Hi Kevin,
RE: by djdawg » Wed Jun 26, 2013 11:21 pm - Thu Jun 27, 2013 9:28 pm
On that paragraph of mine you weren't sure of my meaning on...
I was trying to use a common reference point when using "driver's side"
as a location/direction. Maybe when referencing locations in the trailer
it'd be better to use "street side" and "curb side", those being in reference
to the trailer as it's going down the road - e.g. use "the front street side seat..."
to describe that particular seat, or "the rear curbside closet..." to describe
the closet to your left as you come in the door and such.
I'd just noticed that the front wall framing members there looked to be quite
rotten and the rot on them extended further in towards the center of the whole
front wall structure too.
When I said "smaller than the sides", I was referencing the fact that the front
wall area and the rear wall area are smaller in each of their total areas when
compared to a side wall's total area.
I was thinking that if the corner rot was more extensive, then you might have to
replace much more wall studding/structure there than you were originally thinking you
had to replace, and also, depending on the sidewall studding/structure rot
situation - if it wasn't that bad - then maybe you could repair/replace the front
wall rotted area and repair the side corners from the front of the trailer, and removing
the front exterior aluminum skin would allow you to do all that easier if there is extensive
front wall wood rot. Removing the smaller total area of aluminum siding on the front
would be easier than removing all the side aluminum siding, since it and the individual
strips that compose it [Have you looked through the siding tutorial yet ?] are smaller and
more easily handled and thus less prone to be damaged in the process of taking them off,
and 7-8ft long pieces of aluminum siding strips would be easier to store than 14ft long
[guesstimate] pieces of siding that would come from the trailer side walls. And if they are
easier to store it should be easier to avoid damaging them while they are stored. Plus, if
you only had to remove, to make repairs, and then put the smaller front and rear siding
areas back in place , that'd save work and time as opposed to removing and reinstalling all
of the trailer's siding.
Since your siding is not in bad shape itself, as seen in the the pics, and would be expensive
to totally replace with new - as you discovered, taking care to not have to disturb it and thus
have the possibility of damaging it lessened, would be a good course of action if it was possible
to go about the repairs without taking all the aluminum siding off.
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I think the videos are a good idea as long as they're "short and sweet". A couple-three
minutes [but do somewhat longer IF needed to put over the situation] would do - as they
seem to have been so far. If they go "long" [Except for the end result reveal !] I think they'd
be not as apt to be viewed. Pics are really helpful in general, but sometimes/often an easily
viewed video can be even more informative.
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Muli-Tool: I strongly recommend getting one that has a quick-change type set-up for the
blades and attachments. Especially if you will be using it alot. [Sounds like you will be doing
so.] It is worth whatever price differential there is over one without that feature. Sometimes you need to adjust the position of the blade in the middle of the cutting task to do the work
better/easier. The quick-change feature will make using it so much easier and better and more efficient as well as it saves time and aggravation . ALSO, the Harbor Freight blades do
not seem to last very long. You can buy other better quality blades from other brands. I was
in a woodworking store today and looked at some blades by Fein [The German company that originated the tool.] and their blades were about three times the cost of the HF blades, but
were made of much better quality materials and were guarranteed to last much much longer. You decide on the cost benefit aspect for that...
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No experience with Eternabond personally, but I saw a repair thread on one of the
Avion web sites and the poster/user was very impressed with it for use on the roof seams. I
think I'd try it if I had an occasion to need it.
<>
The latest videos are showing much more rot than I was expecting to see. As CarlLaFong
has recommended, I'd continue the careful demo of the interior walls, ceiling and floor
as needed. Then you can reassess the situation before you take off any of the exterior siding,
Depending on the extent of all the rot damage, you can then reflect and then decide on your
best course of action - repair what's there, or level and start anew.
Some Considerations as I see them - you may or may not agree - You got your money's worth
regardless of what approach you decide on. That $190 is a very fair price considering that
you could never buy all the interior components that are in it [and are so far working], and the
windows etc.- that are in very good reusable shape, and the exterior aluminum skin that looks
to be in very good condition too, plus the chassis, for that amount of money. [I'm assuming the
roof covering is OK too ?]
Check out the chassis-frame-undercarriage [Whatever you want to call it.] and the axle and
wheels etc. I doubt if they'd be extremely bad, - based just on the trailer's age -, but you don't
know until you look. Hopefullly, all they'll need is some refurbishing and rustproofing and
paint.
There are the very real considerations in repairing/remodeling what's there now, vs. just to
start over with a 'new' build from scratch. I do have to admit it is usually faster and easier to
start all over from scratch. But if what is there [or what was there] is worth the extra time and
effort to you to preserve it, or you just want to take the extra time and effort it takes to reuse
salvaged materials, then doing so is worth it. I usually come down on the side of reusing as
much salvaged material as I can, especially if it is what I've salvaged in my careful demo.
[Just make sure it is worth salvaging!] I find that, usually, the salvagable older wood is of much
better quality than what you can buy "new" now-a-days and it seems a shame to just destroy and toss it.
I remodeled our kitchen here by reusing all the real wood boards from the portion of the
original cabinets I demo-ed, and a couple sheets of 3/4 inch hardwood plywood. It took a
whole lot more time to do, due to the carefull demo ["Unbuilding", as I call it.] that needed to
be done to be able to reuse the old wood, and then the adapting of the new design to use the
materials I then had. But the result was a nice new kitchen with all solid wood and plywood
components in the cabinetry for a fraction of the cost of new cabinets and with no particle
board [I hate the stuff] what-so-ever being used. I just now finished [except for a couple last-minute minor details] the careful demo of an existing 8ft long built-in in the den and then
built in its place a new, much more functional built-in, utilizing the solid wood boards salvaged
from the original built-in and a couple sheets of 3/4in plywood and some modified other solid
wood and 3/4in plywood bookcases we had. A heck-of-a-lot of time and 'sweat-equity' was
expended but the cost was quite small compared to doing it with new purchased components
and all new materials. So I guess it boils down to substituting your time and effort for some of
the money that totally all new materials would cost.
As-I-Think-Of-It:
* If you have to, or decide to, take off the aluminum skin, proceed carefully and take pains not
to damage it and just reverse how it was put on. I assume the roof is metal [due to build year]
so unscrew the roof edges all around and fold it up enough the get to the staples on the top
aluminum siding strip. A small putty knife or the pointed side of a 5-in-one painting knife/tool
- [it looks like this
http://kk.org/cooltools/archives/3444 ] - can get under the staples and allow
you to raise them up enough to grip with some End Cutter pliers - [they look like this
http://www.toolstop.co.uk/stanley-0-84- ... 0mm-p35575 ] - which work great to grip the staples and pull them out with a small rocking motion. I
have the regular size and a small size. [I just used them the other night to pull carpet pad
staples out of the floor in the den.] The bottom of the strips should be "locked" onto/over
a flange/bent-piece of the aluminum siding strip below it that was made for it to go over.
Once the strip's tops are freed of their staples, you should be able to slip the siding strip off of
the one below it. [Obviously you'd need to remove the windows and the other wall items/protrusions - whatever that has been applied "over" the aluminum siding must come off
first before starting in on removing the siding .] I recommend labeling each siding strip as it
comes off on its underneath with a Sharpie marker or such . And when you go to reinstall or
reuse it, I'd wash it with a mold/mildew killing solution before reinstalling it as it has been
contaminated with those due to the present rot - so why introduce the spores and such from that onto the new stucture ?
* If you can get a covered location to demo and build under do so asap. Personally I wouldn't
attempt much along major lines of the process until I was under cover. I know some have
done builds in their driveways or backyards, but you need to decide how much you'd want to
keep contending with the weather and always having to cover and uncover the TT as you work
on it. Are you on the rainy side of the mountains out there ?
* Another major benefit would come from having a workspace where you can just stop work
and secure the location at the end of the work session. I personally don't have a set-up like
that and have to break out all the needed tools at the beginning, and then pack them all back
up and put them away at the end of each of a project's work session. That is a huge continual
waste of time and PITA !
* If you decide to rebuild the structure identically to how it was, be sure to document it all
with pics and take very precise measurements of all the framing before you start to dismantle
it, as otherwise it'd be next to impossible to duplicate, and to be able to reinstall the aluminum
siding as it was, what it is being reapplied to has be the exact same dimensions as what was
there initially. If you decide to design a new TT and cover that with the removed aluminum
siding, that would be very possible to do, but you would run some risk of not having enough
of the 'salvaged' siding. To get around that, you could use some of the new aluminum
'diamond plate' on the lower parts of the front and rear, which would then free up the
corresponding amount of the salvaged siding for use elsewhere it may be needed. So that is
something to consider too.
<>
You Wrote:
"What I do have:
Time
Patience
Elbow grease
SOME knowledge on how to do things but haven't remodeled an RV or built a house...but I
am eager to learn.
What I DON'T have:
A lot of $
I don't mind that it's a project....I don't mind how long it might take. I just don't want to be paying more $ by the time it's all said and done as opposed if I leveled the whole thing and
started from scratch. Keep what I can (maybe even the aluminum?) and build it from the beginning. The thought of that seems overwhelming but maybe I can do it...."
You can do it with that attitude and outlook.
There have been a few 'larger' TTT builds done on here, [They're in the Build Journal areas], so
you can review them to see what's involved. These other builder's have already blazed the
trail one could say. You could easily add yourself to that roster if that is the approach you
decide to take.
Here a some links to a few of those that I found after a fast check:
Un-named Travel Trailer Build - 99% Done! April 18 [A very thoroughly well-documented build]
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=37391Carter's Big Drop - [No build thread, but his album, it has a gorgeous birch interior.]
gallery/album.php?album_id=973Travel trailer with slide out build:
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=43328Terry's TTT Garageable Standy Build modifications
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=40591New Build Super Size Cabin Car Trailer
http://tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=47115Finish your demo and let us all see the results, then we can chime in on the "situation"
if you want.
Cheers,
Norm/mezmo
If you have a house - you have a hobby.
by djdawg » Thu Jun 27, 2013 10:38 pm 
As you mentioned, there appears to be more rot along the side boards so taking down the side paneling may be required by the time it's all said and done. I'm just not sure how I can cut chunks out of those 2x2's splice them in, etc without damaging the side paneling too much. 
