How to Eat an Elephant

It is finally happening!  That rat-trap of an old trailer is going away! The demolition crew has been out here dismantling it for the last two days. Yesterday I realized they had begun work when they had used a saws-all to remove a window and left it leaning up against the tongue of the trailer. I was even more pleased when I got home from work this evening to see more progress had been made. I figured a photo is worth a thousand words so I snapped a few pics to share.

 If only you could smell this place, you would have a better understanding of how icky this thing is. In fact, I had a wardrobe box that had pillows stuffed in the bottom that I have chosen to burn because the pillows now smell like that trailer and I don't think soap, bleach, and hot water can undo that stink! 

The Beginnings of the Grey Water System

Check it out! I have a sink with plumbing, well at least the drain pipe portion of the plumbing. Last weekend I installed the sink and I used it with just a bucket under it all week. I felt like a queen being able to wash dishes in the sink (geez, never thought I would say that!). It is much easier to cook and then clean up when you don't have to worry about carrying a heavy container of dirty water outside afterward.

The plumbing under the sink is done in the usual manner. I used plumbers putty around the drain lip before installation and Teflon tape around the threads to make leak-proof connections. Drilling a hole in the wall, I pushed the pipe through and used flanges (unfortunately I only found them in chrome, so I will be spray spray painting them) and I will use a silicon caulk to make the hole air, rodent, and insects from passing through. I still have to insulate, run the water lines in, and install the wallboard under the sink, so I am not going to add silicone just yet, but for now I have a draining sink! For now it will drain outside, directed into the forest that surrounds the building, however eventually it will be connected to the grey water pipe system and water my raised garden beds. Water will come in, be used, and then cycle out to water the garden. All things running as planned, drought will be less of an issue for my gardens each summer.

The place where I built the Shouse sits up on a hill, the place where the raised beds will eventually be built and planted is down low on the property about 300 feet away on the adjacent 2 acres. Theoretically it is simple, as gravity will do all the work to transport the water to the beds. Realistically the challenges will be how to best evenly distribute the water to all the beds, how to keep food particles from clogging the weep holes, and keeping chemicals that are harmful from the system. Despite the logistics of the entire operation, I am confident that grey water is the only ecologically sound and practical solution to recycling the waste water and keeping the garden well hydrated in the dead of summer.

I never thought I would be so excited over a simple drain!

Parts of a Tiny House Water System

This summer I bought all the pieces to my Tiny House water system. The parts I bought include, a water inlet, on-demand hot water heater, a water storage tank, a 12 volt pump, an accumulator, and inline filter, and a water purifier. Once all these items are connected with the incoming water, PEX piping, and the faucets, you have a complete water system. I thought I would talk about each of the parts to explain why they are important and why I chose the ones I chose. I researched water systems since most of the blogs I follow and the tiny house websites seem to gloss right over this system, only giving cursory attention to informing the reader about its components at best. So, to understand how the water system functions lets travel the way the water will.

Beginning Thoughts on Plumbing

I have been considering options regarding plumbing for my tiny home. There are lots of options for running water lines from traditional Copper on to the more modern PEX. While researching the options, I came across this ingenious little item.  Known as the Clear J Trap, it is a semi-transparent (there are other options ranging from black to clear) J-Trap that opens at the bottom! How awesome is that?