Water, electricity and preparing my dream plot!

After the crackling and destructive transport day in July (it’s a must-read!), we have gained an insight into how much (little) the house can withstand from movement. Now it was time to plan both how we are going to get the house all the way to the permanent plot and to prepare it in the best possible way. The house will eventually be lifted with a CRANE!

Here are all the details!

Above:

Shows where the house will end up. Of course, it must also be turned around, so that all the windows and doors face the view. I have all the windows on the front, and only one (up in the bedroom) on the back.

My house is to be lifted into place by my fabulous sponsor Skoveng Kranservice AS. I made a phone call so that both he, tractor driver Færgestad (who will be preparing the plot) as well as the farm owner and me could look at the area together and find out the best way of preparing the ground and how to get the house lifted in place in the best way.

Above:

Of the plot at the very beginning. A few trees are cut down to get an overview of the size the tiny house needs. It’s already a bit strange to look back at how it once was.

We found the best solution to bring both water and electricity to the house and the biggest task: To prepare the ground so thoroughly that Skovengs monster crane truck, which weighs 12 tons per axle, will be able to drive into position, stand firmly, but also have room to pull out the four support legs.

In total, the crane truck needs 10 meters in length and 8 meters in width to be able to do this job.

Above:

Jon Arne from Skoveng shows what the crane truck looks like when it spreads its legs (or is he playing airplane?).

When we had come to a good conclusion, the spade (read: the excavator) was put into the ground to dig a trench for water and electricity as well as to remove soil all the way to the tiny house plot.

💧WATER💧

The barn on the farm (red building on the left) is approximately 50 meters from where my tiny house will be permanently put. Here, there’s both water and electricity. From his water pipes, we connected a T-branch so we could splice my water pipe and put it all underground (see picture above, trench on the right). A main stopcock was also installed at the barn so that he can stop his water without stopping mine. Sooo smartz!!

Above: This is what my water intake looks like on my tiny house.

I have my main stopcock inside one of my technical rooms, where I get water in. Here I will also have a moisture sensor that I got from my fun and genious sponsor Fibaro. It is absolutely super cute and it sends a message to my phone if it detects water.

Fibaro Flood Sensor tells my phone if his tiny feet get wet ❤️ (trying to resist the urge to buy this little cutie a pair of socks for christmas)

I can also choose for it to do even more than just notify me on the phone as it is connected to the digital “brain” of the house: Fibaro Home Center 3! I can make all the lights in the house flash in the colors of the rainbow, make the popcorn machine start or cut the power to the blinds. Whether all of this is equally helpful in the case of a water leak is debatable, but the possibilities are endless as I have received a bunch of fun quality-of-life-increasing smart house toys from Fibaro, the world leader in smart house gadgets *gasp for aaaair*

Above:

The ditch on the left has pipes for both water and electricity. The rest of the road all the way to the tiny house was also uncovered (removed all loose mass to reveal rock bottom), so we could see how much stone we need to fill the hole with to make the gound even.

Inside the water pipe, which lies between 50 – 100cm below the ground, a frost protection is put (a kind of heating cable inside the water pipe so that the water doesn’t freeze in winter) received from my electrical equipment sponsor Etman, which is called Etheat Easy Frost and can be bought by the meter and is an absolute must. The socket for the frost protection is first plugged into a Fibaro Wall Plug before it is inserted into the wall inside one of my technical rooms.

This plug is both controlled with my phone, measures how much power you use and has surge protection with a full overview in the app! Brilliant! That way, I can turn the frost protection on and off with my mobile, or have a temperature sensor that automatically turns it on if it gets too cold. Fun!!

⚡ ELECTRICITY ⚡

In a neat, red pipe, the power cable lies in the same trench as the water pipeline.

Above:

The pipe runs from here all the way to the tiny house plot (50 meters straight ahead) and comes up where the power outlet is. In addition, Færgestad has closed the ground with tons of gravel! Hurray!

I need 32A into my house

To find out if the farm had enough electricity/current for me, the farm owner called his electricity company, who fortunately said that there is more electricity to generate from the transformer nearby without any major operations. When you even have an electric toilet that uses 2000W for up to three hours at a time, it’s an absulyte MUST that the electricity doesn’t go out when you need it the most! I am really excited to both install and use Cinderella’s brand new and beautiful incineration toilet called Premium which I have been sponsored by them. A brand new 32A fuse in the barn is coming right up!!

Oh, yes! A pole will be set up behind my house with a 3-phase outlet. From there I connect with my 3-phase socket which I got from Etman and which Bravida installed in the old days when the house stood (and was built!) at Vestfold Minihus in Tønsberg.

Above: Electric input socket from Etman and smart car charger from Easee!

Etman is responsible for all electrical parts in the whole house! Everything from smart sockets to wires, cables, fuse boxes, fuses and even the heating cables in the kitchen, living room and hallway and the frost protection in the water pipe as well as earth spikes. Absolutely crazy! And the sockets are the prettiest and smartest I’ve ever seen! I have everything in matte black and I’m sooo happy with it! The day I turn on the power for the first time.. I’m just saying. Tears will flow! And my phone is probably out of power, as usual, so it’s perfect timing (just remember to bring a USB cable)! The whole house will be lit up inside and out with lots of different lights from my lighting sponsor Philips Hue 💡 Lightstrips, light panels, outdoor lamps and lots more! Over 30 sockets in the house are ready for take off!!

But now.. A sad story..

Happy girl (or something) looking into the future with excitement.

A small wrong stone cold stone calculation

Oh no! I don’t know anything about building, construction, preparation of subsoil that can withstand many tons, etc., and fortunately for me it was my farm owner who was going to pay to have the entire plot for my house prepared, so I would just be responsible for the transport costs of my tiny house. It is a good deal as it is his plot that gets added value by making these improvements to his farm by laying new water pipes, new electrical things etc..

Above:

The plot where my tiny house will be put, but the wallet is empty! Crisis!!

As the crane truck from my flying sponsor Skoveng Kranservice requires such an insanely stable surface, the farm owner’s entire budget was used when the plot was only half finished. He put his foot (with a sandal on) down and said that if I want my house in the innermost square, I have to pay the cost myself, which was estimated to 30 000 Norwegian Crown (about 3000 dollars). Shit. A sum I definitely did not have as several things regarding the tiny house have become significantly more expensive than expected and my own budget was long blown.

Hard lesson:
It’s expensive to take on large projects when you are a newbie!

But I can not NOT put my house in the spot I’ve been drooling on all summer!

Sad girl with no money and even less rocks.. Oh no..

Plot (twist) DONE!

Despite the lack of money, the first load of “bigrocks” (quite a large type of light (blue?) stone of 20-30 cm) was picked up at 08:00, and it would never have been possible without Skolt Pukkverk’s giving spirit! Like saving angels, they sponsored me with over 100 tons of rock at the last minute and made sure that today we got DONE with my plot of land!!!!

Above:

Lille Lilla (meaning Tiny Purple in Norwegian) is NOT to be filled with ricks but she had a great time sightseeing at Skolts’!

I had agreed with Eirik Færgestad (he is a (my) tractor driver, excavator driver, chainsaw expert, handyman and he who helped me pull the house all the way up to the farm when I was left by the transport company in a nearby cemetery in mid-July). At 08:00 he eased the first load and at 15:30 he was already done! I was there all day, snapping and filming and was so incredibly impressed with his work!!

I even got to drive behind him all the way into the quarry and watch his trailer magically (only with the help of a working wheel loader from the quarry) fill up with just the kind of rock we needed!!

Most satisfied!

It took about half an hour each time he drove to get stones until he returned, and I spent that half hour inside the tiny house writing down a few words for the blog. Now it occurred to me that this is the first blog post I am writing from in the tiny huset! So fun! And there will be sooo many more!

In the house today I have neither electricity, toilet nor food, so if I got hungry, needed to go to the bathroom or charge my phone, I would have to drive away. But isn’t it strange; I didn’t need either! My body and my needs were completely connected today! 🤣

Here he goes! That tractor is such a beast!

Then tip the load as close as possible.

YOU ROCK!

Look at that cute digger taken refuge on the island!

Under the house there will be just these blue bigrocks. The house will be jacked up on its eight support legs and in front of the house there will be a huge deck, so there is no point in putting a lot of gravel here. It also means that less sand is brought into the house (hopefully!).

Above: Presterud Elektro is ready to electrify this place!

Above: Here the excavator is almost finished while the electrician installs the 3-phase plug where I will get power for my house. Here is also the water pipe.

Above: The last step was to get gravel to level the ground in the area in front of the tiny house. This is where I will park my car.

Above: Here he spreads out and packs the gravel on the ground so it will be really smooth!!

Above: A new 32A fuse has been installed in the fuse box in the barn. Outside, he is also very close to the finishline!

Above: A perfect outlet waiting to be connected⚡

What a day! What a fast, fun, exciting and delicious day!!

READY TO SEE THE RESULT?

Yes, I did buy a drone and it is (almost) the best toy I have ever bought!

My big tiny house on the right wanting to be moved to the nice spot on the left!

Fear of heights?

TADAAAAAA!!!!

😍😍😍

About 8 x 15 meters of stone is ready to receive my tiny house when we find a date that suits the tractor, crane master Skoveng and me!

All that remains is to lift the house into place! This is so insanely exciting!

Thank you so much for reading (or just looking at the pictures, I support you in that too) ❤️❤️

PS! I am well underway with my YouTube channel and it would mean so much to me if you would watch a video and click Like and Subscribe. So far I only have 4 videos, but there are many, many more to come! It’s fun to write for my blog, so I’ll continue with that anyway, but YouTube will be equated with time. I have filmed the entire building process from start to finish and in the time afterwards and the videos are coming out one by one. There will also be videos about all aspects of life in a tiny house. I’m new to editing and all, but I’m having a lot of fun making them!!

🌈Irene

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