When planning a greener living space I always opt for salvage and re-use first, unless the salvaged product will end up using so much more energy that it becomes less green than it's newer counterpart in just a short period of time.   Other times, I pour painful amounts of cash into the absolute best low toxicity, ethically produced products,  but sometimes, an item will sneak in the door through sheer excellent design and appropriate fit to the space.   Such is the case with the Breville Smart Oven,  and the Karlaby futon couch from Ikea.

A convection-toaster oven on steroids, the Breville is loved by tiny-housers for being small, but just big enough to cook most of what you'd use a normal oven for.  Being smaller it naturally saves on energy which is always good, but what I wasn't expecting was just how well it cooks just about anything you put in it.  Perfect fish, chicken, pies, and ribs, the Breville is honestly the best kitchen appliance I've ever owned.   I'm still not thrilled about shopping at Best Buy, but there isn't exactly a mom and pop shop selling kick-ass tiny convection ovens.  

The Karlaby Futon couch from Ikea came from my need to solve a design problem.  I needed a sitting area in the front that turned into a bed.   Something that would fit cleanly over the existing water tank, and not interfere with it when folding out.  Always frustrated with the weight and clunkyness of conventional futons, the light steel frame, and laminated wood of the Karlaby has an easy clean mechanism that requires a minimum of wrestling to transform into bed mode.  I had to cut the rear legs off and raise the whole thing two inches up on blocks to get it to clear the tank, but that actually improved the sitting height and potential storage underneath.   I could have done something different with a large investment in time, money,  and custom carpentry, but in the end the Karlaby was a near perfect fit for the space, and with time consuming projects like the shower pan in the mix, sometimes it's nice to do things the easy way.

Step one:  Purchase a new medium-firm natural latex mattress from Cotton Cloud futon.
Step two:  Read the instructions online for how to properly cut a latex mattress.
Step three:  Completely disregard instructions and start hacking away with a hot knife instead.

In my defense, I didn't find anywhere online that says NOT to do it with a hot knife, but this is what I learned.  When you heat latex it does not magically re-harden like plastic does, instead it forms a sticky mess that reeks like a combination of burning kerosene and hashish.  The odor is very potent, and does not go away, nor does the stickiness.  So yeah, that was a mistake.

For lack of a better idea, I spent the next 90 minutes with scissors clipping off the every last bit of the offending goo.  Neither fun nor pretty, it got the job done and the mattress still fit perfect in the corner of the Airstream.  Note to self: instructions are there for a reason, not because other people aren't smart enough to do it your way.

All's well that ends well though, and in the end I got a comfortable bed that will last four times as long as conventional foam without dumping a bunch of toxins into the planet.   Cotton Cloud Futons had the best prices I could find on latex beds.  They're a great locally owned company that makes all their own beds, comforters and bed frames.

I'm pretty sure no project is ever done, you just give up one day and start working on something else.  We've got a ways before that happens here though, so I spent the day adding all the necessary bits and pieces to make this hovel a home.   From a slab of 2 1/4 inch thick salvage fir I formed the curb for the shower pan,  sealed it with epoxy , screwed it down, and siliconed the seams.  Holes still need to be filled.

I wired this outlet directly to the side of the breaker box (next to the bed),  so my iphone would never be more than arms length away while charging (god forbid!).

I finally got the hinges on the secret door built into the lower counter shelves that gives access to the box that will be home to the off-grid battery bank,  four Trojan L-16's,  giving this thing more amp-hours than just about anything on the road!

I found these nickel-plated antique hinges at the Rebuilding Center in Portland.   With some alcohol and the sacrifice of my personal toothbrush they cleaned up nicely!

In keeping with reusing as much of the original trailer as possible,  I moved this folding table from it's former location in the front of the trailer to the side.   A little long and a little spindly looking at 3/4 inch thick, I cut it shorter and gave it a facelift with some thick edging to make things look a little meatier,  adding a live edge from an old log that had barnacles living on it from when it was floating in the ocean,  just to keep things interesting.

Finally the sink,  which I've shown but not talked about yet.   The tiny sinks they normally put in RV's are basically useless, so I knew from the beginning that I wanted a full size sink,  and must have changed my mind 10 times before making the commitment.  Of three salvaged sinks I found this one won out,  but with the small issue that the bottom of the basins are looking a bit worn.   Thinking that I might get it re-enameled,  a quick inquiry as to the price of that service quickly put the kaibosh on a professional resurfacing,  so I hemmed and hawed,  and even considered a new sink.  Finally I just decided hell with it, it's an old trailer, why not use an old sink?   It works fine.   I also learned how to put in a new drain basket (the whole thing at the bottom of the sink) which is fairly straightforward but nothing I'd done before.  You can find a video for how to do just about anything on youtube these days!

Getting to crunch time on the interior, because I agreed to show the trailer as part of an art exhibit in Portland, OR,  before it was actually finished (because I'm nuts).  This weekend, september 13th, the off grid airstream will join 9 other unique trailers on Hawthorne Blvd. for the first ever Little art in the Trailer,  trailer based art show.    I'll be bringing the trailer and kayaks (still working on a tow vehicle, um, anyone want to loan me a truck?)   If you're in the area stop by and say hi!

So yeah, lots to do in very little time.  Today was lights.  I started working on lights a few weeks ago by ordering five switchable LED dome lights from Vintage Trailer Supply,  these guys are good folks, and to be honest, there really aren't a lot of options in this type of lighting.  Everything else I found was either too cool in the spectrum or looked like it belonged in a hospital or a spaceship.   These stainless and glass fixtures are the closest thing to elegant I could find.   I borrowed wires from previous fans, lights, and air conditioners to space them roughly evenly down the center of the ceiling.   One hot wire is all that's needed as the negative is perfectly happy to ground to the interior metal.

After getting all the dome lights up I realized I still didn't have quite enough light and the whole trailer just looked kinda green.   Searching warmer into the spectrum opportunities for LED lighting decrease even more.  I was able to find these very warm small single bulb LED spot lights at Sunlan Lighting in Portland.   This little story on Mississippi avenue is packed with more weird lightbulbs than you are ever likely to see in one place, and the owner Kay is a fixture in Portland and greets people in a way that is a bit startling until you get to know her.  So much more fun than shopping online.    These particular spots have been discontinued but she has others, and there is always places like Elemental LED online, where I had to order connectors from.   The fixture I built with a piece of 2x2 aluminum angle both for aesthetics, and to dissipate the heat.

Over the bed I built this tiny little reading light with knob switch as a convenient last-light-out light.   Wiring situation to be dealt with soon.

In the front of the trailer behind the curved windows and above what will be the couch,  these original swiveling spotlight fixtures look great so I kept them, and was able to find a bayonet base directional LED spotlight with nearly the same spectrum and intensity of the original incandescent bulbs.  I'm embarrassed that I can't find the link to that right now.  It's not the 5500K model or the warm white that has all the little bulbs on the front!

Finally, with the dome lights turned off the spotlights make killer mood lighting inside the trailer.  I'm going to rebuild the light bar to get the spots exactly where I want them on the counter, but for the most part I'm pretty stoked at how all this came together.   LED's ain't cheap, but the last forever and use very little electricity,  perfect for an off-grid trailer.

Last weeks big accomplishment was finally getting all the bits and pieces together to make running water a reality in my trailer.  Plumbing is one of those difficult things where even once you familiarize yourself with all of the common components and how they go together,  if you don't do it on a daily basis just the simple lack of organization and dexterity makes it an exercise in frustration.    Interfacing with tank water, outside water, wood-fired, and solar loops just adds to the challenge, but with enough raw perseverance I got the job done.

Starting at the tank I carefully replaced the 3/8 nylon hose fitting with 1/2, and ran a new potable hose to the old strainer, and ran that into a new shurflo revolution pump to replace the original which worked when I got the trailer and then not so much shortly thereafter.  After that I hung a right out from under what will be the folding bed in the front of the trailer and dove into a piece of ancient 1/2 inch hard copper that I found lying around the barn.

Heading back from there we take a moment to T-off to the hot water heater.  I'm all for recycling but this old copper pipe is hard to clean well enough to take solder well!  

This is one of the cleaner installs I've done on a tank.  I like plumbing with copper because not only is it attractive allowing me to leave everything exposed as a demonstration/teaching tool, it also allows me the tightest possible cluster of components, and will handle the high temperatures of solar and wood fired loops.  The foundation here is a whirlpool 6 gallon water heater which I chose because it has both side and top plumb ports,  which saves me the hassle of pulling the TPRV and drain out to put in a solar/wood fired loop. 

What you are looking at here is the hot and cold coming up in the rear with a ball valve shut off,  next the cold dives into the tank but also splits off to feed the Thermostatic Mixing (tempering) Valve.   Tempering valves are important when installing wood-fired and solar loops (which can get up to 212 degrees) because they protect against scalding temperatures at the tap.    This is a serious concern, do not install a solar or wood-fired system without one.   

The hot water comes up as per normal, before feeding the mixing valve, and I like to throw a temperature gauge in here just so I can keep track of what's going on in the tank.  A street female fitting adapter is not something you'll find at the normal hardware store, but is excellent for keeping things compact.   The pressure gauge (top right) is not strictly necessary, but I like to have one because pumped systems are closed loops and without much plumbing to dissipate excess pressure,  this will let me know if I need to add an expansion tank.   On that note,  I'm also planning on heading back and throwing in a brass check-valve just downstream from the pump to keep high pressures from back-feeding into the weak vinyl hose and nylon fitting.  

Protruding out the right side of the tank is the Temperature Pressure Relief Valve, which spills extra pressure and hot water when the temperatures get too high.  Generally in solar loops we replace this with a simple PRV valve to allow for higher temperatures.   I'm lazy so I might not.   The PRV feeds a pipe which exits below the trailer,  also very important.

In the front is two capped off T's,  these will feed the thermosiphon wood-fired hot water loop on one side, and the pumped solar hot water loop on the other.     Finally I painted the whole thing to keep it from looking stupid in it's exposed location.

After that I switched to a roll of soft copper that I've been hanging onto forever for use in a stovepipe heat exchanger but haven't used yet.   With this I made a trip around the trailer, following the bends and curves unique to an airstream.   Here I pass by the ancient (but hopefully still working)  pressure regulator from the outside water inlet.  I added a possibly unnecessary ball-valve to isolate it if need be.

Next up we pass by the shiny new shower pan,  which means it's shower time,  so lets hang a right and look up!

After consternating over half a dozen recycled fixtures my affection for simplicity and raw parts won the day, and I built the shower valve out of two simple ball-valves,  although the cleanness of the work leaves a bit to be desired because I had to disassemble it once to change the orientation of the valves (which I later realized would have been better how I had them in the first place, dammit).

After trying a variety of shower heads when this whole setup was plumbed outside to a solar loop during the summer,  I decided to go with the Body Spa RV shower kit,  at 45 bucks it's a cheap piece of plastic, but it really does seem to deliver the most powerful shower for the least amount of water,  just as advertized.  I replaced the lame vinyl hose with a chrome steel one I had sitting around from another shower head.

With a swoop to miss an access door, and switch back to hard copper, at the end (cause I ran out of soft)  it was time to head toward the newly installed sink.   

Although usually used to connect sink fixtures to wall stops, flexible braided stainless hoses work just fine on ordinary fitting adapters. 

Down from the sink it's back to plastic,  which fits into an ABS T,  one end of which vents out the top of the trailer,  the other end going toward the greywater tank.   Because we've switched from blackwater to composting toilet, there is no longer a concern here about sewage gasses heading back up the pipe so I omitted the normal trap to save on space.   If there wasn't already a vent there I would have just used a vacuum breaker instead.

One thing I'm proud of is just how much of the original ABS pipe I was able to recycle back into the trailer.  By  leaving enough pipe sticking out of the fittings to couple onto when I cut it out of the trailer, I was able to avoid buying any new pipe and just needed a couple a couplers, a T, and a few elbows to fit it all back together.   I left a plugged end here as a clean-out.  One thing I did to save space was to run the normal drain stack vent out the back of the trailer, beneath the bed.   Again, with blackwater this would be a no-no,  but with a grey water tank is a fine location to vent to.  Sorry no photo,  I'll try to add one later! 

One of the not so awesome things about my new old trailer is the layer of elastomeric roof sealant that previous owner has slathered onto the top roof panel, presumably to stop it from leaking.  Technically speaking, this is not the best way to handle things, not that I personally would drill out, re-rivet, and reseal the entire panel either.  With the damage already done and new drips appearing during the rain last week, the situation at hand left me with little choice but to follow their lead, and by me, I mean my friend Paul,  who had the misfortune of asking what he could do to help just prior to the arrival of the cans of wretched white goo.

While I continued the plumbing marathon below,  Paul swept, and scrubbed, and taped, and rolled,  and rolled again.  Paul emerging from the sky tainted zinc-white at the end of the day, I crawled blackened from the underworld to share a pair of well earned melted turkey sandwiches.  24 hours later the rains came and the roof didn't leak.

Thank you Paul!

With the counters installed this seems like as good a time as any to introduce the burner I've been making my meals on for the last few weeks,  the Origo 4100 flush mount alcohol stove.    I chose alcohol because aside from wood and electricity (both of which I will be using)  there's really no other option if you want to unplug from fossil fuels.  If you're new to my blog this matters because living inside our carbon budget is paramount if we don't want to turn earth into venus by the end of the century.  Yes, alcohol emits CO2, but in doing so it's just releasing carbon that it sequestered while growing as plants, which makes for a net zero sum.

Choosing the Origo was easy because it's the only available flush mount alcohol range out there.   It says "designed in Sweden, made in Europe"  on the box, which helped me feel a little less queazy about the 450 dollar price tag.   The high cost of stainless along with a lack of competition is likely driving that price.

In researching the Origo, I learned that alcohol is expensive, might smell a little funny*, and doesn't burn as hot as other fuels, which is why it's often a dealbreaker for the less than carbon conscious.   After actually cooking on it for a few weeks I can tell you that's completely true, but not neccissarily a bad thing!   Let me explain.

One thing I've learned living off-the-grid is that if energy is just a little more expensive and slightly harder to access it encourages big changes in how we use it.   Suddenly you find yourself turning the pot off when it boils, paying attention to cooking times, always using a lid, and not heating more than you need to.   People are terrible at self-regulating, and that's why I like systems that regulate themselves.   No single energy source is all that "green" when you try to apply it to a planet crowded with seven billion people, but for me personally alcohol is still a winner because not only are we using a renewable resource, but using it with the care and respect that it deserves.   Plants worked hard to grow those calories!

*the alcohol smell is easily eliminated by lifting the hinged range when done and placing neoprene covers over the burners inside,  pretty easy.

If you haven't built an entire house before, it's easy to look at a project like this and feel like things and moving along nicely when the big, pretty steps in the process are complete,  but this is really just the beginning, it's all the little things that eat the most time.   Case in point:  I came home this afternoon after a few days away determined to get something done on the trailer.   With plumbing looming, I thought I'd install the sink.  Put the old faucet back in, replace a drain basket, add silicone, no sweat.  But wait, the counter dips where it shouldn't, meaning I'll have to add a reinforcement under that part of the counter before I can set the sink.  Subtract two hours.  Next problem,  I lost the tiny plastic clip that holds the spray attachment to it's copper stem.  Get online, find a replacement, get it shipped.  Subtract an hour, and 3 days of waiting for shipping.  

Ok,  what can we do?  How about that shower pan?   It turns out that I routed the spot where the drain goes just a bit too deep, so now it's time to build it back up with epoxy.  Level the pan on saw horses,  make a tape dam, mix and pour in epoxy.  Subtract a half hour,  and a day of waiting.   Next problem,  it turns out I nicked the drain fitting that the shower pan needs to drop perfectly into while trimming the hole in the floor with a jig saw.   Solution:  Cut a larger hole in the floor so I can reach through and clean it up so the shower pan fitting will drop in when the time comes.  Subtract 30 minutes.   So, the next step in a day or so will be to put the shower pan in?  Wrong!  because the shower wall needs to be painted first.   But wait,  before the shower wall can be painted, I need to cut the hole for the shower fixture that I'm adding to the outside of the trailer,  then install that fixture and it's stub outs,  then patch the hole on the inside with a sheet of aluminum and rivets,  and then I can paint the shower wall?  Nooooooo....  because before that happens, I have to install the ceiling mounted curtain track so I know where exactly I'm painting to.   THEN I can paint the shower wall,  let it dry,  and THEN install the shower pan,  which of course is only part of the battle, because after that's in, I still need to build and finish some waterproof paneling down the bed side of the shower, which of course can't be done, because I recently realized that I screwed up the bed math and the bed is 1/2 inch too short and my clothing tubs won't fit under it.   So first we dismantle and reassemble the bed, and THEN we build the waterproof wall, and THEN we install the shower pan.   Once the pan is in, it's time for a faucet and sprayer,  but before that happens a custom fixture mount has to be fabricated, new handles and cartridges need to be sourced for the old fixture I'm keeping, and I actually have to get plumbing over to that area.  Before I can get plumbing to that area, however, I have to pass by the hot water tank,  which it so happens needs to have accommodations made for both a solar AND a wood fired hot water loop,  as well as a PRV drain, normal drain, and a thermostatic mixing valve.  These things must be planned when deciding the initial orientation of all the ports because otherwise I could have a very difficult time in a few weeks when I install those things,  not to mention the small task of running a dedicated electric line in conduit (which first has to be painted white to match the walls,  subtract two hours)  over to the water heater itself.  

THEN I can bring the plumbing over to the shower.  Stopping by the direct water hook up regulator to throw in a diverter and a few ball valves along the way,  riveting u-clips to the walls as I go.   Plumb in the shower, then it's on to the sink.  

All of this needs to be done by thursday at noon.   That's two and a half days from now.

With my most recent class wrapped up I was finally able to get the laminated scrap lumber slab down to the mill at Zena Forest Products, the sustainable forest and sawmill owned by Ben Deumling just outside of Salem.   With Ben's massive saw and planer we cut it into 1 inch slices and then planed down to 3/4 inch.  Thanks Ben!  (for beautiful and environmentally responsible flooring check out Ben's website.)

Because everything in a tiny structure has to do some sort of double duty,  planning and layout can be a bit mentally taxing.  compounding is building  directly into the floor and walls to save weight.  In two days I built 4 counters with legs, a small table, and a lid for the refrigerator.  We coated it with three layers of the same Vermont Natural Coatings Polywhey finish that I used on the floors.

Install day was a little hectic. With all sorts of last minute modifications and a looming deadline I hired my friend Henry to watch me flap about like a chicken and lend a hand as needed. I realized I hadn't accounted for the curvature of the wall, and had to backbevel the backsplashes on the fly.  Also, we'd moved the refrigerator (which everything keys off of) without marking exactly where it was.  I realized a support leg was partially blocking the sink hole and needed to be notched around a cross piece as well. The rivet gun jammed necessitating a complete rebuild before we could keep going.  An electrical box that I'd moved to be out of the way of the counters was acutally still in the way and needed to be moved, again.  Finally, level and plumb mean nothing when you are working in a vehicle that lifts and drops whenever someone shifts their weight, so level, or rather the degree of unlevel had to be taken at the floor and the transferred to the counter and then marked without anyone moving.  Plumb was basically hopeless so we just eyeballed it.    When it was all done though we had beautiful new counters made entirely of scrap wood salvaged from an old cottage.  Neat!