Surprise, Surprise !

With every demolition there are surprises along the way. This week the Demo gave a pretty nasty surprise, that quite frankly one I was hoping to avoid. The trick now is use all my creative abilities and building skills to turn this lemon of a surprise into sweet, sweet county fair lemonade.

The surprise you ask? While the dead mouse under the refrigerator was shocking and gross he was the least of my problems. (Don’t worry I gave the little guy a proper burial) While tearing apart the bed room at the front of the trailer it became apparent there had been a water leak in both corners for quite some time. Before I was able to get too far I knew it was not good, as there was mold on the walls and the boards were soft to the touch. When I tore off the interior wall sheathing on one of the corners I could see just how bad the damage had become. I was hoping to be able to avoid any major structural work, but it looks like I now have to rebuild, reinforce and not to mention make water tight each of the forward corners.

With the sun scorching down on north Georgia every afternoon I have been able to doing other planning for the FEMA renovation that can be done in the comfort of an air conditioner. Enough of the Demolition has been finished to where I can get a good idea of how I can layout the renovated space. The plan is to keep the flow directly through the middle of the trailer. The kitchen will be placed along one wall instead of 2. The bedroom will have the bed rotated from the original position and a built in bookcase/shelves will be constructed at the head and foot of the bed along with a new closet. The living area will reuse the couch (with new upholstery) in front of one window and a table top will sit across from it and in front of the opposite window. I am still ironing out the details in the bathroom, but I have a general idea of how it will layout and function.

The other bit of planning I was able to get done this last week was the budget and product research. I have found a good deal on 12 volt lights to replace the existing trailer type lights. I have narrowed down which propane tank-less water heater I plan to use to an Ecotemp model and a Marey model. I have also determined which refrigerator I would like to use and how I want to build the cabinets. All told I am hoping to keep this renovation material cost in the $2000-3000 range.

I am hoping in the next week to have the flooring picked out, a final design for the bathroom, finish the demo and to have the trailer moved inside my shop so I be closer to the tools when I begin to build.

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