Folks,
Got here (LA.)last Saturday. My father in law owns
a small private trailer park and set us up with a free "pad"
for however long we want to stay here. We arrived and it took
three days to get the Power Company to come out and hook us up.
The "pad" is actually a beautiful country setting . . .
surrounded by mud due to the 3 inches of rain a day that
fell the first week we were here. The roof seals held, no
leaks. But I discovered the joys of Ja-lousy (sp. intended)
windows in winter. So we will be staying here for a little
longer than expected as I do a major polarizing and remodeling
to the trailer. George (father-in-law), has a fully equipped
40X80 shop here at his "property", 50 feet from my front door.
He has completely remodeled all of his trailers (Three), and
used to be in building and remodeling. Now he just does it for
himself, and the odd son-in-law that brings his RV in. He'll
be doing all the Formica work and letting me use his shop for
the rest. I used to help him when assigned here for 15 years,
so I'm no slouch either.
First, I'm removing all the Ja-lousy windows and
putting in double paned sliders. Then the remaining fixed
windows get double pane inside storm windows. All condensation
and fogging will be eliminated.
Next, the entire underbelly gets removed, lined with 1"
Styrofoam insulation, and Urethane foam for fitted areas.
Then I'm extending the underbelly all the way to the edges
of the trailer with the same insulation (except, of course
right under the Propane, there it will have screening and
be isolated from the rest)
Interior: The booth and table in the kitchen goes and
is replaced with an 18" breakfast counter (same height as
current table) and two chairs that effectively doubles the
walking and counter space in the kitchen. Where the booth
extended into the living room the counter will widen to about
36" (current booth is 40"), providing a place for my notebook
and Brother MFC 7000. Office work will be done from living
room side, with enough cabinet space (using matching doors
from booth ends) to store a couple of reams of paper, power
controller, and necessary CD-ROMs, manuals, etc. Black
leather executive chair will replace the two chairs in the
living room, serving as both a living room chair and office
chair (height adjustment).
Remember the two chairs at breakfast counter are now more a
part of the living room and will be comfortable as well as
providing similar spacing between guests and us as in a full
size living room. The booth back is no longer blocking the
space.
The hardest decision was to replace the sofa. But,
since we are full timing, and the people who visit will
live in the towns we go to, and we are not vacationing with
kids or friends, it will go into storage along with the two
chairs, shrink-wrapped in plastic, in case we change our
minds about extra beds. The sofa will be replaced by two
leather incliners, with a small sofa cabinet between them.
In spite of all of the planned changes we have
already taken into account weights and balance and will
actually increase weight by only 100 pounds or so.
I have already replaced all of the plastic exterior
vents, doors, and screws, that were weather damaged, or rusty.
I have also ordered new vinyl trim for all exterior moldings.
The last project is removing the sun damaged stripe and
replacing with one that matches the burgundy in my two
tone truck. Which incidentally is complementary to the
remaining stripes.
So, whaddya think? I'm having a blast. Remember
I haven't had time to remodel a house (done two), or have
access to my own workshop, (well, borrowing this one)
since 1989.
The whole thing works out perfectly. We are here
for the birth of our second granddaughter anyway. We will
just stay an extra month or three, until we are ready for
the northern climes. And I get to keep busy working
on "our home". Remember, we have been forced to live in
overseas Gov't quarters from 1990-97, and leased all last
year. Owned our own homes everywhere else from 1973-1990.
We are not the rental types at all.
Boy, this turned out to be a novella. Anyway,
the fun (really) continues.
dg
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