More Aluminum ... and Troubles to Ponder ...

There's more in the trailer ... still a bit more to clean-up.

Once upon a time ... 

a previous owner was towing the trailer behind his car

and forgot all about it being there ...

and drove around some tall hard object just like he was only driving a car by itself.  There was a mark on the siding up near the top, below the air conditioner, where a pole has scraped.  

And on the driver-side just in front of the front axle, the trailer was damaged.  This let water in to damage the wall behind the sink & stove and rot the bottom pan under the floor.

 It may have done other damage as well ...

are the wheels lined up?

Or does the one on the front axle tilt left at the top?

 

Notice that the front axle looks a bit more arched than the rear one?

That's the one that was involved in the wreck.

Just one more thing to ponder while I clean up around the trailer.

Starting to rake up all the flotsam and jetsam left from the deconstruction.

Gettin' Down to the Bare Trailer

After it was all unbolted, it was still too heavy to lift the floor off by myself.  So, I borrowed a skill saw and cut the OSB flooring wood just inside the 2" x 4" frame work.  There were red chalk lines marking the framing,  along with a trail of nail-heads.  So I just guessed based on the width of a normal 2" x 4".

These are the OSB rectangles all stacked on a pallet.  

As you can see, some of them had wood-rot ...

OSB just falls apart if it gets soaked with water.

These are the sections of 2" x 4" lumber all stacked up.

The really dark ones have wood-rot.

Here we are down to the metal bottom pan.

I had to knock out the remaining side boards

and then just rolled the thin steel up.

The steel frame is in surprisingly good shape.

This is going to require a lot less sanding than I expected.

Looking from the rear towards the front.

The very back tank is for "black water" ...

Since I will be using a composting toilet,

I will probably just remove this tank.

Next up:  

1) clean up all the junk from the yard.

2)  sell the scrap metal.

3)  Sand and prime trailer as needed.

4) Check out brakes and grease hubs.

Changes

The wood stack is gone.  We loaded it into a truck yesterday and took it to the local landfill.    My neighbor didn't want to burn it, because it would leave behind screws and other metal things that would damage his tractor tires.
I've started unbolting the floor-pan from the trailer.  Besides bolts, it seems there are all kinds of other strange connectors ... ground straps, cable ties, tanks, etc.  So I am still working on this.  Trying to save the gray-water tank, but get rid of the black-water tank.  Gotta peal the vinyl off the OSB to find the bolt heads.  Sort of attempting to save the metal pan that the floor is built in.  We'll see.

Big Stacks

There it is ... down to the floor ...

and most of the stuff neatly cleaned up.

Divided into sections ... the walls and roof

stacked for the trip to the landfill.

Aluminum siding to be sold at the recycle place.

This is the roof aluminum,

but it has sealant, gummy stuff, and staples in it.

I don't know if the recycle place will take it.

The Roof Comes Off!

 

A couple of the grandsons help me fight our way into the screws so we could remove the metal from the roof.  Along each end there is a re-enforcing strip, kind of a shallow "u-channel", with screws spaced every 5 inches.  Each screw head had a generous glob of silicone on top of it.  Then all of that was well covered with a tar-backed fabric/plastic strip.  And I didn't have a blow torch to warm it up and remove it.  So, one grandson used a brick hammer to chip away the covering strip and soften up the silicone globs.  Then another used a putty knife to pry the silicone away from the screw heads.  And I used the thin tip of one of my pocket knife blades to pry the silicone out of the square pocket in the screw heads.  Then we could finally remove the screws.  We decided not to fight the tape & silicone covering around all the vents ... So, using strokes of my hatchet through the thin aluminum ... I cut around the vents and we pealed the aluminum top off.  What you see here is what remained after we bagged the fiberglass insulation.

 

This is back under the bottom bunk where there is a large amount of damage.

 

The cinder block is where the door used to be.

The steps were no longer functional because the bolts had pulled down out of the wooden framework.  And you can see all the wood rot through the dining and door areas of the floor.  The grandsons loved the "destruction" part of deconstruction.  :)

And Down It Went ...

I pushed it off to the downhill side.

This will make it easier to work on stripping the roof section.

This is what it looks like from the bathroom end.

The outside bunkbed wall was rotted out ... flimsy.

Next is working on this ...

Removing the refrigerator vent.  The pop-up bubble vents (trash).

And separating the skin from the wood.

All the wood goes into the burn pile, the aluminum to recycle.

Leaving the floor to be removed from the trailer ... in due time.

Be Careful Where You Walk

I took some screws out of the left side ...

and the front panel just fell out.

Love that wood rot.

You can stand out front and look clear through to the rear.

Kind of empty and spacious.

Both sides have now been stripped.

If you pull on something, the trailer rocks back and forth.

Getting to the point where it is scary to step inside.

Look at all this wood rot.  

This is the corner with the bunk beds ...

Where did all that water come from??

Stripping Down The Trailer 2

No doors or windows remaining.  All Gone.

Still gotta get that awning off of there.

Pulled all the wires off this side and front end.

It looks huge and spacious with everything removed.

Taken through the front window hole looking towards the back.

The bathroom wall on the right is held on by the 50 staples they put down through the ceiling panel.  I'll get the left wall loose after I get the siding off and can remove the screws coming into it from the outside.

The wife said, "Forget the fresh water tank ... we aren't doing that.  We will be using city or well water pumped in.  That old propane heater isn't happening either.  I'd rather have a "tiny cod" wood stove.  And see if you can squeeze a bathtub in here."  Those are my marching orders for the moment.  And I need to buy the 4 windows for the dormer area.

Stripping Down The Trailer 1

One side is stripped down and the 

refrigerator cabinet inside has been removed.

All the corners look like this ...

wood rot.

Look at all that wiring.

The red is 12 volt DC.

The black is 120 volt AC.

The green & white go to the marker & tail lights.

Cleaning - 1

Having removed so many things and stacked them up inside the trailer ... it was time to clean things out so I could get on with other things.

Here is looking from the door towards the back end.

This is what it looks like this evening.

Looking from the bathroom back towards the door.

You can see a lot more room this evening.

The air conditioner is a bit heavy for one person to lift off the top of the trailer while standing on a ladder.  The top half just lifts out ... after you unbolt it from the bottom (inside unit).

De-Construction 7 (Bottom Bunk)

This is the bottom bunk area.

The heater system, freshwater tank, and water pump are removed.

Look at all that water damage in the corner.

Everything out of the bunk bed area.

This is the freshwater tank and water pump.

The pump must be a replacement ... 

It was built in 1994 and the trailer was built in 1985.

Next up:  climb on the roof and remove anything up there ...

De-Construction 6 (Bathroom)

All the cabinets have been removed from the bathroom.

The toilet and tub are gone too.

It helps to come back at things when you have a fresh burst of energy.

The tub in all its glory ...

outside sitting on the grass.

Maybe my neighbor would like to put it in his bathroom.

It is bigger than the one he has ...

 There's the bathroom with no bathtub.
Notice all the rot damage to the floor and walls.

The top bunk is gone ... now for the bottom bunk.

You can see the damage in the corner ...

With the bottom bunk gone ...

there is the heater and the fresh water tank.

Perhaps I will get them out tomorrow.

De-Construction 5 (Bathroom)

The toilet is out.

The sink & faucet are out.

This cabinet is nice, but won't fit against a straight back wall.

The cabinet doors are out.

(and so is the window)

I tried the tub ...

I could get down into it ... with my knees in the air.

But there was just no getting out of it without major help.

I think that I've gotten all I want out of the bathroom.

I'm running out of de-construction steam ...

at least for today.

Next is the fresh water tank and water pump under the bunkbed.