Big Blow

Stanford, Kentucky recorded record wind speeds at 58mph last night as a sustained low pressure cell stirred up trouble for most of Central Kentucky yesterday and last night.  We had porch furniture flipped over when I arrived home from work and the welcome mat was in the front yard.  Our wind chimes were singing a staccato tune that was almost unintelligible.  All this adds up to some frightening news for the Dollar General Store employees in Stanford where the record wind speeds tore a large section of roofing loose at about 5:00 pm. (Video)

Big Problems!

Well, I've uncovered a couple of problems for Tiny Houses proposed within the state of Kentucky.

First, the Kentucky Building Code, Ninth Edition, 2007, Revised March 2010, includes prescribed Occupant Load:

...the occupant load shall not be less than that

number determined by dividing the floor area

under consideration by the occupant as set forth in

Table 1004.1.1.

Happy Halloween!!!

Hey, it's the weekend and I hope everyone is having a great holiday full of spooky stuff.  We partied last night, in costume, and had a great time.  However, that's the last time that I dress in costume wearing a mask.  Wow!  Was that thing hot.  I took my Batman mask off after about an  house and the inside of it was totally soaked with sweat.  Yuch!

Laura and I hiked out into the back-back field this afternoon to double check the placement of our new cabin so I could get some pictures.  This first one is from our driveway across the field looking at the access to the area.  It's hard to tell, but we will have to carry all of our materials through a gate at the back of the filed shown, just past the horse standing under the tree, and across a ravine.

This next shot shows Laura hiking through the ravine and up the other side.  Before you get to thinking that we're idiots and just making things hard on ourselves, let me say that we plan to use our four-wheeler "Teddy" as much as possible.

This last one is the picture of the spot we have selected for the location of our shed/cabin thingy.  I will be calling the Planning/Zoning department this week to double check that I am allowed to build storage shed in this area of my property.  We are going to proceed with the assumption that if we stay under 120 square feet, that we won't need any permits for our shed.  Also, there will be no "improvements" like water, plumbing, or electricity so we should be OK, but I want to check just to be sure.  Laura's holding her hands out to display the orientation of the 8 X 15 structure and how it will lay out on the land.

I still have a few pallets to strip but I have contracted a bad cold that has really worn me down.  I was going to visit with Silas, my grandson, to share in his first Halloween, but I don't think it's a good place to share my virus with him or his parents so I'll be sitting this one out.  Anyway, this is the spot.  Laura asked if'n we need to mark it with an "X" or something but I'm pretty sure it's not going anywhere.  So, that's the spot.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you're planning a safe an scary Halloween.  Let's get out there and make it a great day and a scary night!

Lucky find last week

One of the women I worked with is remodeling her home and I had a chance to speak with her husband about their project.  Turns out that they are working on a major job at their home much like Laura and I have undertaken and they will have lots of cast-offs that I may find interesting; windows and such.  I inquired about the opportunity to preview those items before they were official consigned to the dumpster and they said, "Yah, sure!"  This is really cool because I already know that they have a 32" exterior door that I can claim and put to good use.  I am looking forward to the opportunity to visit their place to look around at some of the windows that they will be replacing.  Turns out they haven't even pulled the old windows from their home yet so I have connected and exactly the right time to help with the removal before it becomes a burden to them.  This makes it a win-win for everyone.  I am feelin' pretty excited about this opportunity.

This morning while reading the Tiny House Blog I came across another blog that has been in existence for some time about the Shed of Reality hosted by Kate Johnson.  I am enthralled by Kate's artist's shed and some of the design ideas that she has incorporated into her artist's studio.  As I read her postings it became apparent that I have been designing our "Get-a-way Cabin" including the construction restrictions that are required of a Tiny House on a trailer.  Specifically, the 13'6" height restriction that is required to clear the bridge and freeway overpasses if you intend to tow your Tiny House on the road.  However, since we have decided to plant our cabin in our field without plans to move it, we are free to make it a little taller and implement some of Kate's ideas on utilizing vertical storage space.  I know this seems like a "duh" thing but I have been thinking of being "mobile" for so long that I had developed tunnel vision in my design considerations.  So, we may be reaching a little higher in the height of our cabin.  We will want to remain under the 120 square foot restriction for our county to avoid the building permit requirements.  This will technically be a storage shed without electricity or water so we are able to minimize the related expenses like permitting and stuff like licensed electricians and plumbers.  Not that there is anything wrong with those guys, because everyone has to make a living and stuff.

So, anyway, onward,...and in our case upward, just a little.  Thanks for stopping by.  Let's get out there and make it a great day!