Hello, as I mentioned in my previous article, when building my tiny house, I want to save money and construct it as cheaply as possible. However, I also want it to be of high quality, so I will do everything myself, including preparing the wood for our tiny house.
This is not always the most cost-effective solution, as many people do not have access to a forest or the necessary equipment to prepare construction timber. Therefore, most likely, you will need to purchase the wood you need.
In short, I’m not sure if I saved much money because preparing the wood took a lot of time, during which I could have earned a significant amount. But hey, being in nature, working with wood, and getting away from the city felt like meditation to me.
As far as I know, in Europe, sturdy tiny houses are built using wood that measures 5 cm x 15 cm (2 inches x 6 inches). So, when designing my house, I used this type of wood as the base. However, I have also seen others use 5 cm x 10 cm (2 inches x 4 inches) wood. Since I had the opportunity to make my own wood, I decided to create a stronger wooden frame, even though it might not be necessary.
Forest felling works
I decided to cut down enough wood in my spare time to ensure that I had sufficient material for the cabin. Any leftover wood would always come in handy.
This type of work is best done in winter when the frost on the ground allows machinery to collect the cut trees.
I cut down three large firs, which I later divided into 5-meter (16.4 feet) and 4-meter (13.1 feet) sections. This made it easier to remove them from the forest and transport them to the wood processing area. Of course, I also cut down a couple of smaller trees for smaller pieces of wood.
I forgot to capture the moment when the large trees were pulled with a rope, but I have a photo of the smaller trees that were also used for construction. I tied the rope to the end of the tree, and in this way, the felled and split tree was pulled to the wood processing area.
The trees I cut down were dragged to the place where they would be cut into boards. However, while dragging, they became dirty from the ground, so I had to wash them and remove the bark in some places; otherwise, the cutting machine would quickly fail.
Work with wood cutting machine
After that, I used a wood-cutting machine to cut the wood into 5 cm x 15 cm (2 inches x 6 inches) pieces, which I needed for building the house. My friend had all the necessary equipment, which wasn’t industrial-grade but worked perfectly.
A large pile of 5-meter (16.4 feet) and 4-meter (13.1 feet) lengths of 5 cm x 15 cm (2 inches x 6 inches) timber was stacked on the base. I cut them into these lengths because according to my sketches, I needed 2.5 meters (8.2 feet) of wood in some places and 2.2 meters (7.2 feet) in others. By cutting the wood into 5-meter (16.4 feet) and 4-meter (13.1 feet) sections, I would have suitable pieces for the frame construction.
After that, we had to wait for approximately 2 months until the wood was dry enough and suitable for construction. To determine if the wood was dry, I purchased a device for measuring wood moisture.
Fortunately, the drying process went perfectly. Within a couple of months, the wood had dried to the point where it was suitable for construction. From what I have read and researched, wood suitable for construction should not have more than 20 percent moisture content.
Wood transporting
Since the wood was quite long, it was challenging to drive with the 5-meter (16.4 feet) long pieces loaded onto the 3-meter (9.8 feet) long trailer. The wood was excessively stretched, making it necessary to limit the speed to a maximum of 70 km/h (43 mph). The distance to the construction site where the house would be built was approximately 100 kilometers (62 miles). It took me a while to transport the wood.
Conclusion
It took me about 4-5 months to gather the wood for the tiny house. This involved periodic trips to the forest, cutting the trees, drying the wood, and transporting it. I’m not sure if it was the wisest or most cost-effective decision. Additionally, wood cut in a non-industrial manner is not of the highest quality. It may not be perfectly straight and may have some bends in certain places. However, since I had the time and tools to do it myself, I decided to go ahead with it.
Next, I will discuss preparing the foundation for the wooden structure in my upcoming article.
