Atlanta Icepocalypse and Winterizing a Tiny House

Atlanta is currently crippled for the third day in a row due to what is now being termed the Icepocalypse.  I am getting antsy to get back up to the land and do some work on the house.  North Carolina neighbors report that there is much snow but no trees a-fallin' since they all fell last year. 

Being stuck in my apartment makes me personally grateful for a couple of things. 

First, I am really glad that we were able to sell our larger home last year.  The days home from work would have been filled with anxiety of what the snow could do to the house.  Would the ice cause damage?  Would it melt into the crawl space?  I would need to shovel the drive, multiple times.  The apartment has had some challenges but I am safe and warm with limited issues to deal with.  Since our tiny house is in a remote area the changes of us being in the house during a snowpocalypse is slim, but I think once it is complete we could easily prepare to be there for an extended period of time.  However, it did make me think of things we could or should do to winterize the tiny house once it is complete and we intend to stay there for longer periods of time.

Kent Griswold talked about wood and wood storage for his tiny house last February.  We will not have a wood stove in our tiny house, but I think this is still good information. 

But if you do want a wood stove in your tiny house, here is some information at the Farmers Almanac. 

Of course, the most important aspect to winterizing a tiny house is to make sure it is insulated well.  This blog post from 2009 has some options to consider.  We have used the "Styrofoam Boards supplemented with spray foam" which has worked well for us.  We used our Ryobi reciprocating saw to cut it and found it to be no problem.  We have a total of 4 inches if foam in the walls.  


Truth is, we did choose the mountains of Western North Carolina on purpose.  Though we have had some pretty harsh winters there for two years in a row, it isn't terribly common and really doesn't last very long compared to a location north of the Mason Dixon line.  


Enjoy your winter weather, where ever you are.