Well, it's been a long time since my last update, but I've made quite a bit of progress. Unfortunately, that progress hasn't all been in the direction I'd hoped to go!
In October, I got my neighbor over to help me push the Escape Pod up the stairs and finally out of the basement. Unfortunately, I discovered too late that the floor joist above the stairway had been cut on a slight angle, meaning that while the shelter would fit fine under the section where I measured, it was a half-inch too tall for the other side of the stairway.
We hemmed and hawed about it, and in the end ran out of time to get it out of the basement for the day. So instead we installed the wheels and feet, and had a moveable wheelbarrow-style teardrop in the basement.
I had trouble getting help for a second round of pushing the Escape Pod up the stairs, and so my attention turned to other things for a while. Around Thanksgiving, my 5yo daughter asked me to build a playhouse with her in the backyard out of scrap wood, after she saw some ice fishing shanties for sale. Seeing a chance that I might be able to keep the Escape Pod for myself if the kids had an alternative playhouse, I dove in! Building a square structure outside sure goes faster than building a curved one in your basement. Here's where we are at 3 weeks later (with about $50 invested in the roofing). My 5yo daughter did a lot of the nailing and cutting, but now she's ready to be done. "It's all above my head now Daddy, so you just finish it." It's been a lot of fun.
Once my wife saw the new playhouse, she decided that the Escape Pod should probably stay in the basement, since she didn't want a "tiny house hotel in the backyard." Our neighbors have volunteered a spot behind their garage, which would be quite nice, so it still may make it outside. For the winter, I rearranged the basement so that there was room to move and use the teardrop. I added a memory foam pad that I cut off an old mattress topper we were getting rid of (still need a cover for it, though). Last night I hung the door with a scrap piano hinge I had around, installed the door window, and then tacked the 25" square window in place.
Although I'm still a bit surrounded by boxes, it was quite nice to sit inside for an hour with my book. I need to rig up some lights for the winter, and finish covering the interior with contact paper. I'll also try to get it painted down here, since the glue-soaked canvas looks like a rag a hundred cats peed on, which isn't all that attractive.
One of my coworkers is printing me out a 2' square forest scene I can tape to the square window so that I'll have a better view than the back of my furnace three feet away and the sewage drain pipe to the left.
And here's a photo for Mike, of me sitting in it. Once I get someone else in the basement with me, I'll have them take a photo of me inside now that you can see the teardrop straight on.
I have a few weeks off over the holidays, exactly a year after I started building this little shelter. While I hope to spend some time working on it, I hope I spend even more time sitting inside, with a hot cup of coffee and a stack of books. The kids both fit in with me, tucked down under the shelf at the end.
More updates as I have them! And thanks again for all the support and ideas you folks have given me over the past year.
by mikeschn » Thu Aug 13, 2015 2:59 am 
