Hello friends! I have been working on a project since early October. I am excited to share the progression with you. It took a lot more time than I expected. Days flew by into months. I also learned new skills.
If you missed my classes over these months, this is what I was doing. This trailer is intended to be my studio so I can have a quiet space to work separate from our home. I hope you enjoy the story!
We found the trailer on Craigslist. It was a beautiful drive through the mountains to go see it and decide to make the purchase. It is 24' Travelite aluminum trailer built in the 1950s. We loved our visit with the owner, Archie, and the trailer captured our hearts.
This trailer was used on government project sites, which explains why it was already a large wide-open office space. That appealed to me as I could visualize the space as my studio. It was quite dingy and dirty but we had hope. So we brought it home to start the work of determining if and how much water damage and rot was in the structure.
With crow bars and trash bags we started prying off the trim, pulling nails, cutting open the wall skin. It was very dirty with 70 years of dust, and revealed years of mouse feces and urine throughout the ceiling insulation and some of the walls. We bagged up all the insulation. Pulled out the out of date electrical and then hauled all of the debris to the dump. The oddest curiosity to find - was a stash of dry red kidney beans that the mice had hidden throughout the ceiling.
Good news was that we found very little dry rot (water damage). The areas we found were able to be treated and primer/sealed. This was a relief that extensive repairs were not required. We could focus on the renovation tasks.
To eradicate the mouse odor Aaron, my husband, sprayed 2 coats of Kilz primer/sealer to all of the wood skeleton. Next was all new insulation. Aaron taught me how to use the saw with a special blade for cutting the insulation sheets. I cut the insulation to fit between the "ribs" of the structure. I did need help with the ceiling so fortunately my son, Joshua, was tall enough to push insulation into the ceiling sections. Aaron laid a new subfloor to cover the old flooring.
We have a 60 year old, huge, Silver Maple tree which limited how far the Suburban could pull the trailer into the back yard. The trailer was kind of ok but the door opened right onto the our A/C unit for the house which was tight. I wanted to see the trailer pulled closer to the tree and away from the loud, hot A/C compressor that will run a lot during the summer. A winch was our first idea to pull the trailer. But Aaron, my hubby, actually ran a cable from the trailer, down along the trees, and attached to the Suburban at the other end of the grass. Then he gently pulled the trailer into that space closer to the tree. Yes, we have a video clip of the trailer moving!
We got a lot done between October - Christmas and there is so much more to share!
Come back for part 2 on Thursday, June 16.
and Part 3 on Saturday, June 18.
Would you like to visit my trailer in person? Be sure to subscribe to my email list so you are invited to my Open House event, click here.
Shop our Kits Collection this month - Buy One Get One 50% off!
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Family reunions
Neighborhood night
Kid's get together
Look at all these amazing kits:
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June 2022 IDEAS tutorial bundle to show my gratitude!
Customers are also welcome to order the IDEAS tutorial bundle without a product order or to send as a gift (see the side bar for the ordering link).
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Customers are also welcome to order the IDEAS tutorial bundle without a product order or to send as a gift (see the side bar for the ordering link).
Subscribe now to never miss a blog post:
