Part 2: Working with Wood

Bottom Plate

Now that we have the foundation built its time to get to work on the walls!

I have been watching my neighbor as he has been building his house and one step that had puzzled me for some time was how to connect the blocks to wood. Well luckily this step was answered! The bent anchor bolts that we used in the last step are going to attach to 12 foot long 2×8’s. These boards are placed on the concrete blocks and then bolted down tight so that they don’t move at all. You can watch these steps being made here in this video:

Stud Walls

With the bottom plate wood securely fastened to the concrete blocks it was time to get the first wall built and installed. I gathered the needed tools with lumber and nails and I placed the wood out on the ground in the wall pattern that I wanted. This first wall does not have windows or doors its just a normal basic wall. I have not ever worked with making a wall before and I had to learn as I go. The studs are 16″ on center just like typical house walls. In this video you can watch me learn how to build the first stud wall. After the wall is built I am able to install it on my own.

Window and Door Frame

Now that I have built and installed my first walls I take on the task of building the front door and window. This wall is right in the middle of the walls that were built in the last video section. I am rather odd when it comes to having things look symmetrical so when I designed the tiny house I wanted the window in the front to be right in the middle. This being said I had to find a way to build the window right above the door. When I made this wall I did not take much time to think about the design before building so there were a few mistakes along the way. Check out this video showing how I made this wall:

Window and Side Wall

By this step all the walls have been built and installed on the front of the tiny house. Now it is time to move on the side of the house. I am going to install a window into this wall. Unlike the window that is on the front of the tiny house I use better technique in building this frame. There are a few things that should be done to make a window strong. The main thing is building with jack studs and headers. I was able to use a nice strong header in this step but because the window is located right on the bottom plate there is not need for the jack studs. As with much of this build I am working alone today and I have to get the wall installed on my own. Let me tell you something. This wall was really heavy. I hope you enjoy watching this part of the build:

Note: This is a LONG work in progress. Please check back often and see the new updates!