And the walls continue to go up...YAY

Wow, things have been moving slowly lately but progress is still being made.  Unfortunately, Wisconsin is not only extremely cold during the winters but the summers can be extremely hot.  So movement in the camper is going slow.  But we do have a another wall area up and are very Excited about it. 

I'm going to do the before and after post like I did on the last one.  As that the before pics were posted so very long ago. 

So here is a before pic of what the couch area was like.....

Isn't this couch just beauteous....NOT!!!.  It was sticky and gross so it had to go. 

Here is the new wall.  Remember we don't have the trim up yet.  We will finish all the walls before we put that up.

We are going for more of a rustic/cabin kind of feel here.  So far we have been able to obtain that.  We use Luann (sp?) board and then stain it.  It has the right thickness to it and is a bit more economical then 1/4" plywood.  You do have to look at the wood grain on each sheet however, as they all are not the same. 

I will build the seating and storage unit this winter for this area.

The walls came down and now they are going back up....

Finally, I have some pics for you all to share with you.  We have gotten the Kitchen walls up.  One wall wasn't stained or finished as we will be putting a back splash on it.  But the front wall and where the dinette was is all up with the exception of the trim.  That we will put up once we have ceiling up as well.  We also have walls up in the living area as well.  All that is left for walls is the bedroom and bathroom.  The bedroom should be a breeze but bathroom may be a bit more tricky as there are more angles and added support that needs to be done. 

As seen in the pics you can kind of see that we are going for the "cabin retreat" look.  Very woodsy, very rustic.  Please don't pay no attention to the saw horses and tools in a couple of the pics.  That is my work station for in the camper.  It is quite handy at times. Things have been going well.  We haven't made any major measuring mistakes.  I think the hardest part has been getting a decent fastening system for the wall panels.  The previous ones were stapled in, so that is what we have been trying but have gone through a couple staplers in the process.  But now we have a very good one, that works quick and is light weight. 

Here are a couple of pics for you all....

Here is a pic of the dinette area, with a little bit of the front wall and ceiling.  As you can see we still have wires and everything hanging from the ceiling.  That will hopefully soon be coming.  We also don't have the trim yet done or the flooring.  We have been using 1/4"  8'x4' panels of plywood.  Measuring for a correct fit, then staining.  Surprisingly, we did well on the angles that are here.  For first timers, I thought that these angles would give us some problems.  We run the panels horizontally for the most coverage and least amount of seams.  We usually use 2 panels per section with some scraps left over. 

Just to recap because we even have a hard enough time remembering what it looked like in the beginning.  I am going to post the before, during, and after shots.

This pics now is what the dinette area looked like before we started this whole process...and the above pic is the during.  I guess we won't have any after shots until it is completed. 

Wow, even for me, seeing the before and during, there is such a difference.  Knowing what we are planning, I am able to see a finish product in my head with viewing these two pics.  If you only you could see that...well hopefully soon enough.

This is all that I have for now.  Will post more as soon as I get the new pics. 

Slowly but surely....

We have been making some progress on restoring our 85 Mallard camper.  In other post we have pics of the before shots.  The reasoning behind why we decided to do this.  We also have the demolition process, and soon we are hoping to put some pics of the start of the restoration.

Since we last posted, we have gotten 3 walls up.  This includes insulation and panels.  We still have trim to do with those walls.  Surprisingly we have been really good at cutting out the panels to fit.  It can be a tedious job but the attention to details have been well worth it in the long run.  It is starting to look like a camper again.  Soon we hope to have some pics up on what we have done thus far. 

Can't wait to post on here again soon.  See you all then.

Finally getting going on the rebuild

Wow, sorry haven't been on here for a bit but things got crazy in this neck of the woods.  However, we did manage to get the studs that were rotting replaced a while ago, but didn't get any pictures until now. 

This first pic is of the front of the camper (kitchen/dinette area).  It probably had the most extensive damage.  We used Mending Metal to help reinforce some areas, just to be on the safe side.  I can't believe what a difference it has made.

This next picture is of the bedrooms back window.  This went together fairly easy.  Again, another huge difference.

This is the bathroom, where the shower was.  I had expected to have a great deal of rot there but actually it wasn't too bad. 

I have now began to insulate.  I am plucking along at it.  It is not my favorite thing to do.  I actually despise it but it has to be done.  So progress is slow but still moving.  I will get pics on here when completed with the insulation.

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

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.

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