What does it look like to build an AirCrete cabin or Tiny House from start to finish?
Check back here for a new course that is coming out by Christmas 2019. This course will teach each & every step of the process to builkd your own AirCrete Cabin or Tiny House!
The Course Includes the following:
- Floor Plan
- 3D Design of House
- Materiel List
- Blueprints
- Step by step training/guidance: foundation, plumbing, electric, solar from scratch, energy use & efficiency, making AirCrete, Rapid Casting Round walls, Framing walls, Framed Roofing, Sizing & installing Air Conditioning/heat, Tiles work, Floating Flooring, Custom shower, Basic Cabinets, Cement counter top,
- 3 Hours Phone Consulting Time
Choose or make a floor plan.
Design the Cabin with Blender 3D. This gives you an idea of the materials required and let's you perfect your design and size.
How thick should your walls be? Thick enough to support the weight of the roof and other loads like snow and second stories. I certainly recommend nothing less than 8 inches thick. This cabin has 5596 pounds of cement with everything else combined for a weight of 11,077 pounds. Divided over the wall thickness of 22,732 square inches is under half a pound per square inch! With a product that can support 160+ PSI there is plenty of safety margin. I recommend staying under 12 PSI.
You want insulation for an efficient structure. There is, however, a point of diminishing returns with insulation.
Started with this site to build on. Pick a location that is good for you and as level as possible. Also watch for places where water may stand of flow on the land and avoid these places.
Now you must level the pad site, pack the soil & build a slab form using utility plywood cut into a width appropriate for your slab depth (5 inches in this case) screwed & glued together with a 4" overlap. You can determine the length of form to make by multiplying the diameter of your slab by 3.1416[pi]. This 16 foot structure required 50.26 feet plus the 4" overlap every 8 feet. Each sheet of plywood is 48 inches wide and so I could get 9 strips out of 1 sheet.
Hammer in a rebar pin at the center of your round house. Make sure it will stay secure without moving. You will also need a tape measure with a loop on the end that can sit on and rotate around this center pin.
Wood stakes are placed every time foot. Drive in your first stake. Place one screw through the form into the stake (more screws prevent pivoting). Keep in mind these stakes must be driven in or cut off level or below the top of the form.
Now using a level work your way around the from measuring from center to the face of each stake, drive it deeply into the ground and attach with 1 screw.
When you get all the way around you should end up perfectly flush and level with the start. As you go it may be necessary to dig out the ground to keep the form level. Once the form is level, you may now put in more than 1 screw per stake to stabilize the form.
With the form level now you want to lay a board on top of the form and use another board that is the thickness of your cement to slide underneath the top board. Use this to scrape level your pad site. Fill in the low spots and dig down the high places. Once it's level use a tamper and pack the ground.
Often while doing foundation work you will have an excavator on site. This is the time to level the ground and dig I plumbing, electric ditches extra. So this is when I Dig in & build a Worm Composting Flush toilet tank & leach field.
Bagged cement is used to make a floor for the tank which is angles to one side. This makes water run to the drain. A price of drain pipe is angles through the low end of the cement.
Drilled many holes in drain pipe at bottom of worm tank
Covered with rock then fine gravel to make a filter/strainer before adding 6" of finished compost and filled ⅔ full of wood chips. You can also place shade cloth or Geo textile to form a better strainer.
Put drain plumbing in with drains at least ¼ inch per foot slope. This will require digging ditches inside the form. Grey water was piped to biological recirculating plant bed to be cleaned up for flushing toilets and growing shade for house. Lay in your hot & cold water lines as well as any electric, internet and other services you need to get inside the house. You can drive steaks to hold PEX lines in position. Tape over every open pipe! You don't want to loose your service because cement has fallen in and plugged it!
To locate utilities & plumbing placement I suggest using a chalk-line or board and “draw out exact placement of all the walls inside your structure. Next mark every cement slab penetration/water/electric line. Now, swing the tape measure across each location to a position outside the form and set a steak which aligns the tape measure directly over each penetration. Label the utility name (i.e. kitchen sink drain) on that steak and also record the measurement from the center on the steak. If you used the 3D software you will already be able to know angles as well as distances to your pipes and you may choose to make a “compass board” with lines and distances drawn on it. When you are digging in your utilities this information will allow you to align each pipe in a ditch. Otherwise, if you miss the 3 ½” position of a drain line inside a wall then you will have to demolition your slab or move your wall to finish the house.
When laying in your drain lines now is the time to direct grey or sower water to separate drain lines. Conventional houses just dump everything into a central sewer line and direct it all to waste and making it much harder to clean up the water. I believe it's wise to take at least the shower water and put it to use growing shade or food for the house.
A recirculating biological water cleaning system was used to polish up the grey water for flushing the toilet. The requirements are water holding capacity, surface area for bacteria to grow on, water flow, aeration, pumps, and soil to plant in.
A Used billboard vinyl tarp was put in hole. Rock was laid in bottom to act as biological growing surface as well as sub surface water flow. A layer is added to prevent dirt filling rocks spaces. It is possible to use aquaculture bio filter as well. A 3" pipe with holes was inserted into rock to act as a well from which we pump water out for the toilet and to air lift the water back to the other end. This keeps it aerated and moving as well as clean for flushing. Then it is topped with dirt for growing plants or a tree. 🌲. A rock or wood border is built around this to make it look good.
Lay in Rebar & Plastic. Rings of rebar are placed under the walls. Cement wire is rolled over the remaining space. You want this steel to be in the top inch of your foundation so using spacers is a good way to go. It's also possible to use the pin on the cement take to lift the steel up as you pour the cement. Plastic is important as a vapor barrier as well as preventing water from being leached away from your slab while it cures. It also helps block radon gas.
Pour the slab.
Order your cement in cubic yards and be sure to order more than you need. Have a planned and formed place to dump any extra cement. Something like a walk way, or air conditioner slab ect..
Have the cement truck back up to the form and extend the shoot to the far side of the slab. You will need 4 or more people for this part of the job.
One person is incharge of the truck & cement placement. He/She will stay in mirrors view of the truck driver while giving circular hand motions for the cement to begin pouring, stop/cut motions to stop the flow, forward hand gestures to pull the truck forward and stop motions to stop. As the job begins this person's job is to direct the shoot side to side ,to where cement is needed and dump the right amount of cement where its needed. No too much, not too little. You want to minimize the effort and time required to level the cement.
The remaining 3 or more people will screed the cement. This means that using a long straight board or screed tool; they will move the board back-and-forth from the edge of the form while working the board forward. The back and forth will level the cement, knock down the rocks, and bring more liquid cement to the top of the slab. As the back-and-forth motions is done the board is also moved forward. One person will stand in the cement and using a cement how push cement into low spots in front of the screed board as well as pull excessive material away from the screed board. At times it will be necessary for the screeders to back up and work their way forward again. It will also be necessary to lift the board and move one person forwards and backwards to get around pipes sticking through the slab.
Eventually you will arrive at the far side and be finished with the pour. Direct the driver to a location where he can dump remaining cement and also to a location where he can wash out the extra cement from the truck. This will make a hard spot on the ground. Pay your driver.
Use a bull float to go over the slab and make it smoother while lifting more creamy cement to the surface.
Let the cement harden until you can place a board on top and stand on the cement without deforming the cement. Once you can get on the cement use hand trowels and work out any imperfections as you make the cement extra smooth. If you have a large house you will want to rent a motorized cement float.
Once finished cover the slab with plastic and let it harder overnight. You can start building the next day.
It's also worth noting that you can just pour a cement ring under the walls then make an earthen floor or even a wood floor.
Door post:
In the past I built AirCrete arches to support the weight and provide a flat space for doors & windows. To have a more modern look this structure used steel tubing to frame the opening.
Set 3" steel tubing for door & window opening. These can be set into the ground and poured into the cement slab if you wish. However, this was not possible without blocking the cement trucks only access point so these tubes were attached to the slab with wedge anchors and angle iron. The top beam was attached to the post with more angle iron and bolts.
Set up wall forms.
Assemble the forms with supporting spacers between the inside & outside. We used utility plywood that is less than ¼ inch. However, home-depot has switched to a cheap product with water soluble glue and this product is no longer viable as a form product. You may used thin plywood and rip grooves into one side that are no more than halfway through. This makes plywood formable into round shapes. You might also use plywood with board ribs to form rectangular walls. Slip-forming is also possible.
The inside of the form is most vulnerable to failure. You should attach braces to the slab and provide vertical risers to offer support. Here a plywood backup was used to offer extra support while pouring.
Be sure to seal the bottom of the form to the slab inside and out. I used great stuff pro foam gun. Its a fairly good as a “glue” to stick things together. Use liberal amounts!
Making AirCrete:
The Foam Machine..
The foam machine is simple. You need nothing more than a switch to turn on an air solenoid and water pump which are plumbed together into a single hose and this mix is pushed through the foam wand. The wand is 12 inches of 1 ¼” PVC pipe packed with 5+ super fine stainless steel wool pads. The output of the wand is placed in the bottom of the mixing barrel because foam wants to float up. Any hose or pipe that you can find to connect all this together is fine. I uses ⅜ LDPE tubing and johnson push connectors. I would NOT use anything smaller on the output side of the wand! Smaller outoput causes lower bubble quality! a ½” output would be even better. For exact foam machine building plans see the introduction to AirCrete video course; included with your purchase.
The foam.. 4.3 ounces Drexel is added per 5 gallons water in a separate clean container. The ratio I like is 150:1. That is, 150 ounces of water for each ounce of drexel foam agent. There is 128 ounces in 1 US gallon. You will want to pre mix a large batch and have extra because you need to adjust your foam density.
Turn on your foam machine and adjust the foam to weigh 95 grams per quart/liter. IF the foam weight is lower than 95 turn down your air pressure (counter clockwise). If your foam is to wet and heavy over 95 grams; turn up (clockwise) your air regulator. The pressure on the gauge is generally meaningless. Small movements when you get close! If you overshoot and change directions you are turning the regulator often shoots off target and it will take more tries to get it right. Anything between 90 & 100 grams will work, but there is some variability that happens when you switch off the foam machine. So, ALWAYS aim for 95 grams!
When you add more foam solution stop and reweigh your foam. It's also a good idea to occasionally check the foam weight between aircrete batches.
Observe what you're are doing! If the AirCrete looks to wet or liquidy there may be too much water in the foam! If it's super clumpy and drier there may not be enough water in the mix.
The Portland water Slurry..
Mix one 92-94 pound bag of Portland to 5-6 gallons gallons water and mix together well. Be sure to avoid dumping dry cement too fast and creating clumps! Once you have a nice creamy portland slurry now turn on the foam & foamed with Be sure to run a couple trial batches in advance to get your mix correct. If your AirCrete is deflating then you probably have too much water in your mix. Reduce the water. To little water and your AirCrete will not harder enough and be to powdery and weak. Too much water and the bubbles will float out. This is the balance your are playing with.
Mix your AirCrete with a egg-beater type double blade mixer or as pictured here a 32” pro-spiral mixer with 3 blades. Do not use a 2 blade mixing blade.
As you mix your AirCrete notice how running the drill oh high speed does not always make it mix faster. Notice how it can seem clumpy. When you slow down you can find a speed which gives you a creamy final mix in less time! Be mindful of everything you are doing.
Bucket Pour the AirCrete into Walls using 5 gallon buckets. 16" inches max per day. 12" better. I prefer to build 8 foot tall forms and cut holes at 4 feet. Using a bucket with the bottom cut out I fill the form to that point then patch the hole and continue pouring from the top.
If a previous pour has time to dry before yoiur return for the next pour then spray cement bonding agent ontop of the previous pour to rewet it as well as bond the two layers. This is important if you do not finish your wall. Its no necessary if you pour again in less than 16 hours. The cement will still be green enough to chemically bond.
Poured Cement Bond Beam on top of AirCrete wall with rebar inside. The top of a wall which supports weight such as a conventional roof will require a bond beam. This disperses the weigh of load to prevent aircrete failure as well as giving a surface to attach a roof or second story floor using cement wedge anchors.
12 hours after you finish you can remove The Forms! Of course, best practice would be to keep it covered with plastic and let it harden for a week. Once the forms are removed it will dry out and greatly slow the cure process. It takes 28 days for AirCrete to harden! Its green before this point so try to not knock it around and create microfractures which later become cracks/breaks.
Apply Fabric To Outside & Inside of building. AirCrete can withstand a compressive load of over 100 pounds per square inch once cured, but has very little tensile strength. To compensate for this and add structural integrity we must wrap the structure in a material that can provide strength against pulls and pushed not related to compression weight. This is where we add the industrial roof reinforcing fabric. APOC 482 S is specifically made to work with cement as well as other mixes. Made mix of ½ part water ½ part acrylic cement bonding agent & 2 parts Portland cement. Applied thick coat to wall, wet fabric and worked cement through cloth. A finish coat is added to the top of this. Finished top of inside with fiber cement.
AirCretes weakness to tensile loads is also why we do not build flat AirCrete roofs unless fully supported by something else or is a fully compressive structure such as an arch or dome! You can build arch houses & Dome Houses which doi not require a conventional roof as this structure uses.
Overlap each wrap by 4-6 inches as well as overlapping your foundation and bond-beam for attachment.
Raise Roof Compression Ring into Place.
Not a true reciprocal roof with its odd angles is used in this structure. So, a ring is made by cutting the wood at angles to fit together and compress together under the roof load. Its is pocket screwed as well as glued with waterproof titebond 3 glue. Each flat surface receives a main beam or 2x12 board. 2x12 allows for R30+ roof.
Put on roof framing. Whole roof is offset from center so that a skylight will be more centered above the living space instead of against the bathroom wall.
As the space between beams widens to over 24 inches between boards a cross board is added and another beam is added. This supports the ½” plywood roof deck so that it does not cave in when walked upon. No space is wider than 24” between boards.
Anchored Roof to Cement Bond Beam at each of the 14 main beams. This prevents roof from blowing off or falling down as the roof would spread out from the weight.
3 High tensile wires are placed through & around the roof to provide safety back up. Each wire is rated 1200 psi. Gripples are used to ratchet them to about 100 psi each.
It is, of course, possible to do a truss or flat roof!
Put on Roof Decking using screws or staples
Staple in Ceiling Boards. You can measure the angles and cut to fit or rough cut and uses a vibrating saw to cut the board to fit together in place.
Put in R30 Insulation into Roof. Blow-In insulation of cheaper but this type of roof bakes a huge mess and a lot of the insulation is blown out into the landscape with the air flow of the blower itself. Rolls of 24” wide R30 insulation are better. AirCrete insulation would of course be superior. No itching, nontoxic and cheaper. However, it would require support and this is a rapid build hybrid house to teach skills applicable to any building.
Cone layout program is used to determine the size of roofing liner and cut sizes & angles.
Put on Commercial Roof Liner. Liner was cut from corner to center where a home was cut out. The liner is then rolled up and glue rolled onto roof deck. Liner is then unrolled as the glue goes down. Work out the wrinkles as you go.
Top Cap made for roof by wrapping plywood disk with roofing liner then stapling in place. Silicone Caulking is then put on heavy and roofing screws hold & squeeze it into place.
It is entirely possible to put on a metal, shingle, or other type of roof. I simply choose a commercial roof liner because it was fast and easy as well as guaranteeing no leaks. A metal roof with this many “hips” would have been fine, but looked funny with all the ridge caps.
Frame Inside Walls.
AirCrete would have been fine and better is many regards. To make interior walls you either make and mortar AirCrete bricks or use rectangle forms to pour the walls in place.
Framed walls are simple and used to demonstrate skills applicable to any house. When framing walls just be sure every board is on 16” or 24” centers. This is important because the cover material comes in 4 foot by 8 foot sizes and you want every sea to land center on a stud board. Nails or screws can be used to attach the boards together. Typically there is a single base board on the bottom and a double board on the top. This distributes weight from roof loads and while not necessary here is just the way “its done” and using stud boards which are cut shorter you need the two top boards to achieve the height to fit the typical 8 foot tall wall cover materials.
Walls are attached to the floor with anchor wedges, a gun powder driven bolt shooter, or a ¼” hole hammer drilled with a mason bit and hammering two 10 penny nails hammered into the hole to wedge them together. Its especially important to secure both sides of walls near doors. Each wall section is nailed or screwed to the the others.
Install Door & Window.
A metal angle iron was used on the bottom and the entire opening was framed with a 2x4 board to make attaching the door and windows simple. The boards against the metal post were attached with 2 ½” self tapping screws. A drill was used to create a short countersunk hoild in each board just long enough for each screw head to be flush with the top of the board when tightened down.
When hanging a door its important to be sure the door is perfectly vertical and square. If not then the door latch will not align with the frame hole making closing the door hard or impossible. Check level with the door post and square with a framing square. Take a look into the door lock hole and be sure its centered.
The door post is made with double 2x4s to be extra firm and supportive of the door. The windows frame is sized to fit the windows with an extra inch around it.
Electric: (USA 120 & 220 volt with 120/ground)
Have a plan and pull all your wires from your breaker box to their destinations. You need power supply wires to each light switch box. It is suggested that you run no more than 5 plugs per wire. Most houses are wired with 14 gauge wire for both plugs and lights.
What you need to know about electric..
Electricity needs a circuit to work. That means a wire to come to a point of use and a wire to return to the panel. So two wires to work and a third wire as a safety to protect your body from shock if there is a malfunction.
Colored wires(any color other than whire & bare copper): Line, Hot, L1, L2 ect are HOT electrified wires which go to breakers to power loads. L1 Is one hot side of your breaker panel and L2 is the other hot side. Voltage between L1 & L2 is 220 volt used to power stoves, water heaters, air conditioners, HVAC heaters, well pumps, clothes dryers ect. All of these have a double breaker which connects to both hot wires in your electric box. If you connect between L1 or L2 and to neutral/ground one at a time you have 120 volts and this is how all the house plugs are wired This is the voltage to run plugs, lights, ect.
Neutral wires. White wires. These are circuit return wires to bring power from a plug, light or appliance back to the breaker box neutral bar. These are most often connected physically to the same connection in the box as the safety ground where the bare wires connect. Neutral represents 0 volts. Generally one bar is used to connect all the neutrals and the other side is used for the safety grounds. It keeps things organized and clear even though they do ultimately connect together. Never put power (L2/L2) on a white wire. Someone else might assume its natural and get electrocuted!
Never have power applied to the system anywhere and you will be safe while building. The large breaker at the top of the box is the main discount. It turns power off to the entire box! Only the tow large wire/screws coming in will still be hot or electrified.
Notice the green tape on the black wire coming in to the natural/safety-ground lug. It is important to mark your wires like this. Use green or white tape signifying a black wire is not hot, and use black or red tape to signify a white wire which is hot. Many power companies will not hook up a box without a clearly marked neutral wire!
Wires are rated in gauges, count and indicate if a bare safety ground is included. The size of the wire is important to have the capacity to transfer enough power for the intended use without heating up and burning down your house. For example a 14-2 with ground is run to all lights in houses as well as plugs and has 3 wires in the case. 2 coated power wires and one bare safety ground wire. A 14-3 with ground is run to ceiling fans and between two way light switch boxes. You want to have 2 hot wires fun to ceiling fans in addition to the neutral wire, one for fan one for light, a neutral to return power and a safety ground to give electricity a pace to go other than your body if there is a fault of failure in the appliance; life saving.
Sizing wires. The smaller the gauge of a wire the larger the wire. We do not need to be electricians to safely wire our house. Just stick these basics and all will be fine. Every house uses the same basic wire sizing and breaker sizes. Over sizing wire is fine, but more expensive. All sizes given are for COPPER wire only. I would not use aluminum wire unless for service to the house panel.
Wire Size
Breaker Size in amps
Typica Point of Use
14-3
15
Room lights & Plugs (no space heaters at this size), gas on demand water heaters.
12-3
20
Kitchen Plugs, One Refrigerator, Works shops, Space heaters, Dish washers, plugs, garbage disposals.
10-3
30-40 (depending on code)
Electric Water Heater, Out door AirConditioner up to 4 ton, Electric Dryers, Window Units, mini-Split air conditioners, small RV plugs
8-3
50
5 Ton Air Conditioners, welders, Small out buildings, hot tubs, large RV plugs
6-3
60
Electric Strip Heat Units, 5 ton cook tops, ovens, and larger air conditioners, small out buildings & sub pannels, up to 10 KilloWatt of heat for electric on demand water heater.
2
100
Small building service ( power to building), meter to breaker box connections
1 or 0 (0 ought)
200
House Service, meter to breaker box connections
When wiring your house keep the following in mind. Kitchens get their own #12 wire and breaker. Do not combine with other plugs. Dishwasher & refrigerator must have there own dedicated circuit too. This mean their own wire & breaker not shared with anything else.
Also, typically anywhere you have water suck as bathrooms, kitchens, outside, there should be 1 GFI plug to serve the area. The others plugs in this space is wired to the GFI. This will shut off power if any electricity is sensed on the safety ground.
So, knowing where you need your power and how much you can pull your wires to your plug boxes. Wires that feed the outside wall must have their conduit in place before the foundation is poured! When pulling wire through stud walls drill holes in the center of the boards and use wire Staples to hold wires in the center of the board when running up or down. This minimizes the chance a nail or screw will short out the wire. This is why it's important to use proper length nails and screws too. When pulling wire through AirCrete the only correct way to do it is to run conduit first the pull wire through later. Some people, like Mexico, will just cut a channel through the AirCrete and run outdoor rated grey wire in the slot then close it up with mortar.
Also, never make wire connections outside a box and be sure the box has a cover! These Connection points are the most likely point to be loose and create Sparks which can cause fires.
When wiring plug or switch boxes with multiple points needing power use a wire nuts to connect the hot wire to additional short wires which take the power to the plugs & switch's.
Solar Electric:
Never pay retail for solar cells. Buy wholesale from someone like sunelec.com where you can get panels for as low as .39¢ per watt.
Write down every appliance wattage for each and every device that uses power. Add all these together and this is the wattage load you must power with your interter.
Every appliance has a label which tells you the voltage and amperage it uses. To get Watts multiply volts by amps.
When you know your load you must determine the mean solar days for your area because you must size batteries and solar panels to generate & store enough power for cloudy days.
I suggest using an online calculator to determine the watt-hour usage of your house daily.
Always oversize your batteries and panels. Inverts waste some power, and solar panels rarely can deliver the full rated power all day. Especially if they do not track the sun.
Your charge controller must be a MPPT tracking charge controller. This is the only way to get the maximum power from your pannels. This is because any other charger clamps the panels to the battery which lowers the voltage and because voltage times the amps is the power. If your pannels are delivering 40 volts at 10 amps you are getting 400 watts. If you clamp the solar cells to the battery at 10 volts you have 10*10 which is only 100 watts; a 300 watt loss or 75% loss!
Wires used to move DC direct current need to be short, large and multi stranded. This means any battery cable, cable from solar cells, and inverter cables. You want to keep power loss to under 2%.
Pull PEX Plumbing
I prefer PEX plumbing. It cost 50% more than PVC but to does not burst when it freezes and is quick and easy to install as well as modify.
Cut your pex pipe squarely. This takes some practice pushing the cut tool as you make the cut. Slip a crimp ring over your pipe then using your ring tool to compress the ring. Make certain that the ring is centered over the fitting. You do not want to crimp on a ring that is not holding completely; they can be short. Sometimes there is not space to use the ring crimping tool under cabinets and some connections need to be made before placing in a tight place. Such as this PEX to ½” NPT sink connection.
Pex can and often is run in attic space and through walls.Im not sure it wise to run it in the roof/ceiling though.
Another thing I like about pex is the ability to get adaptors that connect directly to faucets & toilets without using the ⅜” hoses to connect from the stop, or valve) to the point of use! That one less likely place to leak and it saves money. I suggest buying your pex from pex supply online, It's much cheaper than buying from the big box stores who do not stock much variety of adaptors. They want to sell you the extra traditional parts.
When using PVC, such as on drains, its important to use PVC primer to clean off and prepare the fittings before applying PVC glue! Also, I do NOT recommend the hot or fast blue glue that sets even wet. I have had many more failures from this glue over the years.
Install Paneling:
Wall paneling is stapled onto the walls. Not much to say here. Just cut to size in places longer than your wall and trim out the doorways. Be sure to use staples short enough that they can not punch and pex water lines or wires.
For this cabin you must not put panneling onto the wall where the airconditioner will hang. Finish that last peice after the the unit is installed.
Install Heat pump Air-conditioning Mini Split:
On the inside air handler part of the unit pull the copper lines to bring them straight out behind it. With the bracket in place measure the distance above the bottom of the bracket to the center of the freon lines. Next measure the distance from the side of the bracket to the center of the freon lines. Write this down.
Now, remove the keeper screw and remove the steel bracket from the back of the unit. Place on the wall where you want the unit to hang and move it as high as reasonable. Place a screw in the tear shaped hole at the top center of the bracket. Place a level on the bracket and make it level to just slightly tilted towards the freon line. The manuals always say make it perfectly level, but experience has show fewer leaks on the wall by tilting the unit just ever so slightly to help the water run out.
Double check that there is no stud blocking the hole for the freon lines. Screw plate to wall placing screws into studs for extra support. If you hang on sheetrock you may need sheetrock hanging hardware.
Now, using the measurement you tool for the freon lines measure over and mark the center of the hole. Using a hole saw just large enough for the copper lines and wire drill a hole on this center mark.
Now lift the inside unit into place inserting the copper lines first then hooking the top of the unit on the bracket. Then push the bottom of the unit against wall to snap into place. It may require a finger to align the plastic on the bottom.
“Normally,” these unit are installed through stud walls and come with this steel wire wound over the copper which allows you to bend the copper without kinking the lines.
This is important to remember that with this install there will be no kink protection at the outside wall so you must slowly and carefully make big bends in the linset. If you kink it you must purchase another lineset if you do not have the tools & skill to braze (no soldering) the copper lines.
Drill your holes through the studs in the wall and through the outside wall. Then feed the copper lines and 4-wire cable through. The hole should be drilled as low as possible without exposing the hole under the unit. The lower the hole the better the unit will drain, but to low and you will not cover the hole with the unit.
Pull the lines up to the copper lines coming from the inside unit. Make sure your drain line is the lowest line in the set. Connect drain line and run outside. Blow off any dust on or around the lines! Remove the caps and center/align the copper flare on the lines with the brass flare fitting. Hand tighten nuts then tighten down the nuts semi-tight. Now loosen the nut just a touch and then tighten down very firmly (not hard).
If at any time in the install you loose a cap be sure to tape it!! Any trash in the line can ruin your unit!
Remove the electrical cover from the wall unit. Next, pull your 4-wire cable through and feed through the hole in the back. There is a channel where the wire will feed and pup up by the terminal block.
Connect your wires. It does not matter which color just so long as you match the number & color on the inside with the connections on the outside. You may want to snap a picture with your phone. Connect all 4 wires and put the cover back on.
Now cover all the copper lines in the wall with foam and tape well. Prevent moisture from ruining your wall.
Set you outside unit in place on a cement pad or wall hanger. Connect the 4-wire cable to matching numbers oin the outside unit. Connect your high voltage wire from the breaker box to L1 & L2; order does not matter usually.
As before removing the caps from the line and center the flare connections then tighten down some, back off, then firmly tighten the nuts down.
At this point you must remove the air from the line. If you do not have the tools then use a valve core remove (same as car tire valve) and remove the valve. Then, take the cap off the small line and use an allen wrench to just crack the valve open slightly. When you hear air blowing out of line count 1-onethousand, 2-onethosand, 3-onethousand, 4-onethousand. Quickly insert and tighten down the valve core. You will loose just a little freon, but your line will be clear of air and have plenty freon to fucntion. If you loses to much you will need to have the unit pumped down and refilled by weighing in the amount of freon the unit tag says it should hold. Also, if your lineset is longer than 15 feet you may need to have a couple onces for freon added.
The correct way to remove air & moisture from the lines is to connect a vacuum pump and run until the guage says -30. If it fails to reach this then your pump is weak or more likely there is a leak and the lines need to be tightened down more. You can get a cheap harborfrieght vacuum pump; just connect it and let it run for 2 hours. You will need a guage manafold & hose adapter for the unit to go from your guage to the r410a connector on the unit.(Charging Vacuum Port Adapter Swivel Type, 5/16 Female, 1/4 Male SAE)
Once the vacuum is established turn off all valves and then remove valve caps and using a ¼” allen wrench open the large and small valves until they stop. Do not force it once the valve stops turning.
If all has gone well you may not connect or turn on the breaker and power up the unit and turn it on. Install you last peice of wall paneling.
DO NOT run the unit while construction, paint, or varnishing is going on in the house!! I KNOW it would feel great, but construction dust will ruin the coil of your unit; even with the filter inplace! Once you are finished, the floor is down, cabinetsd finished, and house cleaned out THEN you can turn it on.
You may get covers to go over the line set. It's also possible to bring your lines down inside the wall and drill your hole low so that the lineset is hidden and looks better. In a perfect setup there would be a 3” pipe with long radius ells under the slab to push the linset all the way to the unit; making future changeouts''effortless ``.
Paint:
Paint your inside walls before any cabinets or flooring goes down!
In hot climates mix nano-tech insulating material with your paint. This saves a lot energy. This paint is also great for the roof! It is able to reflect almost all the infrared (heat) away from the structure. The surface will not be any hotter than ambient air. This lets you have a structure of the color you want that is more cool than white. Amazing and worth doing! Also, this paint coating is amazing inside for holding heat inside during the winter! However, it is harder to get a gloss finish on the paint. Some people object to the way the paint looks inside.
When painting inside or out use only elastomer paint brick stucco masonry paint. This paint sticks well to the wall and will not crack open with expansion & contraction due to temperature changes. It can stretch 600%. This offers quality protection for your tiny house. You can roll it on or brush it on. You must not add paint thinner! Aldo, once you add the Nano-teh powder to the paint it becomes very thick. Inside you could spray it on without the additive.
Roll on a layer, then go around two to 4 more times. Build a thick layer of paint and press paint into any holes or cracks to fill them.
Basic Cabinets, are built using ¾” true-bond plywood. Their construction is simple. You can cut the facing out of a single peice or cut facing strips and build more conventionally.
I will say that for most people buying premade cabinets are the best way to go! TRA (ready to Assemble) cabinets are affordable and better quality than box store particle board.
To cut a single piece face cut the face board then mark and tape the drawer cut-outs to reduce splintering and use the skill saw with a finish blade to cut out the facing. Cut up to the end of the mark then use a reciprocating saw to remove the last bit of wood in the corners of the cut. When making recessed drawers these cutouts can be the facing for drawer also.
For the sides cut out a 3x3 inch notch for the toe-jam. Cut two boards 3” or more to go between the tow sides and glue then nail or pocket screw them together and lay in a board for the bottom of the cabinet. Also cut and install two cross boards for the back and top from of the cabinet. Once its all in place clamp the whole thing tightly together and let the glue dry over night.
The difference between the floor and wall cabinet is the depth and the 3" toe jam space provided on floors.
Once your cabinet frame glue has set you can remove the clamps. This will support the countertop. Use a thin utility plywood to cover the back of the cabinet. The important thing about cabinets is that bugs & rodents can not get into the cabinets.
In this example the cabinets fit close together because the bathroom was expanded. The cabinet on the left is a typical cabinet with a door. The next cabinet slides open to the right. The bottom drawer is a typical drawer and the top two drawers are flush fit cabinets.
Poured Cement Countertop on top of ¾ inch plywood attached to cabinets with hole cutout & framed for sink. There is a square bull-nose made by attaching a form to the bottom of the counter plywood, which overhangs the cabinet by ¾”. This allows the cement to drop down and cover up the plywood giving a typical cabinet/couter appearence. The form is attached with 16 or 18 guage brad nails and easy to break loose by tapping down with a hammer after the cement cures.
The mix is 20 quarts of sand (5 gallons), 7 quarts of white type 1 portland cement, 3 quarts of water + more added until you gat a thick mortar, 4.7 ounces of plasticizer. 1 inch chicken wire is cut out and positioned into the center of the mix.
Pour the cement mix in and fill the tray around the counter then screed off with a board, moving back and forth to get a smooth creamy top. Screed between counter boards and when there is not a second baord you just have to feel and look for level as you screed. DO the best you can. After its all poured used a hand float to get final level and smooth. Now, take a hammer and lightly tap many times around the edge of the form to release air pockets and make a smoother side finish.
Put in the sink
More cabinet work
Tiled Bathroom & Shower:
Shower is 36" x 42". Three people could fit.
Make the threshold by placing 2x4 boards on floor on edge and use a screw to hold the spacing between them. Fill with high strength quickcrete or other cement. This space will have mortar added to create sloping sides which drains water to the drain. Be sure your drin is taped over.
Over this mortar pan you can apply plastic sealing paint or flex seal to waterproof it before adding tile.
Tile is placed down and cut to fit flush down onto the mortar. I choose to break the tile in places so that it fits flat and firmly onto the pan. Once the tile is in you can remove drain tape and screw down your strainer peice and fill with mortar.
Tile is mortared down by applying with a smooth trowel then use a knotched trowel to scrape air groves into the mortar. Make your grooves are in ONLY one direction. You want the air to be able to press out. Lay your tile on then press down as you move slightly side to side. Use spacers to get uniform space between tiles. Once all your tiles is down do not walk on it for 24 hours.
Grout the space between the tiles by wiping the grout in with a grout float. Then use a wet sponge to wipe the tiles clean. Once the grout has cured for 24 hours apply grout sealer. This is important. Its also important to reseal the tiles after you scrub and clean the tiles.
With the tile down you can now install the toilet. I choose to use a niagra .8 gallon per flush Toilet with fresh & Recycled Water lines.
Glue on the toilet flange and drill holes of the appropriate size for the blue masonry screws. Then put the screws in to hold the flange firmly.
Insert the toilet screws into the flange. Place your wax ring on and set the toilet down onto it aligning the screw holes. Apply downward pressure and a slight twist.
Using the space behind the couter you can build in shelves or cabinets for linens or storage. Lighted linen shelving
The closet is 48" wide by a rounded 36" deep closet. Its possible to build in more shelves if you wish.
Put down Floating Laminate Flooring
This type of flooring can be glued or nailed down. In this case its truly a floating floor. You place foam sheeting down on the floor then start laying the flooring on top of it.
You want to leave a half or 1 inch gap between the wall & the flooring. This is generally covered by trim. The space allows thermal expansion and contraction of the floor as well as expansion during humid times preventing warping.
To fit the square edges to the round wall measure the difference between the corner near the wall and the corner not reaching the wall. Cut this much off the side touching the wall. One cut is generally enough.
The flooring pieces slip into grooves on all sides. Fitting pieces together slip the groove together and push while lowering the new board. With the next board you must offset the board and use a rubber/plastic mallet with a driving tools to knock the piece into the board on the side. When you reach the wall it will be necessary to set the narrow side and then knock the board up into the long grove. There are instructions that come with the flooring and the video for this course will make this clear.
Finished
Staying in the AirCrete Cabin feels amazing. It froze outside overnight and I did not know it as I was working inside without heat.
For a size perspective. A queen Murphy bed with fold down desk leaves room for a small table & chairs. 201 square feet.
Cleaned up Job site
Join Seven 3.7 volt flat Pack Lithium Batteries together in series for a 24 volts
Batteries with battery management soldered on
Balanced Voltage Between Battery Packs Using 50 ohm power resistors
Battery packs joined together in parallel for more Current & running 220 volt inverter
Tracking Charge Controller for maximum power from solar cells.
Ventilation:
These structures can be airtight. It's important for air quality and removal of moisture build up that you provide fresh air exchange. I recommend an energy recovery ventilator in the south and in the cold North climate use a heat recovery ventilator. These balance the temperature between incoming and outgoing air keeping your energy efficiency. You want to bring in 50-100 cubic feet per minute for each 900 square feet of house.