Step by Step

Out of the way, (and in the sun), I start my construction blog.
A Caravan on Hornby.

  It's fall 2012.  We are building our caravan on the farm where it is intended to live.  For those new to caravans, they are small homes on wheels -- almost like a build-it-yourself RV.  First, we will build by the barn/power outlet, then we will move the caravan into the woods near the camping area, where wwoofers and farm-hands stay.  We all help Elaine on the farm.  

Once we had our trailer, Scott took detailed notes
 of its specific dimensions.He uses graph paper with a scale of 5 squares = 1 inch.
Then he makes one square equal one foot for floor plans, etc. 

Part of the back story is that my partner Scott wanted to buy a boat and be a live-aboard, since that lifestyle made sense and spoke to him, in a way. There was a boat up for sale and Scott thought long and hard about whether to buy it. After thinking it through, it seemed that we would be more comfortable, being a pair, to live in a bigger space, on land. Caravan it was, a whole whopping <200 sq, ft.

Having a frame is a good place to start (we used an old metal/wood construction RV trailer). It's hard to finalize any plans without knowing your trailer's specific dimensions first. We bought a trailer from our friend for $100. He had worked in trade to own it and demo-ed the inside, together the three of us took down the remaining walls. When demo-ing we were harassed by some wasp-esqe flies living in the walls which was an obstacle. I even got stung, possibly by the queen? Or is that just bees?

When looking for a caravan look for a frame that is fairly rust free.  Our frame is C-shaped channel bar, consisting primarily of two long supports with some flimsy cross bracing. The tongue gets attached to a heavy duty pickup truck, when it needs to be moved. We hack-sawed off the old metal stairs and used a grinder to cut off the rusty bumper. There was considerable rust on the rest of the frame, so we scoured it off with a wire brush and steel wool, then used nail polish remover as a solvent and wiped the surfaces down with a rag before brushing on a layer of black Tremclad "rust proof" paint.

Plan, plan, plan.
It's easiest to experiment and make your mistakes/discoveries on paper.

Whether you buy an already made caravan design, or you create it yourself, (probably with some good consulting advice from a friend), the plan is the next step. For us, the drawing process started in December, mostly working on the interior floor plan. We ruled out an upstairs sleeping loft early on, as we didn't want to deal with it's ups and downs.

Make a cut list and buy materials. Tarp materials.

We managed to get our windows (and sink, fridge, and woodstove), second hand. They don't all match and I look forward to seeing how it looks. Knowing the windownsize and placements is crucial before framing the walls. Wall thickness denoted insulation type (we went with good ol' fiberglass Pink stuff. It's lighter and cheaper than the otherwise awesome Roxul, which provides more R value.)

Our materials arrived on a Tuesday. Seeing almost 2 grand arrive in it's new form of construction materials, (wood, ply, insulation, hardware cloth, vapour barrier, glue, bolts, skill saw) was exciting. So was seeing our new chop saw set up atop freshly made sawhorses.  Since we had a fairly big order we got a discount at the store.  Delivery cost approx. $100 from Vancouver Island to Hornby.

Before your materials arrive it's important to map out where the building site will be, where the materials will be stored, and if you have some level ground to work with in between. For level ground, we worked on top of our piles of ply until we had a floor to work upon.  Make sure to tarp your hard-earned materials and keep them off the ground.  Ours came on skids and/or pallets.

Level the frame. Because there was no weight on our trailer we didn't need to use a jack, we just build supporting stacks from scraps of wood and shims. 

One of three floor joist sections.  Note: supporting stacks & vent holes in the blocking. 

Vent holes on rodent barrier plywood.
This is before we fastened it beneath the joists. 

“It's pretty tiring being our own bosses, so we work about 2-5 hr days.”

It took three days to build the three floor sections. I don't know why it took so long, (we did short days), but when you're not used to construction things can move quite slowly. We had to backtrack and move some of the floor joists and blocking to line up with the edges of our ply, once we had that cut.

Sometimes the blocking was staggered to allow for screwing into the end-grain, but I also took to toe-screwing, down on an angle from one piece to another. This allows for a continual blocking row around several floor joists.

Now, we used decking/project screws for our floor joists which we later questioned the shear strength of, so we added a nail or two in the centre of the two existing screws. Nails have better shear strength than screws but are able to come loose if your structure is to be moved.

Our floor is 2x6 construction on 2 foot centres.  Fibreglass insulation will fill the spaces between the joists.  We have added a layer of plywood below the floor joists, to deter rodents and insects from nesting in the insulation.  To ventilate this underfloor area we drilled 1.5 inch holes through the plywood and stapled metal mesh and screen over the holes.   We also put some holes in the blocking to increase ventilation.

Tuesday we put tar roofing shingles between the metal frame and the underside of the floor platform.  Otherwise, condensation on the frame would transfer to the wood and cause rot.  We need to build wheel-wells because the tires sit above floor level.  To do this we are building up three of our 2x6 floor joists by scabbing 2x10s on top of them.  We are leaving the 2x10s an extra 2 inches in length to allow for us to cut an angle to match the walls.  I look forward to this step as it will be among the early finishing touches.  And then I dream of colours, of exterior paint...  Something bright and cheery.  I don't want to blend into the forest.  For the interior, we've decided on a light and dark green.  

Our work-site is a minefield of cow patties and sappy stumps.  Right now, I'm perched on the ply, watching sawdust float my way, illuminated by the sunlight.  This is not optimal on any day, but today I feel a cold in my throat.  I don't usually take a sick day for the common cold, since they hit me a few times a year, instead choosing to persevere.  

Scott often uses our floor platform as a support for cutting with the skill saw.  One of his favourite tips is to make sure your building site lends itself to easy feeding.  Whether you pack a lunch or stop at a restaurant, keeping your blood sugar up helps your coworkers stay happy with you.  And don't forget to stay hydrated.  My tip: avoid cheap drill bits, they're not worth it.

Clamping hardware pre-assembled.

Scott spent hours on the drill press, manufacturing custom brackets and clamping plates to attach the floor joists to the trailer frame.  We went with a method that would allow us to avoid drilling through the metal of the trailer frame, and also avoid drilling through the vertical profile of the floor joist, which we decided would weaken it unnecessarily.  It's rather difficult to explain the whole setup with just words.  Observe the photos.  

Vertical bolts pass on either side of trailer frame.
Horizontal bolts pass through floor joist and clamping plate.

Top view: clamping plate (hidden)  has head side
of bolts passing through on bottom of photo.

From below: bolts pass through plate, washer, locking washer. Nut.

Once we had manufactured all the appropriate parts, the next step was to take them on-site and fit them on the assembled floor sections.  We then drilled through the bottom ply to allow the bolts to pass below on either side of the frame.  Once every thing was in place, we bolted the whole works down and tightened all our brackets and clamps.  

The next step was to measure and cut the 5/8 tongue and groove plywood to make the subfloor that would sit atop the floor joists (eventually laminate flooring will go above this -- we scored just enough at the free store).

Be sure to wear gloves if you're working with fibreglass insulation.
That stuff itches like the Dickens!

Then it was time to measure and cut the insulation to size to fit between the floor joists.  In the areas where our joists were set on proper 24 inch centres this went very smoothly.  In other areas, we had to measure and cut to fit, which went pretty smoothly.  We used our little shop vac to clean out the sawdust and pine needles from each section before adding the insulation.  We did a dry fit of the plywood and marked out the joists with a chalk line so we would know where to put the screws to hold down the plywood.  

Bailey getting caulky. 

Then we used construction adhesive on the exposed tops of the floor joists and blocking, carefully placing the plywood on top and lining up the edges.  Once it was all set in place, we used 2 inch screws every six inches to fasten it down.  The tongues and grooves were a bit of a trick to line up properly, but we used a hammer to nudge the sheets into place, employing a "banger block" to help protect the fragile grooves on the edge of the plywood. 

The floor was comprised of five sheets of plywood.  Once we were ready to go it only took us a few hours to have the whole floor insulated and top plywood secured.  It took exactly one batt of insulation (precut to 2x6 on 24 inch centres) to insulate our floor.  How fortuitous!

It's taken us a lot longer to get to this point than we had originally anticipated, but we are excited to get moving on the next chapter: Framing the Walls.  More news on our progress as it happens.  

 

The finished floor platform.

Thanks for reading!  Please post any comments or questions.

 

  <3 Bailey & Scott

What is it? Where is it?

"It's no small task to build your own home, even if it does have a tiny footprint."

This blog is to document the building of Scott and Bailey's caravan on Hornby. Hornby is one of the gulf islands in British Columbia, Canada. It takes three ferries to get here from Vancouver. Oh yea, and we love it.

This photo is at Demexx, where materials are salvaged from demo sites.  
We got some great deals on windows here.

That's me, at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore. 
Also carries discounted materials/tools. 
We got our door here plus many other extras.

We are building a caravan becuase that way we don't have to pay rent, (not in the sense of paying cash to a landlord, anyway) or pay a mortgage, not ours, and not someone else's. Also, we both like the idea or working with our hands and practicing building skills. The plan is to build and live on our friend's organic farm, and in exchange we will each work on the farm for one half-day per week.