Tiny house on wheels or wings?

Minihus på hjul irenemini.no tiny house on wheels lift

The coolest, most fun and most NERVE-WRACKING day has come (and fortunately gone, because days like these are not what my nervous system is built for!)!! It was in the cards for a long time that my home: The worlds biggest tiny house on wheels would be lifted with a crane. And now the day is finally here!

Coordinating so that a crane truck company and a threshing tractor farmer could meet at the same time on the farm was not going to be so easy! If the weather was nice, there would be threshing (some stuff in the field), while if the weather is bad, it is not ideal for the crane truck (and it must be said that I wanted to do it when it was sunny as well).

After advertising for a tractor driver on Facebook once again, everything was in order and the date was set!

Before I get started here, I just want to thank my steady, strong, heavy and hiiiiigh sponsor:

Skoveng Kranservice AS

Without you, my house would not have made it into my nook in the woods. And what tough guys! Damn it! Very impressed! Many, many thanks!

Flashback to when Skoveng was on inspection and Jon Arne was playing airplane:

Jon Arne from Skoveng up close and personal 😍Nice guy!

PREPARATIONS

BEFORE

CRANE DAY!

I had visited the tiny house the day before just to check that everything looked good for another move. Fortunately, I hadn’t put any things or furniture in yet, so the only things in there were some tools and detergents. Just taking it all out and putting it in my purple van.

My kind farm owner sent me a message the day before and asked if he should put some air in the tires for me. They were therefore filled from 2.5 bar to 5 bar. The maximum pressure is 7.1 bar, but we didn’t want the wheels to be completely explosive.

On the day of the lift, I emptied the whole house of every little loose item and taped up all the drawers, both sliding doors and the shower doors so it won’t move.

In advance I had promised Skoveng to have the whole process filmed with a drone, but, to put it this way: To hire a simple guy for a whole day with a drone cost between NOK 20 – 50,000 (2-5000 dollars!)!! My goodness what a price! An amount of money I certainly did not have! What to do? I myself also want to get this filmed with a drone!

Two days before the lifting-day:

So.. This happened! Mom and repayment is a nice thing!

So one of the preparations for the lift day was simply flying and flying and flying all day to practice!!

Tiny house on wheels minihus på hjul øvelseskjøre test drone

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❤️ THE LIFTING-DAY ❤️

I got to know my neighbors on the farm the day before the lift-day, and they were home, which was a real treat – really! It was 11 o’clock and there was still an hour until Skoveng was due to arrive. I had to pee, but when I came back out, it sure looked like this in the yard:

Skoveng to the rescue!

What machines!

Nerd factor incoming: For those of you who have played (my all time high favorite PC game) Command and Conquer: Red Alert, you will immediately recognize that the crane truck could just as easily have been a Rocket Launcher!!

I ran out and greeted both drivers. One of them drove the crane truck, while the other carried large weight discs on his loading platform which they later hoisted onto the crane truck for extra counterweight. I showed them the house and where it is planned that the crane truck, tractor and tiny house will be placed. “It is a bit tight here, yes! But we can do this! Exciting project you have!”

I thanked them and asked them to wait until I had gotten the drone into the air before they drove into the tiny house-spot and rigged up. It was so incredibly cool to watch it all happen! That machine is such a beast! And the thought that the crane truck weighs 12 tonnes per axle and there are FIVE of them is absolutely crazy!

He drove in as far as he could and pulled out the four support legs and put some wooden boards underneath as extra support. The other truck followed with the weight plates.

.

Then tractor driver Birk came trotting up to the farm and connected to the house.

Time to remove the legs!

As a safety measure, he connected the tractor to the trailer before we started jacking up the house to get out the eight support legs. With the help of my new super-good neighbors Malin, Eyolf and Birk, we finally got out all eight of them after a bit of fiddling..

We are ready for transport!

It is about 100 meters to the crane truck!

Birk drove as far forward as he could and removed the bucket (front part) on the tractor to be able to drive as close to the crane truck as possible. Then he backed up (with zero visibility, so we guided him) and was now ready for the tiny house’s final relay leg: 20 meters straight ahead followed by an uphill that curves 60 degrees to the left before going down 20 meters and straight ahead 20 meters to the crane truck. Both the uphill and the bend can cause major problems, and it went (of course) not completely problem-free! And that’s a good thing, because the worse it is for me, the more fun it is for you to read!!

Just a little starting trouble..

We had driven about.. 10 meters (?) before the back of the house hit the gravel and I got full PTSD from the traumatizing transport day in July. “STOP” I yelled! “You have to lower the spike (the hook going into the “pull-hole” of the trailer) or we won’t get up the hill!”

“Noooot happening!” replied Birk. “Yes, it WILL to happen” I said. It was done and it went really well! The tiny house only jumped off the tractor once (to Birk’s great panic, haha) but I took it (for once) very calmly.

Now I knew that the worst was over and that the rest was smooth sailing, so the smile was now chronically placed on my face!

Good clearance here! “Lower the spike” was the key word. “Runawayhouse” was a consequence, but with a little fine-tuning and many eyes on the house, this went sooo smoothly!

(But if I’m being completely honest, I recognized the anxiety I had when we got stuck in the “Valley of Death” which you can read about in the horror post from July! Must be read with a safe blanket on!)

Cutie rolling around the barn corner 🥂 Dat ass 🍑

I am so glad I knew that it is possible to “lower the spike” on the tractor to raise the butt of the house a little bit!!

A lot of running to check the house front to back (and change the battery on the drone which only lasts 34 minutes per battery)! And here you see Eyolf (my good neighbour!) closest to the camera with a saw – ONE thin birch branch unfortunately had to go!!

Even though we had clearance all the way, I chose to remove the doors just to be safe. So insanely happy with them and that they can be taken off! Thank you very much, Vestfold Minihus! ❤️ Master carpenters!

We maneuvered our way all the way with controlled adjustment of the spike, and in the end the house made it all the way to the crane truck.

Crane-geplane!

The crane truck had to back in first, then the tractor had to pull the house to the crane truck, so that the tractor stood between the crane and the tiny house. It’s because my house is so heavy at the back, that if we had backed the house down the hill towards the crane truck, the house would have plunged straight into the ground and no spike in the world would have been able to raise it up. By pulling it down the hill, Birk would be able to lower the spike on the tractor to lift the rear of the house if necessary.

Now it was time to start putting the “cage” over the tiny house, placing two large steel beams under the house and building up with planks, so that the cladding was not affected.

Just have to say that I bought the drone two days ago, and the pictures and videos it has taken are absolutely pricelss! Can’t wait to make the video for YouTube about this day with all the cool footage that was taken.

I had full control of the controller, to throw in a pun.

Aaand we have

LIFT OFF!

Just so you know: Something that smiled as much as the rest of us were the two steel beams that lay across under the house. And just shiiit, I felt a bit of anxiety again, but just had to trust that the crane guys knew what they were doing!!

I was so incredibly excited! Slowly, meter by meter, the house swung (swung? Has swung?) out into the field.

10 400 kilos (22 928 punds)!

So, if they lose the house now, it will be a thousand pieces (and many oats will be bent!)..

Steady, steady..!

Now it was a matter of finding the perfect angle for the house, and that was easier said than done! After all, I want to have sunlight, but at the same time I want the most possible view of fields.

This is the spot ❤️

We got all the support legs in place, and as you can see, the house was quite tilted downwards, so we started by putting two legs under and lowered the house onto them. Then we placed two more legs and lowered the house onto them too, and finally the house stood firmly on all eight of its legs. Height adjustment of the support legs was done by feel and by eye, and to say something crazy: When we measured the house with long levels in all directions in the end, the house was 100% level!! Is it even possible?!?

Now the show is finally over and

THAT’S A GOOD THING!

And I promise you that it will be many years until the next time this house is moved, and then I will seriously consider using a helicopter!!

The drone followed eagerly from all angles!!

Coolest crane driver, and a happy owner of a rolling home!

Thank you so very much, my HIGHLY valued sponsor Skoveng Kranservice AS!!

So what happens now?

Minihus på hjul irenemini.no tiny house on wheels helloo

Now the tiny house dream can start for REAL! The house is just an empty shell now!

Everything will be stained in transparent/white stain and some in black paint. I have to get the countertop in the kitchen mounted and finish the kitchen, connect the electricity, water, install the toilet, get my things from the storage and tons of other things! I’m so indescribably excited for what’s to come!

And finally, I can soon invite Minihuskonsultenten (my company as a tiny house consultant) customers to my home instead of doing every meeting on video! I can set up my recording studio with all my instruments, plan how big a terrace to build outside (and on the roof), and so much more! Not to mention all the fun construction projects I have planned! Fold-down hatches in the ceiling, build stairs up to the sleeping loft, build room dividers and so on!

And:

Sleeping there for the first time❤️

It will be magical ❤️

Minihus på hjul irenemini.no tiny house on wheels in the woods

Now that this post is finally out, it’s time to start producing the next YouTube video which is from the horrible day of transportation in July! Maybe I’ll have to pop something sedative to be able to watch what was filmed that day, hehe. No, it wasn’t that bad! (yeah)

Will also be more active on Instagram now that the “latest news” about the house and the location is out, so I hope you will take a look there as well. In the meantime, please take a look at my latest YouTube video from the final construction phase.

Remember to Like and Subscribe! ❤️

That would mean ALOT to me! ❤️

🌈Irene


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17 responses

  1. This is really cool, I love the design of the tiny home. It looks so stylish and comfortable. Can’t wait to see what you do next!

    1. 20 – 50,000$!? Wow! It is way too overpriced! I would do the way as you did.
      May I ask you how much time the whole process took you?

  2. Wow! You’ve come so far! What a huge transformation! Hoping you’ll have many happy years in your lovely tiny home.

    1. Hi, Susan! Thank you so very much for your lovely comment! Thanks for reading and hope you’ll stick around! Cheers from Norway!

    1. I know, right? Thank you so much for reading! Hope you will subscribe to my YouTube channel as I am making a video of this blog post as we speak!

    1. Thank you so much, Kelsea! Yes, I figured “why not” and thought I would have loved to follow a persons journey towards the tiny life. Thanks for reading!

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