Floored.

So, this could be slightly foolish – attempting to write an update after spending all day outside building. My brain is pretty toasted, not to mention my muscles (or, as it turns out, lack thereof). BUT, Grand Designs in on in the background, the Baileys is out and our progress today is definitely worth sharing 🙂

Today was the first day of actual building for my tiny project. It felt a little bit like Christmas morning to be honest. I’ve been counting the sleeps all week! The trailer isn’t in its final position yet and none of the framing for the walls or roof can really go up until it is. Given the lovely damp wintery weather we’ve been having, I’m not exactly sure how long I’ll have to wait before I can get it rolled through the mud to its new home. So in the meantime, we decided to at least get a floor on the trailer.

My trailer didn’t come with any flashing or metal on the bottom so we started with a layer of sisalation as a waterproof layer and as something to lay the insulation on. We tacked it on with duct tape and then sealed all the edges with foil tape. We screwed 70×45 pine batons down over the steel joists of the trailer, laid a stash of Earthwool my bro in law had in his shed and then laid a layer of yellow tongue flooring down on top. Easy, right?

Well…thanks to Tom, it kinda was! The whole thing progressed smoothly and with no major setbacks. Tom had ordered the supplies and brought them around with him.  He has enough knowledge and experience to make excellent estimates of the materials we needed and although it wasn’t a complicated job today I still would’ve been at a loss for where to start without him.

Also, turns out that this building stuff is hard bloody work. My hands, arms, legs are sore and I did about a quarter of the work that Tom did. Not for lack of trying! But that’s kinda the most frustrating bit. It’s a new kind of challenge, this project. Building things isn’t just a matter of research, understanding what’s needed, or theoretical knowledge. Frustratingly, in some situations, physical strength is just hard to beat. And it’s not the same kind of strength you get from triathlons, from sweating in the gym, and certainly not any kind of strength you get from sitting in an office five days a week. I spent most of the day leaning on an electric drill, trying to get my screws in straight.  I didn’t have any luck getting the screws through the timber into the metal, I just didn’t have the weight or muscle to get them through. After Tom pre-drilled holes through the timber I made much better progress…but I’m still not sure that he couldn’t have done as much without me.

But, I guess that’s not the point. The point is (still, and again), that all you can do is begin where you are. This is where I’m at. It just happens to be right at the start.

Well…maybe after today, not exactly the start.