavior patterns, ideas, tendencies and believes come to our consciousness frequently.
And that's one of the things that I most love from this: it is so complete and mysterious at the same time.
We have to be with what is. If we don't, we suffer. It's been our experience that if we just let go of any expectation, things are what they are. It's a choice, everyday. Either we live or we suffer.
It's a challenge in a world of agendas, expectations, desires and other movements that keep us away from what we are in reality.
But today, I only speak from myself, from my own experience.
Today, I am disappointed. But in the middle of sadness and frustration I sense that the right thing is happening. It doesn't matter why, but it's just what is.
Every time that I force anything to happen exactly in the way that I want it to happen, I suffer.
Today I am disappointed because I thought that the wood was going to arrive and it isn't.

Look at this perfect 2 examples of what I am speaking about:

1 - The other day I saw myself looking at David sanding the trailer and thinking: what am I doing, work wise, in this trailer? Nothing! I am doing Nothing. I am useless. With no skills to put a house up. I am nothing! And so, I just went out and asked him if he wanted some help for what he was doing. He said no, but I insisted. So, I helped him to move a cement base to put under the trailer so he could level it. In the process of doing it I banged my head into a piece of metal under the trailer. It heart so much and at the precise moment that that happened I could see that it's no use of forcing things! It's a ridiculous waste of time not being with what is. I am everything! It doesn't matter what I am doing if I am doing it with all my heart. I am not what I do. Things at the moment are like this and I was not accepting that.

2 - Today I called the wood yard, because the wood was supposed to come this week. At the beginning they told us that the wood was coming the same week that we ordered, but then they found out that they didn't have the measurements that we needed in dry wood. So, this week was the week! But no! They made a mistake and the 150 pieces of wood were not dried by them! What to do now? Wait another month for it to dry? Use green wood?
We are going to complain for sure. But one question came to us: working with dry wood in the rain is a waste of money?
What to do?

We decided to stay with it for a while, meditate and go for a big walk.
And enjoy the beautiful life that we have. 
It's a choice that it's very important because the weather is going to change: bye bye sun, hello rain. And we had other plans for January.

We are going to stay with it, but at the same time we need to make a decision.

(Missanga in her Tiny House)

Isn't life curious and so mysterious?

With love,
Raquel



#UPDATE# 
We called again to the wood yard and they said that some wood is dry and ready to be picked up next week!
So next Tuesday we are going to Venda de Galizes!

Visit from the Dr.

Extending the trailer with the help of Dr. Ferro

We have been trying to arrange a visit from Dr. Ferro (metal) for a couple of weeks. On Thursday he arrived in the afternoon with his welding and cutting equipment and a very large generator. He is a well known metal worker from neighbouring town, and proudly gives himself the title of "Dr. Ferro". We were pleased he had made it and was sharing this part of the journey with us.

I explained what we wanted to do, and showed him the van chassis that we wanted to use for material. It was not quite what he was expecting and I was slightly anxious that I had asked him to come without the proper materials for him to do the job, but he was quick to get to work, and we were soon measuring and cutting the chassis to size.

The chassis was given to us by the man that we bought the trailer from. I had initially asked him whether he had any material that we could use to extend it. He originally said that we could have the chassis for a 100Euros but when we were doing the final deal said that he would give it to us for free! We really appreciated it, and it was great to now be putting it to good use.

As soon as we had cut the first piece, the Dr., or Antonio, as he is known, was quickly to work with the welder to attach it to the chassis. He was very fast and I had to be quick to keep up making sure everything was the dimensions we wanted it, and level with the rest of the trailer.

We quickly became a well oiled team working together to complete the mission. It was a cold day and we weren't hanging around. In about 3 hours we had both ends completed.

 

I am generally not that interested in working with metal, but I have to say I really enjoyed this part of the construction. I have not welded before but I have got a taste for it and I would like to learn more.

Mission completed we posed for a quick photograph. I will now paint the parts that we welded on to protect them from rusting. We are now just waiting for the wood to be ready and we will get started with the floor and frame :)

Job Done!

David

Who is coming on Thursday?

Dr. Ferro!

To well the metal extension in our trailer.
Instead of a 7m trailer we are going to have a 8m trailer!
Just enough space for a very comfortable home.

Leveling the trailer

Getting Level

We have the trailer positioned just in front of the bus, on what looks to be a fairly flat piece of ground. However when I got the spirit level out, I could see it was anything but.

When I was working with a carpenter on a project to build a meditation studio, I remember how much he emphasized
 the importance of getting the foundations level. Once you have that in place, whatever you build on top is going to be a lot easier. In that case we were digging holes in the ground to make concrete foundations, and so this is a little different, but the principal is the same.

So I set about jacking up each corner and supporting the trailer on combinations of slaps of concrete, stone and whatever else I could find that could take the weight. I found it a bit intimidating at some points when I realized how much weight I was lifting and supporting. In this picture I was using a jack and a piece of eucalyptus.

At the rear of the trailer there are stabilising arms that fold down. These helped a lot as I could wedge material under them, and create a stable foundation to support the trailer and also the house to come.

Raquel LOVES to take pictures of feet!?! This is one with our feet under the wheel of the trailer.

Getting there! I finished yesterday. We now have a solid level foundation to work on. We are just waiting for the materials to arrive and Dr. Ferro to weld on some metalwork to extend the length of the trailer.

David

Still and yet again, the trip from Santarém

Traveling in time

On our way back from Santarém, we decided to come trough the National Road. I always loved to do this in Portugal. We see people and contact more with the culture as well with the Nature. And I thought that we might find what we call pechinchas or achados. There are always people selling things on the National Roads. It's amazing! And that's what happened!
Right after Venda das Raparigas and before Leiria, we found a big storage place that was selling second hand things (Loja de Velharias). What an amazing store! For me was like traveling in time.
It was more than things, it was an adventure.
Me and David spent about an hour there, exploring, having fun, "going to the past" and seeing things that we really liked. At the end, we met the owner (I forgot his name!). What a character!
He is a traveler and that's why the things that he sells are not Portuguese only. There is stuff from all over the world. A seller, but nor forcing us to buy anything. I felt that he loves old things, people and the business. We couldn't resist to bring an old chest, an old military box and an old beer. The chest has already several functions (like in Permaculture!) and goes very well with the Moroccan theme that we would like to have in the house. It's going to be a sofa and a music box.
At the end, when we said goodbye, we took pictures together and he said to us: "you know what is life? Is about being honest, having humility and having a little bit of money!".
After that, it took as a while to start the journey again, because we had the windows in the car and we still had to fit in the (not so small) chest. But we did it!

We loved this experience and we recommend everyone that likes this kind of stores to go for a visit. Even if you don't buy anything, it is worth it to meet the owner and to just have fun in this time machine!

Oh, and look at the owner: he said to us that in New York he was confused with Joe Pesci. I understand why! I went back to "Home Alone" just by speaking with him!

 (picture from http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/Joe_Pesci_4.jpg)

 

With love,
Raquel

The finished box

I finished the box!
Today I had to use inches to put the lid on top of the box and I just cleaned it, because the plywood was very dirty. And I used a new tool to cut small pieces of metal that were attached to the wood: angle grinder.
It is amazing to see the box finished and functional.

 (an old carpenter pencil from my family)

 (Missanga showing up...just a little bit, because she is shy!)

(Lara checking the work)

 

                   

Ah, just like a carpenter!

With love,
Raquel

Boxing day?

Not yet, but almost!
This was an interesting small project before the construction of the Tiny House.
It still is! I haven't finished it yet. For 2 reasons: there was some material missing (hinges and a catch) and at the time I couldn't make the lid on my own, because I had to cut metal and I haven't done it before.

But all of this brought an interesting contemplation to me. 
I saw how strongly I think that I am not capable of working with wood and actually make something useful with it. And how, at the same time, I am curious and I love to experiment new things and I am not afraid to work with tools.
David explained every detail of the project and I started to measure and to cut the wood. I saw my confidence and my lack of it as well. But the important thing is that I didn't give up. I kept going, asking when I was not sure of things and a box was made!

It is very empowering to use either one tool or the other (the jigsaw, the drill, the impact driver and the silicone gun).
How come a tool in my hand feels so empowering? Is it because it's an extension of my hands and with their work something new is created? It's the power of creation? It's the thrill of the new, the unknown? It's the fact that I am doing something that the "rules" (or what normally is a stand) say that is for men?
I think it doesn't matter the reason or reasons. The main thing is that I am empowered because nothing is stopping me (including myself). I am being myself, without imposed limitations. There is no gender, there is no impossibilities, there is no expectation. There is only the presence of a being creating something new.

 (I had a funny moment when I saw that I drilled holes on the wrong side of the wood and then they wouldn't match with the other piece of wood - it looked like a puzzle with no solution to me)

(I learned that silicone is used to stop the entrance of the water inside of the box)

Looking forward to put the lid on!

With love,

Raquel

What are we up to?

David is saving all the materials possible from the trailer and preparing the working area for when the rain comes.

I am contacting several suppliers (cork, wood, ...) and searching for used materials that we can use.

Designing with Sketchup

"SketchUp"

I wanted to write a bit about the design program I am using. It is called SketchUp and is freely available off the web. It is really helping me work out how we are going to build this thing!

The picture above is where I am at with it at the moment. I have included the windows with the exact dimensions of the ones we got, and the idea is that this will give us the plans so that when we come to construct we will have a better idea how things will go together.

It has been a bit of a learning curve to get my head around this software, it is not majorly complicated, but you need to now how to use it. I bought some instructional videos here and they have worked wonders. They were not exspensive and are helping support another couple who are building a tiny house in the U.S.
Jake who is demonstrating the software is very clear in how to use it, and is a bit of a wizard with it. It helps that he is showing what are the useful tools in the context of building a small wooden house.

So the next step is to start adding the inner and outer walls and to work out how we are going to build the roof, I am hoping that will come in a divine flash of inspiration!

David

Cork ordered

And we ordered the cork for our trailer!
More details soon.