My Journey

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

tgil.....thanks.....they do love it here and they'll love it quite a bit more when I get the new property line fenced in (3 of the 4 property lines were previously fenced) and they're free to roam the 1.5 acres. It turns out that Trapper is a bird chaser and she's obsessed with catching her first bird.....that won't happen while on the end of a leash (hopefully it never happens).....



April 19, 2021.....I took these pictures at 8:00 a.m. on yet another frigid Montana morning. The concrete crew was scheduled to come in that afternoon so obviously this was the last thing I wanted to see when I awoke on this day.....





Fortunately as the day progressed the temperatures rose above 32 degrees and the nights snows began to melt away.....





This 5 man crew of concrete workers knocked out their tasks in a matter of a few hours.....







Insulated blankets were laid over the freshly poured concrete in anticipation of yet another freezing cold night here.....



And that's all I got to say about April 19, 2021 here in southwest Montana.....

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

April 22, 2021.....the foundation (footer) has now dried sufficiently and the crew is back to pour the foundation walls.....Tanner & Trapper seem to enjoy the action.....





The weather improved significantly as can be seen with the guys working in tee shirts as opposed to three days ago when coats were required.....







One of the guys obviously has a sense of humor.....I found this after they had moved on down the highway.....



These foundation walls are only 6" thick and I really struggled with that concept (I believe that 8" is the minimum).....apparently here in Montana it's normal procedure when building one story houses on crawl spaces (I asked around town).....





April 23, 2021..the forms were stripped from the walls and the finished product looked pretty darn good. I went in with a framing hammer after the crew had left and removed all those metal prongs encased in concrete.....interior and exterior walls had to be addressed.....



The dogs can only enjoy the action for so long and soon enough they have to be completely bored with this construction stuff.....what has happened to our lives I'm guessing they're thinking.....

 

[McCarthy]

All they're thinking is they're thankful for their last meal, looking forward to the next one, and happy to be with you. They don't care where they are.

 

[Ace Brown]

All they're thinking is they're thankful for their last meal, looking forward to the next one, and happy to be with you. They don't care where they are.

My dog sure doesn’t fit in that picture. She goes absolutely crazy when we do something exciting like a mountain bike ride. They crave action and fun just like most people do.


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[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

McCarthy / Ace.....I agree with the both of you.....



April 23, 2021.....the next task on my agenda was to seal the concrete foundation walls. The concrete guys said that there was no need to wait so I was right at it.....that task pretty much sucked.....





While sealing the walls I noticed this insect and immediately thought termite.....a Google search taught me the differences between a flying ant and a termite.....fortunately this guy was a flying ant and was hopefully just passing thru.....



April 25, 2021.....I waited a few days for that sealant to dry but I didn't just sit around waiting. I'll discuss the non monumental days in separate posts as I'm accomplishing many other tasks simultaneously. Once the sealant was dry I borrowed my friends truck and rented a trailer & a Skidsteer and began backfilling and rough grading the yard.....



I've used equipment like this several times before but never have I moved this much dirt.....





April 30, 2021.....We saved the pony wall from the existing house foundation and hauled it to its new location.....after drilling a few new holes it was bolted down and was a perfect fit.....



Next up was dumping dirt into the crawl space area. This area needed to be perfectly flat for the house mover to do his thing so I raked it flat and removed all the big rocks (there are many).....





I'd say right about now I started missing my wandering life on the road.....hiking up the mountains with my best friends.....I'm guessing that the key is to stay busy.....to stay focused.....but that thought of wandering never seems to get lost as the push and pulls of life seem to be an eternal challenge.....

 

[tgil]

Skidsteers are fun to operate, until the point it becomes work! Progress looks good!

 

[ITTOG]

Congrats on the new place. It looks like it will be a beautiful place to watch the sun rise and set. Luckily it looks like a lot of peaks for you to climb.

You mentioned you were going to fill in the crawl space. Why do you do that? It seems leaving it as is would make it easier to crawl. Or do you mean to just add a small layer to level it out?

 

[Ace Brown]

I’m learning stuff here. “Pony wall”. I never heard the term before but I see now what it is. Watching these photos I’m wondering how tiny is this tiny house. The foundation looks pretty big to me. But it’s all interesting never the less. I’ve always liked to watch any construction going on or up.


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[Arjan]

You've been busy !
Our dogs are very good at helping building stuff... Or so they think
Of course they are a bit bored - but I prefer bored dogs to a dog that has been in an accident on a building site.
We're in the paperwork stage of 2 builds here - one is a new 120 M2 (about 1,300 sq.ft.) workshop - so that digging looks only too familiar..

Please keep it coming - love this look into real life !

Thanks

 

[tgil]

Watching these photos I’m wondering how tiny is this tiny house. The foundation looks pretty big to me. But it’s all interesting never the less. I’ve always liked to watch any construction going on or up.

I thought I remembered seeing 700+sq ft., so I went back and found it. I aslo use Tapatalk for my phone, a good portion of the time, it wasn't until I went back and looked on the PC, that I actually noticed the "tiny house" in the background of the pic.

They bought a tiny house I'm guessing you would call it.....725 square feet consisting of one bedroom, one bathroom, and a combination "great" room / kitchen.

Love the "in progress" pics. I remember last summer, actually probably a summer or two before that, you did some work on a horse ranch? I think another job was landscaping around a house? It may have all been on the same property, but I recall enjoying watching the spoils of your labor.

 

[blanketslayer]

Enjoying watching the progress of this. I'm sure people get used to the mountain views, but the scenery there looks pretty great.

 

[longhorn1]

Surprise, Surprise. Just got caught up on the last 3-4 weeks. Congrats. Hope you add a big porch you can sit to enjoy the mountains and sunsets. Looking forward to the build completion and seeing the house.

jd

 

[YukonMontanaTannerTrapper]

tgil.....I never reached the point where operating the Skidsteer seemed like work. I think I loved every second of it.....

I've actually worked on several different pieces of land since selling my place in 2017. This piece of land is one of them.....

ITTOG.....I needed to add a layer of dirt approximately 4" to 5" in depth only. The setting here is perfect for sunrises but not so good for sunsets. And that's actually perfect for me because I'm an early to rise and early to bed kind of guy.....

Alan.....I'm not sure if it's fair to call this a tiny house or not. It's definitely a small house.....smaller than what I had planned. The house has potential (it's butt ugly right now). It'll be interesting to see where this project goes.....

blanketslayer.....I came to this area roughly 20 years ago and fell in love with the land. Plenty has changed here but not those beautiful, majestic mountains.....I can't wait to get back up there and gaze across the valley from that ridgeline but right now I've got some work to do.....

JD....."surprise, surprise".....that's exactly how I felt when this fell into my lap.....



May 3, 2021.....and finally the ground was dry enough to move the "small house" to its new foundation.....





It would appear that it was wide open sailing through open fields and it pretty much was except for 5 wire fence lines that we had to cross.....so we had quite a bit of fence to remove (& eventually to put back up).....





Now this house mover.....he's been at it for years.....he told me that he's moved houses for numerous celebrities and lots of wealthy people that have come to Montana and purchased monster size ranches & apparently they have a need to move houses or cabins.....and he's been approached multiple times to appear on a television reality show.....hes always declined the offers he says.....





Funny thing about this guy.....he's been relentless in trying to get me to work for him since the successful completion of this move.....but I'm not looking for a job.....lately hes offered me a spot on his property camped right along the Madison River.....but like I said, "I'm not looking for a job".....



Moving the house to its new location turned out to be the easy part of the job.....

 

[tgil]

Now this house mover.....he's been at it for years.....he told me that he's moved houses for numerous celebrities and lots of wealthy people that have come to Montana and purchased monster size ranches & apparently they have a need to move houses or cabins.....and he's been approached multiple times to appear on a television reality show.....hes always declined the offers he says.....

Sounds like he's probably heard about your celebrity status around here and just wanted to let you know you were in good hands! ?

 

[Arjan]

If that is considered a "Tiny House" I start to worry about what can be seen as a "Big House"

Will be interesting to see how you get it in place.....

Please, keep it coming.

Many thanks