Building the "Foundation" of Our Tiny House

Building the foundation of our house on top of the trailer is one of the most important pieces of our tiny house. If our floor is not built properly or strong enough then our entire project will fall apart in front of our eyes! Hubby has studied all different ways that mobile homes and tiny homes are built and read about the most common problems people encounter to try and save us some future problems.

First we needed to add 10 foot 2x6 boards to the trailer to expand our living space from 8 feet to 10 feet wide. (Picture 1 and 2 above). Of course the boys want to be apart of every step which we love even when it slows it down sometimes. And of course it's still summer so getting them to wear anything but underwear when they are home is about impossible. But with the heat I would be running around in my underwear too if I could ;)

After we had all the 2x6 in place we add plywood on top to create a sub-sub-floor. (Picture below). One of the problems many people encounter is creatures living in their floors so by putting in this extra layer of plywood would help prevent any creatures from making our home their home. Once we cut out where the tires were Monkey let us know that we made the state of Oklahoma on our trailer. Amazing what they pick up on that we don't notice. I told him that we must be meant to live in Oklahoma because our new home will have the Oklahoma shape in it's floor!

The next step was to take 2x4 studs and frame the floor. (Pictures 3 and 4 above). Hubby nailed them all together and squared up our trailer. We were able to frame the front and the back but had to get different sized studs for the wheel well as the studs would have rubbed if we didn't frame that section a little different. (We still have finished that section yet).

The final step that I was in charge of completing was attaching the studs to the sub-sub floor which meant laying under the trailer and figuring out where each stud lay above and put screws into them. The pictures below show what my view was like from underneath. I had grass EVERYWHERE by the time I was done. My hair was covered in dry dead grass and it was a pain to get it all out! But at least I got to work in the shade during the hottest part of the day!

So we have the floor half way finished. We have to finish the framing in the middle where the tires are and then we have to put the sub-floor plywood on. Once that is done it's time to start building walls! Our goal is to have the floor, walls, rafters, siding and roof on my end of September. Then we will be able to paint the outside (my job) and start the plumbing and electrical inside (Hubby's job). We're still hoping to have it completed and ready to move to our property by February. It should happen as long as the finances fall into place. Paying for everything in cash is going to make it go a little slower than getting a loan. Any tips from other tiny house builders? We'd love to hear from you about mistakes that you've made or just lessons you learned while building your tiny house!