We finally have finished stripping the interior! When we started we sort of thought we would do the basics to get it ready to go but as we got into it the plan evolved and we decided to basically take the interior down to the outer skin and redo everything that needed it. It makes for a more intensive process but in the end we both feel that it will be well worth it in the end.
The next step was to remove the upper kitchen cabinet. The panels here were the original wallboard, sort of like a thickish cardboard. It peeled off in layers. As I expected, the right front corner showed some rot; although not anywhere near as much as we found in the back. We're going to reconstruct the facing for this cabinet, so after taking measurements John went to town with the pry bar and it came out relatively easy. The screws that were used to fasten the frame in were put in on an angle and didn't want to come out without a fight. John eventually won. :)
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| Kitchen uppers about to come out. |
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| These are nice little fluorescent light fixtures that are wired in, we've kept them and may reuse them. |
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| Removing the front paneling. |
Once the front wall was opened up we pulled out all of the old insulation and had a look at things. Aside from the rot at the front corner it doesn't look too bad on this wall and won't be too difficult to get sorted out.
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| Front right corner before taking it down to the wall. |
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| Front wall opened up and insulation out. |
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| Right front corner showing water damage... |
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| which obviously leaked down into the floor. |
Next came the trim piece from around the vent and then the ceiling panel came off. The previous owner had replaced the ceiling so it wasn't all that old, but it had to go. I have some definite ideas on what I want to do with the ceiling and they didn't include the shower board that he had installed. We found the usual rot around the ceiling vent, more on the aft edge than the front, not a huge amount and it will be easy to get those beams replaced once we've resealed the vent...and removed the wasp nests. Ick!
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| Water damage around roof vent, those beams will have to go! |
Here I am peeking in the door, watching John do most of the work. Right now I am basically the assistant to the process. I am not about to step on the floor as it is right now and risk damaging the under skin and it's far too small an area for us to both be swinging hammers anyway.
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| Cheese! I am not used to being in front of the camera, I'm much happier behind it. |
The next area to tackle was the closet. I made sketches and took measurements of the wall and cabinet area before John got to work tearing it all out. The wall was basically two pieces of thin panel board and a frame, so a couple good donkey kicks got it loosened up and the pieces came out fairly easily. I have traced the outline of one of the paneling pieces to use as a pattern for cutting my new walls. That pattern will come in very handy when it comes time to re-panel the walls. We continued to pull out the old fiberglass insulation as we went so that we could see what we were up against.
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| Getting ready to remove the closet and cabinet. The panel on John's left came out intact and was traced as a pattern for the curve of the ceiling and the angle of the front wall. |
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| Pulling out the ceiling and walls of the closet area. |
Lo and behold!!!! We have a corner with NO ROT!!! As near as we can tell the left corner is dry and there is no sign of rot or water damage! It felt like Christmas! We do have to pull up the last bit of the floor in that corner because we're replacing the floor front to back, but as it stands now it looks dry and intact. It's a small battle, but I'll take it as a win. John did put a small hole in the skin of the front wall as he was pulling out the panel, but it's barely noticeable on the outside and we will be sure to patch it well and seal it before we close up the wall. I didn't rib him too much about it.
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| My lovely pristine corner...25% isn't bad is it??? |
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| John's little "oops". From the outside it's barely visible and will be an easy fix. |
The last area to pull out was the cabinet area. We pulled out my teeny tiny fridge and got the walls and facing out fairly easily. The old furnace vent had been covered with an old margarine lid and duct tape. We're going to pull it out and patch over the hole. There is a vent cover on the outside of the trailer that we will leave in place so that we don't have to figure out how to cover the patched area. There is also a hatch area that was behind the fridge that we will leave intact. I am debating on the possibility of replacing the teeny tiny fridge with a bigger one and the hatch is good for allowing air circulation behind the fridge compressor.
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| Removing the closet walls. |
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| Last wall to come out. You can see the hatch and the furnace vent. |
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| Duct tape fixes everything, right?? |
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| Look at that pile of trash! |
Our next steps will be to make sure that we have patterns and tracings of everything we are going to need to recreate along the way. I am planning to make a new dinette table because I have discovered a large crack along the back edge of the old one. I will salvage the hardware from the old one, make a pattern and go from there. We are also going to make new benches and a new bed area. We figure if we are going to make everything else we might as well make everything new and fresh and solid.
I have also started acquiring items for when I am eventually able to start decorating. I have found plates, bowls and cups. I also have picked up a couple of little tea light lanterns that are the perfect color. I suspect John thinks I am a bit nuts for starting to shop already, but hey, you have to pick these things up as you see them, otherwise they might not be there when you go back for them.
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| Cleaned out and ready to start redoing. Standing in the door looking towards the dinette/bed area. |
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| Left front corner/closet area and front wall. |
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| Right wall looking towards the back, you can see the daylight coming through the sprung corner. By far the most damaged corner but I have no doubt it will get fixed. |
We've moved out the trash and detritus and are ready to start rebuilding and repairing. I am so excited to be able to move forward!
See you next time,
Mel.
