Summer progress – preparing the trailer

Whoa, where did summer go?! Now that we are winding down the summer, I figured I would re-cap on what we have done so far in building our home. We now realize the trailer preparation requires a lot of time, work and creativity with little reward. I originally figured I would blog once we had substantial progress, but now looking back I realize the trailer preparation is made up of smaller bits of progress leading to substantial change. I figured with this post I would catch everyone up to speed on what Cory and I have been up to this summer.

JUNE 2015 : Our trailer arrives! We had our trailer custom designed through Joshua our trailer rep and delivered directly to us. The hassle (and stress) of driving up through Washington far outweighed the (relatively) small cost of delivery. After a lot of thought and research early on, Cory and I decided to have our trailer custom designed for our home. This allowed us to have a wider trailer (the full legal width of 8’6″), the tongue extended (to allow for propane tank and additional storage), the axles heavier duty to match the heavier weight of our home and the trailer bed dropped to 4″ allowing us to build a bit higher before reaching the road maximum of 13’6″. Additionally, we tossed around the idea of purchasing a less expensive used trailer, but at the end of the day we both decided to spend the extra money on a new, well built trailer. After all, it is our foundation.

JULY 2015: In order to insulate the floor of our trailer, we needed to first attach metal sheeting on the underside of the trailer. As we go through our building process Cory and I are focused on using as much re-used materials as possible. We were able to use leftover metal roofing for the underside sheeting, but it required a lot of time to cut the metal and screw into the underside of the trailer. To further strengthen the metal (once it is holding insulation) we attached 2x4s down the length of the trailer.

Cory attaching 2x4s down the trailer

Progress

Measuring to cut metal roofing for underside sheeting

The thankless job of laying in the dirt all day screwing metal sheets into the bottom of the trailer. Thank you Cory!!

AUGUST 2015 : We purchased 4 additional leveling jacks and had receivers welded into the trailer frame (thanks Seth!). We now have a sturdy trailer capable of raising 28,000 lbs. (not that we will need that much, ha!). Cory then attached all thread to the cross bars of the trailer to rise up through the subfloor and provide anchors for when the walls are built. Most recently Cory and a co-worker (thanks John!) spent the day blowing in cellulose insulation into the floor and attaching the subfloor

Progress…

So close to being ready to build walls!

COMING UP… this weekend Cory and I are working on building a couple walls. Our goal is to have two of our walls built by the end of the weekend. I will be posting pictures later this week.

-Hannah