Some folks are constantly plagued with the thought of how they are going to be able to finance and own their building? If it is a thought that has left you restless and without sleep oftentimes than you can remember, then don’t be perturbed as there might yet be hope for you—that is if you are not worried about living in a small area, in order words a small house. We are going to be looking at the things and materials you might need when constructing a small home in the UK.
Plans
When making plans for a small space, there are usually two factors you have to contend with, which are having room for all your belongings and secondly having an open spacey feel. Now accomplishing these two issues can be very challenging.
One way to achieve this fit is first to minimize your belongings as this will go a long way in reducing the amount of storage and cabinet of drawers needed in your house plan.
The second is making a moderate amount of storage so that there is a balance between storage and open space in your small building.
Tools
Another common problem with small home builders is that because they are always trying to reduce their belongings, the thought of acquiring more tools is always less appealing to them.
Some tools should be owned by every house owner. However, some tools are too large and are seldom used—like an air compressor, and pneumatic tools. While those tools can be rented (e.g. acrow prop hire), owing to the length of time it takes to build a small house; a viable option will be to buy and then resell them after use.
Tool list
Hammer, tape measure, pencil, utility knife and blades, chalk line, screwdrivers, drill, impact driver, circular saw, mitre saw, PVC pipe cutter, hole saw, level, squares, pliers, wire cutters, steel snips grinder.
Almost not too essential tools
Table saw, flat bar, compressor and pneumatic tools, jigsaw, power shares.
Building Materials
Having a building material list can play to your advantage in that it saves you the amount of time and cost of having to visit the store severally. Plus when you go to a store with a list, you don’t have to pull that order yourself, the store does it for you, but there is a drawback on that. The store may sometime pull materials that have been abandoned by other shoppers. Heck, exchanging a few bad materials is still going to save you a lot of headaches as compared to visiting the stores every time.
Another advantage of making a list is that there are usually promotional prices for large orders, sometimes as much as 60% discounts on some items. Most of the time to get this discount, orders have to be placed at the office or at the counter reserved for professionals.
List
Lumber, plywood, exterior siding and trim (cedar), interior siding and trim (cove, casing), loft decking (1×6 pine tongue), tar paper (13.6kg), flashing, nail plates.
Millwork
Interior door, windows, front door, pocket door frame, shims.
Electrical
Lighting, outlet boxes, outlets and switches, switch plates, wire, wire staple, electrical panel and circuit breakers, cable, network and telephone wires.
Flooring
Hardwood flooring, vinyl adhesive, vinyl tiles, flooring transition piece.
Hardware
Exterior screws, wafer head screws, lag screws and washers, hardware for fastening the house to the trailer, exterior nails, plastic-cap nails, staples, brads, door hardware.
Insulation
Spray foam, house wrap and tape, styrofoam boards,
Plumbing
Fibreglass shower, cpvc pipes, fittings and primer or cement, PVC pipes, fittings and primer or cement, kitchen sink and faucet, shower assembly, toilet, water heater, dryer vent, hanger tape roll.
Other materials
Equipment trailer, metal roof ( roof panel, eave flashing/eave drip, ridge cap, sidewall flashing, gable rake/ gable trim, end wall flashing
Trailer
Trailers are the foundation of your mobile home, and extra care and consideration should be given to it. Trailers are usually categorized by what they are used to haul. There is generally no industry standard for buying a trailer, but the most suited for building small mobile homes are called utility or equipment trailers. It is better to go for a new trailer, firstly because the price difference between new and used is not much and secondly the newer trailers allow for more customization.
Subfloor framing and insulation
In a tiny house, because the subfloor will be resting and getting a lot of support from the metal framing on the trailer, 2×4 lumber can be used in constructing the subfloor framing. This also allows for more room within the house as the height for these houses are often restricted by the government.
Next, aluminium flashing should be installed over the entire trailer surface to protect the underside of the trailer, especially the side that is going to be attached with insulation. A hand stapler that uses T50 staples or roofing nails can be used to attach the flashing to the wood. Make sure the flashing overlaps by at least 4 inches.
In building the subfloor framing, verify the measurements of the building plans with those from the trailer and cut all the required boards in sections. It can be split into three sections; in front of the wheel wells, behind the wheel wells, and between the wheel wells. When building subfloor or wall framing to a meagre house, it is often best practice to mark the kick plate and top plate at the same time which also ensures that all the boards will be properly aligned.
Sheathing
In conclusion, the subfloor sheeting to use is 23/32 inch tongue and groove (TNG) plywood. The sheets are arranged so that the grain is perpendicular to the floor joist and are attached to the subfloor framing with a building adhesive and 2-inch exterior screws. The building adhesive is applied directly to the joist with extreme care in order not to let the adhesive come in contact with the insulation as some products will dissolve it.
