News flash: our house is now an appliance!

Just kidding — but it has started to feel that way with the electrics coming online this month and once again, we know it’s August, and last build update was in May but we’ve been really trying to make serious progress this build. We also know that we had a planned move in date for May…and that did not happen obviously.

But why is the tiny house an appliance? Read on to find out 😊

Bathroom Check In

But first, little (big) jobs that we finished in June - as you, our dear reader knows, we finished tiling the floors of the bathroom and they look wonderful (if we can say so ourselves) and we are enjoying the tiles by covering them up with plastic so they don’t get scratched (such is life on a job site). Then, we ordered and installed some wet wall PVC panel and now have shower walls! They still need to be silicone-d (technical term) but they look very specky. We chose a matte finish with a subtle stone pattern, hoping it would make the tiny bathroom feel bright and open while cleverly hiding scratches and smudges. While the look is specky, installation was… less so. An unintended consequence of using this material was that when you cut plastic with a circular saw tiny little micro-plastics are created…which isn’t ideal. The particles of PVC resemble desiccated coconut and get everywhere: in our hair, on our clothes, on the floor (we’re vacuuming constantly).

Additionally, we found that even though the panels are marketed as DIY friendly, the panels don’t always click together seamlessly, and we found ourselves improvising with tape as a tensioner to keep everything aligned. It was honestly so frustrating and Lys wanted to scream. Still, there are some perks — no grout lines makes for much easier cleaning, and the panels feel sturdy once in place.

We are not sure that we would recommend this material for a traditional house renovation, it certainly is suitable for a tiny house, caravan or rental but tile still looks the best. To get a feel of the bathroom as a whole, we then rough installed our bathroom fixtures as well in prep for the final plumbing components. Now we just need our shower door.

Let There Be Light!

In July, while Lys was off camping and enjoying the great outdoors, Erny and his friend James (who was at the job site last year to do the rough-in electrical) got to work wiring up the house properly. With minimal chit-chat and even fewer photos, the job got done with surprising speed and efficiency. Writing this now, Lys can’t believe it’s been a whole year since James had come around to do the first stage of the electrical install, it’s only looking back on these notes that we are reminded on how far one can progress in a year. It’s still super slow going, being weekend warriors on a huge project, but so nice to see friends pop around and marvel at the progress we are achieving. And, the cherry on top is always when they can lend a hand as well…

See the photos and read more here!