Outdoor Expansion And A Party

I promised my writer's group that I would have a house warming party two years ago when I told them of my tiny house adventures. They were all very intrigued so when I met up with one of the members for a hike over the summer she encouraged me to do it and said she would help. The group had disbanded several years ago and we hadn't had a reunion in some time so before the summer slipped away we had our party. The prep for it was nearly as intense as my original work on the interior and took just as much brain busting for the space planning.

The only way to seat six people was to build an outdoor table, but the central space was taken up by two kiwi trees. They were too close together to permit a table top to be placed between them, but eventually I found a way.

I got my folding work bench out of storage and it just fit between the trees. From there I could build a table top around the trees using what wood I had on hand.

It was largely a matter of fitting a board on the workbench that would then support the "leaves" of the table. I also happened to have a framed board given away by an artist that fit perfectly in the remaining space between the trees.

For a table cloth I laid down two pieces cut from a canvas drop cloth we bought to cover the furniture once when the dogs were still chewing on things.

As a finishing touch I hung a tapestry of a pastoral scene that I thought was very tongue in cheek. A client off loaded it to me.

Then I bumped out one of my fence pieces and put one of my benches outside for seating.











I also felt the need to have a washing up station to do the dishes afterwards which would be the perfect opportunity to use the fish cleaning table I got off e-bay to use with my solar hot water unit and to use as a laundry table should I ever feel compelled to do off grid laundry.

This is a folding table with integrated sink. It comes with a detachable faucet that connects up with a hose. I used the top of my storage box as a dish drain. The faucet is the selling point of this unit as it allows for water to be turned on and off at the point of use.










I hooked up my homemade solar hot water heater to the faucet, but there was not enough sun to keep it warm throughout the day. This was a project I had been meaning to do because it meant cutting a hose in half and finding fittings to connect it to the black irrigation hose. I did manage it, but later in the summer the fittings popped off.

And finally I provided guest facilities behind a privacy curtain made from bent conduit pipe that I stuck into a pot of dirt.

The commode I borrowed from my mum from when she broke her ankle. I modified it with a $50 urine funnel I ordered from England off e-bay and never used.

Because the urine separator would only fit metric fittings it was near impossible to find a hose that would fit it. Finally I found a funnel that would do. In fact it perfectly connected into the gasoline container I had. 

Behind the separator I put a waste basket partially filled with straw for a poop bucket. 

Two of my guests used the toilet with good humor. It actually would have been fine for them to use my toilet inside, but this made things less complicated with the kitchen being in use.

The weather was still just warm enough. Everyone brought beverages, salads et al and I made fried chicken. I got them all inside for a tour and they could see that I had indeed managed to fit my whole life into this tiny house. At least my writing life. They loved the hammock where I do my serious writing. Two of the members had moved into retirement homes. One commented that she thought her apartment was small, but now she could feel it was spacious by comparison. And that was one of the messages I wanted to impart. Here is our group photo taken with my camera on a tripod attached to the trellis.

(This post has been backdated to keep a record of the timeline. Actual date of writing is 12/24/18).

Greywater Filter Upgrade

The water draining from my shower pan into the 11 gallon container that rolled under the house had to be drained and distributed once a week. This water I would use to irrigate the garden. When I mentioned my system to my permaculture group it was pointed out to me that grey water that sits in a tank for more than 24 hours becomes classified as black water because of the growth of bacteria past that time period. I did not know this. I would more describe it as brown and the smell was minimal unless mixed with urine, then it could amplify the smell of urine to noticeable detection. Not optimum in a dense suburban neighborhood. 

Once my attention was drawn to this factor I cut pipe to attach to the drain and had the water directed to the bare ground away from the cement pad directly below the drain. During the dry summer months the ants crawled into the pipe and into my house. They had not crawled in so easily before because the drainpipe did not touch the ground outside and there was a sizable gap between pipe and the 11 gallon container on wheels. I thought to have the pipe disconnected and the water fall onto a receptacle. I began to research bio filters on Pinterest and once I grasped the concept I could design one to fit my situation.

 A bio filter allows water to fall onto its surface much like rain. A layer of sand filters the water of organic matter. But it can't just be all sand because the sand would drain out too. Plus it would take a long time for water to filter through so much sand. So a layer of small pebbles supports the sand and under that a layer of larger pebbles supports that. I just needed the right size container to fit under the house on a platform that would be raised high enough to allow drainage through the pipe.

I found a 5 gallon plastic storage box with a lid that was recessed. This served to hold water rather than shed it. Then I drilled holes at all the intersections of the grid pattern. Later I realized the holes were too big and too far apart to simulate rain so I drilled many more smaller ones.

I also had to drill a large hole in the bottom of the box and find a pipe fitting to connect the drainage pipe to the box so it would be water tight. There are not many options here because the connection has to make contact with the walls of the box on both sides. I eventually found such a fitting in the electrical department for making water tight outdoor connections between electrical boxes in commercial buildings.

The next step was to add my layers of large pebbles. 

Then small pebbles.

And finally the layer of sand.

Once the filter is in use a layer of microbes grows over the sand and eats the organic matter so the theory goes.

Here is the filter in place under the house. I happened to have a wooden platform on wheels from another project to put it on. I then placed a plastic scrub sponge under one end to give it a little drainage elevation.

It appears to work perfectly. 

To assist with screening cooking fat (and large bits of food) I had already made a filter of straw that sits in the drain pan inside the house. I used an old collapsible water tote I had for camping. I cut the top of it to make a hatch for putting in the straw. I also directed the drain hose from the sink into it. The filter is shown here with the spout visible. This straw is replaced every week or so and used in the garden as mulch. The filter also serves as a compost bucket so I no longer needed the one I was using. I found that the spout would clog up way too often so I removed it and eventually replaced it with a rubber funnel (actually a diva cup I no longer used, heh).





For a more finished look I made a cover from some silver vinyl to go over the filter.

The whole system took a lot of problem solving to work out all the details and to think of what I could use for each part of it. If there was more room under the house the straw part of it might be preferable outside, but I don't mind it inside once I had a cover for it. It makes it easy to change the straw plus being a compost bucket. 

The best thing about this upgrade was that I no longer had the considerable weekly chore of dragging out the 11 gallon tank and draining water into buckets to distribute. Such a drainage tank would be more useful if I were traveling with the tiny house which is unlikely so the tank is in storage and I would be happy to part with it if there was someone who could use it.

(This post has been backdated to keep a record of the timeline. Actual date of writing is 12/23/18).