Having very little framing experience, I decided to make a storage box with the same angle of the trailer's tongue, instead of good ole' square one.
A smaller square box would have worked but I was thinking about turning radius and wind drag so on and so fourth. Looking back, knowing how much time it took me to finish this part of the tiny home, I would do It differently. Plus, its comical, the "tiny tank" thats what I'm calling the tiny home from now on, is 13 foot 2 inches off the ground and nothing about this thing is aerodynamic.
Back to the struggle of the box building....
This is the first part of the frame for the floor. If my memory is correct the short side (front) is 33 inches, the long (back) is 55 inches and it is 18 1/2 inches deep.
Next I added a cross supports, bottom sheathing (plywood) and started to fill in the 3 1/2 inch space with foam insulation.
Insulation is in, everything was going smoothly and looking good.
Plywood is now on both sides and the bottom plate for the first wall is set on top to see if I had the correct angle. Still looking good... besides the slightly out of focus photo. (sorry)
This is where some of the wonkiness started. My first problem was I had a plan in my head but not drawn out. ( I did most the tiny tank this way.) From my experience I will draw out some basic plans before I build.
What I did here was build one side and then mirrored the other side. As you can see I didn't finish the top. I didn't know what the roof pitch was going to be or even how I was going to build the roof. This caused me some grief later.
If you are a framer feel free to laugh because I am! Every moment in life is a chance to learn and boy did I... I put in the front wall of the box and I thought I figured out the angles for the roof.
In the photo above I have added two 2 X 6 ledgers to attach the box to the tiny tank. (the ledgers can be seen through the bottom of the left door way and at the top back of the box.) I also added a stud in the front wall and filled it with foam insulation.
I want to explain a little, look at the photo above, the top of the walls are angled too much. It makes the top of the box look like an air foil on a drag racer. By the time I noticed my mistake I was way too frustrated to go back and fix it. Bound and determined I was going to make it work some how.
The ledgers are easier to see here at the top and bottom back of the box. The last step, before putting the plywood on the outside, was foam insulation. All the empty spaces got filled.
Plywood is on!! Still has a air foil look aggggh...
Yep even framed out some tiny doors and filled them with more foam.
Two doors framed, foamed and sheathed.
I did all of this with plans in my head. That might be alright for some... but not for me. A project that I thought would be no problem 2-3 days, was more like 5-6 days. I stared at this box for a very long periods of time thinking of what to do next.
The box sees the light! Getting ready to attach...
I added a tiny wall ;) and another ledger for piece of mind.
After a wrestling match between me and the box, which I think I lost the first round and maybe the second, the not so tiny box is resting on the trailer tongue. Time to proceed with attachment.
I used 3 1/2 inch screws to hold the box in place then used six 5 1/2 lag style screw for some serious holding power. This was done through all three ledgers into the framing of the tiny tank. (I smile every time I call it the tiny tank.)
Over kill? I don't think so... I put six of these angle brackets on using screws. Three on each side.
I didn't document the roof process very well... I don't think I really wanted to. I had to make it work using my wonky framing this was the product. Tada! like magic...
The main reason I'm sharing all of this, my mistakes and frustrations, to show everyone if I can do this they can to. Keep moving and you will accomplish a lot.
Ice shield and fascia is on.
(Note: I was using left over metal drip edge and roofing here. I didn't do this the correct way as well but guess what it worked out just fine.) Tyvek homewrap is on and metal drip edge.
Here it is in all its glory! The metal roof is on and looks alright.
Thanks to all of you that made it through part 3 of the tiny tank build.:) Please if you have any comments or questions we would love to read them.
I mean it this time when I say the next part will be about metal siding and roofing. Didn't want to skip a vital part.