Month: November 2021

Our Tiny House. Part 3. Moving

Lifting the Tiny House by crane

As already mentioned we where not sure where to put the Tiny House when we started building it. We have made the construction so that we could lift it with a crane. As you might have noticed in previous pictures we have already moved the Tiny House once before, but not by crane. We used our Tractor with front end loader and our Telehandler to lift the Tiny House straight up and moved a trailer under neat it on which we sat it down gently. We moved it by trailer to a different spot where it was not in the way so much. After that we repeated the process with the Tractor and Telehandler and sat it down again. This method only allows the Tiny House to be lifted straight up and is not useful to put it on its foundation, so we used a 70 Ton crane this time.

The first move
This is where the Tiny House will go

On the final location we made a simple foundation for the Tiny House out of concrete and a stone slab. This foundation is more then enough since the Tiny House only needs a level service to sit on. The foundation is located on the old stable foundation which was leveled out with gravel.

The 70 Ton crane
Preparing the straps

In order to lift the Tiny House we put 2 Boat straps underneath the Tiny House. Those straps where then connected to lifting slings which where connected to chains. The chains where spread to minimize pressure on the Tiny House. We also put some temporary beams along the edge of the roof to help spread the pressure over the total roof construction.

Almost ready to lift

Then we where ready to lift the Tiny House up. We did not lift the Tiny House very high and we moved it over very slowly. We let the pictures speak for themselves.

Gently starting to lift
Proof that a wooden structure is strong enough to be lifted
Slowly turning
Almost there
Arranging the asphalt paper
Gently setting down

We positioned the Tiny House above the foundation and arranged some asphalt paper between the stone slap and the beams to prevent moisture coming up from the foundation. After that we gently sat the Tiny House down.

Checking if it sits OK

Mission accomplished, so we removed the straps and everything from the crane could be packed away again. The hole operation only took 1,5 Hours and went very well.

Removing the straps
Packing up the crane
Crane ready to leave

Fun fact the crane weighted the Tiny House at 7 Tons. We expected it to be around 3.5 Tons, so we where very surprised. You must know that we could only lift around 4 Tons in total with the Tractor and the Telehandler.

The new location

Next thing to do is to start working on the interior.

We have moved

But we did not move far

The first picture is were we want to go to. It is between a larger stone building and the play tent of our children. We break the wind blowing on the tent, so it is also by bad wetter a place where the children can play.

We want to move our caravan. The caravan will have less wind where we want to move it to then where it is now, so it will not cool down so quickly.

To the right is where we are standing now. To the left is where we want to go to.

We used our pick-up to move our caravan.

Our move did not take much time.

We don’t want to have all the sand in the caravan. We already have enough with 4 dogs and 3 children running in and out. So we have made a wood chips patch along the caravan.

Coming up is moving our Tiny House. This is not so easy as moving the caravan. This will be done with a crane. Hopefully all will go well.

Part 4 in starting for our food forest

Planting the first fruit bearing trees

This was a lot of work. We planted the trees with the help of our children, which had a lot of fun, then watered the trees and mulched them with straw. The straw should keep the moisture in the ground and will ad nutrients over time.

We have planted a lot of trees and bushes. The following list is what we have purchased to divide on our over 2 acres property.

Plantings autumn 2021

60 pcs of Sweet Chestnuts

20 pcs of Wild Pears

20 pcs of Hazelnut

40 pcs of Potato Roses

20 pcs of Dog Roses

Sweet Chestnuts

These plants where recommended to us by our local environmental government. Apparently there is not much that would grow on our open, very windy, but also very sunny (the sun burns in summer) property.

Not only did we plant along our fencing, but we also planted a few rows of trees and bushes on different positions across our property. The mean reason for planting so many trees and bushes is to get the wind out of our property. Hopefully these plants will be the start for a better micro-climate on our property. Once these trees have settled and grown we can start thinking about planting more useful plants and trees.

Also we had already purchased fruit trees last year, but we just had not found the right spot for them jet. Now we had decided on a protected spot near our pond and planted our 7 fruit trees

3 pcs of Pear Trees

2 pcs of Apple Trees

A Cherry Tree

A Peaches Tree

Our new windfall meadow

There are already 4 larger apple trees on our property. Last year they were full of apples, so we had apple cider made out of the apples ( we still have some left). This year there were no apples. We hope to have an abundance again next year.

Next thing on our list is to plant the oak trees we have grown from seed our selves. We plan to plant the oak trees along our dead wood hedge.

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