Alright, that title’s a bit dramatic, the “belt” we put on our tiny house is really just for aesthetics, so I guess a fashion belt versus a keep it up or contained belt. We decided to put both cedar lap siding and cedar shingles on the exterior of our house to add a bit more texture complexity and a little more fun for the eyes (see a visual of this on our model), so we needed a clean line between the two siding types. To achieve this, we added a horizontal “belt” of trim around the house. And, to keep it all water tight and shedding water, the trim belt needed a custom piece of “z-flashing” (named for its shape) on top of it.
Next is the actual siding! We’ve put in the order for the cedar lap siding and the rest of the trim, and are just awaiting its delivery. In the meantime, as we already have the cedar shingles, we’re testing different stain options. That’s been its own bit of research: the best way – and product – to protect and maintain cedar siding.
We’ve finally been getting some good rainy days here in California, and after weathering some storms, were rewarded with the realization of the treasure we have sitting in our backyard at rainbow’s end:
Love it in gold. Mom & Dad
Haha! Quite the pot of gold we found at the end of the rainbow, eh!
Holy cow, it’s looking so great! You two must be giddy. I’m surprised to hear cedar shingles on the exterior. I would have assumed them to be a bad match to the wind forces introduced by pulling it around. But then again, you’re not driving it around everyday, so I’m surely over estimating the exposure to that kind of force. But on the positive side they are beautiful. My dad recently re-shingle their house on Cape Cod, and it took awhile to get used to the “shiny” new shingles. I was so used to the grey, weathered ones that new looked weird.
I’m still impressed. I wish I had the nerve to take something like that on. Eli looks to be killing it! I’m sure you are, too, but you don’t seem to be tooting your own horn so much.
Thanks, Curtis!! It’s exciting to see it coming together, but has been really nerve-wracking, as well, as we wonder if we’re making good decisions and try to research all the things we’re uncertain about as best we can. For example, the use of the shingles. As you said, they’re beautiful, and we’re hoping they won’t be a problem. We’ve seen them done on other tiny houses and haven’t heard of any problems (though that never means those problems didn’t occur and just haven’t been reported to the wider world). My thought was that they’re consistently used on coastal houses, where strong winds and hurricanes aren’t uncommon – not saying some of the shingles don’t get ripped off sometimes in these storms, but apparently not at a large enough rate to deter their use. And, as with everything else on the tiny house, we plan to go overboard on attachment. Also, as you said, we don’t plan on moving the tiny house very frequently, and will be towing it at low speeds (we’ll be those annoying people on the highway!) But, as with everything else we’re doing with this house, it really all comes down to: we’ll see! Hopefully it’s not a decision we regret!
Yup, it definitely is a nerve-wracking endeavor. We keep our hopes up that it all turns out fabulously!