The week we decided to start our build, things didn’t quite work out as planned. It was the week of our 3rd year wedding anniversary (October 23rd), and John and I removed ourselves from the throes of work to camp out in my parent’s front yard and get started with our project. We had a few things on our agenda for the several days we were there, the first of which was building a shed on the property to store our precious power tools – the things we had never even used before.

So, I started out by ordering an 8×10 metal Arrow shed kit from Lowes.com, and arranged for pickup at a local store. It certainly was not the most attractive shed, but it was simple, sturdy and affordable enough to get the job done. Once we arrived, we were informed that they were in fact, out of stock for that size, so they offered to upgrade the shed to the next size up for the same price. Hours later, we arrived home and unloaded the giant beast of a package out onto the front lawn. What we thought would take only an afternoon to assemble actually took us 3 days.And that’s about all we accomplished during that week.

Leveling the Trailer

The following weekend, however – we returned to level and ready the trailer for building. With 4 – 6 ton jackstands and a SUV jack, we spent about 2 hours leveling the trailer, ensuring that a jack stand was perched under the edge of the trailer near each corner. We placed the jack stands on thick concrete pavers to prevent the stand’s feet from sinking into the ground over time and shimmed them with plywood as needed. I also clothed my tires in some some super cool, “Life is Good” canvas tire covers that I snagged a deal on from Amazon. Yeah, I’m a bit cheesy, so what? 🙂

Touching Up

After spending some time down on the ground leveling the trailer, I noticed that there was some rust that had developed on many of the steel beams under the trailer, which concerned me. Because the trailer had sat in my parents yard for 6 months while my build was delayed, the humidity of the Georgia summers had taken it’s toll on the paint job, and I hoped to correct it before I started building. I contacted Dan at Tiny Home Builders, and he gave me instruction on how to remove and cover up the areas of light rust that had developed over the many months prior and offered to cover the expense of the paint, which I felt was great service.

The next day, I spent the entire afternoon working on my back under the trailer, brushing the rusty spots with a metal wire brush and spraying the exposed  areas with Rustoleum Paint + Primer. I gave the entire trailer a good coat or two, and used about 6-7 cans to do it. And despite my best efforts in using dust and eye masks, I managed to get it up my nose, in my hair, and all over my face.

Knowing what I know now about moisture and how it can effect the trailer metal, I will be taking extra precautions to place a layer of gravel and a sheet of plastic under the trailer (and upon the gorund) to act as a vapor barrier.

  

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