Vardo

I was going to build a Tear Drop trailer, but after seeing The Gypsy Wagon Construction Instructable, I knew what I wanted to build.

A link to a quick video of the Vardo:

Supplies

A trailer, wood 4 foot long various widths, 5/4 x 3.5 inch pine boards, 4 x 8 1/4 Luan plywood, Lots of deck screws various lengths, scraps of steel roofing, a used wooden door, leftover insulation, old bus windows, table saw, skill saw, hammers, drills, hand tools ...

Step 1: Starting Out

The trailer I used is the one that I made, see: https://www.instructables.com/A-Homemade-Trailer-T...

I covered the deck of the trailer using 4 foot long deck boards of widths measuring from 6 to 12 inches the boards were fastened to the trailer using stove bolts. The deck boards came from this Instructable of mine: https://www.instructables.com/Backyard-Project-Woo...

The wood is pressure treated, it was from one lift that I bought that consisted of Deck cutoffs.

Step 2: Building the Base of the Vardo

The base of the Vardo came from the Reverse Tear Drop that was given to me by a colleague of, one of my daughters. The top was in rough shape, so I cut off the bottom of it. The bus windows also came from it.

I insulated it with left over insulation from insulating the outside of my house. https://www.instructables.com/Adding-Insulation-to...

The bottom was insulated and placed on the trailer and fastened with Deck screws.

Step 3: Adding the Sides and the "wings"

Using 3 inch plated angle brackets that were fastened to the trailer bed, the sides were attached to the trailer. Deck screws then were used to fasten the sides to the base.

The wings made out of 11 inch by 4 foot x 1/2 inch " hockey stick plywood" primed and then attached to to the sides, primed and painted supports were added to support the wings. The supports were cut from 2 x 4's.

"Hockey stick plywood" made by MacMillan Bloedel that made plywood for hockey stick shafts back in the 1980's. The plywood is 10 ply's of Birch.

The plant was in Nipigon, Ontario where we used to live.

Step 4: Putting Up the Walls

The walls are made out of 2 x 2's (ripped down from 4 x 4's). I made the walls last fall, I don't have any photos of their construction. The walls are approximately 4 foot by 4 foot, the bottom and top rails have a 11 degree bevel. This is how the walls are able to slope out from the wings. ( I got this idea from The Gypsy Wagon Construction Instructable).

The walls were framed to accommodate the windows I had.

The walls were attached to the wings with wood glue, and screws from the top and the bottom. The wall by the trailer hitch (front) was attached with Gorilla Glue and deck screws.

The extra wall between the side walls and the front wall were individually figured out on the fly.

A 10 foot square gazebo was used to protect this part of the build.

Step 5: Rear Wall and Door

The door, which is made out of Douglas Fir came from a neighbour, they were have a garage clean out. That's where the threshold came from as well.

The door frame material uprights are cedar. They came from another house that was having a clear out before it went up for sale.

I cut the door in two sections so I could have a "Dutch Door". The top became the bottom and the bottom became the top. I did this because the way the door panels were originally. It just looks and works better.

After cutting the door I applied linseed oil to the cut surfaces.

Two hinges were put on each section of the door. I picked up a good quality, locking door handle from Habitat Restore.

After fitting the door and hardware. I took the door sections off and installed the door frame at the rear, using construction adhesive and deck screws.

The doors remained off to facilitate ease of access.

Step 6: Figuring Out and Building the Roof.

The curve and shape of the roof was done by using left over plastic conduit from another one of my Instructables: https://www.instructables.com/Garden-Sun-Shade-Fro...

I needed to buy some 2 x 4 x 10 foot pieces for the roof, luckily they fit in my car, since I no longer had my truck. The 2 x 4 was placed on top of the door frame and temporary fastened, a bracket was made so that the stringer would be at the same height at the front wall.

I placed the conduit in an arch over the door frame and fastened to the side walls using conduit clamps. Next I used some small pieces of plywood ( that came from hospital equipment packing cases) temporarily fastened to the rear wall so that the arch could be traced out. This was done for both sides of the door, then the conduit was used on the front wall to get the arch on the front wall top pieces.

Step 7: Roof Part 2

After the plywood was fastened to the front and back the rest of the stringers could be installed. The front wall the stringers would be flush while the rear would have a 2 foot over hang.

This took a while, since each bracket would have to be measured and made individually, and notches cut for the rear stringer overhangs. The brackets were glued and screwed together.

The roof was tarped over at night, for protection from rain, since the gazebo covering had been removed due to its no longer being high enough for protection from the elements.

Step 8: Roof Part 3

Before I sold my truck, I had bought 4 sheets of 4 x 8 x 1/4 inch Luan plywood.

The plywood had to be wetted down, soaked with water from my rain barrels, I used a watering can for this, while the plywood was on the lawn. Both sides had to be "watered".

The plywood was then put up on the roof stringers and fastened in place using 2 inch staples applied with a pneumatic stapler. Started at the top and the worked toward the outside edges. This must be done while the the plywood is still wet, to get it to form without cracking.

The front has a 3 inch over hang, The rear 2 foot over hang is covered as well.

Step 9: Roof Part 4

I had purchased a 250 foot roll of DuPont Protect 120, a roof covering that is made of Tyvek with a water resistant and rough surface made for walking.

This was applied and fastened with 2" nails that have1 "plastic washers attached, normally used to fasten insulation. Plenty of overhang of it so I didn't need to get out tarps again.

Next the rest of the leftover insulation was installed and fastened in place with more of the same type of nails. The insulation had to be cut in sections to allow for the curve of the roof.

Step 10: Roof Part 5

When I had steel roofing put on our house a few years ago, I asked the guys, that installed our new roof, if I could have some of the leftover pieces, they said take what you want. I got several good pieces and a lot of pieces that would need to be modified for my use. There was also several edge pieces.

I laid out a 10 foot by 10 foot section on my rear lawn and proceeded to assemble a large "jigsaw" puzzle of what I could do with what I had. I made sure that there was plenty of overlapping pieces. The picture is of my notebook with a sketch of what piece goes where.

I strapped the roof with 1 x 2's to attach the roofing to. The roofing was applied starting at the rear so that the next pieces would over lap and continued to the front where the 3 largest pieces were used. Each seam was caulked with acrylic caulking. After the next rain I discovered one leak, I had a partial can of fibre roofing tar, so each seam was completely covered.

The overhang at the rear of the roof was not insulated.

Step 11: Side Preparation

I wrapped the Vardo sides with the Tyvek Protec and fastened it with 1/2" staples. Cut the window openings diagonally folded that in and applied weather sealing tape, made for window installation around the whole opening, starting at the bottom, then sides and lastly the top.

Step 12: Siding

The siding that I used came from a house up the street that was having its front porch replaced. It was piled on their front lawn. I asked what the builders where going to do with it, they said I could have it if I wanted it because it was going to be taken away and burnt. I went home got my truck and after two trips I had approximately 450 board feet of 3.5 inch wide 5/4 thick tongue and groove pine boards, varying in length from 2 to 8 feet long. It took about 1/2 a day to get the nails out, luckily finishing nails had been used. Some of the boards had damage but the majority were in good shape, they weren't really weathered since the porch had a good overhang.

I put a bunch of the boards together and made a story pole (thanks This Old House for that idea) marked the ends of the wall using that and a marker. Then started to apply the siding, the first course was fastened with screw, the rest of the courses were fastened with 1 3/4 inch brads from a pneumatic nailer.

The other side was done next.

Step 13: Side Windows

As you can see by the sticker on one of the windows, that they have been around for awhile.

Before installing the windows, I made a window sill out of some of the steel roofing flashing. This was screwed and siliconed in place.

The window installation was quite straight forward since when I made the walls I made rough openings for the windows. I drilled two holes on each side of the window frames and attached them with wood screws.

Step 14: Front Wall

The front wall was completed the same as the side walls: Protec wrap, window seal tape, no sill for the window though. The siding was put on before the window was installed.

The front window came from a different style of bus. This type was designed to open as an Emergency exit, that would open from the bottom. I changed its orientation by 90 degrees so that it would open like a door.

Step 15: Hanging the Door, Sanding and Painting

After the siding was mostly done, except for upper bits on the front and rear, it was time to put the door back on.

I made a small lean-on type ledge on the top part of the bottom door. Installed a bolt to keep both parts of the door together. I also installed another bolt on the lower door that can keep the door closed incase someone inadvertently leans on the door handle (no picture). This bolt is located just above the door handle and goes into a hole of the door frame.

Sanding and painting came next. Before I installed each piece of siding I had wiped it down with a wet rag and let it dry. I sanded the installed siding with a palm sander using 120 grit paper. Wiped the siding off with a damp cloth, when dry, I did some spot priming with an exterior primer. The siding and door where the painted with their finish colours.

Step 16: Upper Siding

Pieces of the siding that had damaged tongue and grooves where cut into a parallelogram shape, primed on all six sides and installed on the front and rear ends with 1 3/4 inch brads.

The two pieces of corrugated plastic conduit coming out of the front on the left hand side are for Solar panel wiring and the other one is for radio antenna cable. I'm a Radio amateur and there is a need for a radio antenna outside of this, VE3 ZJP.

The green edge trim was painted and put on after the siding in that part of the Vardo was done. It is screwed in place.

Step 17: Finishing Touches

I had some cedar 1 x6 T&G planks so I decided to dress up both both ends.

The front has angled pieces to fit the roof profile and the rear has straight pieces.

This Instructable was made mostly from reclaimed materials that I have acquired over the past 40 years.

My daughter Jenni Evans painted a sign for me. "Vardo i ro" Google translate told me it means "Vardo at rest" in Norwegian. Which is appropriate since I don't have a vehicle large and powerful enough to tow it.

This Vardo was made from no plans or blue prints, just ideas and inspiration from other similar trailer build Instructables. It shows what can be made with the materials on hand and a way to use what you have.

It has been a fun project and next year I plan on finishing the inside.