No Longer Tiny House Virgins
We are no longer tiny house virgins. We’ve slept our first night in our tiny house.
You see, before we moved into our tiny house we had spent a total of about 20 minutes in a tiny house. We had officially toured one and peaked in on a few that our builder had on site. That amount of time is like having a girlfriend in Junior High for only 1 day and then you are left wondering “Was that love?”
We were going to Vlog our first morning in the tiny house, like Tiny House Nation’s series, “The First 24”. Well, life never is like television. At least mine never has been.
So here is JUST WAHLS: The First Day.
We picked up our tiny house from our incredible builders Brian and Shannon from Mint Tiny Homes, in Delta, BC Canada. Yes, we started in Canada and headed to cross the border to Washington state.
Our trip through the greater Seattle area had been perfectly calculated. Perfectly fell off right away starting with a three hour custom wait at the border which made our trip through Seattle right in the middle of rush hour, and heart stopping moments as a wrong turn took us down a countryside road where it seemed we would hit every bridge or power line that went over the road.But after a entire day of travel we were perfectly parked in our RV park spot. Well, perfectly fell right off when you stepped inside to a lopsided house (FYI every tiny house owner needs a level). We settled down on our couch and foolishly thought, “The hard part is over.”
“Nathan! Wake-up! Our tiny house is flooding!” Rolling over from my much need sleep I saw my panicked wife, Shantel, poking her head over the sleeping loft to look at the floor that lead to our bathroom. I quickly rolled out of bed (there is no jumping out of bed when you are six foot three sleeping in a three-foot-high loft) and stumbled down the ladder like a grizzly bear coming out of hibernation. To my shock there was a nice stream of water running smooth and steady right down the middle of our tiny house.
Looking somewhat confused and uncertain Shantel filled in the gaps, “Nathan, the toilet is leaking all over our house!” As any man in this crisis would say I said, “Well, get me a towel”. Shantel quickly replied, “I only have one, make it stop leaking.”
This is where some RV park living skills were missing. I did not realize that when you hook the sewer hose you have to make sure gravity is working in your favor. Now I thought I had done that, but clearly did not. As I rounded the corner of our tiny house I looked at the sewer hoses (which are made like an accordion to shorten and lengthen when desired) and they were making the biggest smiley face at me. I had not secured the hoses to each other and as water filled the hoses the weight caused my accordion sewer hose to sag and cause gravity to push the water the other way; out the toilet and into the house all night. The floor boards squished and the house leaked from the outside. Yes, a smooth a steady stream down the outside of the house.
A few hours later, “Nathan I need to use the bathroom.” I responded “OK, let me run around outside and hold the hose to ensure gravity makes everything flush”. I believe it is now fixed, zip ties do wonders, and now we don’t have to run around to lift the hose.
That was the first day with our tiny house. Was that like the television shows? No.
Was that love? Yes, it was!
