Mobile
Ok, down to the bones.
Jan
After discussing the state of everything last week, we’d decided that everything needed to come out. And I mean everything, down to the steel frame. And we’re going to rebuild from the bottom up. Big job, but we really wanted to insulate the sides, and it didn’t appear there was much if any insulation present. Since we do want to extend our season from late winter to early winter, as well as be more comfortable during the heat of the summer, good insulation seemed a necessity. And the only way to add it was to get behind the thin interior walls.
This was the result. And I’m so glad we decided to do it. The cabinets were… sketchy. Not at all properly fastened to the walls, vertical supports not nailed in anywhere at all, pin nails with no glue. It all ended up pretty easy to take out. I think the caulk around the edges was structural!
I uncovered quite a bit of delaminated lauan, and the rusted steel showed where moisture had gotten in. The front wall was in pretty terrible shape, so I think the A/C unit isn’t sealed properly.
The ceiling too, right around that exhaust fan (surprise! it was covered up inside, and not properly sealed on the roof). I left a small space heater in the trailer this afternoon to help dissipate that wetness.
Here’s that ceiling fan. I couldn’t even turn the impeller, so it’s been busted for a long time. I should just take it out and seal the hole in the roof; we can just open the end doors if we want some air.
The factory lauan surrounding it was sopping wet. That’s after the trailer has been under cover for about 3 weeks! Imagine. Another reason I’m glad we stripped everything off inside. I’m not gonna remove it; it’s between the aluminum skin and the steel frame. I’ll just dry it and cover with insulation like everywhere else.
This I’m not sure what to do about yet. It’s the space below the A/C unit in the front. The wood was dry-ish, but obviously had been wet for a long period in the past.
The bit issue is the floor. Everywhere else the previous owners put thin vinyl, but not under the front cabinet. The paint has flaked away and the upper layers of the plywood are punky. Why? Was it leaking around the A/C? Maybe there was a plumbing leak (this is where most of the fresh water plumbing was)? Maybe getting wet from below?
Not fun to replace; would be easier to put a 1/2″ ply over top. Isn’t that cheating, though? Fortunately, it’ll be under a counter, so won’t need to sustain weight. I just don’t want it to get worse.
Tomorrow I need to get working with a scraper and deal with all the foam insulation, caulking and miscellaneous screws. In addition, I’m going to remove the window counter and stuff under the windows. If I can finish all that, I feel like we’ll be on track.
Then on to insulating!
