I have a big task ahead to get my place winterized before the cold and the snow starts flying.
After a lot of trench-digging and filling, I'll have electricity soon. Although I haven't missed having electricity at all, I know that with the shorter days it will be nice to have more light. And it will be nice to be able to charge my laptop without leaving my bed.
Some things on my winterization list are nice-to-haves and some are need-to-haves. Some things I can do myself and some will require help.
The tasks fall into a couple of major categories: Heating, Insulation and Other.
Heating
I currently have a tiny wood stove in my house, but I'm concerned about the lack of an external air intake. In such a small space, I don't want to be competing with the stove for oxygen! Also, everyone has told me that I need to extend my stove pipe so the stove draws better and so the smoke won't swirl down around the house. I'm not sure whether I can modify the stove I have or if I'm going to need to buy a new stove. I'm going to get some advice from a knowledgeable friend and consider the expenses involved...
I definitely need to create some kind of heatsink for the wood stove. Because the stove I have, or any stove I install, will need to be so small that I don't chronically overheat myself, it will only take a certain amount of wood and will only burn for a certain amount of time. A heat sink (like bricks stacked behind the stove) will extend the warmth in my house and hopefully allow me to sleep through the night. (When I first moved in in late March, I often had to get up in the middle of the night and rebuild the fire so I could warm the house up enough to go back to sleep).
And then, I need to manage the fuel for my woodstove. Fortunately, I had 4 cords of firewood ends delivered earlier this summer. I've split the bulk of it and stacked about half of it. Of course, my splitting maul is currently busted – second handle I've snapped – but I've got what I need to fix it. I'm just waiting for the annoying late summer mosquitoes to die before I commit to spending more time outside splitting my wood. That feels like an October task.
Insulation
There are a couple of major tasks here:
- Skirting the bottom of the trailer to keep the wind away from the underside: this will involve taping tarps or plastic around the bottom edge of the trailer and banking it with hay and/or seaweed.
- Covering the windows: the windows are the original trailer windows. They open up and out and they are single-paned and very leaky. I'm considering a two-pronged approach of sealing most, but not all, of them with heat-shrink plastic and making "window cosies" for all of them – basically small insulated quilts that will seal around the edges of the window frames with velcro on all sides.
In an ideal world, I would also build a structure in front of the door that would act as an "airlock" to limit the exchange of warm air for cold every time I open the door. Also, in an ideal world, I would replace all of the windows. Neither of those things is likely to happen, at least not this year.
Other
I want to install a proper cat door so Salinger can go in and out at will. The summer cat door (i.e. torn screen door) will not work in the winter-time.
Is it worth it?
This is the big question that is plaguing me this month. Even if I make all of the improvements I've listed above, the trailer is still a thin-shelled structure that is not terribly well-suited to winter living. It only has 2-inch studs and therefore only 2 inches of insulation. And the windows are going to let in a lot of cold air, no matter what I do.
I've asked for advice from a lot of people and everyone seems to think that I can survive in the house over the winter – it will just require constant tending. I'll be tied to my wood stove, feeding it every four to six hours. And sometimes, I'll be cold. Plain and simple. I've considered the option of an electric heat pump, but I think it will put too much strain on the tenuous electrical connection we are rigging up to the tiny house.
Am I feeling up for it?
This is the other big question. I've had a pretty exhausting year – lots of emotional turmoil and stress, lots of work and peri-menopausal symptoms. And winter, especially February and March, is traditionally a busy time for me – a time when I need to be chained to my computer, not to my woodstove.
Really, I think what I'd most like to do this winter is find a clawfoot tub in a nice warm house and soak in it for 3–4 hours every day. I'm not saying the rugged outdoorsy life won't be good for me this winter, I'm just saying that I'm not feeling it.
Chickening out is an option
The world is full of possibilities. I was having a conversation with a friend and neighbour the other day about some folks he knows who figured out years ago that it costs about the same for them to go to Mexico for the winter as it would for them to heat their house in Nova Scotia. They definitely prefer the fresh food and warm temperatures in Mexico, so that's what they've done for years. Mexico holds no allure for me, but Montreal, Toronto or an apartment here in Nova Scotia are all options for me. There is nothing to say that the Tiny Home can't be a three-season dwelling for me this year – or even every year...
What do you think? Any advice? Cautionary tales? Offers of free winter housing? Bring it on!
