Living in the Small
Did I mention we’re new at this whole living off-grid and without running water in the woods thing? Oh yeah, I have. Like a million times. Part of what I mean by this is that it’s inevitable that we’ll make some mistakes, and probably even some really big ones. When I keep remarking that we’re new at this, mostly I am giving myself an important reminder to cut myself some slack.
Us adults aren’t big fans of not being certain about things. We’re not big fans of making mistakes or not getting something all the way right. We’re not fans of the expansive territory known as the unknown. And change is fine so long as we approve of what it’s bringing. Cue from stage right this big new life-change adventure we embarked on 2.5 years ago. Holy unknown!
Okay, so the impetus of this particular post is to offer the update that we recently, and accidentally, discovered that we have mold growing inside our cabin walls - or rather had, cuz Mike worked his magic and did a thing about it (and by magic I really mean he used his intelligence and skills and above-average ability to figure stuff out instead of being easily deterred). Turns out, even though we’ve lived only about 8-months total in our brand new hand-crafted dwelling, it’s small enough to have serious condensation issues, which all small & tiny living spaces need to find creative ways to contend with. Between cooking and washing and just being alive and breathing, living in the small requires a different level of attention to the details of proper ventilation.
We thought we were doing enough in the ventilation department to mitigate such things as mold growth, but we’re new at this and turns out we weren’t. Fortunately we discovered the issue before we added interior walls and exterior siding, as not only could we treat and get rid of the mold we had, we are now in the process of remedying the issue by adding foam boards to the outside of our cabin, which according to knowledgeable people in the building science realm is one common and helpful way to go.
So while Mike was going to start installing siding, he’s now installing the foam insulation boards before the siding goes up, which will cut the dew point at which vapor generated on the inside of the cabin gets created, or something to that effect. Every kinds of living has its perks and plusses and also its hardships and drawbacks. Living small is nice on a number of levels. It’s easy to heat, easy to clean, and I personally really enjoy having only so much space to store things, as it requires you to discern what’s most important to keep around. It cuts way down on accumulating clutter. But it also means you need to figure out what to do with all the moisture that builds up, and it means that sometimes you really wish you had more indoor space to spread out in (read: away from your mate).
This whole learning curve on the ventilation front is good info for us to have moving forward, as our plan is to build even tinier huts for folks to stay in out here. So while it was a large expense we didn’t see coming - and what building project doesn’t have those?! - it was good timing we found the issue when we did. Onward ho.