The plans arrived today - woo hoo!
Now I can see exactly what I need to gather and get on it - I'm so excited ;)
Looks like the trailer I picked out will work perfectly so I'm on my way. It will be delivered Thursday and I can start demolition - yah baby!
So I'm seeking the bits and pieces that will make this happen: wood doors, wood framed windows, 2x4s, wood siding, flooring, etc., etc.
If you have leftovers from a remodel or whatnot - Let me know!
I'll make a detailed wishlist soon - stay tuned

I <3 Craigslist. So many ways I can't even count.

I meet the nicest people in my process of scavenging - it's really half the fun!

Yesterday I was given enough pergo, laminate flooring to completely do the floors in my Tiny house.

Today I'm off to scoop up all the Plywood I can carry - I'm sure it will be enough for my needs AND Pope's (I've got yer back Pope - don't you worry - ha!)

I'll be waiting anxiously for my old, yucky travel trailer to arrive tomorrow - and then the REAL fun begins. I have a friend coming to help begin the process of demolition - and hoping a few other friends just show up. I mean, who can pass up the chance to take a sledge hammer to metal and wood? Really? ;)

Ok- I KNOW this about free things: Sometimes they're not really free. Between gas, time and effort - sometimes free costs more than if you just took yourself to the nearest store and plopped down the dollars.

I have 3 criteria for the items I'm using in my tiny house:

1)Re-use, reduce, recycle as much as possible. If I can keep something out of the landfill - that adds value to the item.

2) Save money. the more money I save on the actual building materials - the more I have to spend on energy efficient appliances, and renewable energy sources. If I had my way - every penny I spent would solely go to those things.

3) The experience. Meeting new people, telling them my story, sharing my excitement and passion - really this one should be number one! Not to mention just making it myself. I'll be living in something that I made myself.

Today I went to pick up some wood from a very nice gentleman named Jim. There was a lot of back and forth on the phone with other people flaking on him, etc. etc. He was located in Kent, which is very close to my work space - problem was, when he finally said I could have the wood - I was all the way up in Seattle again. I had to make a special trip all the way down there - which was a waste of gas. On top of all that - he had me convinced that he had tons of full sheets of plywood - something that would be well worth the trip and effort. But alas, when I arrived, there sat a pile of small pieces of mostly OSB - really quite useless. After all the effort and all the back and forth - I didn't feel I could just back away - so I let him load the whole pile into my van.

Back at my work space I carefully picked out what I felt I might be able to use and put the rest back in the van - almost half the load.

Now what? What am I going to do with this stuff? I called re-use lumber stores and got turned down at every one. I stopped at the Re-store in Ballard on my way home - they took a couple of pieces - not much help. So off to the dump. $33.88 later, and afternoon shot, all the gas from running around - and doing exactly what I was trying to avoid - throwing stuff into the landfill. Yup... Lesson learned. Gonna really watch myself from now on!