Layton Renovation Day 1

Demolition Day! The first of three actually, but we did not realize that at the time. Lets begin with why we chose to renovate our trailer....Last summer while heading to Yellowstone hubby noticed that the side "poofed" out while driving down the freeway. Throughout the two day drive down it "poofed" out further and further. We knew the corner trim was detached, but we didn't realize the metal siding would detach too.

We pulled out our fancy flame duct tape and taped that corner right up, but that was only a band-aid. Before this summer's adventures (which we have many planned) we decided to tear the front open, analyze the damage, and go from there, originally thinking this would just be a front end job like last summer's back end job. WRONG!!

We started with the removal of the propane tanks, battery, exterior lighting, front windows and screens, front side windows (in this case, one window and one airconditioner), two front corner trims and misc. other exterior access panels near the front end.

 Once we started removing the exterior siding and pink insulation, the damage was becoming more and more evident. BOTH front corners were separated from the exterior metal corner moulding for obviously a very long time because those corners basically crumbled in our fingers with dry rot.

 At the end of a twelve hour day and only 44 pictures to record our progress and "how to put it back together"...this was what we had:

Front wall removed, pink insulation tossed, top bunk fold-down door removed (we left the shelf because it stabilized the whole trailer during this process), back gaucho removed. Oh, and a corner of the floor vinyl cut away to see how rotted the floor was.

Man Hours: hubby-12, me-9 = 21 hours
Money Spent: $0

Oh the woes...

Ten days ago, this is what our trailer looked like. I've managed to take pictures of it's state of repair daily. Since then we've added 1/4"plywood paneling on the walls and ceiling and today we'll be putting in the vinyl flooring. I'll be posting those photos as soon as I have time. These 12 hour days are exhausting and stressful, especially on hubby cuz they're HIS 12 hour days. Mine are more like 6 or 8 because of the kids needs, or hardware store runs, or more often...the 10 month old I babysit. (And yes, I've actually been keeping track of our hours and progress, I plan to post a day by day account once this is all said and done.) However, what we failed at keeping track of was our bank account! Today we officially overdrafted and their are still a few bills to pay. MORE STRESS!!!

So...because of this recent turn of events, I'm here to shamelessly plug my two Etsy shops Ruhammie and Bunkhouseboutique.  Are you in need of an adorable puppet friend or special vintage touch of decor in YOUR little vintage travel trailer? Then these shops are your place to browse!

Chura hand puppet.

Miscellaneous fun vintage treasures.

The last area to shamelessly plug is my precious yarn stash. If you're a knitter or crocheter or weaver AND are a member on Ravelry, you can visit my Ravelry destash page here. It makes me sad to let my precious's go, but I don't have time to knit these days with this trailer needed all my attention.

Stay tuned for more trailer updates. Believe me, there are going to be PLENTY!!

We're doing it again!

That's right...you heard me correctly. Apparently fixing our little Layton's back end last summer wasn't a lesson well learned. In the past three days, we went from this...

...to this...

You see that airconditioner on the right side in the upper photo? That's the far left window opening in the lower photo. Upon completion of this task we will have one additional window!! No...we didn't gut the entire trailer just to take back that one window. We gutted it because there is rotton wood...and in fewer places than we originally expected.

That's one good thing from all this so far. Less rebuilding to do.

Our grand scheme is to have it completed by June 12th when we will embark on our next greatest adventure to the Olympic National Forest. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers! We're gonna need it over the next 34 days. Yikes!

I will update as time permits, it's gonna be GRUELLING!!