Or at least two in this case.
The first version of help was our daughter Charlotte saying, "We can come up to Vermont and help with the siding!"
Here's what that looked like:
Here's what they're looking at:
But it was super fun to have visitors in the Big House. (And we can't wait until the Tiny House is ready to host visitors too!)
To back up just a touch, I transferred the level lines from back side to the side of the Tiny House that faces the big house. Then I started at the bottom again. It was a little tricky getting around the fender in the bottom right of the picture above, but I got it done. And with a cheering section, the siding on this side went pretty quickly. You can see the Geckos in action in this photo. They make it possible for one person to do this job alone (when the helpers have chosen a lounge chair instead--but I'm not bitter).
Once this long side was mostly done, I was pretty stoked. I decided to move on to the opposite long side with the entry door. So, I transferred the level lines to that side and got started. In the back of my mind I was wondering if by the time I got around to the front, all the corners would line up properly... A little stressful!
It looks so tidy all of a sudden!
This side has the entry door and two windows. Here I used another technique I've learned from my YouTube builder buddies, the Perkins Builder Brothers. For interior and exterior trim around windows, they don't build them piece-by-piece. They cut all the necessary pieces (adding about a 1/4 inch to each dimension for proper spacing against the window. Then the parts are joined by pocket screws and installed all as one frame around the window. This technique worked great, and I used it from here forward.
This side of the house came together well too, and I was super psyched with how nice and tidy it looked:
At this point I was a little tired of working by myself--and a little intimidated about siding the bump-out section over the trailer hitch, so I called my nephew Bobby. He was game for a visit!
So we got right to work. Here he is fastidiously installing his very first piece of LP Smartside:
As we ploughed through some of the complexity and got the siding on. I couldn't resist running those first few courses all the way around the bump out to see how they lined up on the far side (to see if each course of siding was consistent all the way around the house).
And they did! (Though somehow I failed to get a picture of it!)
Bobby was at home with all the tools and turned out to be a huge help on one of the more complex siding sections. We had a blast working together and made some great progress!
We left things not quite finished so we'd have time for a game of cribbage before he had to leave:
Bobby kicked my butt!
Next time, the siding gets finished, and I say, "Come off it... we need a soffit?!?"
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