Thursday, April 28, 2011

Quick Post

I just wanted to put a quick post on here today as we have hit a bit of a stand still on the remodel.  We live in Wisconsin, and as many know, the weather can be unpredictable.  With that said, we have had some very rainy days here this week and we have not been able to work on it as much as we would like to have. 

However, we did get a little work done on it on Tuesday evening.  I reframed a window and started on the next one.  I do not have pics yet but hopefully after the weekend I will get some.  We will be out of town this weekend, hopefully borrowing some tools needed for the work that needs to be done from Stacy's dad. 

One thing we have been trying to figure out is a name for the Camper...well we finally agreed to one.  Her name is "Callie" after our favorite character on Grey's Anatomy...lol.  Like the character, the camper will be full of energy and attitude when she's all done. 

So look to the future posts, with more pics of Callie's rebuild.

Thank You, Trish and Stacy

Monday, April 25, 2011

Time to start rebuilding...replacing water damage is first.

Well, we have finished the demolition and have purchased some lumber to replace the water damage that has occurred to the studs and window surroundings.  Below are some pictures of the areas that need to be replaced. 


This is the right side of the big front window...yuck.  This we knew was there.

This is the left side of the same window.  This window and area are by far the worst of all the damage.

This is the one corner of one of the side windows...not too bad...

This is the back bedroom window and area around it....the second worse, but too terribly bad.

This is the bathroom area.  There was a shelf area that water sat on.  We thought this would be much worse than it was, so it is pleasant surprise. 

The lumber is purchased, along with some fasteners.  There are some different techniques that will be used that I have never worked with before, so this could be interesting.  But it is always good to learn....LOL. The windows will be well sealed and insulated, so this doesn't happen again.  But back in 1985, they didn't have the products we do now...

Will post when I get them replaced, which is soon I hope.
Thank you for viewing, Trish & Stacy.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

The Demolition is DONE...

Like I had mentioned before, we wanted the demolition to be completed by the end of the weekend.  On Sunday early evening, I was finished with just a little of clean up left.  However, our original idea was to keep the cupboards in and refinish them some how, but that evening Stacy came to me stating, "I have an idea, but I don't know if you are going to like it."  This usually requires more work from me to obtain what she wants.  Well, she didn't know if she would like the cupboards still in there since everything else was new.  So, Monday evening after work, I took them down.  I do have to admit she was right. 

This post is going to be a little shorter.  Below are the final pictures of the demolition completed.  So now there is no going back, everything is completely out of the camper except the floor.  That will come out when I have the walls and ceiling back up.  I really don't want to be walking around on the sub floor. 

So enjoy the pictures, there was only a minimal of blood and a lot of sweat displayed during this process.

This is the bedroom...all of these pics are when everything but wiring and plumbing have been stripped out.


Ceiling....


Bathroom sink area...


Dinette...can't see it but no cupboards above window....


Couch area or sitting area...


Bench/sitting area...


Kitchen....


The next thing we will be doing is replacing studs that have rotted and insulate walls, ceiling, and windows.

Stay tuned...as these DIY rookies are about to begin a whole new challenge....

Thank you, Trish & Stacy

The First Day of Demolition

Mine and Stacy's goal for the camper this past weekend was to have all of the demolition done.  On Saturday morning we woke up with excitement about the days journey.  So we let the dog out, peaked in on the kids, got dressed, and rolled up our sleeves (well it was a bit cold out so we actually had sweatshirts on).  Out to the camper we went, with the tool bag in hand and dreams of having a new and exciting camper in our heads.

Stacy has never really worked any power tools before so I was not sure how the day would proceed.  Me being the youngest of 3 girls in my family and an absent father, I took on the roll of taking care of things as best as I could.  Well, much to my surprise, Stacy rocked the cordless screwdriver and attacked fixtures like no tomorrow.  So after 10 hours or so of loosening screws, knocking out benches, and tearing off wood paneling...we called it quits for the day.  We were very happy with the end results for that day.

Below are some pictures of what we accomplished in that 10 or so hours:

This first picture is of the bedroom.  Here we took out the mattress and started to strip of the paneling, but it was tougher to get out then expected.  So we decided to tackle that the next day.




Here is the kitchen area.  The only progress we made on the first day in here was taking off the doors of the cabinets.  I wanted to get rid of the counter top, cabinets, and stove the next day.



The bench/storage area, we mainly worked on the wood panelling and removed the insulation. 


These following areas were the ones that we hit big time....

This is the dinette area.  The bench seats and table were removed, panelling and insulation was fought with and discarded.  When this was no longer there, we could not believe the space that had opened up.  This made us very excited that maybe our thoughts about this whole thing might actually work.



This next picture is where the tub and toilet were in the bathroom.  We removed them both along with the panelling and insulation.  The idea here is to put up new tile board (and insulation), refinish the tub, and we are undecided as to get a new toilet or refinish it.  It's in good shape but we might want a different one. 


The other view of the bathroom is the next picture.  This is where the sink and vanity were.  Those were removed along with everything else.  The plan is to get a new sink, and build a new vanity to fit it.  Unless, of course, if we find something that can be put in there that is different and exciting to us.  Stacy is good about changing her mind on what she wants in there.  LOL.



And the last thing, is that we got rid of the old sticky couch.  I believe I had mentioned in the last post what  our plans on doing in that area are.  But in case you all forgot, we are going to make a window bench for seating and storage.


This was done in a day...soon I will post the activities that occurred the remainder of the weekend.  But for two very inexperienced renovators, we felt we did pretty well.  No windows fell out, no mirrors were broke, nothing majorly bad happened.  All in all a good day.

Stay tuned and thank you for viewing our post...Trish and Stacy

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Remodeling Our 85 Mallard camper trailer....DIY rookies making a go of it.





My partner, Stacy, and I purchased this 1985 Mallard 27ft. camper trailer from her father this year. Structurally the camper is in pretty good shape for being 26 years old. But we were not very fond of the interiors looks. So originally we were just going to change a few things here and there, but after thinking about it for a while, we decided to gut the whole thing out and start from scratch. Myself, I like DIY projects but have never tackled anything to this extreme. Stacy, she has the decorating sense and knows what she wants it to look like and it will be my job to make sure that it happens.



In this post, I am attaching the before pictures of our Mallard. Which we have yet to name her, anyone have any ideas? And I will post more as we go along the way. If anyone is reading this, maybe they can help us out along the way. Any help, ideas, and/or support is greatly appreciated.


This is our lovely bathroom before the demo began...I think this pic says it all.

Here we have the other view of the bathroom, the sink and vanity...not sure exactly what we are going to do here, but this cannot stay.  Of course you can see my reflection in the mirror, well part of me anyways.



This next picture is of our dinette area before...our issue with this is that it takes up too much room, so our plan is to remove it and replace it with a smaller table and chairs.  Our camper does not travel much as we keep it in a campground year round.



In this next picture, we have our kitchen area.  Idea here is to remove all cupboards, stove, and sink and replace.  Update them all.


One of the structural problems is in this next picture.  There is obvious rotting going on around the window.  Once we have the walls off, we will be able to see to what extent the rotting is and fix accordingly.  But this camper is 26 yrs old, so I am expecting this around the windows as that back then they did not use silicone or foam around the windows.

Next here is a storage bench, that has been useful, but we want to take it out and put a window bench in, that can be used for seating and storage.



And of course, a person cannot forget the bedroom.  It is very small, and I don't think we can do a whole lot to it but update it a bit.



This last picture is of the truly ugly and sticky couch.  Our intentions are to remove it and replace it with another window bench.


 
Thank you everyone for taking the time to read my post.  I am very excited to continue to post as we go through the remodelling.  So stay tuned everyone, there could be some very interesting things that happen on here.  Bloops and blunders, maybe even some amazing accomplishments.


Thank you, Trish & Stacy