Work begins! Fascia installation.

After arranging a majority of my waterfowl into a parabola, I was finally able to begin work on the tiny house, or more accurately, the trailer beneath the tiny house. The first order of business was to remove all of the lights around the perimeter, as they are in the way of the fascia boards (aka skirting), which will partially hold up the walls and allow for the attachment of subsequent sheathing and siding.

Unfortunately, the wires had to be cut for the lights to be removed. (quick disconnect fittings would be helpful here). You can also see the wires were passed through raw-edged metal holes during installation at the factory. Not a good idea, as  the insulation on the wires is more likely to be skinned (causing short circuits) as the wires might rub while the house is in transit. I'll fix that with rubber bushings.

Like the one below. It's pressed into the hole, and protects the wire from the sharp edges of the hole. In this example the wire could not be removed from the hole without losing it in the bowels of the trailer, so the bushing had to be sliced open, passed over the wire, and then pressed into the hole. Still, pretty easy.

The wires on the back of the taillights had been pinched against the trailer, as they were too big to fit into the grooves designed to hold them. These lights will probably need to be replaced since the damage is too close to the source of the wires to allow repairs.

 

Next comes the attachment of the 2x6 fascia boards. Four of the boards abut the curved fender, so I cut their ends to match the fender's radius. While this isn't really necessary, as the fascia will be concealed by the siding, it's good practice to prepare for the siding application. Start by cutting one end of the board to the approximate angle, clamping the board to the trailer, and leveling it with the trailer's frame.

Then scribe the curved line onto the board using a spacer and a marker, and cut with a jig saw.

Before re-clamping the board to the trailer for further work, I tacked a spacer to the end to maintain a small gap between the board and fender. This should help to avoid any possible scraping of the fender during road trips, and allow the boards to dry out thoroughly after rain.

The fascia boards also have to be notched (dadoed) to fit over the 5/8" threaded rods welded to the trailer, which allow the house to be bolted to the trailer. The dadoes can be made easily with a circular saw. So, re-clamp the board to the trailer and mark the location of the threaded rod with a square...

Transfer the lines to the inside of the board...

Make close, parallel cuts across the board, with a circular saw set to cut 5/8" deep...

Break out the wood with a chisel...

Clean up the dado with the chisel, and voila!

Just for fun, I like to cut at least one dado on the wrong side of the fascia board, after having cut the radiused end, and then try to find another place I can use the board!

 After the radiused ends and dadoes have been cut, clamp and level the board one final time, and drill the holes for the bolts which will hold the fascia to the trailer.

I drilled outwards through the existing 7/16" holes in the trailer, and then countersunk each hole just enough to allow a flat washer, lock washer, (since the trailer will no doubt experience some vibrations) and nut to be attached.

I used stainless steel hardware as it wasn't that much more expensive than galvanized, and should last a very long time. 

In a few places, the drill would not fit inside the trailer, so I marked the location of the holes with a pen, removed the board, and drilled slightly oversized holes (1/2") to allow for possible alignment errors.

Holes also need to be drilled, before the fascia boards are actually attached, to allow for the passage of wiring through the fascia. Once a board is radiused, dadoed, and cut to length, rest it on top of the trailer frame, in its' correct horizontal position, and transfer the location of the wiring holes onto the boards using a square. (sorry for not having a photo.) Measure the vertical distance from the top of the trailer frame to the hole, and transfer that measurement to the board. I drilled a 7/8" hole, generous enough to allow for possible alignment errors, and also not interfere with the rubber grommet inserted into the hole.

The final result!

Next up, insulation preparation and installation!