How I Built An Amazing Tiny Home From Start To Finish / Step By Step

ever since I was a kid I've always wanted to build a tiny home I grew up watching tiny home build videos and told myself that when I grow up I'm going to build a tiny home but now I'm 32 I have the best YouTube audience in the world and I'm finally going to build one the hardest part about this build for me was having the balls to spend $7,500 on this flatbed trailer because there was a lot of other trailers that I could have got for cheaper but I really wanted one that would be at least 8 ft wide and I also wanted it to be as heavy duty as possible so after talking myself into making this expensive purchase along with the help of the salesman I finally did it and brought it over to my house I started by installing the subfloor and first put down this/ in OSB that has a built-in Vapor Barrier then filled all the gaps and cracks with spray foam and insulated the crap out of it in order to support the 3/4 in subfloor I cut down these pieces of 2x4s and selft them directly into the frame I used 4in wood to metal self tapping screws and spread to 2x4s apart every 10 in before installing the subfloor I spread out some of this construction adhesive just to make sure this floor isn't super squeaky after we screw it in I'm using 3/4 in tongue and groove OSB to make sure they can lock together and using a bunch of glue and screws to secure to the frame I ran a chalk line on the subfloor where all the studs are and screwed in 2in screws every 10 in but then just like that the subfloor was all finished up and it was officially time to start building out the frame I spent a couple days drawing out all the plans with the exact measurements then started framing out all the walls on the flatbed cuz that was a nice level surface which ended up taking hope and I a solid 2 days to do but we took our time measuring and cutting everything out cuz we don't want to go back and have to reframe a wall after we finished framing out all the walls it was time to stand them up I ran and Beed this construction adhesive where the First wall will go then started placing the walls one by one exactly where they go with the help of my wife and my amazing neighbors Dale and Kathy it took us about an hour and a half to put all the walls in their place and we were pretty nervous because if they didn't fit we would have to take the frames back down and reframe them but everything ended up fitting together nice and snug which was a huge relief but I then went around the entire frame and used Simpson TI screws and nails to lock them all together to make sure that the house frame is securely fastened to the trailer I picked up these 10-in lag bolts that I'm going to put through the entire frame and the chassis and I use some lock washers Loctite and lock nuts to put it all together I installed three of these on each side of the tiny home then installed 4in wood to metal self-tapping screws every 10 in to make sure this tiny home is properly secured to the frame now that the walls are framed out I'm adding a double top plate to help make this building a little more rigid the trailer came with a bunch of pressure treated 2x10 so I figured let's reuse them so we can save some money I cut them down to 5 1/2 in cuz they're going to work as the frame for our Loft after we finished framing out the Loft we installed some of these hangers for some extra support now that the loft is framed out it's time to install the ridge beam my neighbor Bill ended up coming over to help out and he has a bunch of experience building all types of things so it was really nice to get a second opinion on all the ideas that I had to build this tiny home cuz is that after all it is my first one for the ridge beam we're installing a 22t LVL plank that we picked up at a local lumber yard and we basically just set it into these temporary supports that we made while we install the rafters we came up with the measurements then started cutting down all the rafters to size we screwed hangers onto the ridge beam then went ahead and started installing all the rafters once the Rapters were finished up it was time to install the facial boards we're using regular 2x6 boards and nailing them directly onto the Raptors after we finished installing all the fascia boards we did some blocking then it was time time to add the strips for the metal roof we're using regular 2x4s and spacing them apart every 24 in these are basically going to work as supports so we can screw in our metal roof but after 2 weeks of framing the entire tiny home was all framed out now that the framing is finished up it's time to put sheathing on the entire exterior of the shy home we're installing 1/2 in OSB and using hclip in between all the panels for expansion and contraction at this point of the build we were about 2 weeks in and had spent $943 including the trailer which isn't super bad seeing how much we've got done so far I can't imagine how much it would cost or even how long it would take if we were building an actual 3 or 4,000 ft home which to me it seems kind of unnecessary to have something so big if you have a tiny home you're not going to over consume and you'll have a lot more freedom cuz you also won't have as many bills after we installed all the sheathing we went around the entire tiny home and nailed the sheathing into all the studs I then cut all the window holes out with my skill saw and the entire tiny home was all boarded up The Next Step was to install the house wrap to try and waterproof this thing cuz we're expecting rain in the next couple of days and I don't want any of the OSB to get wet this was a lot harder to do than it seemed but thankfully I had my wife and bill to help me out and we got it done in just a couple of hours once the house wrap was installed it was time to install the windows I'm I'm going to get a little into detail while installing this window to show you guys how I do it I cut the house wraps with fold over the window entrance then added some flashing tape at the bottom and work my way up I then added these bow tie looking things to each Corner before installing the side pieces I then added silicone adhesive to the window and fit it into place I made sure it was level then nailed it into the frame after nailing it into place I added some more flashing tape starting from the bottom and working my way up then the entire window was completely installed I then basically repeated the exact same process on the rest of the windows for the entire tiny home then with the help of my neighbor bill went ahead and started installing the door I cut out the kick plate with a good old handsaw so we can make way for the door then basically did the same thing I did for the windows for the door we added shims in between the door frame and the house frame and screwed it in now that the windows and doors are all finished up it's time to install the metal roof but first we're installing this drip edge around the entire border of the roof framing which is made to help drip water away from the house I use my tin snips to cut it and make it look as seamless as possible but this stuff is really hard to install and I'm nowhere near a professional at doing it but I'm trying my best and the only way to get good at it is by doing it over and over again so I'm going to give it a [Music] shot I found that bending it over a 2x4 gives you a nice clean corner so that's how I finished up the rest of them I then add added some more of this metal flashing to the corner here and started from the bottom and stacked them on top of each other till I got to the top this corner is where both the roof pitches meet which is really susceptible for leakage so I made sure to flash it to the best of my ability to make sure it doesn't leak but then just like that the drip edge was all finished up and it was time to install the roof in order to install the roof it needs to have an underlayment so we picked up this high temperature ice and water Shield it's non- granulated and specially made for metal roofs and this sucker took 2 weeks to come in the mail and ran me 250 bucks to install it I started from the bottom and stuck it onto the 2x4s then overlapped the top piece so water flows [Music] off once the ice and water Shield was installed it was time to measure and cut the metal roof to size we stacked all the metal roof panels for that size and cut them all at the same time to have the exact same measurement we then measured where all the holes for the screws would be and pre-drilled through all the panels before putting them on the roof we next brought them onto the roof one by one and only put one screw into each panel just in case we need to ship them around a little bit then repeated the same process over and over and overlap the ribs on top of the other panel so water doesn't leak in the last piece needed to be cut to size so to do that we picked up one of these automatic scissor Snips that you just connect to your drill I'll link it in the description below with a bunch of other tools that we used I'm also going to link these socks that my neighbor Bill put me on to cuz while we were working together the topic of sweaty feet somehow got brought up since we're always doing construction and I'll tell you these things are a freaking Game Changer I highly recommend you to get yourself a pair they guarantee that your feet won't sweat cuz they're made out of wool they last like 10 years and they're made in North Carolina which is right next to me which is why I support them and I know it might sound strange to talk about socks on a building Channel but they're targeted for people who do construction and they'll make sure you don't get any blisters so that's why I'm promoting them I'll put a code with 10% off in the description below after putting all the roof panels into place I drove a screw into each hole and made sure to screw it in as straight as possible because there's a gasket that I want to lay as flush as possible I then sealed the bottom of all the panels with this foam and finished screwing in the roof I added some more of this foam sealer where the rge cap will go and this foam is just made so bugs don't come live inside of your roof but after installing it it was time to install the ridge cap I made sure the ridge cap would hang about an inch over the roof line then screwed it in on every other rib I then added some silicone adhesive where both rib caps would meet and overlaid it about 7 in to make sure it doesn't leak but then just like that the entire roof was all finished up now that the roof is done it's time to install the facial caps these are 6-in galvanized facial caps that I spray painted black I basically just use my tin snips and this tin bending tool to make the facial caps look as nice as possible before installing [Music] them this was a really tedious process to do and it took me about 2 and 1/2 days to get it done from start to finish cuz I really try to take my time to make them look as nice as possible cuz this is the finished product and I use black finish nails to secure them now that the faake Caps are all finished up it's time to install the siding we're using 4x8 engineered siding boards cutting them to size and repeating the same process over and over until all of them are installed all these siding pieces ended up costing me $560 the materials for the roof was $1,190 and all the facial caps were $210 bringing the total so far to $1 13,18 so far in this build it took us about 6 hours to install all the siding pieces and we left a few spots without siding cuz we're going to be installing cladding that'll hold up a different type of siding before installing the cladding pieces we're stapling on some screen so bugs don't get in air will come up from the bottom of the cladding pieces allowing it to vent out moisture which is why we decided to install the screen we then nael down a bunch of pressure treated slats every 16 in before installing the cladding we added a corner trim piece to cap it off we then added a slat at the bottom that's a/ an inch thick to give all the siding pieces a slant these are 8 in wide siding pieces that we picked up from Lowe's we just cut them to size then nailed them onto the slats using galvanized finish nails we overlap the second piece by 1 in and only put a couple Nails into it then pulled out our greal siding jig these jigs are pretty cool because they space out all your siding pieces so you don't need to measure making the process nice and quick but we then repeated the same process over and over until all the siding pieces were installed [Music] n [Music] installing the siding pretty much took up the entire day and we're also going to be installing board and Baton on the rest of the house but since it's going to trim off all the walls we need to install the sofit first so the trim pieces can butt up against the soffit giving it a nice finished look we added some mounting blocks to the rafter so we have a mounting point for the sopit started framing out our bird boxes then came over to the sofit pieces and made some measurements we drilled a bunch of holes through the sofit pieces to allow air to come in through the S and out the roof allowing it to breathe we sanded the holes then added the same color stain to try to make them look as nice as possible then f fli them over and stapled screen over all the holes so no bugs will get in once we finish drilling all the holes and installing the screen we brought the sofit pieces onto the house and nailed them into place we're installing these with 18 gauge finish nails so you can barely see the holes we finished trimming off our bird boxes and repeated the same process over and over until all the soft pieces were installed all the sofit pieces cost me $536 bringing the total to $3,554 so far in this build since some of the sof is going to be exposed I painted the edges black with exterior paint just to give it a nice sharp look we painted all the bird boxes black to match the facial caps then just like that the entire sofit was all finished up now that the s's finished up we're going to paint the front door we wiped it down with acetone to make sure the paint sticks properly and roll down a few layers of this brown paint to match the sfit we let it dry overnight then brought it back into the house and reinstalled [Music] it once the door was back on it was time to install the rest of the [Music] sighting we're spacing these board and bat and pieces out by 2 ft and we use their laser level to make sure they're nice and straight to frame the house all the Batten pieces were 3 and 1/2 in wide and all the skinnier pieces were an inch and a half wide which in my opinion makes everything look nice and uniform [Music] but after 2 and 1/2 days of work the entire siding was all finished up once the siding was installed we wanted to add claing onto all the cracks and over all the nail holes this took us another 2 days to do and it was super timec consuming I hated every second of it this is going to make it look so much better after we paint and we've already put in so many weeks of work we're not going to slack off now [Music] after all the caulking dried it was finally time to paint we started by trimming off all the edges with a paintbrush we're not spraying this tiny home cuz the siding is going to be two different colors and masking it off is just going to be a ton of work so we just decided to paint it by hand we're going for a Southern Charm look so the board and Baton will be beige and the rest of the siding will will be green and now for the final cost of the entire exterior of this build we had spent $3,554 so far but after buying all the board in Batten pieces cocking galvanized nails and paint it brought up the price to $1 4,987 we were expecting to spend around 15 grand so this came extremely close while hope finished doing final touches on the paint I went ahead and decided to install the doorknob this type of doorknob has a handle that requires you to drill a hole at the bottom for a mounting point and we went with black so it can match the S now that the exterior part of this tiny home is finished up it's time to fill out the inside we started by Framing out two smaller walls that will separate the tiny home from the bathroom each wall that I'm framing out is going to be 30 in wide leaving a 28 in opening for the door after putting it together I raised it into place and screwed it into the tiny home now that the walls off framed up I picked up this RX 142 and this electrical panel so I can start wiring up the tiny H home I started by marking 16 in where all my receptacle boxes would go and another line above it so I can drill all my holes to run on my [Music] wires after drilling the holes I went ahead and nailed on the recepticle boxes I then started running the wire through all the holes and into the receptacle boxes I ran the wire into the box and left some extra slack for when I install my outlets and I installed one of these wire fasteners to every wire going in and out of a box I ran 142 wires into the receptacles that won't pull a lot of power and a thicker 10 two wire for the induction cooktop now that the wires are ran into the receptacle boxes it's time to install the breaker panel this is a 100 amp main breaker panel with 24 slots so it should be more than enough for this tiny home after securing the panel to the studs I broke away the metal ring open and started drilling holes and before running my wires into the panel I installed these clamps to hold them into place I then installed a piece of blocking underneath the panels that I can fasten all the wires to I slid the wires into the panel and left a bunch of extra slack then secured the wires to the blocking after running all my wires into the box I installed these metal wire protectors so no one screws into them by accident but then just like that all the recepticle boxes were installed I got here this morning and got the scare of my life I went to go put the camera on the tripod and there's a little freaking bee on top of it so let's see if we can get this little freaking guy outside all right so oh come on so I got him on this piece of paper right here let's see if we can put them outside without getting stung I'll leave him there for now before running all the wires for the lights I need to drill a bunch of holes in the rafter so I can slide the wires through and instead of getting up there and wasting a bunch of time measuring every single one I'm going to use this fantic laser level that I'm going to set up on this tripod right here and it's going to make a nice line up there so it could save me a bunch of time and I know exactly where to drill all right so all the holes are drilled it obviously leaves a crazy mess but now that they're all drilled we're going to go ahead and run our wire after running all the wires for the lights I installed the box that will hold all the switches then started to connect my 50m service wire to the breaker panel I've been doing electrical for quite some time but I'm still not a professional electrician but if you're going to do electrical on your own I recommend you to reach out to your local electrician if you don't want to end up like this guy after installing all my six gauge cables I went ahead and installed the bus bar for all my ground wires I then continued on to connect all my home runs to all my circuit breakers and kept it nice and organized to make sure it looks nice and meets code once I finished installing all my Breakers I had to install my 50 amp service plug to the outside of the tiny home this is how the entire tiny home will have electricity which we'll plug in once we move it to the land that we pl to park it on after installing the 50m service connection I installed these protectors to the panel then just like that all the wiring was all finished up all right so now that the wirings all