Dreams are the touchstones of our character. ~ Henry David Thoreau
The sequence of pictures starts with a picture of the shop after a snow storm and the material sitting waiting to become The Wildflower – a Tiny Green Cabin. As we journey down this path, we are accumulating knowledge; from “greenwashing” to how green do we want the Tiny Green Cabins to be? For instance, the closer to us the lumber is cut, milled and delivered to be used in a Tiny Green Cabin – the more “green” it is in energy consumption. Thus the opposite is also true, for us the build a green cabin here and ship it to Texas – would nullify some of the green in a cabin as trucking and fuel would consume more energy that the green used in a green cabin.
“Greenwashing” is a term used when a business says they are green and only a small sliver of the business is actually green. Our intent is to be in harmony with the earth, by using earth friendly “green” products. We are hereby aligning, committing, and dedicating Tiny Green Cabins to being “green.”
After the lumber was delivered, being Minnesota – it needed to come inside to acclimate to the building process. After the ice melted off the material and lumber thawed, the building process started with the framing of the floor system and installing the treated plywood to the floor. We have to build the system upside down to install the TTD sheathing, then flip it over, to insulate the floor system with the Ultra Soft Touch(cotton – shredded blue jeans), then install the vapor barrier and the plywood subfloor. The vapor barrier needs to go to the warm side of the insulation.
Once the subfloor was installed, the framing of the exterior walls start, and we chose to “balloon frame” the end walls to the underside of the roof deck The 1st wall is framed and Monday, we will frame the other end as well as the side walls. Then sheath them and start framing the roof structure. The roof structure is constructed for a 50lbs snow load.
Where is the trailer you ask? It is sitting, waiting for The Wildflower to be rolled out of the door in a couple of weeks. Building the Tiny Green Cabins, without the trailer being involved, allows us to protect the building process from the weather, keeping everything dry with climate controlled conditions. Once we start your cabin, we can frame it, install exterior and interior finishes including painting and staining. The Cabin is complete once rolled out the door. With this particular model, the clearance from the door to the top of the Wildflower is less than 3 inches!
