# Complete Mobile Home Remodel



## TrailerParadise

Living Room and bathroom


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## TrailerParadise

Master bedroom
Little bedroom
Back door/Laudry area


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## Trucon01

I think I remember you... Didn't you say that you would stay there or around there after work on Fri nights to work on it all weekend or was I dreaming this?


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## TrailerParadise

Ok, so we went through and tore out all of the sheetrock. When we first saw the house (post-purchase) I saw a mouse in the kitchen, and half of the electric didn't work, so I wanted to look at the wiring before we moved in. So we tore out the drywall, removed 17 million staples from the walls, and bagged up all of the old insulation, which had mouse tracks through it. We rewired the kitchen and hung new insulation. These are the pictures of one wall insulated, and the other wall wired. We have now finished putting beadboard on the walls, and hanging some shelves, so if this thread generates any interest, I will post more pictures later of the more recent progress.


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## TrailerParadise

No, i cant stay in this house, there is no electric or running water. I go there during the day on weekends to work, and thats about it. Ive talked about this house on other websites as well so you may have seen the pictures posted before, but i dont think ive ever posted them here. My fiance might have though.


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## TrailerParadise

Oh yeah, the insulation that is folded over in that one picture has been fixed.


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## Trucon01

Looks like you have some water issues on those outside walls? Have you addressed that, if there were issues?


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## TrailerParadise

There was some water damage, because (according to previous owner) the water heater tank sprung a leak and flooded the laundry area, destroying the lower half of the drywall. And the back door leaked like a sieve, i had to go buy a new door to put in there to try to keep the water out, and so far its working. Other than that, no leaks or water damage that ive found. There was some mold in the kitchen, we sprayed it with vinegar, cleaned it with water, and painted the lower half of the wall with mold/mildew-resistant Kilz2 primer, so that it would take care of the mold and hopefully keep it from growing back. So far its working.


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## drtbk4ever

Keep the photos coming.


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## TrailerParadise

OK here are a few more pictures, i dont have any of the rest of the house yet but i will go out there tonight and take some. These are just some pictures of the living room with the sheetrock and insulation down. Just for the record, all of this insulation and dirt and debris laying around in these pics has been picked up and disposed of, except for a bit of trim laying under the cracked window, which is covering a huge hole in the floor that a child could easily fall through. Still not entirely sure how to fix that, but ill cross that bridge when we get to it.


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## TrailerParadise

Since im out of pictures for now, i thought i would kill some time by telling you about some of the weirder things we have discovered through our short remodel journey in this house.

1. Loose tub - The bathtub was literally ONLY held in by the drain pipe. My future husband went under the trailer, loosened the pipe from the drain, and then was able to just walk up to the tub, and lift it straight up. No screws, no caulk, no nothing. The mold behind it was unimaginable.

2. Irritating blasted door knob - When we first got the house, we noticed that the front door would not seal properly. We had to literally slam it shut with all of our strength, and the slightest pressure applied to it would make it pop back open. I thought, naturally, it was a faulty door knob. So i got my screwdriver and set to work to remove it. The decorative plate behind the knob had come loose, and spun freely, making it near impossible to access the screws. I worked at it for about an hour before i said screw it, and i retrieved a hammer and a metal putty knife. I wedged the blade of the putty knife between the door and the edge of the knob, and began pounding on it. I killed it, (never did find the other half of it) and threw it away. I installed a new knob, which turned and locked as easy as you please. What irritated me was, the damn door still wouldnt seal! I made sure the knob was lining up properly with the strikeplate, and then i happened to glance straight-on into the strikeplate. Inside the hole was a frikken beer bottlecap! It was wedged in there and prevented the lever from gaining any kind of hold. I worked it out with a screwdriver, and finally the door closed properly. No problem since.

3. Money money money - When we pulled up the carpet in the bedroom and living room, tons, and i mean tons, of change was underneath, embedded in the padding. It seriously looked like the dude who laid the carpet filled his pockets with change and did cartwheels around the room before he put the carpet down. You could tell that people had been walking on it, because we had to dig it out of the padding. I cleaned it up and deposited it. I believe the total was right around fifty dollars.

4. Mouse got his just desserts - When we pulled the wire out of the wall in the living room, a dead, still furry, mouse was attached to it, his teeth still embedded in the coating. Freaky. We also found three more stuck to the floor under the cabinets.

5. Wolf spiders - These big ugly buggers had a nest under the vanity in the bathroom. When we knocked the vanity apart, they came out with attitudes. One was dragging a huge eggsac on her butt. We smashed them with a hammer.

6. Old technology - Under the carpet in the little bedroom, (the middle of the room, too, not just on the edge) we found a huge flash drive for a Sony machine of some sort. It was about the size of a Playstation One memory card, and only held 4 MB. Nothing i own would fit it.

7. Toilet paper - In the picture of the master bedroom, you see two huge holes gouged in the wall. Well when we started pullling the sheetrock down, we found a whole roll of toilet paper behind it. We think the previous owner used the window next to it as a second toilet. LOL not really, but still funny to think about. We also found a bundled pair of socks back there.

8. Anybody up for a game? - We found two Monopoly boards hidden inside a wall in the hall closet.

9. Closet no more - We discovered that someone had completely ripped out the master closet. That would be why the breaker panel box is kinda hanging in midair.

10 - Probably dangerous - Someone replaced the 220 wire that used to hook up the dryer with a normal 12-3 wire. Im not sure if that is a fire hazard or not, but im definitely replacing it.

11. Burned - We found several wires were actually burnt. I have no idea how this place did not go up in flames.


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## joecaption

A friend of mine worked for Fleetwood mobil homes.
I went his house one day and he was showing me a 2, page list of things needing to be fixed on a brand new home.
No power to some of the rooms, siding falling off, no hole for the dryer hose, ECT.


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## TrailerParadise

Fleetwoods have a lot of bad reviews. Just like Palm Harbor, Big K, Clayton, etc. But thats the strange part, Oak Creek doesnt have any that ive found. I did my homework before i bought it, making sure it was a good brand and made of good materials. I just failed miserably at the inspection pre-purchase, beings the fact that it was never done. But then again, the carpet was tacked down at the room perimeter, and the back door was an interior door, and wires had been messed with and changed out. Obviously someone attempted (read: horribly failed at) remodeled this trailer before i found it. But the structure is still good. Just cosmetic stuff, really.


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## TrailerParadise

this is my inspiration for my kitchen. all open white shelves on top, beadboard walls, and white cabinets with shaker style doors and drawer fronts. Except my countertop wont be marble, it will be a tan-ish brown color. I think itll be one hell of an improvement.


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## TrailerParadise

and this is the bar im attempting to make. again wrong countertop but the front panel will look just like this


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## TrailerParadise

We did some more work in the bathroom today. sorry just kinda bumping around the place. i did get some more pics of the kitchen progress though, and what the master bedroom looks like. we finished demoing the bathroom and pulled up all of the thirty-year-old tile and linoleum. I will get on tomorrow morning and post pictures, i cant post from this computer.


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## TrailerParadise

Ok well ive had almost three thousand views, so im assuming you guys want to see more. Here is what the kitchen looks like today. Beadboard walls are up, drywall is up on the end wall, and the shelving is up on two walls.


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## TrailerParadise

And here is the work we did in the bathroom. These are pics of the back wall, the front wall, and the spot where the bathtub will go.


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## TrailerParadise

Another mistake! My God how many holes does it take to hit the drain? One, two, three, four, FIVE! Who needs five holes? This explains the nest of wolf spiders. 
And just to freak ya'll out a little, this is what was under the vanity. Ten of the buggers. One with a huge eggsac. Scared the living hell out of me. Most of them didnt give us too much problem, they were trying to get out, diving for the holes in the floor. The female carrying the eggsac was aggressive though. She kept jumping at us, threatening us and trying to intimidate us. Hated to kill a single mom, but i think God forgave us for this one. (full body shudder)


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## TrailerParadise

And just for fun, here is a couple pictures of the master bedroom, full of trash bags waiting to be taken to the dump. Insulation, drywall, tile, linoleum, etc.


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## TrailerParadise

Question: In the bathroom, my mom insists we need to use wonderboard behind the shower area to protect against moisture. However, with this being a mobile home, im just going to put up an acrylic surround. Im not going with tile, and i was told that you only need the wonderboard if you are using tile, to waterproof it. Do we need the wonderboard, or will the mold-proof drywall work just fine?


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## TrailerParadise

i also wanted to post the pictures of the first two cabinets on here, now that im done being scolded on the first thread i posted them on. These are made of 3/4" plywood, 2x4 bases, and whitewood pine face frames. Future cabinets will be made with poplar face frames. These are the sink base and the vanity base for the bathroom. I know i will get scolded for the drawer handle on the door of the vanity, but that was just to see what it would look like. The handle wont be used, ive got another one to use and this one is gonna be used in the kitchen.
Also, the door on the first one looks like its misaligned at the bottom but its not, there is printing on the bottom edge of the left side, and it makes it look like part is missing. Itll look fine once its painted.


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## TrailerParadise

Over three thousand views, and no comments? Good or bad, i would like to hear your thoughts on it. Anybody see anything they want to comment on? Ask a question? Make a suggestion? My ears are open!


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## drtbk4ever

I'm just enjoying seeing your progress.

I would like to know where you live where you have spiders like that?


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## TrailerParadise

I live in rural texas. they are everywhere in the woods, but they usually dont come into houses unless there is a clear and safe way out. I think the five holes in the floor was safe and clear enough. Usually you find them hanging from trees and living in woodpiles and burnpiles but occasionally they do come in, especially during the winter.


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## TrailerParadise

before i forget, we also tested the drains yesterday. I watched under the trailer and my mom poured a gallon of water into the five different drains (kitchen sink, washer, bathroom sink, toilet, and shower) and i made sure all of the water came out of the same pipe and there were no leaks or drips or anything. Yay! That saves me some money and saves me from having to climb under the trailer with the spiders. Yay yay yay do the happy dance... LOL


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## TrailerParadise

Just to let everyone know where we stand at this current moment - 
We have demoed the entire place, rewired one room, and finished the walls in one room. We have all of the wire we need, still need a bit of insulation, and the only thing we need for the bathroom besides drywall is the sink, countertop, and shower surround. We have to replace all of the water supply lines. Still going to spend somewhere in the range of about $2500. 

At this current moment, we have spent a total of $6,737.95

We have returned and sold a total of $1,035.93

Minus the cost of the home itself, we have actually spent on renovations, a grand total of $2,652.02

Add the cost of the dump on Saturday, it brings up our total to $2,692.02

P.S. Did everyone notice the ultra-fancy trashbag curtains? LOL i cant bring myself to put twenty-dollar curtains out there where they will get covered in drywall dust and sawdust.


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## TrailerParadise

Looks like we wont be working on the house for a few days yet... Winter storms finally rolled in and its been sleeting and icing over for the last two days. There is no way to work out there with no heat, its just way too cold. Hopefully (this is Texas after all) the storms will roll out by the weekend and we can get some more work done.


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## BigJim

TrailerParadise said:


> Looks like we wont be working on the house for a few days yet... Winter storms finally rolled in and its been sleeting and icing over for the last two days. There is no way to work out there with no heat, its just way too cold. Hopefully (this is Texas after all) the storms will roll out by the weekend and we can get some more work done.


Hopefully you didn't leave any water in the traps or they will freeze and bust.


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## TrailerParadise

No we checked, all of the water drained out. And we took the trap off of the tub drain, so i know for a fact that that one is empty.

Here's a question - The two sink drains and the washer drain are vented by under-counter vents, i think they are called AAV vents if im not mistaken. they are around thirty years old and original to the house. Do these need replaced before we hook up the water meter or are they fine to use?
The toilet and shower are vented by the main vent stack that goes through the roof.


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## REXAMUS

They do stop working sometimes and are required to be accessible. You can't bury them in a wall and forget about it. Probably wouldn't hurt to buy some new ones.


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## TrailerParadise

they arent buried in a wall. two are under sinks and the third is beside the washer in a spot with a cutout in the drywall. if you look closely next to the vent, you can see that the drywall is cut in a perfectly straight line. i dont care how careful you are, nobody can break drywall that perfect, it was deliberately cut to allow air to that vent, and when drywall is put back on this piece of wall, we will retain this cutout. 

Okay i will see if Lowes carries them and hope they are easily replaced.


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## TrailerParadise

The winter storms are gone now, all of the ice has melted and hopefully they will stay gone for a while. This weekend ill go buy the durock to put up in the bathroom and at least cover the walls around the bathtub so that we can install the tub again.


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## TrailerParadise

sorry we were going to work today but my dad decided to sell the storage trailer so i spent the day moving all of my kitchen stuff into the house. kinda funny though cause on craigslist i found a house that is identical to mine except its finished. except its yellow and mine will never be yellow again


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## gma2rjc

I'm following this thread. When I lived in Indiana in the early 1980's, the trailer we rented was the exact same layout as yours, except it didn't have a peaked ceiling or bay window in the kitchen. But I think it had been built in the early '70's.

It's good to know that you're replacing the electrical wiring. I can't count how many times I've read about trailer fires in the newspaper. Not so many lately, but I believe the older one's, direct from the factory with no drywall, burned down in 15 to 20 minutes. 

Do you have skirting around the trailer? If so, consider setting off some bug bombs under there (on a day when there are no breezes) to kill the spiders and bugs. And if you ever have the skirting off, get some diatomaceous earth and spray or sprinkle a bunch of it all around the ground or pad underneath before closing it back up. As long as it stays dry under there, the DE will continue to kill spiders, cockroaches and any other creepy crawlies that try to make a home under there. No chemicals involved, the DE just cuts them wherever they come in contact with it. It also kills ants. 

Keep posting, we're watching!


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## TrailerParadise

thanks, its good to know i have fans :thumbup: LOL

Yeah thats one reason why trailer houses scare me, because of their fire history. Thats why i decided to rebuild using normal housing supplies like drywall and laminate flooring instead of paneling and carpet like you find in most trailers. in fact i threw away three huge rolls of carpet four months ago that we ripped out of this trailer. I have always disliked carpet though. We also went through and ripped out all of the old wiring and replaced it with new updated wiring.

Today we did do a bit of work. I found some lighter globes for the kitchen light that doesnt make the light fixture tip forward, they are light enough for the electric box to support it. We also hung the vent hood from the upper shelves above the stove. I honestly thought that wouldnt work but it looks great.:thumbsup: We just drilled some holes in a piece of melamine 36" x 12" and attached the vent hood with bolts, washers and nuts. Then we hung some of the metal strips on the wall and attached some heavy duty brackets and hung the shelf from the brackets. Then we attached some l-shaped brackets to give it some stability and keep it from shimmying side to side with the vibrations. 

I also discovered that the globes for the light fixture over the fridge is broken :wallbash:so i took those globes and the fancy heavy globes i bought for the other fixture back to lowes and exchanged them. More pictures to come soon! Thanks for following!


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## Arlo

I'm definately watching your thread. I like the beadboard you're going to do. Who made the kitchen cabinets? They look good. If you're still wondering how to fix the holes in the floor there's a guy on YouTube that fixes mobile homes and has some good uploads. This one is not specific to patching floors but it's about replacing the entire subfloor in a room:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp7GdHdsomY


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks Arlo. I made the cabinets myself. Thanks for the compliment. thank you for the link, i will look at it when i get home.


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## TrailerParadise

Okay, small update. We intended to work Saturday but we had my nephew's birthday party that lasted a lot longer than we thought and it was raining all day, so we didnt get to it. But we did work yesterday.
We moved all of the trash out of the master bedroom, into the little bedroom. One of these days my fiance will get a day off and be able to take all of this to the landfill. We swept the floor and re-ran all of the wiring, part in 14G and part in 12G because of the weird wiring plan we need in this room. We replaced several pieces of insulation in the end wall, and checked all of it in the back wall. The front wall will have to wait because we still need to install the AC unit in the wall and that has to wait until i can get the materials to make a little awning over it to protect it from rain. But anyway, now the end wall and back walls are ready for drywall, which we will get to probably on Saturday.
Thanks for reading!


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## TrailerParadise

After talking to some people on this thread, they managed to talk me out of putting the air conditioner in. I will just get a room air conditioner that doesnt require installation in the window or wall. So, now all we need to do is run a 12G wire around the room to power a dedicated plug near the window so that we can plug in the air conditioner in the summer and a space heater in the winter without worry of overloading the circuit. I think it might power our heated comforter too. So, thats just one simple wire, one more workbox to install and about four more holes to drill into studs on the interior wall, and we can go ahead and hang insulation on the front wall, and hang drywall on the three exterior walls. Im not sure what to do about the interior wall yet, because the toilet really needs to go through that wall to get back into the bathroom, and i want to have the floor tiled before the toilet goes back in, and the drywall needs to go up too, but without power the bathroom will be too dark to see inside it to install the toilet. Dunno about that yet. But anyway, we will be going out there on Saturday and putting in the rest of the insulation and the drywall as much as we can. Im down to 7 sheets of drywall and i seriously doubt that will be enough to cover two 9' walls and one 13' wall. Oh well, we'll try.

Im supposed to have two contractors come out tonight and give estimates on the roof, one guy says he can do an EPDM roof for $1500, but he wants to powerwash the tin and with it being so rusty im not sure thats a great idea. At least he wants to seal the rust before he sprays on the EPDM material though, thats a step up from the last guy. 

The place is finally starting to resemble a home again, LOL. Thanks for reading!


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## rrolleston

We have a build in wall AC unit in our mobile home and it works great. Much easier than having to take it out and put it back in every season.


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## TrailerParadise

today we hung drywall in the bedroom. we covered the back wall and we hung the headboard on the end wall. we also put on one piece that goes up the center of the wall and covers the peak of the roofline. it looks pretty good so far. it got too dark too quickly so pictures tomorrow!


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## TrailerParadise

sorry about the pictures, im having some issues with the camera at the moment. We did some more work tonight, we have two walls in the bedroom almost completely drywalled. we've had some issues with the drywall fitting around the headboard since we decided not to drywall behind it, and im not sure the bed will fit next to the hot water tank with space to walk around it but i guess we will get the frame in there and then make some adjustments if we need to.it is looking so good! The space isnt even recognizable anymore as the crap shoot it used to be! Pictures coming as soon as i get my camera fixed.


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## TrailerParadise

Ok i got a few pics for you guys. Last night was really nice and cool outside, so we decided to go ahead and tape and mud the bedroom drywall. We finished hanging the drywall around the headboard and the back wall, and taped and mudded all of the seams and some of the nail heads. The mud wasnt completely dry in these pics, but ill post some more once they are dry. We had one hell of a storm night before last, it pounded the side of the house and made the windows bow in so far that they leaked in places they have never leaked before. And they dont leak now, but that wind was fierce, i am so shocked that all of my windows are still in one piece! Anyway, here are the pics. (finally got my camera working!)

In case you are wondering, the green strips on the ceiling are painters tape, marking the wall studs.


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## TrailerParadise

Those pics officially document my first attempt at mudding drywall. Ive never even opened a tub of mud before, and for the very first time, i think it went pretty well. Only had three bubbles to fix, and i got them fixed before the mud started to dry. I used the red plastic putty knife that came with the mud though, and i think i have to get a different one because my palm hurts like hell now and i have a round bruise in the middle of my palm. I dont know if thats the type of knife i used, or if it happens to all first timers. Thanks for reading


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## Blondesense

TrailerParadise said:


> Last night was really nice and cool outside, so we decided to go ahead and...


Who says this in January, except someone in Texas!?!



Sometimes I miss Texas.


Great thread BTW.


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## TrailerParadise

LOL thanks Blondesense. Texas is actually really nice this time of year. Not too hot, not too cold. Itll last through March, then itll start getting hot again.
Anywho, back to work. We worked out there all day yesterday and all day today. All of the work was centered in the bedroom. We ran a dedicated 12-2G Romex wire to the A/C receptacle, drilled a total of 12 holes through studs to run the wires to the power box, hung all new insulation across the remaining exterior wall, and nailed up all new drywall. We only have one sheet of drywall left to hang and the walls in the master bedroom will be finished. My mom is planning to do that over the next couple of days, and this next weekend we move on to mudding, taping, sanding, mudding, sanding, and then finally, painting! Once its painted, the only thing left will be the flooring, trimwork, and closet installation. I bought one of those custom closet systems, it will fit anything from 3' to 6' wide, and my closet space is 5' wide so itll work perfect. Im also putting ceiling to floor shelving along the back wall of the room, for me to put all of my knick knacks on so that they arent all over the house. That was my fiance's only requirement when we bought our own home.
Before we can put down flooring, i get the wonderful job of sitting on the plywood floor for several hours, using a pair of channel locks to pull millions of staples out of the floor so that we can lay the new floor. Otherwise there will be hundreds of tiny bumps and itll ruin the laminate. Pics coming soon, we ran out of daylight.
Thanks for reading!


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## TrailerParadise

Just in case any of you are curious, we have not survived this remodel without injury. Three of which occured today.
During demo, i dropped a sheet of drywall on my leg and caused a bruise from my knee to my ankle. My fiance stabbed himself in the side with a screwdriver and drew blood. I stabbed myself in the leg with a utility knife attempting to cut the skin off of a wire. I accidentally stabbed my mom in the leg with a shelf i was attempting to move. My mom broke her toe by dropping a piece of drywall on it (she's ok now). We all have bruised toes and insteps from drywall and tools falling. My mom got a piece of wood in her eye from drilling wiring holes. Ive gouged myself on the staples and brad nails protruding from the studs multiple times, usually drawing blood. I actually did that twice today, i caught my middle finger on a nail and ripped it open, and then i turned right around and brushed my arm against two staples sticking out of a stud and ripped my arm open. They've finally stopped bleeding now, though i had to wash my glove. I nearly clocked myself in the forehead with a hammer when i slammed it into a sheet of brittle drywall and it bounced back. If i hadnt moved, i wouldve knocked myself out, if i didnt kill myself.
The lessons ive learned during this journey: 
1. Always wear safety glasses when cutting or drilling wood
2. Dont stand directly in the path of a hammer
3. Watch the location of your toes when something falls
4. Wear gloves at all times.
5. Keep an eye on the location of helpers when you attempt to move heavy sharp items, or you might kill them.

I cant honestly say it hasnt been fun, though. Ive learned a lot about construction, building, and wiring during this journey. I have been watching the location of my thumb when hammering though, no black thumbnails yet. There have been a lot of laughs, and i can honestly say there were sweat and blood put into this project. The tears might happen once i see the final bill, LOL


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## joecaption

Welcome to our world.


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## TrailerParadise

Woohoo got another shipment today. Now there is a nice tidy waist-high stack of drywall in my kitchen, five sheets of 1/2" green and the rest are 3/8" white. I just hope they stacked it with the white on top so we can finish out the master bedroom and possibly even finish the little bedroom. I know we have enough for the bathroom because its only 5' x 8' and one 5' wall is already drywalled and the other 5' wall is taken up by the nail-in shower surround. It nails to the studs, not the drywall, so that helps. the remainder of it is going in the space around the washer, since thats a wet area too. Boy we are just'a rockin' and a'rollin with this trailer!


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## 123pugsy

Glad to hear things are coming together. :thumbsup:


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## 747

First thing i noticed was pic one. Wow thats a big window air conditioning unit sitting on the floor. What is it. 20,000 btu with a 220 cord?


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## TrailerParadise

yeah thats exactly what it is. i wanted it so bad but i ended up having to sell it. it was actually a wall mount too, it reallyhsucks that i had to sell it but i had to pay the bills


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## 747

TrailerParadise said:


> yeah thats exactly what it is. i wanted it so bad but i ended up having to sell it. it was actually a wall mount too, it reallyhsucks that i had to sell it but i had to pay the bills


Nice:thumbsup: Sorry you had to sell. It would keep trailer cool NO PROBLEM.


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## TrailerParadise

Went to lowes tonight and bought a few more things... paint for the master bedroom, wire to finish the wiring (only three rooms left!), faceplates, the light fixtures for the hallway, wirenuts, and a pair of tin snips to cut the old wires out of the walls. We have tried everything to get rid of them and they are annoying, it kills our hands to use pliers, and we tried using a metal blade on the oscillating multi tool and it heated up the wire so we didnt feel that it was too safe to do that. Hopefully the tin snips work better. We will find out in about six hours! Wish me luck! Here goes yet another weekend of working out there! Later today i plan to finish the bedroom drywall, finish the bathroom wiring, start bathroom drywall, finish little bedroom wiring, and maybe even finish the hallway wiring. Dont know if we will get to the living room this weekend or not. If it is warm enough, we will finish taping and mudding the master bedroom. In that case we would just do that, and work on wiring the bathroom and little bedroom.


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## joecaption

Tin snips are for cutting sheet metal not wiring.
Should be using linesman plyers or better yet a pair of these.
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...CB8B99B4CD4B0DCAE02154B43D2&selectedIndex=209


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## jagans

Did you ever fix the roof properly? Hate to see you lose your work. You have drywall stacked waist high in a trailer??? That is a lot of weight.

If you are using premix drywall mud like gold bond. Put a full cup of warm water in the bucket and mix thoroughly with a mud mixer on a serious half inch drill. Keep the piece of plastic they give you, scrape down the walls of the can while wet with a wet sponge. add a little warm water and mix as you go. when you are done for the day, pour a little warm water on mud and place plastic over, this way you don't have to worry if the lid is real tight. Remix water in before reuse. Remove the strip from the lid all the way around. 

I use the self stick fiberglass tape exclusively now, as you can just apply the tape to the joint, then bed in your first coat with the 6 inch. No bubbles. You are getting bubbles because the mud is too thick, and not mixed.

Use Goldblat tools, 6 inch and 10 inch knife, and watch out, they get really sharp from stropping drywall.

Never, never tool with a dry knife. That's what causes pulls. Always have a little bead of mud on the knife, even when tooling.

This advice comes from a drywall expert who I worked with many many years ago. The guy was a wizard with rock and mud. He was hard to get because he was so damn good, so I ended up doing a lot of my own work on additions I built. Drywall is a real profession, like most things. The guys that are good at it make it look easy. Like most pros.

Sounds like you ought to have some plasma on hand and a horn to yell "Medic"!


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## TrailerParadise

thanks for the advice jagans. ill try that and see if it helps. thanks joe but the tin snips work a hell of a lot better than anything else we've used. the old wires go up thru the ceiling so they wont be used. i just went through with the snips and cut them all off at ceiling level. we did a lot of wiring today, finished running wire everywhere except the laundry room and the stove and hot water heater. those run under the trailer so we will probably do that nextg weekend. tomorrow, more drywall. pictures coming on monday when i have access to a computer again. thanks for reading!


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## AndyWRS

Interesting thread, keep the updates coming. 

"We were told when we bought it that it was livable"

You had non paying tenants, 10 of em if i recall, 9 after the hammer incident.  Livable to some.


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## TrailerParadise

LOL AndyWRS, yep they found it quite homey. So did the hundreds of furry beady-eyed ones living in the stove. Its looking a LOT better now. Ive been letting my cat jump in and out of the windows and walk around inside, getting his cat-stink everywhere so that mice will be less tempted to move in. We're out in the country, so mice are a definite problem without cats inside. 
Anyway, next weekend im planning to get some conduit so we can hook up electric for the stove, hot water heater, washer, and dryer. We were just going to run them over the back door, but then my dad put the door in and it was too tall so it eliminated all extra space above it. Now we have to go under the back door, in a conduit, and back up through the floor under the power box, next to the conduit from the power box. Sucks, but i dont see any other options. Thanks for reading!


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## TrailerParadise

ok here are some more pics as promised. 
i took photos of the power box in its new location, of course the wires arent hooked up yet, but anyway... there are also pictures of the second bedroom that has now been wired and is ready for insulation and drywall; pictures of the master bedroom new drywall around the windows and on the front wall; and a picture of the awesome new back door. We cant go any further for a little while though, because several of the blocks under the trailer have cracked and the pier under the back door is tipping out and is not touching the trailer any longer, so that needs fixed before we go any further.


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## TrailerParadise

and the back door


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## TrailerParadise

i dont know what to do now, i just talked to the owner of the mobile home transport company that blocked it up and tied it down, and they said because my warranty is expired (they have a year warranty, its been 11 months) they cant do anything for me. They claim that i picked the spot, and they warned me against the sand. Yeah well two things wrong with that statement, jackass. I didnt pick the spot, HE did. and the sand has nothing to do with the blocks breaking, sand makes it settle and sink, not break the foundation. Ive lived in mobile homes my whole life, ive never seen anything like this!


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## Arlo

Wow. I hope you get the leveling issue resolved. I don't have much to add but I like the kitchen ideas you have. I hope to see more updates! :thumbsup:


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks Arlo. The only choice i have right now is to take this guy to court, which is costly and probably wont get me anywhere, or pay another guy $300 to level it and replace the broken blocks. I think im just going to suck it up and pay the extra cash. Im paying that much per month for my mom and sister to help me with the physical labor anyway. I guess it isnt that big of a deal. 
As soon as we can get the rest of the drywall hung in the little bedroom, bathroom, and hallway, we will start on the rest of the cabinets to finish out the kitchen. Really, all that is left to buy for the kitchen is wood to build seven cabinets, four pieces of countertop, pipes, and flooring. and paint, cant forget paint.


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## TrailerParadise

Things should start progressing quickly now. I hired my sister to help my mom work on the house during the week while im at work, so they can do things like nail up drywall, mud and tape, paint, and lay flooring. I will work on weekends and after work, as daylight permits. I should begin to have updates for you guys about twice as quickly.


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## TrailerParadise

this weekend was pretty much a waste. it was below freezing all day saturday so we went to lowes and bought the rest of the insulation we need. today it was mild outside so we finished the drywall in the master, and insulated and drywalled the exterior wall of the little bedroom. throughout this next week we hope to get the little bedroom drywalled and two of the bathroom walls and maybe even part of the hallway. in order to finish, we still need to get some conduit so we can finish wiring and some cpvc pipes to plumb the shower. it goes up the wall so we need to fix it before drywall goes up. as soon as there is enough progress to see a difference, ill post pics. thanks for reading!!!


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## joecaption

Really need to using screws not nailing the drywall.
Still no power there?
Any reason not to get power and have at least one GFI outlet so you could have some power?


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## TrailerParadise

We arent getting the power hooked up because the pole has to be hooked up to get it turned on, and once its on, i have to pay $50 a month minimum. Id rather spend that money on the house right now. Plus there is no reason, we have all cordless tools. Only thing we would plug in is maybe a fan or a heater.
Oh and i guess i forgot to say it, we gave up on the nails, we switched to screws. So much easier. This trailer has some of the hardest lumber ive ever seen.


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## TrailerParadise

Ok its been a week, i figured i should give a short update. I hired a guy to come out and level the trailer, and replace the cracked blocks and add a few pyles under it, he agreed to come out on Saturday and do the job for $450. Well, we went out there Friday to work a little, and the trailer shifted with us inside. Not much, but enough. We hightailed it out of there and decided to wait for the trailer to be stabilized. Well, saturday came and went with no guy, no call, no nothing. Sunday morning i called him, and he didnt answer, so i sent a text asking if he was still coming. Two hours later i get a text back from someone, wasnt him, saying he had a death in the family and would get back to me later. Ok, i understand why you wouldnt want to come and work after a relative's death, but you couldnt send a text or something? i wasted a whole weekend waiting on him! Just a short simple "A family member has died, i will call you later" would work. Nothing. That kind of stuff pisses me off, and i really dont know what to do at this point. The trailer is obviously not stable, and we cant work in it until he does what he needs to do, and God only knows how long it will be before he can do it. I dont know whether to call someone else, wait for him, or what. So needless to say, we didnt get any work done this weekend. Sorry, ill update more next weekend and hopefully have something done.


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## Kyle_in_rure

I must say that all this remodeling has inspired me. We bought a farm with a trailer from 1994 that has sat empty for years, and had many similar problems: random holes, polybutilene plumbing (gray hoses of death), mice everywhere, random electrical problems. I'm thinking about taking it through this kind of remodel. Keep the updates coming, and good luck with the stabilizing. :thumbsup:


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## TrailerParadise

its been a lot of fun but also a ton of hard work. if you want to start it be sure you can see it through. i hate to see old homes torn apart for repairs and then left that way. if you do remodel it, dont forget to post pics here for us to see!


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## TrailerParadise

its getting to the fun part of the remodel now. Now that drywall is up in the master and kitchen, and going up in the little bedroom and bath, i can see now with my eyes what i saw in my head the day i saw this trailer for the first time. I saw the potential this little thing had and i knew all it needed was an owner who loved it and some new stuff put up, and it would be a nice cozy little home. Its getting there. Thanks for sticking with me, everybody! As soon as i can get this leveler guy out there, itll be full steam ahead on renovations. Next thing to put up: Drywall and insulation in the little bedroom and bathroom. Next thing to buy: Wood to build seven more cabinets. Stay tuned!

ETA: I finally got ahold of the leveler dude, he says he is still interested and will be here this weekend to fix the damage and relevel the trailer. Thankfully the place cant really shift any further than it has, because of the tie downs, but i am not chancing anything. I really dont want to chance permanently damaging the frame by walking around in it and loading more weight into it while its unstable. Hopefully this issue will be resolved this weekend, and we will be back on track!


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## Kyle_in_rure

Just out of curiosity, what kind of roof is on this home? Did you have any gutters of any kind?


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## TrailerParadise

its a rusty tin roof, still working on getting it replaced. i intend to replace it with r-panel steel. and no, no gutters. no eaves either. pretty much a standard 1980 mobile home.


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## Kyle_in_rure

TrailerParadise said:


> its a rusty tin roof, still working on getting it replaced. i intend to replace it with r-panel steel. and no, no gutters. no eaves either. pretty much a standard 1980 mobile home.


Ours is the same, starting to get small leaks in places. It also has these useless 1 inch "mini-gutters" that collect everything except water . Needless to say the previous owner got creative with caulk and roofing tar.....:whistling2:


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## TrailerParadise

im going to cover it with roofing cement to prevent leaks and then sometime after my wedding ill have it replaced. im not too worried at the moment but i know it needs replaced within the next three years


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## RTC_wa

TrailerParadise said:


> No we checked, all of the water drained out. And we took the trap off of the tub drain, so i know for a fact that that one is empty.
> 
> Here's a question - The two sink drains and the washer drain are vented by under-counter vents, i think they are called AAV vents if im not mistaken. they are around thirty years old and original to the house. Do these need replaced before we hook up the water meter or are they fine to use?
> The toilet and shower are vented by the main vent stack that goes through the roof.


as long as they are working they are fine but you have to have accsess to them. they do fail from time to time and you will smell sewer gas from them if they fail.


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## RTC_wa

all in all your doing just fine.


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## TrailerParadise

thanks. the aav vents are very accessible. i dont know if they work yet or not becuse nothing is hooked up plumbing-wise except the drains


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## TrailerParadise

ok small update. the leveler never showed up, so we just went and bought a bunch of solid cinder blocks and im paying my unempolyed dad to replace the broken ones. we also tore off a little siding and replaced it with new stuff. pics coming when the blocks replacement and siding around the back door is done


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## Doc Holliday

My company remodels dozens of trailers (and regular homes) each week, I install the usually stolen a/c systems in them. Amazing what can be done to a trailer, and a lot of room as well. Seen some high class trailers. 

Take some pics OP.


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## TrailerParadise

sorry about the lack of pics, we just havent been working on it since the blocks broke. tomorrow ill go out and get some pics of the new siding and what drywall we have done in the little bedroom.


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## TrailerParadise

Sorry about the pics, ive got a terrible memory. Anyway, i just wanted to give a small update, we replaced one piece of siding and I discovered that my dad apparently does NOT know what he is doing. So, i found a company, with impeccable references and an A+ rating, who is willing to come out and coat the roof, secure it down, and replace all of the siding for only $1,525.00.

Only thing i have to do is provide him 26 sheets of siding, 300' of trim, screws, and caulk. That is only $675.00 bought from Lowes, maybe cheaper from HD. $2250 total is not bad for siding and the roof, especially when i dont have to do it! the outside i think might just get contracted out, we will continue to DIY the inside, but the outside is just outside of my capabilities.


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## TrailerParadise

yay yay yay my foundation is fixed! i got home from work and my dad had finished replacing the broken blocks with solid cinder blocks and now the trailer is solid as a rock. okay people! back to work! i got a pic of the newest drywall but i cant post it from my phone so ill post it in the morning


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## shumakerscott

All this chatting and no pictures:furious: Pictures, pictures, I want pictures. :whistling2: dorf dude...


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## TrailerParadise

Ok sorry for the delay everyone. here is a picture of the new drywall, its really all that has been done in the last two to three weeks because of the foundation issue. i promise, more updates coming this week! I miss my house and i will definitely be out there tonight!


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## TrailerParadise

ok tons of progress! i wouldve posted last night but i dont have a home pc. Anyway, we finished the insulation and drywall in the bathroom, cleaned all of the soap scum, dirt, and old caulk out of the bathtub, and even got the bathtub installed. We also measured out and marked the spot to drill the hole for the drain pipe in the bathroom vanity cabinet. My mom is out there today while im working, she is mudding and taping the bathroom and i have to go tonight and get the shower walls and the paint. The picture of the electric shows the front wall is still wallpapered, i plan to sand it down a little and paint right over it, i didnt see the need to tear it out. I cant believe we are this close to done with the bathroom! Pics Pics Pics!!!:thumbup:


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## TrailerParadise

im sure most of you know this, but for those of you who dont, thats greenboard drywall in the bathroom, not paint. No way i would ever paint my bathroom such a dark color when it is already tiny.


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## TrailerParadise

Okay peeps we got a lot done this weekend! Still havent managed to get to the floors in the bathroom yet, but we did get a lot done and hopefully by this next weekend, the bathroom will be painted. We taped and mudded the bathroom and the rest of the master bedroom, waited for it to dry, then sanded it and mudded it again, we will sand it again probably tonight or tomorrow. We cut the drain and water supply line holes in the bottom of the vanity and put it in place. Its not secured yet because its backless so i want to paint behind it. We got the bathroom light box installed and secured. I dont have a picture of the light box but i did get photos of the drywall all mudded and taped.
We also put about three tubes of caulk on the outside where it is leaking.


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## TrailerParadise

I know there are still some bubbles in the tape but we are working on it. Theyll get smoothed out. Thanks for reading, I would love to know your thoughts on it so far!


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## Blondesense

Are you gonna put a surround over the bathtub, or what? Shower?


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## TrailerParadise

Yes i bought a MAAX acrylic tub surround, itll cover from the top of the tub to about 1/4 of the way up the window. I want to paint before we put that up, though, and the vanity needs to be pulled back out so i can paint behind it. I wont paint all the wall behind the tub walls, just about two inches behind the edges so that i wont get paint on the surround. I found a special adhesive at Surplus Warehouse that is specially formulated to bond acrylic to drywall.


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## TrailerParadise

OK i just updated my spreadsheet, last night i went and purchased the remaining wire we need, and some self-stick mesh drywall tape because im sick of bubbles, and some more drywall corners. According to my calculations, and i may be mistaken, we are only ~$1400 away from making this house livable. Not perfect, but livable. 
To finish everything except the siding, we are still a little over 2k away. The siding will have to be replaced sometime next year, after our wedding is over. From this point to complete total finish line, we still are going to pay out over $8k. But most of that is outside (~$3500 for the roof replacement, $2500 if i pay the pro to replace siding) so we will definitely be able to finish the inside to complete this thread. So, keep reading! Updates should start coming quickly over the next couple of months! We're headed for that Livable finish line at a dead run!


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## TrailerParadise

it was thunderstorming today so we couldnt really do any work in the house. so we went to home depot instead. i bought and had them cut 13 cabinet side panels, 5 bottoms and a bunch of supports. i also recieved my first shipment of hardwood flooring, which i intend to put in my bedroom. if i decide to take the next shipment it will go in the other bedroom. this is engineered wood, not the solid hardwood. but its beautiful. it will go down as soon as we finish painting the walls. tomorrow we finish the final sanding and mudding of the bedroom, and sand, prime, and paint the bathroom. if it dries in time, we will get the shower surround put up too. wish us luck!


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## Kyle_in_rure

Good luck! I didn't know they would cut all the cabinets for you...


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## joecaption

Looks like your going to need a spacer on the left side of that cabinet or the casings not going to fit and it's going to hit the doors when you open them.

What are you trying to use to apply the drywall compound? Whatever it is it's to narrow and leaving it way to rough.
They needed to be at least 8" wide, 12" would be better.


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## Nailbags

Just a quick question? how much of that remodel cost will you really recoup? it is a moble home after all. Because it would be nice to know if one can do that. I really have enjoyed watching your progress.


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## TrailerParadise

thanks everybody. yes if you have the measurements, you can pay home depot a quarter per cut to cut them to size. for seven cabinets i paid $3.45.
we are using the three biggest sizes of putty knives sold by lowes. it works, if nothing else. we did have to do some rearranging and moving stuff but the vanity fits as is and the door opens fully without rubbing. we arent putting regular trim in the bathroom.
to be honest im not sure we will ever recoup the money spent here but its better to pay a little now plus a bit of hard labor rather than pay $100k for a finished house that had god knows how many problems hidden by the drywall. at least in my opinion, and we are just starting out after all.
ok we did a lot of work today, we sanded the bathroom, primed it, painted it, and installed the tub surround walls. we also ripped up the old tile and linoleum, and swept and mopped the floor in preperation for peel and stick wood-grain vinyl planks that will be next to get done.


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## TrailerParadise

i cant post pics from my phone so ill post them tomorrow


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## Kyle_in_rure

Glad to hear of the progress.


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## TrailerParadise

OK here are the pics as promised. Some of the walls primed, some of the walls painted. Im not posting any pics of the shower surround until its caulked. Thanks for reading!


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## TrailerParadise

And here is a picture of my lovely engineered hardwood flooring! Its all stacked up and ready to go down. We got it used, so we got it for one hell of a deal! plus its pre-stained and pre-polyurethaned!
We were going to put this in the little bedroom and put laminate in the master but since we are trying to get moved in ASAP, we decided to leave the little bedroom bare plywood for now and put this in the master.


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## TrailerParadise

Quick update - no pics since im at work but i just received word from my mom that her and my sister went out there to the house today and laid part of the floor in the bathroom. She said they couldnt finish because they ran out of planks. So i guess tonight means another trip to Fred's and hope to high heaven they still carry the stuff! I had no idea it was bigger than 15 sq ft! Its tiny. Oh well i guess i just have to pray that its still there.


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## TrailerParadise

Another small update and funny story - My mom and sister went today and started drywall in the living room. They have gotten one sheet up so far, havent heard anything in a few hours, so ill see when i get home. Funny - my sister had my four-year-old nephew with her out there, and he was playing while they moved everything and then my sister starts pulling staples out of the studs, throwing them behind her on the floor. Suddenly they hear a banging sound, they turn around and my nephew has found my hammer, and he is steadily picking up the staples she throws down, and is nailing them into the other wall! LOL i wish i couldve been there for that, it sounds just like that ornery little boy. 
Oh the joys of children!


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## gma2rjc

:laughing: He may be doing something wrong, but I bet in his mind he's working and helping. He must have a good imagination to think of something like that. I love it! 

I bet your mom got a big kick out of it. I love it when my grandkids do cute things like that. They're a lot of fun.

It sounds like you're making good progress on your home. :thumbup:


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks, yeah i guess he thought he was helping, its hard to get on to them for that. The bathroom required extra sanding because my niece got in there with some mud (i have no idea where she found it) and painted the seam behind the tub. It had all kinds of horrible bumps, but i couldnt yell at her, she had this big "see-what-i-did?" grin on her face, so proud of herself. I just shook my head and sanded it down. I have got to start locking that door, LOL


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## TrailerParadise

Last night i went and bought another box of vinyl planks for the bathroom, and i bought three boxes of a dark walnut vinyl plank to lay in the laundry area/back door entrance/water areas. Since my hallway expands from 3' leaving the living room to 6' just before you reach the back door, im going to take the laminate down to the expansion point and cap it, then do the vinyl planks across the whole 6' section. its about 36 sq ft, each box has 15 sq ft so it should cover it without a problem. my mom was telling me this morning that if it warms up enough today, she and my sister are going to get the toilet bolts, and install the toilet. its gotta be warm though because the vinyl planks wont stick to the subfloor if it is really cold.


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## TheJerk

You know we want pictures of their help.


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## TrailerParadise

i wish i could but they dont think about taking pictures when they are out there. ill ask my mom to try to get pics if the go out there again


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## TrailerParadise

ill be joining the workforce myself on saturday so i will go tomorrow and get some pics of their work, then update as usual monday. keep reading! updates are definitely coming after this weekend


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## TrailerParadise

Lesson learned, people. I budgeted $100 to replace the water supply lines with CPVC, because i did my research and 10' pipes were only $3 each, and fittings were only $2 each, shutoff valves were $3, all very cheap. Well last night i went and bought contractor packs of tees and elbows ($5 each), five of those flexible water supply tubes that go from the shutoff valve to the faucets and toilet, seven water shutoff valves, and three pipes plus a pipe cutter. Not very much stuff, i expected maybe $50. It come out to $130! I have no idea how it added up that high, but like i said, lessons learned. At least it wasnt something superficial, i had to have these items to make the house livable. But the good part is that once i took all of that stuff off of my supply list, we are down to only $561 until the inside is livable.


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## TrailerParadise

Yahoo!!!! Bathroom is now 98% complete! 
We finished the floor, installed the vanity complete with supply line plumbing and partial drain lines, installed plumbing for the shower except the showerhead (missing an adapter), cleaned the old wax off of the bottom of the toilet, installed a new wax ring, and bolted the toilet bowl down to the floor. We tried to put the tank back on the back of the toilet, but the new rubber gasket i bought was the wrong size so i gotta make a trip to lowes to get a new larger gasket so we can reinstall the tank and hook up the supply line to the bottom of the tank.
The only things left now is the superficial decorative stuff like shelves, and we still need to caulk the shower surround (have the caulk, just havent gotten there yet), install the showerhead, hang the shower curtain, and install the countertop and sink and the bathroom will be totally finished! Yay! Im so excited to see it finished im almost giddy. Pics coming tomorrow morning, when i get to work. Thanks for reading!


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## TrailerParadise

Here are the pics, as promised. Keep in mind the shower surround has not been caulked and there are still a couple of things that need tweaked but here it is!
Please forgive the dirt around the toilet base, this house was filthy when we bought it and with no running water, its very difficult to clean anything.


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## framer52

A little late but vinyl planks should have staggered end seams, not a straight line as you have.

Looks like you are making good progress.:thumbsup:


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## TrailerParadise

i know that but i didnt do this floor. by the time i got to it the whole floor was already stuck down and i cant afford to buy more flooring right now so itll have to do.


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## TheJerk

Really enjoying watching you kids make progress on this. But keep in mind those non-staggered seams on the vinyl planking is more than likely going to cause you water damage and additional costs in about 6 months as the water gets through there. 

You might want to dig hard for a solution so you don't end up spending even more money just a short time down the road trying to replace the sub-floor again.

Keep up the good work, you guys are pushin' hard to get this done and it's really a pleasure to see you do it.


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks for commenting, The Jerk. To be perfectly honest, i only expect this flooring to last us until after our wedding, when we will have the money to go a more expensive route. This is just peel and stick individual tiles, they would have open seams regardless of whether they staggered or not. I know it wont last long, but with just the two of us, if we are careful to mop up any spilled water and dry off in the tub instead of on the floor, i think we can make it last another year or so. Not to mention we wont even be moving in until the later part of this year and then we get married in April, so i think we will be good for a while. There arent going to be any children living there until a few years from now and by then i can maybe afford to replace it with a floating vinyl plank that has a waterseal. With individual tiles there really is no visually appeasing way to seal between them, and thats what has been in every bathroom ive ever seen, as long as you take care to wipe up spills its usually not a problem.


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## TrailerParadise

i went to Lowes last night and while i was there i checked out the in-stock mass produced vanity cabinets. For one the same size as mine, unfinished, would have cost me $150. And that was junk, made of particleboard and plastic corner braces and staples. Mine on the other hand, is made of oak plywood, whitewood pine face frames (the only 1x2's carried in my local stores, for some dumb reason), and oak 2x4's, with a door made of whitewood 1x3's and 1/2" plywood and a drawer front made of a whitewood 1"x4.5". Solid construction, put together with gorilla brand wood glue, and Kreg pocket screws. We have actually accidentally dropped this thing and it didnt faze it. Mine cost $60. What a savings, huh? Better construction, better bracings, better materials, and $90 cheaper? Heck yeah!


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## SmithTitos

its awesome really loved it


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks SmithTitos


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## Kyle_in_rure

Thanks for the updates


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## jagans

How much is a new one or a used one in good condition compared to what you have in dollars in the one you have? Any Idea? I have always had the impression that the point of diminishing returns was pretty low on trailers.


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## TrailerParadise

i tried to buy a new one and couldnt come up with the outrageous down payment and other requirements. i bought a used one. i dont trust used trailers unless i know whats in the walls, and as far as we have gotten with this one it would be stupid to start over now


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## Nailbags

jagans said:


> How much is a new one or a used one in good condition compared to what you have in dollars in the one you have? Any Idea? I have always had the impression that the point of diminishing returns was pretty low on trailers.


This person has worked hard to make this look good and serve his family well. If that is all he can come up with and be debt free then he is ahead of the game. If he took out a loan for this. then he will never recoup the cost. Interest rates on these is normally twice what a stick built home is. most banks won't lend on them only FHA does for most parts and the title has to be eliminated. and converted to real property. But like I said if he did it with out a bank and zero debt then he way ahead of the curve ball.


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## TheJerk

jagans said:


> How much is a new one or a used one in good condition compared to what you have in dollars in the one you have? Any Idea? I have always had the impression that the point of diminishing returns was pretty low on trailers.


Actually, as someone who has worked the MH business for decades I can tell you what is traditionally causing "diminishing returns" on mobile homes is the way they are cared for. I've done way to many homes that were so bad people paid us to take them off their hands and then after we got done running them through (yes through, as in we had a shop large enough to pull them in) our shop they would often go back out for 40-50k here in Ohio.

People want a good solid home for a good price. These kids have done a great job on restoring this old home and making it what they want. In addition, they've done it in pretty close to record time for a diy'er while working normal jobs and even have gotten the whole family involved. Not sure if that's cause the family loves 'em or wants 'em out on their own, but they've done it. jk

Best of all, unlike all of us, they don't owe the bank on the 1st of every month. Gawd, what could I do if I didn't have to make my house payment.


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## TrailerParadise

Yeah no bank involved. i dont want anybody except the IRS to be able to take my home from me, Thats one reason why im glad i didnt get the new one. We didnt take out any loans, between me and my future husband we make about $900 extra per month, which we put into the house. No rent payment, no house payment, no nothing except lot rent. And we only pay lot rent until my parents pass away, then the land will belong to me and my sister, and we will own it and the property it sits on. Plus lot rent is only $200 per month, not too shabby. I think we have done pretty well for ourselves, thus far. I do have to admit, we have got a lot done since October, when we started the rebuilding phase. I am shocked now to see what i see in person, then to look back at the pics of what it was when i bought it.


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## TrailerParadise

Plus, Jagans, i never mentioned recouping any money from this trailer. I didnt buy it to get money out of it. I bought this trailer to be our adulthood home. I fully intend to raise my children in this home, adding on a room if necessary, and then once my parents are gone, and the land is mine, i intend to take our savings at that point and have a new brick home built on the land, next to where this one sits and if they want it, ill let one of my kids live there, if not then ill try to rent it out, if i cant get a renter for it then i suppose we can use it as a storage building for all of our kids and our junk that im sure we will accumulate over the next 40 years.i am not a flipper, i dont buy investment properties. I bought a home, not a house. And, looking at the progress we have made, i say we are pretty dang close to making it our home.


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## mykidsmother

TrailerParadise said:


> Plus, Jagans, i never mentioned recouping any money from this trailer. I didnt buy it to get money out of it. I bought this trailer to be our adulthood home. I fully intend to raise my children in this home, adding on a room if necessary, and then once my parents are gone, and the land is mine, i intend to take our savings at that point and have a new brick home built on the land, next to where this one sits and if they want it, ill let one of my kids live there, if not then ill try to rent it out, if i cant get a renter for it then i suppose we can use it as a storage building for all of our kids and our junk that im sure we will accumulate over the next 40 years.i am not a flipper, i dont buy investment properties. I bought a home, not a house. And, looking at the progress we have made, i say we are pretty dang close to making it our home.



I am close to retiring and I have a mortgage of four thousand a month. I wish I had no mortgage payments lol.. you did lovely work! It shows you that just because you are 'just starting out" you don't have to live in a dump or in a home less than gorgeous. Congrats on your upcoming wedding and having a lovely new home. I hope you are as happy as my husband and I have been all these years.
Be well. 
:rockon:


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks, mykidsmother. Wow, i couldnt imagine paying four grand a month, i have enough of a problem paying volkswagen $400 per month, LOL. I grew up watching the troubles my parents and grandparents went through, struggling to juggle mortgages, credit card payments, car payments, insurances, utilities, food, God knows what else, and i knew early on that i didnt want to go through that in my adult life. I worked hard after graduation to get a high paying job, worked hard at finding Mr. Right, and as a result i am now almost 24 years old and a homeowner, without Daddy's help and without a cosigner. i knew what i wanted to do with my life, and it is slowly but surely becoming a reality. I just cant wait to become his wife and move into our new-old home!


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## mykidsmother

TrailerParadise said:


> Thanks, mykidsmother. Wow, i couldnt imagine paying four grand a month, i have enough of a problem paying volkswagen $400 per month, LOL. I grew up watching the troubles my parents and grandparents went through, struggling to juggle mortgages, credit card payments, car payments, insurances, utilities, food, God knows what else, and i knew early on that i didnt want to go through that in my adult life. I worked hard after graduation to get a high paying job, worked hard at finding Mr. Right, and as a result i am now almost 24 years old and a homeowner, without Daddy's help and without a cosigner. i knew what i wanted to do with my life, and it is slowly but surely becoming a reality. I just cant wait to become his wife and move into our new-old home!


Oh I have aq nice roof over my head.. it's not keeping me up at night lol.. Just wish it were paid off . 

when are you getting married? You do have your priorities straight. Never get in over your head. It is not worth having if it keeps you up all night worrying.


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## TrailerParadise

Our wedding is set for April 19, 2014. One year left. I dont have any problems financially paying for anything right now, like i said we have about $900 per month left over, i just dont like paying that much to one person, thats all i meant. I wish my car was paid off, too. But i still have 6 years on that note. 
You must live in a more expensive area than i do, i dont know anybody around here that pays that much per month. From what ive seen, Piney Woods tx must be one of the cheapest places in the country for real estate. People in places like Maryland and Chicago are paying over 200K for two bedroom condos, and meanwhile in Texas you can get a two story stickbuilt Victorian style home for less than 100K.


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## TrailerParadise

i just found one of the greatest deals in history on drawer glides. the cheapest i found them was $7 a pair thru home depot, and i just found 50 pairs on craigslist for $30. it just cut the remaining budget for the house in half!


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## Nailbags

TrailerParadise said:


> Yeah no bank involved. i dont want anybody except the IRS to be able to take my home from me, Thats one reason why im glad i didnt get the new one. We didnt take out any loans, between me and my future husband we make about $900 extra per month, which we put into the house. No rent payment, no house payment, no nothing except lot rent. And we only pay lot rent until my parents pass away, then the land will belong to me and my sister, and we will own it and the property it sits on. Plus lot rent is only $200 per month, not too shabby. I think we have done pretty well for ourselves, thus far. I do have to admit, we have got a lot done since October, when we started the rebuilding phase. I am shocked now to see what i see in person, then to look back at the pics of what it was when i bought it.


You have done well Glad to see a person work hard be happy and enjoy life.


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## oldhouseguy

TrailerParadise said:


> Our wedding is set for April 19, 2014. One year left. I dont have any problems financially paying for anything right now, like i said we have about $900 per month left over, i just dont like paying that much to one person, thats all i meant. I wish my car was paid off, too. But i still have 6 years on that note.
> You must live in a more expensive area than i do, i dont know anybody around here that pays that much per month. From what ive seen, Piney Woods tx must be one of the cheapest places in the country for real estate. People in places like Maryland and Chicago are paying over 200K for two bedroom condos, and meanwhile in Texas you can get a two story stickbuilt Victorian style home for less than 100K.


200K in Chicago won't buy you much!

For a nice area, try 450ish and way way beyond.


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## TrailerParadise

exactly my point, man. ok we did a lot of work over the weekend. we finished three cabinets and installed them, put the tank on the toilet, replaced a bit of rotted siding near the front door, secured that loose wall beside the front door, and we hung a few pieces of drywall. pics coming tomorrow!


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## TrailerParadise

Sorry about the pics, the site is giving me problems uploading. Ill try again during lunch. Anyway, last night we finished the shell of the 12" cabinet and put the drawer glides on the braces. Tonight i will cut a piece for the base of the pullout and attach the glides to it. I also put together the base and floor of the 24" cabinet.


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## cdnNick

TrailerParadise said:


> i went to Lowes last night and while i was there i checked out the in-stock mass produced vanity cabinets. For one the same size as mine, unfinished, would have cost me $150. And that was junk, made of particleboard and plastic corner braces and staples. Mine on the other hand, is made of oak plywood, whitewood pine face frames (the only 1x2's carried in my local stores, for some dumb reason), and oak 2x4's, with a door made of whitewood 1x3's and 1/2" plywood and a drawer front made of a whitewood 1"x4.5". Solid construction, put together with gorilla brand wood glue, and Kreg pocket screws. We have actually accidentally dropped this thing and it didnt faze it. Mine cost $60. What a savings, huh? Better construction, better bracings, better materials, and $90 cheaper? Heck yeah!


Did you follow a plan or drawings to build the vanity? What thickness is the plywood? My wife wants to replace our vanity but doesn't want to fork the money they want for one that isn't particle board.


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## TrailerParadise

I based it loosely off of the sink base plan from ana-white.com, but i had to modify the width and i had to leave the base off, but i think it turned out ok. Its made of 1/2" plywood and the face frame and door border is whitewood pine. The center of the door is made of 1/2" plywood. I would recommend something besides a circular saw for 1/2" plywood, it eats it up on the edges. I paid about $60 for the materials and it took about an hour to build.


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## TrailerParadise

If you have a bigger bathroom, it would be better to make it out of 3/4" plywood, but my bathroom is tiny, so i went with the thinner stuff.


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## cdnNick

I have see that one on the Ana White website, I was kind of leaving the vanity up to my wife as I have to tackle the floor but she doesn't seem to happy with the idea of painting our current vanity. Around here a 4x8' sheet of 3/4" birch plywood runs around $50 and goes up from there depending on the wood. But I think about $100 would cover the cost of the materials for the vanity, considering some we around $600-800 it would still be a big savings.


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## TrailerParadise

Thats the reason i decided to build my own cabinets, they were way too expensive in the stores. Here i can get a sheet of 4x8 3/4" plywood for $30, but then again i think just about everything is cheaper here, except plumbing connectors. That still gets pricey. YOu just really have to follow the rule of measure twice, cut once, because when you dont have a plan to follow, its easy to mess up.


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## TrailerParadise

OK i finally got the pics to upload! Sorry about the wait. 
I know the fridge and toilet are dirty, like i said, its hard to clean with no running water. Its messy.
The long cabinet beside the fridge is all one unit, i know its not perfect but its pretty good to me, that thing was a royal PITA to build and to carry. The thing weighs about 100lbs or more.
Anyway, more pics coming after the weekend, we have built two more cabinets since these pics were taken, and we begin the third tonight. Enjoy!


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## TrailerParadise

More pics


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## Doc Holliday

no central air conditioning?


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## TrailerParadise

The side of the door opening shown in the last picture was the one that was loose, and now its solid as any other one. Im happy with it.


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## TrailerParadise

No, no central unit. It was ripped out years ago


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## Doc Holliday

are you going to put one back in? It's very easy to do.


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## Doc Holliday

seriously, Trailer, I've installed about 40-50 trailer home mobile systems in the past 7 months. I can do one by myself including a line set in under 4 hours, ready to turn on. you could probably do it in a day, a very relaxed day at that.

if you have the tools, that is.


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## TrailerParadise

No. I dont care much for the price you have to pay to run the air conditioner here, im in east texas and you pretty much have to run the ac on 60 nine months out of the year. Im just going to get room air conditioners and use space heaters. We dont even run the AC in our rent houses that have central units. Its just too costly with our electric company and having to run it so much.
I know theyre supposedly "dangerous" in a mobile home, but my home is made of the same exact stuff that my parents' home is built out of, and so i dont see how they would be any more dangerous in my trailer than they would be in their house. Its drywall, insulation, cement fiber siding, wood floors. No paneling, no carpet.


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## Doc Holliday

not these days, not with a minimum of a 14 seer r410 system. go 16 seer or up and you'll be paying less per hour than it costs to run a 75 watt light bulb.

but i understand. if you do change your mind in the future try us down in the hvac section, we'll walk you through it. Good luck with the remodel, it's coming along nicely!

oh, and I'm in Houston, Tx.


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## TrailerParadise

Plus the place where the original unit was stored has been converted to a closet, the top of it has been drywalled to block off the rooftop vent and the very top is being used now as a runway for the wiring from the bedrooms and bathroom to cross the hallway to access the breaker box. Not to mention most of the ductwork under the place has been pulled out and hauled across the scales, and we just dont have the budget right now to replace the central unit and the ductwork. We would like to get this place finished and move in before Christmas. Hopefully a lot sooner than that.


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## Doc Holliday

make sure all floor registers are sealed/covered then. you don't want them leaking in or out any air. :thumbsup:


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## TrailerParadise

The only register left is the one in the bathroom, and we covered the bottom. The others we covered with plywood and the laminate flooring will be laid right over top of them. Thanks for your advice Doc.


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## Doc Holliday

hey bro, anytime. just glad for the conversation and again, if and when just let us know. that sheetrock and electrical raceway is but a smudge to get rid of. 

Preston.


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## TrailerParadise

Its kinda funny how everybody assumes im a guy. I'm not a dude. Just kinda amuses me, LOL. 
Thanks, if i ever decide to put a system in, this will be the first place i go.


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## TrailerParadise

Oh, and before i forget, i do have a small update. We finished the last two cabinets last night, except for face frames and countertop supports. We will finish those up tonight, and then we will be taking them to the house on Saturday for installation. Moving right along!


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## TrailerParadise

We never made it out to the house this weekend. We planned to finish the face frames and supports friday night, but i underestimated a few things and we ended up having to take apart the drawer base and put it back together, moving drawer positions and redoing the face frame so that it would fit right, conceal the raw edges, and so the drawers could open easily. Soild now though, so hopefully tonight we can put the face frame on the bar cabinet easily enough and take them out to the trailer. Then once we clear a space, i can order the last seven sheets of drywall, to finish the hallway and second bedroom. Yay! Getting closer every week!


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## TrailerParadise

Another budget update - At this moment, we have not returned or sold any more items for the house. So, having spent $2,500 since January, our grand total spent is now sitting at $5,292.02

We still owe a total of $1,109.24 to totally finish the inside, excluding the little bedroom. To make the house livable (which basically just excludes baseboard trim), we can scrape by with $893.20

Before we move in, we have to pay just over $375 to have the roof coated and sealed, and for a tube of caulk to fix the leak in the living room before we move in. So, we can have the place paid for in two months. Not saying the work will be done then, but the money will be there!

(Forgot to say earlier, this weekend we also bought the mirror for the bathroom, which i found on Craigslist for $25)


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## Arlo

Just checking in....You've made lots of progress. I love ana-white.com too and I'm twice you age. I bought a Kreg jig and built washer dryer pedestals last summer. 

How are you going to heat if you don't do a central system? They do sell baseboard heaters now that have the oil sealed in them. You probably have a few months now that you won't need heat though! 

When you are painting don't forget to check the oops paint section at Lowes or Home Depot. Don't buy any awful colors but sometimes they have some really nice colors for $5 a gallon.


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## TrailerParadise

thanks for the tips. i already bought all of the paint i need except white, but if i need some in the future i will look at their selection. i intend to heat the house with space heaters if my fiance is there and my heated blanket when he is working. there are plenty of ways to get around central heat. thanks for reading!


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## TrailerParadise

i know space heaters can easily overload a circuit but when we ran new wiring in the house, we made two outlets with dedicated 12/2 receptacles as the dedicated spot to plug in a space heater or ac unit so it cant overload


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## Kyle_in_rure

TrailerParadise said:


> i know space heaters can easily overload a circuit but when we ran new wiring in the house, we made two outlets with dedicated 12/2 receptacles as the dedicated spot to plug in a space heater or ac unit so it cant overload


Good thinking there. That could save a lot of future headaches :yes:


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## TrailerParadise

Yeah my parents had a house built back in 2000 and it is all running off of 14G wire, and several rooms are run on the same circuit, lights and receptacles, and when they plug in a space heater, it blows the circuit every time. I didnt want to have to deal with that, so i ran all of my receptacles on 12/2 wire and all of my lights on 14/2, and put the dedicated plugs for space heaters on their own circuit, on their own breaker, so that if it did trip for some odd reason, it wouldnt shut down power to half of the house.


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## diycoder

It's always nice to watch people make improvements to their homes. You're doing some nice work.



TrailerParadise said:


> No rent payment, no house payment, no nothing except lot rent. And we only pay lot rent until my parents pass away, then the land will belong to me and my sister, and we will own it and the property it sits on. Plus lot rent is only $200 per month, not too shabby.


So the land is owned by your parents and you're paying them some rent for the use of the land, right? Do you also have to pay the property taxes or is that covered by the lot rent?



TrailerParadise said:


> Sorry about the pics, the site is giving me problems uploading.


I would recommend uploading pics to an image hosting site (I use imgur but other exists like tinypic, minus, etc) and then just pasting the URL into your post. The upload speed for imgur is very fast for me.


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks Diycoder. Yes, my parents own the land, it is my inheritance. From now until it becomes mine, i have to pay $200 per month in lot rent and $100 per year in taxes. Otherwise the only bills we will have that are house related is utilities.
Usually i dont have any issues uploading to this site but at certain times, it takes forever. I guess if too many people are using the uploader or something, i dunno. Thanks for reading, and more updates are coming after the weekend, when we will be able to go out to the house and get some work done.


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## ratchet

I admire you're hard work and it's looking good. Nice that you're out in the country. Make sure you wear a dust mask when you got alot of mouse droppings around cause you can get a fatal disease from inhailing the dust from the droppings. I think it's called "hunta Virus".


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## TrailerParadise

i got too many cats for that. The house has been sitting empty over a year while we are working and i aint seen a mouse yet


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## TrailerParadise

Last night we finished construction of the cabinets. We were racking our brains trying to figure out how to fill the pocket holes on the front of the drawer base, and i tried everything suggested to me and none of it really worked all that well. So, i gave up, i cut another piece of whitewood to the exact same size as the front of the drawer, and i screwed it to the front, from inside the drawer. Now it looks flawless. we have a few spots that need wood filler, and we still have to make several doors, but otherwise the cabinets are done and ready for paint. Installation Saturday! (Hopefully).


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## TrailerParadise

I am sorry about the promised updates. My birthday was this past weekend, and even though i planned to work, my mom wouldnt hear of it and told me to go out with my fiance. So, yeah we didnt go out there. But, i did make a trip to Lowes, i got the paint for the cabinets, window shades to replace the filthy trash bags, the second mirror, mirror hanging hardware, and some rubber sealant to seal around windows, doors, and where there is an unfindable leak in the living room wall. I figure if i put a coat or two of this sealant on every six months or so, it will help to keep the water out until we can afford to have the siding replaced. Today i purchased the final shipment of drywall (it feels so good to say that!) and scheduled it for delivery this afternoon. I already have all of the needed insulation, so once that leak is sealed, it wont be long until the walls are closed. No reasons to delay this weekend, we can get in at least 10 hours of good work. Might be able to finish drywalling the living room and get the cabinets installed. Again, sorry about the delay, but every girl deserves a break on her birthday, doesnt she? After all you dont turn 24 years old every day.


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## TrailerParadise

well its downpouring today so we went out there and looked at the leaky areas and there aint a single drop of water inside the house at all. success!


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## mesmasrtin

I've found this great idea on how to remodel your kitchen if you're interested. The blog has some nice tips for the bathroom remodeling too. You can take a look if you want, I found lots of interesting tips. 

http://www.kitchencabinetkings.com/blog/steps-to-party-ready-kitchen/


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks but my kitchen remodel is already finished planning and about halfway finished being done, and my bathroom is already complete.


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## TrailerParadise

ive got updates and pics! very nice weather this weekend, so we were able to move all of the cabinets from the big house to my trailer, and got them all into place around the stack of drywall. We got the living room cleaned up and even managed to put up two rolls of insulation and two sheets of drywall. It takes a while to cut it on the floor with just a utility knife. I wish there was an easier way but so far i havent found it. Pics!
I know the drawer base looks a little funky with the cutouts, but you have to understand that this kitchen is fully customized for me and my fiance and he is a big man, he has really big fingers so we cut out the back of the drawer front so that it would be easier for him to get his fingers in there to pull it open.


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## TrailerParadise

i also got a better picture of the new back door and the bathroom mirror and electric.


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## TrailerParadise

the bar cabinet and sink base are out of place because of the stack of drywall being in the way and the drain pipe sticking up out of the floor. the sink base will move back two inches and the bar cabinet will come forward two inches.


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## cdnNick

Will you be painting or applying a vaneer to the cabinets?


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## TrailerParadise

painting them white to match the walls. The floor and countertops will be dark


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## TrailerParadise

I just realized i never posted the official breakdown of the bathroom budget. Our original budget for the bathroom was $1500, we fell way below budget by keeping the original footprint and original fixtures.




Wiring: 15’ – 12/2G Yellow Coated Copper Wire, $10.00
15’ – 14/2G White Coated Copper Wire, $10.00
1 GFCI Outlet, $15.00
1 Single Pole Light Switch, $0.50
2 Unbreakable FacePlates, $1.00
Kept Original Light Fixture

Fixtures: Toilet, Free
Sink, Free
Bathtub, Free

Vanity: DIY, $65.00

Vanity Mirror: $20.00

Countertop: $15.00, butcherblock left natural and sealed with poly. Not the most common thing, but cheap and it works

Shower Walls: MAAX Tub Surround, $75.00

Insulation: Johns Manville Fiberglass Insulation w/Vapor Block, $11.00

Walls: ½” Greenboard, 5 Sheets, $50.00
White Kilz2 Mold/Mildew Resistant Primer, $20.00
Carefree Sky Blue Paint, Better Homes and Gardens, $17.00

Glue/Caulk: Shower and Bath Surround Adhesive, $8.00
Shower and Bath Caulk, $4.00

Wax Ring: $4.00

Plumbing: 5 Shutoff Valves, $12.50
5 Flexible Hoses, $40.00
3 8’ CPVC pipes, $3.45
Tees and Elbows, $20.00
CPVC Cement, $5.00
CPVC Primer, $5.00
Pipe Surrounds $4.50
Shower Head, $17.50
Tub Spout and Handles, $40.00
Faucet, $20.00
Gaskets, $12.00

Flooring: Tivoli Plank Oak, $24.00

*Total Renovation Budget: $529.45*


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## Arlo

The cabinets look great. I think you said earlier that you don't have a table saw and all your cuts are being made At Home Depot? That is awesome planning on your part!

I really like the bathroom color. :thumbsup:


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks Arlo. home depot is cutting the plywood because i dont have a table saw. i do have a chop saw and circular saw tho so i cut the face frames and supports myself. not to mention, a full sheet of plywood is not going to fit in my little 2012 vw jetta. cut up, three sheets fit. i dont have a pickup either


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## Arlo

Me neither...no truck. You'd be amazed what fits in a minivan! I have three kids or I wouldn't have chosen such an uncool vehicle.


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## TrailerParadise

Okay well after buying all the sheetrock and other crap last weekend, i updated my remodel spreadsheet and we only have $883 left to finish the inside of the house.
Today my boss gave me a bonus check of $500, plus my fiance's share of $200 for this week and last week, and we are only $183 away! Tonight i can go and either get countertops, or get everything else we need and get the countertops in a couple of weeks. Probably not the brightest idea to get countertops right now, a 10' countertop would be in the way for weeks. Finish line is so close i can taste it!


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## TrailerParadise

Even with that we arent really finished, we still have to come up with $2500 to redo the siding and somewhere around 2k-3k to redo the roof, but i think the outside is in good enough shape for us to get our wedding paid for (2k) and our sewer system (bloodsuckers expect 6k) before we start saving the cash to get the outside redone.


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## TrailerParadise

i know some of you might remember the really bad spots i posted about before, where there were huge gaping holes in the siding, but we managed to seal those with pieces of new siding nailed on over the holes and caulked around. it might not be the pro way to do it, but ill let the pros deal with it sometime next year. As long as it keeps the water out, and so far its doing just that.


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## TrailerParadise

we have been arguing and debating for months about how to get the cheapest countertops for the kitchen. we finally found a solution. my local lowes sells a unfinished 8' butcherblock countertop, $15 for each section. its made of pine and presanded. its a little thin so im going to put a plywood base under it, glue the pieces together and stain it to match the floors.


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## ratchet

Sounds like everything is coming along nicely. I wish I could live out in the country. :thumbsup:


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## TrailerParadise

Well its definitely summer now, i found a lone field mouse inside my living room saturday morning, it had died from the heat. So my cat found himself transported to the mobile home. Havent seen any since, and havent found any droppings or mouse holes, so im hoping that that mouse was alone and just wandered in. 
This weekend we bought the countertops and edging, and we finished the drywall in the living room except for one piece by the door that has four holes to be cut in it and is going to take some time to cut. I was going to run the wires for the dryer, washer, and hot water heater but i had bought 10/2, and we needed 10/3 so i had to go back to Lowes to exchange them. As soon as that wire is ran to the power box, we can go ahead and drywall in the hallway walls. And once that is done, we can move the drywall (if any is left) into the little bedroom, install the cabinets where they are supposed to be, and assemble the countertops to prepare for stain. After the countertops are done and installed, all that is left is the floors and plumbing in the kitchen.


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## Kyle_in_rure

Glad to see your progress. I had a quick question, what kind of plumbing do you have in your home? We have polybutylene (gray hoses) and I'm tempted to re-plumb the hole thing, because we get small leaks where they connect to faucets.


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## TrailerParadise

Gray pipe is death for a mobile home unless you have plywood floors and even that is not going to hold up for long. This house had gray pipe, i ripped every bit of it out and we are in the process of replacing it with CPVC. Just supply lines arent difficult, well for mine anyway because the water lines are basically a T shape, most of the water centered near the bedrooms and two lines running the length of the trailer for the kitchen sink. i would recommend replumbing it if i were you, however if your insulation and belly board are intact, itll prove to be a challenge. My belly board and insulation no longer exist, so its not a big deal for me at this stage. After we move in we will replace the insulation and belly board but right now its all open and exposed. Good luck! 
Oh and the drain pipes are ABS black pipes. I dont know if these are bad or not, but they dont currently leak and they all work, so im just going to leave them be and pray they hold up because i really dont want to replace them.


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## TrailerParadise

i had one thing i wanted to splurge on, i didnt really need it but i sure wanted it. Natural stone baseboard for the kitchen that would tie the floors, accent wall, and countertops together. Lowes had it for $12 a foot, i found the same stuff at Surplus Warehouse for $7.99 a foot for the decorative and $4.99 a foot for the non decorative. Now i just need to get some thinset and grout to put it on the wall after the floor goes down.

Its the same style as this product but its a little longer and lighter colors, and the decorative ones have metal diamond-shape centers instead of the stone. 

http://www.lowes.com/pd_44749-13397-SLATESL14MC0412LIS_0__?productId=3551324&Ntt=stone+border+tile&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dstone%2Bborder%2Btile&facetInfo=



I had a pretty good laugh yesterday. On the way home from work, i stopped in at Surplus and bought the baseboards, and when i was checking out, i told the cashier about my kitchen remodel and how it was nearly complete. He told me that when i was finished, send before and after pictures to surplus' website and i would be entered in a contest to win a $500 gift card to Surplus. I had to laugh. After i spent all that money to finish my house, what am i gonna do with a $500 gift card? They dont carry anything but doors, windows, tubs, sinks, toilets, flooring, tile and cabinets. All of that will already be bought and installed by the time this remodel is finished! LOL. Now if they wanted to give me $500 in cash, that would warrant my time sending them photos.


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## oldhouseguy

TrailerParadise said:


> i had one thing i wanted to splurge on, i didnt really need it but i sure wanted it. Natural stone baseboard for the kitchen that would tie the floors, accent wall, and countertops together. Lowes had it for $12 a foot, i found the same stuff at Surplus Warehouse for $7.99 a foot for the decorative and $4.99 a foot for the non decorative. Now i just need to get some thinset and grout to put it on the wall after the floor goes down.
> 
> Its the same style as this product but its a little longer and lighter colors, and the decorative ones have metal diamond-shape centers instead of the stone.
> 
> http://www.lowes.com/pd_44749-13397-SLATESL14MC0412LIS_0__?productId=3551324&Ntt=stone+border+tile&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dstone%2Bborder%2Btile&facetInfo=
> 
> 
> 
> I had a pretty good laugh yesterday. On the way home from work, i stopped in at Surplus and bought the baseboards, and when i was checking out, i told the cashier about my kitchen remodel and how it was nearly complete. He told me that when i was finished, send before and after pictures to surplus' website and i would be entered in a contest to win a $500 gift card to Surplus. I had to laugh. After i spent all that money to finish my house, what am i gonna do with a $500 gift card? They dont carry anything but doors, windows, tubs, sinks, toilets, flooring, tile and cabinets. All of that will already be bought and installed by the time this remodel is finished! LOL. Now if they wanted to give me $500 in cash, that would warrant my time sending them photos.


If you win, sell the card for a discount on ebay or craigslist, use the cash for anything else anywhere you need.

Even if you got $200, you'd be $200 ahead.


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## Kyle_in_rure

oldhouseguy said:


> If you win, sell the card for a discount on ebay or craigslist, use the cash for anything else anywhere you need.
> 
> Even if you got $200, you'd be $200 ahead.


Money is money after all! :yes:


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## ToolSeeker

Kyle_in_rure said:


> Glad to see your progress. I had a quick question, what kind of plumbing do you have in your home? We have polybutylene (gray hoses) and I'm tempted to re-plumb the hole thing, because we get small leaks where they connect to faucets.


Polybutylene was outlawed several years ago. There was a major class action lawsuit, everyone who had it got it replaced for free. My son in law just found it in his newly purchased home and had to have it all replaced. The bad news is the time limit has expired so now it's on your dime. While you have it opened up REPLACE IT. and I mean all of it you don't want to do all this work and have a major plumbing failure. This was such a big deal companies sprung up doing nothing but replacing this pipe. If you google polybutylene pipe I'm sure you will find a lot more info. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080906184726AAZFsdb I don't know if this come up right or not, if it did read the answer. It is not a matter of this pipe may fail it is a matter of when.


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## TrailerParadise

Thats exactly why i replaced mine. I didnt have water hooked up so i didnt have any leaks but i knew i would, so i just dealt with the problem while it was still easy to do so.


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## Kyle_in_rure

Well I'll definitely look into it. :yes:


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## TrailerParadise

Ok we made quite a bit of progress in the kitchen over the three day weekend. 
- We moved all of the drywall out of the way
- Got all of the cabinets installed and attached to the wall
- countertops screwed down
- sink template drawn on the countertop
- Bar built and screwed to the floor and to the cabinets
- Beadboard panel for the front of the bar cut to size and adjusted to fit (not nailed up yet though)
- Bartop cut to size and screwed down to the framing
- Countertop for the large unit beside the pantry cut and glued together, not screwed down yet
- purchased everything we need to finish the wiring

So as you can see we got a lot done. We worked every possible minute of daylight, battery operated fans going full blast and still roasting to death. I ran out of light too quickly to get any pictures over the weekend but hopefully i can get some pretty quickly.

We are now on a deadline to finish, so we will be working in the evenings when i get off of work as well as on the weekends, because about May of last year, my grandmother visited (she lives 1900 miles away) and i had just bought my trailer, i promised her (not knowing how much would be involved) that next time she visited, i would cook a dinner for her and my grandpa in the trailer. Well she is coming down in September, so that gives us three months to completely finish the bathroom, living room, kitchen, wiring, and plumbing. I would like to have my bedroom completed then too, but right now im aiming to have it presentable, if not finished by September. So, stick with me people, i promise you this project will get finished, and quickly!

As of right now, our to do list is short. 
1. Drywall, mudding and taping
2. Painting
3. Trim
4. Floors
5. Staining countertops and polyurethaning the kitchen floor
6. Install closet and shelving units
7. Countertop in bathroom, finishing touches in there like shower curtain and towel rack
8. Plumbing pipes connected under the floor
9. rework plumbing under the sinks

Shouldnt be too much to finish in three months


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## Kyle_in_rure

Do you have electricity hooked up yet?


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## TrailerParadise

nope not yet


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## Kyle_in_rure

I cannot imagine working in the heat without having a cool place to go. I guess it's not so bad since you're not in the sun all the time.


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## TrailerParadise

its pretty bad, yeah. We have to open all of the windows, and turn on two battery powered fans to carry around with us, they help more than anything. Its not quite as bad as working outside though, because the sun never actually comes inside the house.

In order to turn on my power, i have to get a new meter box, put it on the pole, hook the wires up to it, stand the pole up and into the ground, and run the conduit up into the house to connect to the breaker box. So that is $50 right off the bat, plus we have no way of picking the pole up off the ground, let alone standing it upright, and i have to get a certain length of conduit to be able to run the wires into the house. After all of that, itll be two days waiting on the electric company, and then $50 a month base amount, no matter how much it is used.


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## Kyle_in_rure

The service pole didn't come with the home? :jester:


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## TrailerParadise

Yeah it came with it, its just not in the ground yet. And my dad broke my meter box, so i need to get a new one and attach it to the pole before it goes up.


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## Kyle_in_rure

TrailerParadise said:


> Yeah it came with it, its just not in the ground yet. And my dad broke my meter box, so i need to get a new one and attach it to the pole before it goes up.


Oh ok, we'll hopefully it won't be too big of a deal. :yes:


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## TrailerParadise

shouldnt be. In theory. Of course, with this PITA trailer, no theory EVER works out. For example, the cabinets on the back of the bar are exactly 61". In theory, cutting bottom and top studs for the bar at exactly 61" should have made them perfectly level with the cabinets. Nope. Dang walls are crooked i guess. the bottom is perfect, the top is off, and yet the thing is dead level in every possible way, and so is the cabinet. Ill never understand it. Hopefully we will have a little more luck with the pole.


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## TrailerParadise

The kitchen is very close to finished now, my mom is out there today painting face frames and the accent wall, so once that is done, then we can do the floors, which shouldnt take long since its only 125 sq ft, and then we can stain the countertops and attach the trim pieces. The only thing we cant do right now is the ceiling and baseboard trim, because that requires a finish nailer which requires electricity, and for that we have to have a long extension cord or a generator. But that is all that is left. None of that will take long, except waiting for the stain to cure, then cutting out the sink hole and putting the sink in and building a new drain pipe. With any luck we will finish the kitchen this weekend!


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## Kyle_in_rure

TrailerParadise said:


> shouldnt be. In theory. Of course, with this PITA trailer, no theory EVER works out. For example, the cabinets on the back of the bar are exactly 61". In theory, cutting bottom and top studs for the bar at exactly 61" should have made them perfectly level with the cabinets. Nope. Dang walls are crooked i guess. the bottom is perfect, the top is off, and yet the thing is dead level in every possible way, and so is the cabinet. Ill never understand it. Hopefully we will have a little more luck with the pole.


It's not just trailers. Remodeling can be a pain because things may be crooked or not level, or walls can be bowed.


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## cdnNick

I can't believe you are doing all this work with out any power, I would go nuts without being able to use my power tools.

Even big expensive houses are all crooked. I think some of the wall in our house used the old eyeball method when they were put up. I have one wall that the last two feet of it shoot out to the left almost 3/4" the first 4' are nice and straight. I guess it's an 'added' detail. lol


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## TrailerParadise

LOL Nick it doesnt bother me to use cordless tools. Everything we use now is battery operated, from the fans to keep us cool to the cordless circular saw, jigsaw, drills, flashlights, i havent found anything yet that we absolutely must have electric for, except the finish nailer, and thats only because renting a cordless one would cost me $75 an hour. So finish trim will have to wait.


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## Kyle_in_rure

Cordless tools are great!


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## TrailerParadise

yep i couldnt be happier with my Ryobi collection. Theyre awesome!


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## Kyle_in_rure

I inherited some Ryobi tools from a friend It's amazing how powerful the drill and saw are.


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## TrailerParadise

Yeah the little circular saw shocked me speechless the first time i used it. I expected it to be less powerful, barely able to cut masonite, but it ripped right through a sheet of 3/4" plywood without breaking a sweat. One night, during nonstop cabinet construction, we actually had to set the batteries outside in the cold night air to cool off because they were too hot to even charge. Only irritating part is the push button operation. The saw requires you to push a button before you can pull the trigger, and it requires both hands so its pretty irritating. The jigsaw and reciprocating saw are the same way. I havent quite worked up the courage to use the recip saw yet. The drill was actually the third one i bought, the first one didnt have enough power to unscrew a simple wood screw, and the second one, while powerful, was just too difficult to change batteries and it wouldnt stand upright, just irritated the hell out of me. The Ryobi drill has met and exceeded all of my expectations. I will not hesitate to purchase another Ryobi tool.


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## Kyle_in_rure

I agree.


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## cdnNick

I went the corded route for most of my tools except the drill and impact driver (Milwaukee) which I love. I did so much cutting with my saw for out current reno I couldn't even imagine how many batteries it would have chewed through. Most of the tools I don't use often so I wanted to avoid batteries.


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## TrailerParadise

I think out of everything ive done for my trailer, ive only had to stop progress to charge batteries twice, and that was only during cabinet construction, when the batteries overheat quickly because of chewing through endless plywood.


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## TrailerParadise

I went last night and looked at the progress my mom and sister made yesterday morning. It looks so great! They painted the small strip of wall between the built in cabinet and the beadboard near the fridge. Now it looks perfect. They also pulled out the long cabinet and painted the entire thing, inside and out, and put it back, then screwed it to the wall and screwed the countertop down. Now im curious, i dont know if want to use the white trim for the countertop edge, or if i should buy the trim unfinished and stain it. However, either today or tomorrow they will go out and put in the sink, and mud the end wall one more time, then this weekend we can paint the end wall, paint the other cabinets, and stain the countertops, maybe even get started on the floor, if not finish the floor. Now that i finally figured out how to cut that damn beadboard, it makes things a lot easier. I do want to give credit where credit is due, so whoever it was that suggested to put painters tape on the cut line and cut it upside down with a circular saw, thanks a million. It worked like a charm. Ive tried cutting it before with a circular, but not with the tape and not upside down. Thankfully we only have one more piece of beadboard left to put on.


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## TrailerParadise

OK sorry about the lack of updates. We have been busy. I painted the inside and outside of the sink base, the outside of the 12" cabinet and the drawer base, painted the drawers, and painted half of the pullout in the 12" cabinet. We also bought a bunch of 1x3's and plywood to attempt to make the cabinet doors. It failed miserably. So, i threw all of that into the shed, returned what plywood we hadnt destroyed, and went to Restore. I bought some cabinet doors, intending to modify them to fit and be done with it, until i noticed they were made of simple plywood with trim glued on. Then i realized it was much cheaper to just buy plywood, and put my own trim on it! So yesterday morning i took the cabinet doors back to Restore, got a refund, and last night i went to Home Depot. I bought two sheets of cabinet grade sanded plywood, and seven 14' sticks of flat, 2" x 1/4" trim. I had them cut them down to the widths i needed, and cut the trim down to 4' sticks, and i walked out of there with everything i need to finish the cabinets for only $124. I lost $100 on the first attempt, but its still cheaper than buying these cabinets premade. 
Tonight or tomorrow, i am going to measure the cabinets, cut the pieces down to the height i need, glue the trim to the fronts, clamp them together. Then once they are dry, i will paint them to match the cabinets, and attach hinges and knobs. This weekend, we will screw them to the face frames of the cabinets. 
Its nearly time for the big reveal, only the countertop stain, sink, and floors are left.


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## Kyle_in_rure

Movin right along! 

I saw some cabinets year ago that we're just made with painted wall paneling with 1x's on the back for support 
:drink:


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks Kyle. We attempted doors again last night, and i believe we have a success! It very closely resembles a shaker style! We just have to sand the edges and paint them.


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## GinaMarie

Is the board under the living room window to hold up an air conditioner, because of water damage from the air conditioner, or water damage from somewhere else?


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## GinaMarie

The bathroom doesn't look too bad, compared to the rest. LOL!


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## GinaMarie

That electrical box looks scary.


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## GinaMarie

What is so sad is that at some point this was a brand new, nice home and someone did this to it. No pride, no respect. Pathetic.


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## Kyle_in_rure

GinaMarie said:


> What is so sad is that at some point this was a brand new, nice home and someone did this to it. No pride, no respect. Pathetic.


I would imagine after the OP gets through it will be just like new :yes: it really is sad that people leave houses in such bad shape though. I saw a foreclosure recently where the previous owners knocked random holes in the drywall and stole all the cabinet doors. What a waste.


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## GinaMarie

Beautiful!


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## GinaMarie

Gigantic Spider! I would never go under the house again!!


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## GinaMarie

Love that cabinet style.


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## GinaMarie

You are doing great money wise. Keep up the good work!


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## GinaMarie

Great info. Thanks.


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks GinaMarie. Im not sure what board you are talking about, there was never a window a/c unit in the living room. At least not since i bought it. The part that was covered in black plastic was because of some missing drywall. 

Short update: We have been busy working on the doors. We ended up having to drag out the chop saw to cut the trim pieces, but once we did, the cutting went quickly. We used the circular to cut the door panels to size, then used Gorilla wood glue to glue the trim to the front. Last night and the night before, i filled the gaps with wood filler and sanded the edges and the front trim pieces, then last night i painted two doors. They will still need a coat with a roller to get rid of the brush marks, but that can be done after we have them installed. Today, while my dad is sleeping, my mom is supposed to work on painting the remaining doors and screwing the hinges and handles on them. The only thing that needs done before installing them is to paint the face frame of the bar cabinet, easier than painting around hinges. 
I thought we would get a lot more done this weekend but i underestimated how much work was involved in making these doors, when you have to fill them, wait to dry, sand them, fill again, wait, sand, paint, dry, paint, dry, paint, dry. After that is over, you've spent two hours on one door. On the bright side, they look amazing!
Thanks for reading, and i am working really hard to get it done so that you guys can see more pictures! Dont quit on me now!


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## TrailerParadise

We have been working throughout the week on the doors, we still havent finished them. I might have made a mistake going with cabinet grade plywood, because it soaks up paint like nobody's business. We are currently on our fourth coat of paint and still isnt the pure white coverage im looking for. however, we did get the backs to the white i wanted, so i put the hinges on and im just going to go hang them on the cabinets and paint the fronts in place. Never realized how difficult it would be to paint cabinet grade plywood and solid poplar. Stupid. Anyway, we are working on it! Tonight, another coat of paint and then set out to dry overnight so we can hang them tomorrow morning.


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## Kyle_in_rure

Hmm that's interesting. We built some cabinets out of some particle board (not OSB). It only took primer plus two coats.


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## TrailerParadise

My mom didnt want to use primer, so i imagine that is why its taking so long to do. We got three doors hung this weekend and we also painted the accent wall in the kitchen. With Father's Day bbq's and wedding stuff, that was pretty much the most we could do. Sometime this week i intend to go out there and do the tan overlay on the accent wall and hang the sink base and drawer base doors. Looking good so far!


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## TrailerParadise

Okay slight change in plans. My parents had their renters just give notice that they will be leaving by the end of the month. The only way to overcome such short notice is for me and my parents to move into the rent house and rent out the big house. So it has become necessary for me to have a place to store 75 percent of my junk, since the rent house is a lot smaller. 
So, we are, for now, abandoning the kitchen. We are still working on painting doors at night at the big house, but as for actually working at the trailer, we are shifting our attention to the master bedroom. Thankfully its nearly complete. We will be spending the next two weekends finishing the mudding of the bedroom walls, painting the walls, and putting down the hardwood so that around the first of July i can move my boxes into the master.


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## TrailerParadise

Another productive weekend! Pics coming soon

This weekend we got four of our window shades hung (we are sick of stapling trash bags up); finished the remaining doors and hung all but three; mudded and sanded the master bedroom, ready to paint; started to hang the closet but the battery died after the second screw; installed one cornice on the bar; installed most of the electric in the bedroom; and finished it up by making a trip to Walmart to get all of the necessary curtain rods, hinges, and remaining door hardware. 
My mom will be out there today, putting up the curtain rods and measuring for curtains. The kitchen is nearly complete, only have to hang three more cabinet doors, apply one more coat of paint to the doors, install handles, stain the countertops, overlay the accent wall and lay the flooring. Thanks for reading! I promise i will get pics soon of the master bedroom.


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## Kyle_in_rure

Glad to hear of the progress


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks Kyle. We took advantage of the one and half hours of daylight after work last night to hang curtain rods. We got them all hung up and created moveable curtains from trashbags, and got those hung up. Movin right along...

I also received my very first black thumbnail last night, after working almost a solid ten months on rebuilding, and working a solid two months on demolition, and it wasnt even my fault! Well it kinda was, but i wasnt the one holding the frikken hammer. My mom was attempting to hammer in a nail partway to start a path for the miserable excuse for a screw they give you with those curtain rods, and since she was on the floor, and i was on the ladder, she couldnt quite reach. So, not even thinking about it, i reached over to hold the nail steady, and she missed. BOOM. NEVER TRUST SOMEONE ELSE TO NAIL IN A NAIL YOU ARE HOLDING!!!

Anyhow, now i am nursing a very sore black thumbnail. And attempting to type with it. 

We also encountered our first snake of the season last night. Copperheads run rampant on our land, because of the pond on a neighboring lot, and because of the pastures on the back of our lot. About halfway to the trailer last night, a copperhead slithered across my path, it was a youngun, only about a foot and a half long. It turned halfway across the path and headed straight for my mom, so i grabbed a broken half of a 2"x4"x8" cinderblock and chunked it at the serpent. It struck him in the head, and stunned him, and allowed me ample time to reach it, and promptly chop it in half with the sharp broken edge of the cinderblock. Then i threw the block on top of the body and stomped on it. Then we threw some dirt on it to keep my cat off of him. I hate snakes, horrid creatures.


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## Kyle_in_rure

Ouch! I slammed my thumb in a truck door last summer, the old nail eventually fell off; it took about 3 months to heal. Good luck...

I hate hanging curtains period :laughing:


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## Blondesense

TrailerParadise said:


> We also encountered our first snake of the season last night. Copperheads run rampant on our land, because of the pond on a neighboring lot, and because of the pastures on the back of our lot. About halfway to the trailer last night, a copperhead slithered across my path, it was a youngun, only about a foot and a half long. It turned halfway across the path and headed straight for my mom, so i grabbed a broken half of a 2"x4"x8" cinderblock and chunked it at the serpent. It struck him in the head, and stunned him, and allowed me ample time to reach it, and promptly chop it in half with the sharp broken edge of the cinderblock. Then i threw the block on top of the body and stomped on it. Then we threw some dirt on it to keep my cat off of him. I hate snakes, horrid creatures.


BTDT with the copperheads. It's hard to kill those dead enough, ain't it?


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## TrailerParadise

The only good snake is a dead snake. And no snake will ever be dead enough for me to touch it with my bare hands. Horrible creatures.


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## TrailerParadise

We didnt have a lot of time to work this weekend but we did get the bed frame cut and screwed together and screwed to the wall, floor, and footboard. still have to put the cross supports in before we can put on the flat box spring support. We also got the closet hung up, and screwed the bars to the wall. I wasnt sure about the whole re-arrange-able closet system but i love it now that its installed! I put a shelf that was too close to one side, so i just picked it up and scooted it over! I love it! This week i only work three days, so ill be working on painting the walls and putting in hardwood flooring around the bed frame. i forgot my phone so i didnt get to take pics, but i will before we start any more work.


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## TrailerParadise

Sorry for the long absence. Things just kinda went topsy turvy around here. Most important thing is, the trailer is no longer destined for me and my fiance. I still own it, but we wont be living there. My dad agreed to let us live in one of his houses, so that we can get married sooner and put our money toward the wedding.
We will still be fixing the trailer up, and when its finished, it will be rented out. But we made some big changes. The floors of the living room and second bedroom have been changed to carpeting, and the master is still hardwood. The bathroom is the same, while the kitchen has been changed to self-stick tiles. I know they arent the best option but with renters, its easier to fix damage with those than laminate.
So, since we are so close to finished as it was, it wont take long to hit the finish line, especially since carpet can be laid in a fraction of the time it takes to lay laminate. With my parents co-owning it, which is a requirement for renting it out, now the electricity can be turned on, and we can finally use a finish nailer to hang trim pieces. We will be replacing the faceframes of the kitchen cabinets to look nicer, but otherwise the kitchen is staying pretty much the same. We are, however, switching out the one-track supports for the upper shelves and using double-track ones instead, because the double-track brackets have screw holes to attach the shelves, which is also a must with a rental. Pictures will come soon. In the meantime, im gonna go ahead and post a few pictures of what we have done to the master, but keep in mind it will change in the next few weeks. The paint color wont, but the location of the closet, type of closet is changing and the headboard is coming down, being replaced with drywall. Ill post the pics as soon as i can get them emailed to myself.


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## TrailerParadise

as promised


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## Kyle_in_rure

Glad to hear of the updates! At least all the remodeling won't be for naught. 

I wanted to ask you, does this home have any roof overhang? Ours is a metal roof with no overhang, and there are useless mini gutters nailed to the edge of the tin roof.


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## TrailerParadise

ours is the same as yours. Tin roof, tiny gutters that dont do anything to channel water. No overhang. Thats why im finding it so impossible to create an awning over the front door. Now that we are putting renters in it, im not even concerned about that anymore. The new house we are living in has a covered porch.


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## Kyle_in_rure

We have a small metal "awning" over the back door that came with the trailer. 
It just drives me crazy watching water run down the outside walls. :laughing: 

I mean why put mini gutters on it at all? I could understand maybe over doors and windows, but all that do is leak and hold debris and water....


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## TrailerParadise

mine are mostly rusted out at the bottom, so they dont even hold that. They desperately need to be removed and replaced with a steel roof but that will have to wait


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## Kyle_in_rure

We removed a section that was about to fall off. Patched the nail holes with an asphalt roofing compound. No leaks. :yes:


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## Jason66

WOW you have a nice mobile house, I love it because after rebuild it looks awesome. specially the kitchen area is looking great. I want to see more photos of you mobile home. Thanks


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks Jason. To be perfectly honest i havent set foot in the trailer since those last pics were taken, its the middle of August and blasted HOT out there. You cant hardly breathe in there right now, with the new insulation and metal roof. Even with the windows thrown open and four fans running its not even enough to make it bearable. We cant stay out there longer than five minutes, so needless to say there is no work being done. Last year we started the rebuilding phase on October 1st, and i imagine itll be pretty close to that time before we can start working this year. Im hoping to have it done and rented before my wedding, but that may not be possible since that's only 6 months away from October and i dont think i will have a lot of time. Doesnt really matter about time anyway, me and my future hubby are settled into our new home and so far its been pretty great, really smooth sailing. 
I did go to lowes last weekend and traded the sink for a cheaper version, and returned all of the flooring we had in order to get the money for carpet, padding, and tack strips. Surprisingly, they cost just about the same amount. Somehow i thought carpet would be cheaper. Oh well, it is easier to replace. Stay tuned, i havent abandoned you all!


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## TrailerParadise

I am sorry about the lack of updates, its still freakin hot outside and the 2 week forecast calls for triple digits every day. Hopefully toward the end of the month itll start to cool down.
I have the money to buy all of the flooring, so once we are able to work and finish up the mudding, taping, and painting, itll be really easy to go ahead and finish the little bedroom and living room. Kitchen still needs a fair bit of work, bathroom is nearly done, and the master bedroom still needs a bit of work. We will get there, stay with me!
Just wanted to share, last night my sister called me and told me that this friend of hers, who has seen our progress in the trailer, wanted to buy my ventahood from me. 
This does not make sense to me. The girl has plenty of money, my ventahood is a cheapie from Lowes, only cost $40. She can easily buy one herself, yet she wants me to disconnect wiring, remove it from the shelf its bolted to, and leave a huge gaping hole in the wall until i can get another one. No thanks! We worked hard on that! That ventahood is a LOT heavier than it looks! Plus we are trying to FINISH the place, not tear it apart. 
Wow, i just dont understand some people! I told her i was extremely uncomfortable removing anything from the trailer and i would prefer that she buy one from Lowes herself. Especially since i wasnt going to give her any sort of price break, not with the labor it took to install, and the labor it would take to uninstall. Just wanted to share that little story with ya'll! Stay tuned, updates SHOULD start next month, IF it cools off enough.


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## TrailerParadise

We are getting there, forecast is calling for mid-nineties this week and its not supposed to get any hotter, so hopefully over the next two weeks itll drop into the mid to upper eighties and we can finally begin working again. Ive rearranged all of the wedding mumbo jumbo around so that i can have all of the winter season weekends free to work out there. 
Can you tell Im itching to go back to work on it?

From my calculations, once i factor in gift cards and savings, i will only need about $227 in cash to finish everything inside except the hot water heater. We will still need just over $500 to finish it completely (hot water heater, front door, roof coating) and we need some type of sewer, but im just focused on finishing the inside right now. The wiring is 95% complete and insulation is 80% complete. If the house has taught me anything, its that if all you have to do is walls and floors, a room can be finished in 1-2 days. So, the little bedroom, master bedroom, hallway, and living room wont take long to finish. 

Thanks for reading, and im really hoping and keeping my fingers crossed that temps drop in the next two weeks and i can put my itching fingers back to work in the house. Im so ready im nearly bouncing off the walls!


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## TrailerParadise

THANK THE LORD! We woke up this morning to 55 degree temps. My air conditioner was frozen! Looks like we will be able to work this weekend! Stay tuned everyone, this dead thread is about to get interesting again!


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## PoleCat

I was wondering how the Taj Ma Trailer was coming along. Had a hot humid spell here a few weeks back that sidelined me for a few days.


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## TrailerParadise

I was just scanning through my quite extensive photo collection from this journey and found these two, when placed side by side show quite the difference. Before, and After. Master bedroom, front wall.
These look like two different angles but its the same piece of wall, just one pic shows more floor and the other shows more ceiling.


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## TrailerParadise

When i got home yesterday i went out to the trailer. I walked through every room, looking for evidence of mice (holes in drywall, droppings, bodies, smell, urine stains) and found nothing. Anyone who has ever been in the vicinity of a mouse knows the smell of one.
I also examined the ceiling and new drywall, looking for water stains or swelled portions that would indicate a leak, and didnt find any of that either. I checked all of the exposed wiring, and there were no bite marks or poop marks or anything on them. The absolute only difference in the trailer now, as opposed to May, is the smell. That old, musty, closed-up abandoned mobile home smell is back, hopefully it will go away the more we are out there. Im glad we can pick up where we left off, and just finish what we started without having to redo anything.
Freakin lizard scared the crap out of me though, i went to leave and just about the time i set one foot on the top stair, a lizard came shooting out of the trailer, past my foot, and disappeared under the trailer. I thought it was a mouse, i jumped about three feet in the air and wasted no time locking that door and getting back into my car. I hate lizards, theyre creepy.


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## TrailerParadise

Sorry i dont have any pics for you yet, but we did go out there and work this weekend. We removed the custom headboard from the master bedroom wall and put a new piece of drywall in that spot. We also removed the closet bars so we can put them in a different place. Now we have to mud a few more spots and paint a bit more and the master bedroom walls will be done. 
We wouldve done more but my mom injured her leg on Friday and she was hurting pretty bad by the time we finished that piece of drywall on Sunday so we just called it a day and hope to return to work on the next Saturday. 
We would work throughout the week but my parents are fixing up another trailer as well and i still have wedding stuff i have to do during the week so its not exactly possible at this point in time. 
Thanks for reading! More updates and pics coming next week!


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## Wango

I have to say I admire the effort you put into this. I have done a 28x65.. every square inch except for 1 room. It cost approx. $40K but well worth it as compared to going into debt on a new home. We replaced everything from the insulation, sheetrock, fixtures, gutted the entire kitchen even took out the floor and insulation in it. Replaced EVERYTHING with all house materials, custom cabs, granite counter tops, about 20K in the kitchen alone. Claw foot tub, arched doors and cabinetry in the closets instead of standard shelves. As you know these things aren't "normal" to work on, nothing is square and there are very few (if any) stock items at HD or Lowes as replacements so once you start ripping out, it leads to more ripping. My hat is off to you for your efforts, I'm curious to see your updated photos. Take care, Wango


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## TrailerParadise

thanks Wango. Its definitely been quite a journey and it seems like a lifetime ago to look at the original pictures now. Hoping i can get ya'll some updated pics this weekend.

Real estate seems to be on the rise again in my area. I have only seen one new home go up around here since the housing boom back in 1999 - 2000. Now, just on my commute to work, i am watching the day-to-day progress of two new homes that are going up, one is now to the point of framing the second story and house-wrapping the bottom story; the other has just finished the framing of the bottom level and is currently attaching sheathing. Very cool, getting to see the day-to-day progress. There is also a remodel happening that really confuses me. 
This guy bought an old burnt brick home. The inside was completely charred and all the windows broken, roof collapsed. He went in with a vengeance, ripped out all of the old framing and roofing, put in new framing, new rafters, new decking and new shingles. The bricks are still there. What confuses me, is that he didnt replace the windows, and its been five months or so since the roof went on. What is the point of replacing a roof, if you are going to leave huge gaping holes in your walls? Seems to me that he did a lot of work and is taking a chance of it all getting ruined. He didnt replace the fascia boards or the garage door either. Its all open to the weather.
Anyhow, still cool to see the progress.


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## TrailerParadise

I also had an amusing experience yesterday. In high school, i took theatre and our main job was to set up and take down sets for the high school plays. ONe of the items on the curriculum was to learn to properly and efficiently use power tools. My teacher had a full set of circular saw, recip saw, jig saw, band saw, electric drill, table saw, and chop saw. We had to learn all of them by final exams. I failed that class because i tried to use the drill and it burned my fingers holding on to the screw, and i refused to touch the other tools.
Well yesterday i came across my old theater teacher in walmart and i told him about my trailer project. Naturally he didnt believe me. My mom backed me up though and i showed him some of the progress pics on my phone, and he seemed thoroughly shocked that i am now skilled in the use of all of those tools he tried to teach me to use all those years ago, with the exception of a band saw. he was actually speechless, LOL. That felt nice. Plus learning to use these tools was on my bucket list, and have been successfully checked off, so im good.


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## kimberland30

Hahaha, that's awesome!


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## TrailerParadise

We worked as long as we could on Sunday, and we got a fair bit of work done. We got the new drywall in the master bedroom mudded and taped, and we redone two seams in the bedroom that looked horrible, and we cut out the weak floor in front of the door in the master. We were planning to get the new plywood cut and installed yesterday too but we ran out of daylight at 6:30PM. Honestly! Pics coming as soon as i get them downloaded from my email.


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## TrailerParadise

OK pics pics pics!!!!

There is a pic of the new drywall, all mudded and taped; a closeup of the drywall; and the hole in the floor where we cut out the weak spot. Before you ask, the things inside that hole consist of the stove wire, the grounding wire, and a useless duct that used to be part of the central air and is no longer operable.


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## Arlo

I think you once said you did not install central heat in the trailer? Where I live it's okay for owner/inhabitants to do pretty much what they want but it is illegal to rent out a living space with no central heat. If there were to be a fire with a tenant and a space heater there might be legal complications for the landlord. You might want to check. Baseboard heat would be an easy install. Other things I recall are you must have a working smoke detector, locks and screens on the windows. It should be fairly easy with the internet to find out what you must provide in Texas.


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## TrailerParadise

thanks Arlo but my dad is a landlord to several properties and he knows the rule book inside and out. Window units are fine, my own house im renting has window units and no central unit. screens are nice but arent required, locks are but we have those already and a smoke detector is in the plans to install later on. Around here the only thing the authorities really get involved in is the financial matters, like kicking out a tenant without reason or evicting them and not giving them their deposit back. The house itself just has to be livable and safe for inhabiting. We have dedicated 20-Amp 12-Gauge plugs in the bedroom and living room for space heaters though, so a fire shouldnt be too much of a hazard as long as we rent to a clean person that doesnt throw clothing over top of a space heater. Whoever this goes to will be a mature adult with impeccable references.


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## TrailerParadise

Sorry about the delay. Things arent so cut and dry anymore, before, i could spend both days of every weekend out there working, but now i have wedding stuff going on and my parents are working on their own trailer, so we havent even had a chance to work on it. But we do have plans to go ahead and work this weekend, id like to get the holes in the master floor patched, and the window caulked, the wall sanded and painted again, and hopefully get the little bedroom cleaned out so we can finish drywalling in there. I got some free carpet this weekend, but i havent decided if i really want to use it in there with this place being a rental.


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## TrailerParadise

we went out there today and worked for about six hours, fixing the major hole in the master bedroom. We ended up tearing out the rest of that cavity all the way to the wall, since it was all rotten anyway, and spent an hour pulling staples out of the joists before we screwed some cross supports between the two joists, and put a new piece of 5/8" plywood down there and screwed it to the joists and cross supports. Solid as a rock now. Yeah I know the floor should be 3/4" but the rest of the floor is 5/8" and im not redoing the whole floor. Sorry, but that's not going to happen. We also caulked the hell out of the window that was leaking, both inside and out, and hopefully it holds. We will find out in the morning since it has rained since nightfall. We worked the entire six hours on the floor, so its the only thing we have done today. Here's a pic. Its a little dark, but it was pretty dark in the trailer and my fiancé's computer doesn't have photo editing software so I cant lighten it up any.


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## TrailerParadise

We started on the floor in the bedroom this weekend. We finally managed to stop that leak, so we cleaned out the room, swept the floor, pulled up all the staples, and covered the plywood with underlayment. We got about two boxes of flooring laid before the daylight ran out, and we planned to return to the attack on Sunday but we were both so sore we could barely walk so we decided to finish the room next saturday. However, i did finish redoing the closet in my current house, ill post a new thread on that as soon as i can get the pictures to download to my computer.


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## TrailerParadise

Sorry for the lack of updates. We havent had a chance to get back out there since my last update. Between the ice storm that just ripped its way through, christmas coming up, and wedding stuff, we just havent had time. i will be so glad when this wedding gets here so we can dedicate all of our time to the house again. 
Whenever we are able to go back out there, after the ice melts, we intend to finish the master bedroom floor and baseboards, finish painting the walls in there and get the electric installed in the laundry room so we can get the drywall started there.


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## ica171

It's looking good! I hope you've been able to get back out, it seems like you're pretty close to finishing.

This thread is bringing back memories. We bought a single wide trailer a few years back, and were told all it needed was cleaning and paint. The electricity was off when we first looked at it, so we couldn't really see how bad it was. Ended up replacing about 70% of the subfloor, new water heater, new kitchen, all new flooring, new walls, some new wiring, new built-ins, etc. And of course, as soon as we finished all that work our circumstances changed and we had to move. I still miss it, it was the most finished house (in terms of the remodeling projects I wanted to do) and one of the cheapest.


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks ica171. We havent been out yet because of the winter weather, unnaturally cold for Texas, but tomorrow we are definitely going to head back out there and see what's what. My grandma is wanting to rent it from us when its done, so we want to go ahead and finish it up the best we can until we run out of supplies, then we will go ahead and finish it all once the wedding is over.


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## TrailerParadise

i know you guys must hate me by now, but we did go out there and do some work a few weekends ago. We just returned from the honeymoon on Monday, so now its all about the trailer again. 
We walked through the house, wrote down what we needed and what still needed to be done. We didnt find any evidence of critters, but we did find evidence of leaks, so we will be going out there hopefully this weekend to fix the leaks. I promise we will update soon, with pictures.


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## gma2rjc

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. TrailerParadise!!! 

(Now get back to work!  :laughing: )


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## TrailerParadise

LOL gma2rjc, we will. And thank you!


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## TrailerParadise

So this weekend was all about the trailer. Saturday we went out there armed with a push mower and a weedeater, and got all of the grass mown down. (necessary, cause of snakes). That alone took the whole day, so yesterday we attacked the leaks. We couldnt find the actual hole where the water was coming in, but we do know the area, so since the siding is some type of wood (painted OSB, but tougher) we got some outdoor wood filler, plugged the entire seam where it was leaking, and then went over the top edge with silicone, and painted the whole wall. I know the siding needs replaced, and it will be, but hopefully the repairs we made yesterday will buy me a year or so to save up cash. 
Just painting alone made a 1000 percent difference. It looks like a different trailer!
Next weekend, we will finish up the paint job on the front and sides, and ill post photos of it. I would have taken photos yesterday but it got dark too quickly


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## Windows on Wash

Good update. Post up some pictures as I know folks love seeing before-and-after stuff.


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## TrailerParadise

pics are coming next weekend, once we finish painting


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## TrailerParadise

I just scored the biggest craigslist find of my remodel journey! I found enough flooring to cover the master bedroom, hallway, living room, and kitchen, for only $110! going to pick it up tonight and tomorrow (2 different ads) and itll be installed either this weekend or next, not sure which. Ill be sure to post pics! So excited!


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## TrailerParadise

Finally got a couple of pictures! We fully intended to finish painting it this weekend, but the heat made that impossible since the sun shines directly on the front side of the trailer, and today it was about 98 degrees out there. We had no choice but to work inside. 
Yesterday we sanded down the re-mudded lines in the master, to prep them for another coat of mud. We also cleaned out the room to prep for carpet. We decided we were going to go ahead and cut out the pieces of carpet for the two rooms (living room and bedroom), and we spent approx. 3 hours cleaning out the living room so we can spread the carpet out. It took the two of us literally about 2 hours to move the roll of carpet and get it unrolled in the living room, and thats about as far as we got. The heat was just too much. So i took some pics of the living room with the carpet unrolled, and the trim boards back up on the mirror wall. We havent decided if we are going to do the crossboards or not, we are going to paint the wall first and see what it looks like before we decide.

Before i post pics, i want to make one thing clear. We are NOT installing the carpet before the walls are finished. We are just cutting it. After its cut, we are going to re-roll it and leave it in the floor, then install it after the drywall is finished and painted. Needless to say, the outside didnt get finished getting painted so no pics of that. Enjoy the pics, hopefully more to come soon.


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## garage_doors

what an amazing transformation!


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## TrailerParadise

garage_doors said:


> what an amazing transformation!


Im not entirely sure whether you mean that sarcastically, or genuinely, so I'm going to assume its genuine and just say thank you! I believe its a lot better now than it used to be. Not so much brown, and all of the wiring actually works without being a fire hazard.


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## TrailerParadise

PICS PICS PICS!!!
We finally managed to get some uninterrupted work time out there! The weather was a very nice mild 70 degrees. We worked on the master bedroom, since my grandma and grandpa will be coming down in about 2 months and need somewhere to store their stuff. Its the biggest out-of-the-path room, so i wanted it done. We built the wood cage for the hot water heater, sanded and painted the walls where we needed to repair them, installed a nice shelf in the corner, and laid the carpet. The carpet is just laying there, it hasnt been stretched or tacked down yet. I think it looks pretty nice, myself. We also painted the mirror wall in the living room. I like it better without the extra trim, so i think i will leave it this way. Only thing left now in the master is to stretch and tack down the carpet and base trim! Trim requires a finish nailer, which requires power, and we're fresh out of that, so itll have to wait:whistling2:

Anyway, ive jabbered on long enough, here's your pics! And before anyone starts on it, i know there are still some visible mud lines, we tried our best and it still didnt turn out perfect so ive washed my hands of it. Next time, ill hire a pro. For now, it works. PICS PICS PICS!!!


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## TrailerParadise

last two pics


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## TrailerParadise

Now that the master bedroom is all but finished, (except trim installation and closing in the water heater, which cant be done until we get a heater), i can go ahead and post the budget breakdown for that room. This room was pretty bad when we started, so we couldnt salvage anything from it, except the wall studs and subflooring and one small piece of drywall that we salvaged because it had the roof arch, and it saved me one PITA cut. So it was a fresh slate.
When we started, i budgeted $500 total. We exceeded that, coming in at $589.50.

Wiring: 25’ 12/2G Copper Wire, $25.00
15’ 14/2G Copper Wire, $15.00
6 Duplex Receptacles, $3.00
1 Single Pole Switch, $.50
6 Unbreakable Faceplates, $6

Insulation: 2 JohnsMansville Fiberglass Insulation Rolls: $22.00

Walls: 3/8” Drywall, 4 Sheets, $28.00
Glissen Paint/Primer Mix, Grey marble, 3 gallons, $90.00

Flooring: Tan carpet, Craigslist find, $100.00
Tack Strips: Free, from Dad's repair stash



Transition strip from carpet to tile: Lowes, no brand, $11.00


Cute Shelf: Pre-made, Walmart, $30.00 (used to cover weak floor spot that wasnt able to be easily repaired)


Floor Repair: One 2’x4’ sheet of 19/32 plywood, $15.50
Decking Screws: $8.00
Wood Filler: $5.50

Hot Water Tank: Home Depot brand simple 40Gal tank, $230.00


We also had to buy water pipes and fittings, and screws, but that was bought in bulk for the whole house and I really dont feel like dividing it all out. Lighting hasnt really been decided yet, but since we didnt put a workbox in the wall for it, our choices are pretty much limited to lamps, because there is no way on God's green earth i am even _touching_ the drywall again. Im considering a five-bulb floor lamp with adjustable arms, put in the back corner next to where the bed will go. Dunno yet. And we arent putting up an exit door, just leaving the open frame because thats what my grandma wanted, and it saves me some bucks, so we're going with it.

Hope you are all liking the progress, if you have any questions please ask. Hopefully all of my fans havent abandoned me due to the long absence! I promise, new updates are coming very soon. This weekend I am planning to finish mudding, taping, and sanding the living room, maybe even paint it, and hopefully work on hooking up wires in the power box so we can close in the drywall around it. Stay tuned!


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## TrailerParadise

We tried working on the house this weekend, and while we did get quite a bit done, it was just so hot on Sunday that the trailer was like an oven. So we only worked on Saturday. We got the hallway cleaned out (it was full of old 1x3's and 2x4s we ripped out of the walls) and we ran the wiring from the power box, down into a conduit, beneath the back door, and up on the other side of the door to hook up the outlets for the dryer (wallmount), washer, light box, and hot water heater. I really got upset at one point, because we bought a 25' roll of wire to hook up the hot water heater, and a 25' roll to hook up the dryer. Well we unrolled it and threaded it through the holes and conduit, and the one from the hot water heater was WAAYY too short. Im talking about NINE FEET too short! Its 4' from the power box to the back door, 5' from the floor to the breakers, 5' from the back door to the corner, and another 4 - 5' from the hole in the corner to the box for the outlet. That's only about 19'. There was supposed to be 25'. It barely reached the other side of the back door! NINE FEET MISSING that we needed, and another 6' missing that we didnt need! Oh i was about fit to be tied. 
We opened the second spool and it reached with some to spare! Unfortunately it was already opened and unrolled and whatnot so i doubt i would get my money back, so we used it for the dryer, which is only about 11.5' from the power box. We got it resolved, but im still pretty ticked that i paid $40 for a $15 roll of wire! It must have had the wrong paper in it because the paper label clearly stated 25'. 
Anyway we got all of the wiring ran to their boxes, got the floor swept and the conduit hooked up.
So, since its suppposed to be cool this weekend, hopefully we can do insulation, drywall, and hook up breakers this weekend. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading.
I didnt take any pics because i didnt think there was anything done that was worthy of pictures.


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## oh'mike

Thanks for the update---you sure have come a long way since your first post---Mike---


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## TrailerParadise

oh'mike said:


> Thanks for the update---you sure have come a long way since your first post---Mike---


Thanks, Mike. It sure has been a journey. Nearly finished, its pretty much all flooring and paint now.


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## TrailerParadise

Oh something else happened this weekend that is very strange, confusing, and yet kind of amusing. When we first planned out the kitchen, i picked the sink i wanted. Deep basins, nice shiny finish, i loved it, but it was expensive. So when we decided not to live there, and instead use it as a rental, we took my expensive sink back and purchased the cheapest stainless steel one they had, which cost us right around $57. It was packaged in a gigantic cardboard box, and was so heavy i wondered if it was made of cast iron instead. Literally took two people to move. Well hubby cut the hole for the sink in our countertop, and opened the box to see if it would fit. Inside the big box was the sink and it was wrapped in three individual flatter boxes. Come to find out, there were THREE SINKS! Three stainless steel sinks, for cheaper than one of the original sinks! All i can figure is there must have been a new stocker working the night it was put out or something. Im scared to take it back, im afraid theyll accuse me of stealing it or something, plus i purchased it over 90 days ago so no hope of a refund. So i guess we will sell the other two or something, i really dont know how to handle this. Kinda funny though.


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## oh'mike

You have Christmas presents for two friends--:laughing:

Trying to return them would do nothing but cause confusion---I say,they are yours do do with what you please.


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## TrailerParadise

yeah i guess so, because i dont have a receipt or anything so all i have is my word, and im too chicken to take that chance. I listed them for sale on Craigslist last night, no hits yet. If nothing else, at least get my purchase price from it.


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## r0ckstarr

Can't beat a free sink (or 2).


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## TrailerParadise

@RockStarr: Right?

Kind of amusing, my hubby ran into the previous owner of the trailer at a gas station a few days ago. He asked if we still had the trailer, and if we were still working on it. DH told him we did still have it, and that we completely gutted it and redid the entire interior, and we are now nearly finished with it. Previous owner just laughed, clapped DH on the shoulder and said, "Boy, you two are quite the determined little eager beavers, arent you?" Im planning to send him an envelope full of pictures when its done, so he can see what became of his little mobile home.


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## TrailerParadise

Oh before i forget, we also figured out a way to MAYBE save the face frames on the kitchen cabinets and make the doors work. Im going to get the hinges that screw to the inner edge of the face frame, and actually sit _behind_ the door instead of beside it, and im hoping that works and allows the doors to work properly. Fingers crossed!


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## r0ckstarr

TrailerParadise said:


> @RockStarr: Right?
> 
> Kind of amusing, my hubby ran into the previous owner of the trailer at a gas station a few days ago. He asked if we still had the trailer, and if we were still working on it. DH told him we did still have it, and that we completely gutted it and redid the entire interior, and we are now nearly finished with it. Previous owner just laughed, clapped DH on the shoulder and said, "Boy, you two are quite the determined little eager beavers, arent you?" Im planning to send him an envelope full of pictures when its done, so he can see what became of his little mobile home.


I bet he'd be thrilled to see them. I know I would. It's like selling a car. You always wonder how it ended up, where it's been, and what's been done to it. :thumbsup:


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## TrailerParadise

We worked on Saturday, we had a couple of family parties to attend on sunday so we couldnt get out there. But on Saturday we did a little bit of time-consuming work. My mom and I installed the access door for the water heater, we used an actual latching door instead of a sheet of drywall, we figured it would last longer. Then my mom tried to hook up the breaker box, but it turned out that i bought the wrong breakers. They dont make the breakers that were orignally in it, (I.T.E.) but the guy that worked in the electrical section of Lowes told me that Square D worked fine instead. Yeah right. Square D breakers wouldnt fit side by side, they were too long. 
So i took those back, and we compared one of the original I.T.E. breakers to every breaker on the shelf and finally found one brand identical to it. Good thing, i was starting to get scared that i would need to buy a whole new breaker box. Turns out that Siemens makes the new I.T.E. breakers. I also bought a hot water tank disconnect box, since its in a different room than the breaker box. Hopefully we can figure that out, because it looks kinda scary on the inside. Seriously considering hiring a pro on this one.
Hubby almost finished evening out the sink hole in the kitchen countertop, he had like 3" left when the battery croaked so he will have to finish that this weekend. I cut all of the insulation for the hallway, and stacked it up till we could hang it. We have to do plumbing and plug a few holes in the floor before we can hang it. Stay tuned till next weekend.


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## Arlo

Any pictures?


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## TrailerParadise

We didnt really finish anything to take pictures of, besides maybe the door to the hot water heater enclosure, and i didnt think about taking a pic of that. The breakers are not installed yet and the sink hole isnt done yet, so i didnt take photos of any of that. ill post some pics on monday after we finish our work this weekend.


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## TrailerParadise

Ok you guys are never going to believe what i found today. My mom's dog, who was 11 and my furry little brother, passed away today so she really didnt feel like working, and neither did i, so we went to Lowes instead. (something i failed to mention last week, when my husband cut the sink hole in our countertop, he broke the side of it and we were going to glue it back together before we installed the sink.)
Well, that's not necessary! We were walking through the kitchen dept and right there, sitting on a cart, were about 10 pieces of laminate countertops at ridiculously low prices! We found a 6' piece for $12, two 6' pieces for $14 each, and a 10' piece for $27! Normal prices? 6' = $89. 10' = $199!
We saved so much money and got really nice countertops! Now we just have to cut the sink hole again (hopefully not break it this time) and install them. So happy on this day that started out so very sad. We'll work some tomorrow.

RIP Bubba aka Teddy Bear. May 12, 2003 - October 4, 2014.


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## TrailerParadise

Got you guys some pics! We got quite a bit done today. We got all of the wires ran into the panel box, and all of the new breakers installed except for two which were the wrong amps. I switched those out tonight, theyre still in my trunk. We put together the two lamps we bought for lighting in the master bedroom, and they are in place. Bought a light fixture for the living room. We bought a few new hinges, and we are gonna see if they fix the problem with our kitchen cabinets, if not we are going to be taking on the monumental task of making all ten doors over again with thinner plywood. So not looking forward to that. We cleaned out the hallway of debris, and will start hanging insulation, hanging drywall, and mudding and taping the hallway next weekend.
Below you will see some weird stuff, so let me explain a few of them. The panel box is a mess right now, wires everywhere. However they are all labeled, so eventually theyll get hooked up to the proper breaker. The wires running across the ceiling will be encased in drywall, as the dedicated runway for wiring. The lamps are the lighting in the master bedroom, nothing else we could do. The plug for the floor lamp will be controlled by the light switch, so its still somewhat normal and my grandma is okay with it, so im okay with it. The smaller lamp is a touch-sensitive lamp just for extra lighting if they need it. Literally the only furniture in this room is the bed, two nightstands, and the built-in. So it doesnt need a ton of light, just enough to see at night to get into bed. The pink studs will be covered in drywall and painted, they were that horrid vivid pink when i bought them.
I think its turning out pretty good. Not exactly your everyday mobile home, but where would the fun be in that?
Enough jabbering, here's your pictures.


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## TrailerParadise

panel box pics


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## jbfan

Is the orange wire going in front of the corner?

You can't do that, it has to be through the stud.


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## TrailerParadise

it is going through the stud. The metal bracket is just to protect it when we put drywall up.


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## TrailerParadise

Sorry for the lack of updates. Last weekend my grandma showed up with a load of her storage stuff, so we spent the whole weekend helping her move it into the master bedroom of the trailer. We did buy some better hinges and swapped them out on one of the kitchen cabinet doors, and while it did shut better than before, it still doesnt shut right, so i guess we have no choice but to redo the face frames. 
This past weekend, we purchased the boards for the faceframes and the remaining hinge sets, and we started installing the new countertops! We decided it would be easier to install it if we put the sink in first, so we put the left-miter section up on sawhorses, used a jigsaw to cut the notches in the backsplash (for receptacles and switches) and cut out the sinkhole. We installed the sink, but i think we may have to redo it because even though the clips are screwed all the way down, the sink isnt pulled tight to the countertop, it still hovers about 1/4" above the countertop. I dont know if we put too much plumber's putty under the rim or what but we have to fix that. We got the countertop and sink in place before our batteries died and we had to shut it down for the day. No batteries = no tools.
Fortunately, we are very close to getting power, since my dad finally purchased the new meter box, so all that is left is to stand the pole up, replace the box, and hook it up. Then voila, we have power! So close.
Stay tuned till next weekend, we didnt really do anything worth taking pics of so i dont have any pics yet.


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## TrailerParadise

We worked long days this weekend, all focused on the kitchen. My back is killing me. Hubby lost my wedding ring in the trailer last week, and to find it we had to pull the old countertops off and basically uninstall the corner cabinet, which included uninstalling the bar. We decided that since we had all of that uninstalled anyway, we would go ahead and rectify the problem of the sink cabinet and bar cabinet being too close to allow the doors to open. We moved the bar cabinet back by a full inch, which i am proud to say did the trick. I cut a piece of plywood as a filler for the gap it left, and now it looks great. However, having to use a 6' piece of countertop for the sink added to the challenge, because it meant we couldnt move the countertop down to compensate for the extra inch. So, we are going to have to fill the gap at the back of the countertop on the bar cabinet, and put some trim at the top to hide the filler. It actually gives kind of a cool effect, it looks like the curves at the edge of the countertop continue to go up. It just looks so amazing, i love the new countertops. We've got them all cut and in place, they just need to be screwed down (except the bar piece, its done.) We still have to notch the backsplash on the long cabinet next to the fridge opening. 
It makes it so much harder, working in the trailer with people's belongings in there. My grandparents left a couch and an armchair in the living room, that we now have to walk around to work, and it is so much more difficult. I wish they had put them in storage. 
We also got our black star rust converter in the mail the other day, so on hubby's next day off, he will be putting it on the roof. We're getting closer and closer, one day at a time. Stay tuned, hopefully ill be able to post pics up soon, my phone is being goofy.


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## TrailerParadise

Sorry about the lack of updates, we havent gotten out there to work for a few weeks now. We did go out there for a few hours one day and got most of the panel box hooked up, and the hot water heater disconnect. We plan to get the electricity hooked up within the next few weeks, when we finish hooking up the panel box and finish installing the final bits of electric (three light fixtures, two receptacles and a switch). We just have to figure out how to stand up the electric pole to get it in the ground without a winch. My dad refuses to help with it, so that should be interesting.
I bought the rest of the paint we need for the whole place, i decided against the all-white theme for the living room, and bought a nice creamy tan color for the living room and hallway, and since the carpet didnt stretch as far as i thought it would, we are putting a dark vinyl plank through the living room and hall. The only major things we have left now to purchase for the inside is a front door (new ones online will cost me $400!) and the hot water tank. Other than that its just odds and ends like plumbing pipes, light bulbs, A/C units, yadda yadda yadda. 
We did get the sink installed and tightened down properly, im still searching for a proper faucet. We've got the cabinet doors figured out, and the face frames. 
Now on to the reason why we havent been working. Plain and simple, its a waste of time right now. We still have the leak by the back living room window, and another leak has developed right beside it. Plus there is water coming in around the exterior receptacle. So, im not doing anything else out there until the leaks are fixed. I called a handyman and he said he can do it no problem, so he will be coming out the Sunday before Christmas to plug the leaks (i think the water is coming in through a pinhole in the roof, and leaking down between the siding and the frame. Its the only thing that makes sense, because there is no water on the ceiling panels, only the siding and studs and we put rubber sealant and exterior paint on the whole wall so i know its not coming through the siding.) He will also put my black star on the roof, and coat that with the same rubberized sealer we painted the wall with. That should take care of the roof for a year or two and make it cooler inside. Eventually we will have to go in on a full replacement but for now, hopefully this will work.
Now that we are to this point of our remodel, i will admit i was wrong and you guys were right. I should have (and wish i had) waited to tackle the inside, and replaced the roof and siding first thing. I was an idiot, so naive. Oh well, hindsight's 20/20. Hope i still have some people following my thread, i know its been a while.


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## Bigbluefrog

just curious what size drywall did you use for your ceilings?


And any tips?


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## TrailerParadise

Bigbluefrog said:


> just curious what size drywall did you use for your ceilings?
> 
> 
> And any tips?


We didnt touch the ceilings, actually. They're the original stuff, so i have no clue how thick it is. Sorry. 
As for tips? Get the outside of the home waterproof before rebuilding inside, as i learned the hard way. Watch the location of your hands, feet, and helpers when you work. Buy more than what you think you will need to finish a project. Make a budget, then double it. Unless youve done it before, hire out the drywall. Drywall is the biggest pain in the butt ever. Get your electric working early into the remodel, if nothing else at least one working outlet. Thats all i can think of for now. Good luck!


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## Bigbluefrog

Thanks. We have used drywall for the bathrooms. 
It turned out okay, I am debating something lighter for the larger rooms. No leaks in our place. Buolt a better roof over the original.


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## TrailerParadise

i wanted to build a roof over the entire place, but i was outvoted. the drywall we used for the walls was 3/8" because thats what it had to begin with. 

A little bit of an update: The handyman i hired for the roof changed my day to today, so he came out today and looked at the roof, walked the length of it to test the strength, and looked for any cracks, pinholes, spots where it had rusted through, anything like that. He found nada, not a single problem with it, except for the rust. And the rust was just color, it wasnt actually as bad as i had thought. 
However, he did find the source of my leaks. As i said earlier in this thread, the A/C unit was ripped out and its enclosure tranformed into a closet before i got the place. However they left the ventpipe in the roof, and today we discovered that there are several screws missing from it, leaving holes in the roof. He looked at it from the inside, and sure enough, the water was coming in those screwholes and running down the underside of the tin, then seeping down through the top sillplate (is that the right word? the board at the very top of the wall) and running down the siding. It makes sense.
So, in two weeks he is coming back and he is going to remove the pipe, repair the hole with sheet metal, and put a low profile vent hood over the other vent to prevent eventual leakage. Today he spread two layers of Black Star Rust Converter over the entire roof, and it worked so well! Now instead of being all rusty and trashy looking, its all black and smooth. It looks great. He also put some of the sealer around the perimeter edges to seal any cracks or holes in the J-trim. After he pulls the pipe out and puts on the vent hood cover, he is going to spread a rubberized sealer over the entire roof surface. He said there arent any structural or integrity problems with the roof so taking care of the rust and sealing it should hold up until we can afford a new roof. 
So that means we should be resuming work next weekend. Stay tuned.


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## gma2rjc

Wow, one of those rare occasions where a problem is not as bad as you expect it to be. Sounds like you found a good, honest guy to work on your roof. 

Merry Christmas!


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## TrailerParadise

gma2rjc said:


> Wow, one of those rare occasions where a problem is not as bad as you expect it to be. Sounds like you found a good, honest guy to work on your roof.
> 
> Merry Christmas!


Right? Everything else has been worse than i thought it was, so this definitely makes a nice change. Ive gone through quite a few handymen who werent worth their weight, who only did a half job or didnt show up at all, so im glad to have found someone who showed up on time and did the job right. I think im gonna keep this guy's number, just in case.
Merry Christmas to you as well!


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## TrailerParadise

Well i have good news, and i have bad news. Good news is, i went out to the trailer the other day when we had a pretty rough storm go through and there was only a slight trickle of water running down the siding by one board, so it appears the black star did its job, even if it wasnt capable of completely stopping the leak. Bad news is, the trailer is off level again. I opened the back door and tried to shut it and it hit the frame. I had to force it shut. I went and looked outside of it, and the blocks that are under the cinder block stack (the 8" x 8" square pad) on the bedroom end are completely sunk into the ground. The square pad is completely covered in earth. 
Could this be caused by too much weight in one end of the home? Do i need to make my grandma move everything out of it for now? Kinda lost on what to do, im waiting for my handyman to send me a quote on releveling the place.


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## Jagger

I've been following this thread for over a year now & I'm amazed at how far you've come, but I've got a question for you. I'm 25 and seeking to become a homeowner next year. I had always


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## Jagger

I've been following this thread for over a year now & I'm amazed at how far you've come, but I've got a question for you. I'm 25 and seeking to buy a mobile home next year, my first home purchase. I had always imagined I would buy a fixer upper as you guys did and make it my own. In fact, I prefer it this way, but my question is this. Would I end up with less heartbreak by simply buying newer and paying much more? Would you say that, money wise, it's been worth it? When it's all said and done, I'd like to think I came out on top financially, Lol.


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## TrailerParadise

Jagger said:


> I've been following this thread for over a year now & I'm amazed at how far you've come, but I've got a question for you. I'm 25 and seeking to buy a mobile home next year, my first home purchase. I had always imagined I would buy a fixer upper as you guys did and make it my own. In fact, I prefer it this way, but my question is this. Would I end up with less heartbreak by simply buying newer and paying much more? Would you say that, money wise, it's been worth it? When it's all said and done, I'd like to think I came out on top financially, Lol.


That really just depends. For me personally, yes it was worth it. Every last penny spent on this place was totally worth it. Because once its finished, it will give my grandma a place to live until she passes away, and once she's gone, it will serve as a rental to feed my family. Plus it gives me security, with the way the economy is and jobs so few and low-paying, it gives me peace of mind to know that even if we lost our jobs, my family will have a place to call home, because i own it. My biggest concern with paying more for a home is that unless its brand spankin new, you dont know what's concealed behind that pretty drywall. I had no idea my place was as bad as it was. Pulling down the drywall showed me the wires were bitten and chewed and stripped, insulation had tunnels through it, there was water damage, none of which was evident until we stripped the place. If you intend to buy a used home, buy a fixer upper and re-do it, that way you know exactly what you have behind those walls and you dont end up with any surprises later on. Remember what was lurking under my vanity?


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## TrailerParadise

Oh i forgot, i also have one small update! My grandparents are making one last trip back home, leaving on Friday and wont be returning until April. So, me and mama are gonna make the most of this! We're hitting it hard this weekend! I fully intend that by the time January is over, the roof, kitchen and living room will be finished! February, hallway and bathroom. March, the little bedroom and hot water heater. That way when they return, the only things remaining will be painting the front and installing water and sewer. Hope it works out the way we have planned!


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## Jagger

TrailerParadise said:


> That really just depends. For me personally, yes it was worth it. Every last penny spent on this place was totally worth it. Because once its finished, it will give my grandma a place to live until she passes away, and once she's gone, it will serve as a rental to feed my family. Plus it gives me security, with the way the economy is and jobs so few and low-paying, it gives me peace of mind to know that even if we lost our jobs, my family will have a place to call home, because i own it. My biggest concern with paying more for a home is that unless its brand spankin new, you dont know what's concealed behind that pretty drywall. I had no idea my place was as bad as it was. Pulling down the drywall showed me the wires were bitten and chewed and stripped, insulation had tunnels through it, there was water damage, none of which was evident until we stripped the place. If you intend to buy a used home, buy a fixer upper and re-do it, that way you know exactly what you have behind those walls and you dont end up with any surprises later on. Remember what was lurking under my vanity?


Yep, I remember. Lol. And you make very valid points. It's a noble thing you're doing for your grandmother and even when she moves on, you'll have a secure and well-livable home to do with what you please. That has to be a good feeling. I've dabbled with the possibility of investing in a strip of land one day and placing mobile homes on it for renovation and later on, rental. If anything, just to try and give landlords a better name. I'd want to be fair in price (be lower than what's typical) and maintenance (fix things on time) in order to help needier families. I don't know, we'll see what the future holds. 

But thank you so much for this inspiration. Please keep the updates and pics coming. I want to see this thing done in entirety. Good luck and happy painting!


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## Bigbluefrog

The mobile home we have is well loved. Overall in great shape. The previous owner was 84 and enjoyed living there for 3 decades


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## Michael L

I can completely relate to some of the issues you have faced. My brother in law is in end stage renal failure requiring dialysis three times per week while awaiting a kidney transplant. He was living on the west coast by himself, which didn't work, so he was living with us for eight months.
My wife still had an old mobile home about 25 minutes from our home that she had purchased a number of years ago as a vacation place. It had been empty for a little over three years and needed a lot of work.
We hired a contractor to do the heavy lifting which resulted in an almost total internal gut of the place. He put in new wood flooring throughout, updated the electrical and installed new kitchen cabinets. The rest my wife and I have done. 
This project is what brought me to this site. Through necessity I began doing some minor woodwork (new cabinet doors, drawers, replacement trim, etc) and discovered that I really enjoy it!
The interesting thing about working on a mobile home is that NOTHING is square or true!?!?
Trying to get things to line up often resulted in having to take more stuff apart and replace it.
But, after about six months of work, and more money then I even want to know about, it is finished and my BIL has moved in!
I can truly appreciate what you have done and congratulate you!


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## Michael L

Have you done any outside painting yet? That's our next project...


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks for the responses, guys, i really appreciate the interest. Sorry ive been MIA, we had a problem we had to deal with.

@Michael L: You found the same thing we did. I thought with a trailer being manufactured in a facility and made of pre-made parts just nailed together, it would be square. But its not. Almost every surface in the place except the floor is crooked. Have you posted any pics of your project? I'd love to see the before and after. As for outside painting, we painted the back wall with rubber sealer and exterior paint, its made such a difference. When it warms back up we intend to paint the front and sides as well. Hopefully soon we will be getting the roof repairs made and get the roof sealed as well.

@Jagger: I think you have a great idea, and one that will provide security for you as well. Just make sure to check your laws though, here in east texas, if three mobile homes sit on the same plot of land, it automatically gets classified as a trailer park and your taxes skyrocket. Check into that before spending that kind of money right away. Im hoping to get out there this weekend and finish up what we started last weekend so i can get some pics posted for you guys.


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## Michael L

I have some before photos, but I will have to get some time to resize them before attempting to post them. We found that with the mobile having been on the lot since 1974 it has settled quite a bit. In one location we found that some wooden shims used for leveling had broken; we were able to replace them with some metal pieces that seem to have leveled the area (showed up with the wood floor installation).

Additional, a previous owner considered himself a "handy man," but took short cuts with everything he did. 

In the back bedroom, after moving the bed, I notice a raised spot under the carpet. After removing the carpet I found a piece of board 1/4" about 12" X 18" screwed over the subfloor. I removed the four screws (which BTW were each different, a slot head, a phillips head, a machine screw and another kind that I couldn't identify) and found that he had moved an air conditioner vent. He simply added a three foot section of duct work and moved the vent over to get it from under the bed. Where the vent had previously been he had covered it with cardboard and duck tape. Well, the tape had of course deteriorated over the years and now there was a huge open hole in the AC duct work under the floor.  The wife said that the room was always hot! Well, no wonder!

We fixed it correctly and the electric bill dripped considerably!! We also found a number of other holes in the flooring which were allowing the cool air to escape!! The whole place was full of ridiculous "fixes" like this!


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## TrailerParadise

@Michael L: Dont you just love amateur fixes? We had a few of them here too, i think most of them are documented within this thread, like the master closet being ripped out, five holes drilled for piping under the bathroom sink (although that might have been factory), the bathtub not being attached to anything but the pipes. So much fun to fix previous owner mistakes!

Anyhow, on to what we did this weekend. My dad (who still owns the land, but not the trailer) laid down the law and said that he will be charging lot rent once the trailer is inhabited. No mention of this before. I told my grandma that they would be responsible for the lot rent since #1 i cant afford it, and #2 they're not paying rent. She got mad, said a few things i never thought i would hear her say, and hung up. So, im not sure what is going to happen now, if they are still moving in down here or if theyre gonna stay up north. Guess we'll see what happens when they return.
For the last two weekends we have been working on getting the trailer cleaned up and cleaned out so we have space to work, because right now the living room and bedroom are full of grandma's stuff. Trailer is level again, no problems there. We pulled out all of the wood pieces and stored them in my mom's workshop, and cleaned up all the dust, trash, and odds and ends that were laying around the place. Now we cant really do anything further to the hallway until the roof is fixed, because the leak is not completely gone, although it has slowed down tremendously, so if we close in the wall now, itll just get wet and ruined. 
i told my mom the plans i had and what i wanted to do by the end of the month but momma doesnt like my plans. So, i guess we're starting with the easiest of the rooms, the dressing room/2nd bedroom. Of course it is very simple to finish this, just 4 squares of insulation, some drywall, paint, and carpet. We can finish that in like three days. After that we have no other choice but to do the kitchen, because the only other room left is the living room and its full of stuff right now. So i guess ill keep you posted on how this stuff goes down... If you're still reading this thread at this point, you are to be commended for your patience. Ill try to get some pics tomorrow of what we did the past two weeks. Thanks for reading


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## TrailerParadise

ANYONE READY FOR SOME PICTURES?

lol yay now you guys wont hate me so much for talking without posting pictures! i finally got some pics. :thumbup::thumbup:

Ill try to explain some things as i go because some of the pics are at a weird angle. Enjoy!

First up: The little bedroom, also known as the closet.
The majority of what electric is left, is in this room. Ive got a picture of the window corner, thats all old insulation that needs replaced. Shower plumbing is on the right side of this corner. The big blackish square in the pic is the backside of the giant mirror i plan to hang on the wall.
I included a pic of the light switch box, which needs hooked up, and the light fixture box, which also needs hooked up. We removed the closet door to allow for the shelving i want, and you can see the door, leaning against the wall inside the closet. I hoped to get to drywall this weekend but i forgot what a pain in the rear it is pulling staples out of the studs. Took most the day on saturday just doing that.


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## TrailerParadise

Second up, the bathroom. Here you can see what we still have to do in here, the showerhead, vanity, and we have to bolt the toilet down properly. Sorry about the bucket, i forgot to remove it before taking pics. The sink was a gift from a friend, he remodeled his bathroom and didnt need it, and i liked it better than the stainless steel one.


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## TrailerParadise

Ok and the last set of pics. Here i have a pic of the receptacle that is still leaking, i have to cut out a section of siding to fix this. hoping my handyman can do it for a nice price. I also got a couple of pics of the kitchen, i really didnt want to share any right now since it was so close to being finished, but now that we have been forced to go back a few steps and it will be a while before we finish it, i figure i will let you all see where we are at. What do you think of the new countertops? Pretty snazzy, huh?


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## RHeat

looks like it is coming along nicely


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## TrailerParadise

Thanks, RHeat. My mom and sister have started working out there during the week while im working, so it should start moving along at a faster speed. Ive already bought 95 percent of the stuff we need to finish it.


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## Bigbluefrog

What year is this manufactured home? Our is a 1980's redman. We are currently remodeling the kitchen. I found surface mold under the linoleum. I pulled it out and replaced the subfloor. I am trying to decide what to do with the subfloor. Paint it with Kilz primer mold resistant or lay a physical barrier before piecing the laminate wood floor. 
What do you think of the electrical in the home? Interesting hey? Some didnt even have boxes. That had to be added later by the previous owner and could be a fire hazard.


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## TrailerParadise

Bigbluefrog said:


> What year is this manufactured home? Our is a 1980's redman. We are currently remodeling the kitchen. I found surface mold under the linoleum. I pulled it out and replaced the subfloor. I am trying to decide what to do with the subfloor. Paint it with Kilz primer mold resistant or lay a physical barrier before piecing the laminate wood floor.
> What do you think of the electrical in the home? Interesting hey? Some didnt even have boxes. That had to be added later by the previous owner and could be a fire hazard.


1980 Oak Creek, i believe. At least, thats what the previous owner said. We found mold in the wall of the kitchen behind the sink. We cleaned up all of the mold, and painted it with mold and mildew resistant primer, Kilz brand. For laminate planks you should have a physical barrier underlayment regardless of the state of your subfloor. You can go with a cheap plastic barrier or go all out and get the one that cushions your floor, either way you need some kind of barrier between the laminate and subfloor. Of course you could always do both and double up on protection.
As for electrical, ours had all of their boxes and everything but the wires were all bitten and chewed by mice so we had to rip it all out and start over. We kept most of the boxes, but replaced the ones that were rusted and bent and lopsided. Thats why all of the lighting is on the walls, because i wasnt touching the ceiling, it was in good shape. We're just patching the holes from the lights.


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## TrailerParadise

Before i forget, i found these pics on my phone, i took them a few weeks ago and never posted them. Close up of the kitchen cabinets and counters.


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## RHeat

Its really starting to not look like a mobile home. nice job


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## ron45

Looking really good.
Just in case.
For the counter top exposed edges they make laminate strips that look just like the counter top. They are simple to install, just trim to fit and iron on.?


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## TrailerParadise

@Rheat: thanks, im really proud of how its turning out

@ron45: thanks! And i know, im planning to get some of those, i also have to get the pieces that go at the end against the wall, i just havent bought them yet. Only reason i have the countertops now is because they were on sale for a price i just couldnt turn down.


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## TrailerParadise

OK i have a small update for you guys. We worked all day Saturday, cleaning up the last of the staples and brads, and got most of the new drywall up in place in the small bedroom. We still have one whole wall, and the small area around the window and shower plumbing. Then i made a trip to lowes and got the light fixtures for the little bedroom (single bulb light sconce) and the laundry/hallway (three-bulb bar light) and we got one that is shaped like a half moon, that is pretty flat against the wall and uses LED bulbs instead of light bulbs so we are going to replace the light fixture above the fridge with this one, so that if the renters need a larger fridge, they can use one. We're gonna take the fixture that is in this spot now, and move it to the living room.
About my grandma - she said some things that my dad couldnt accept, so they arent allowed to move here anymore. They're coming down in March to get their stuff and are moving back up north. So that leaves me with an empty trailer that is nearly finished, and really no clue what to do with it. Guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it. Ill try to get pics for y'all later this week. Thanks for reading!


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## ica171

Sorry about your grandma. It sucks that she's acting that way, but maybe you can rent it to a stranger for more money. And of course you'll have to take your dad's lot rent amount into consideration now, too.


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## TrailerParadise

thanks. If i rent it out myself to a stranger, itll go into a park somewhere, it wont be on my dad's land. Im highly considering just selling it. I dont know yet. Right now im just focused on getting it finished, and quickly. Im spending my half of our tax return on finishing the trailer.


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## TrailerParadise

We didnt really get much work done this weekend, but we did buy the flooring for the living room, we got luxury vinyl planks in a gunstock oak color. I also bought most of what i will need to finish the plumbing. And the handyman finally got to come back out and finish the roof repairs and final coat of sealer. Now the entire roof is bright white, there is a nice vent cover on the main vent stack, and its all waterproof. Now we just have to wait for monday to see if it holds up against the rain. If it does, thats great, we can go ahead and close in the walls.


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## jisenb01

So ive read thru your entire post from beginning to end because my husband and I have just purchased a 5 acre tract and we have aquired an abandoned single wide manufactured home (1987 oakwood). 

At first glance we thought we would just post it on craigslist to offer it for free to whomever would haul it off so we can build a stick built home in its place however we had a friend who knows about rehab visit and suggested that we rehab the trailer and live in while we build a home on another part of the tract then rent it out later. 
My question may have an obviuos answer but this is new to me. 

When you started to rehab did you have any insurance on the trailer?
I understand that it can be quite expensive. You have put alot of resources into this trailer and if you planned on making it your home one would think you would want some protection. 

Also if you rent it dont you have to have some kind of insurance on it?

Why do you have to move it to a park to rent it to a stranger? Is there some kind of regulation or is it just a family deal? (Not to be nosey but it pertains to my situation.)

I admire you for being such a young age and having so much wisdom about the importance of being debt free. Not to many kids your age have the knowledge to figure that out. 

Keep us posted and good luck to you.


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## TrailerParadise

On mobile here so forgive any typos please. The trailer would be moved to a park because its sitting too close to my sister's house for me to feel comfortable putting strangers in it. No it does not have insurance, nor has it ever had any as long as I've owned it. Its a good idea if you can afford it but I'm operating on a very limited budget as it is. Right now I'm focused on finishing the inside and making sure the electric and plumbing are good. After that's done, I'll decide what to do with it. 
Me and the mister have recently started trying to conceive so I would like to finish the place and get this issue settled quickly. I think the only thing left to buy is a door and a water heater. Thanks for reading!


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## Bigbluefrog

Home owners insurance is cheap.


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## TrailerParadise

Bigbluefrog said:


> Home owners insurance is cheap.


im actually not exactly sure how much it would cost me. I checked with two different companies in the past; one wanted to do a walkthrough before they gave a quote. the other said that due to age, the trailer would need all new plumbing, new electric, and new siding and roofing before they could insure it. Im not willing to put out that kind of money just to get some insurance. And since we are still missing quite a bit of flooring and drywall, i dont think a walkthrough would go very well. Thats another bridge i will have to cross when i get to it.


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## Arlo

I have heard that Foremost Insurance is really cheap for mobile homes. I don't have a mobile but I remember a discussion on another forum. You might check it out. You should only insure for what you can't afford to lose. I have $1000 deductibles on my houses and vehicles because I can afford to pony up $1000 if needed.


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## fortunerestore

We had similar scenario in our home office. The entire flooring was torn in multiple places, making it look as ugly as hell. After consulting home improvement professional, he suggested to get the entire flooring removed and cleaned and then redone.


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## ica171

We had Foremost for our trailer insurance, too. Looking at my old budget, it looks like it ran about $40 per month for a trailer a little older than yours. No walkthrough, no hassles or anything like that.


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## Bigbluefrog

what have you finished with? I like the pictures you posted! Remodeling is challenging...especially when you find more work as you go along. Like plumbing hiccups and electrical issues, venting!! We replaced the cheater vents...did you have cheater vents in your MH or is that an older model feature?

:whistling2:


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## TrailerParadise

Not sure what cheater vents are, they are floor vents in this mobile. They are gone now, I removed them and filled in the holes. At this particular moment, nothing is completely finished. The bathroom is very very close, and the kitchen is halfway there. The master is 95% done. It's been storming like crazy here recently which makes the ground soft so we can't get back there to work until the rain stops and the ground firms up. Hope we can get out there soon.


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## Bigbluefrog

It is a plumbing vent..studor vent...has a spring and one way valve..unusually under the sink cabinet. Although mine is an older mibile home..maybe newer ones vent outside like stick homes.


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## TrailerParadise

Bigbluefrog said:


> It is a plumbing vent..studor vent...has a spring and one way valve..unusually under the sink cabinet. Although mine is an older mibile home..maybe newer ones vent outside like stick homes.


I replied to this, dont know what happened to my post. Sorry. Anyway, yes my trailer has cheater vents. Since venting the pipes through walls or roof would require extensive plumbing work in the walls we have already closed in, we decided to forego it and just go back with new cheater vents.


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## SallyWilliams

Thanks for sharing your story with us. I support you in your decision to remodel your mobile home. I was looking for any pictures after you remodeled it out of curiousity. Too bad I couldn't find any. Well, I hope you are now enjoying your home mobile!


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## TrailerParadise

SallyWilliams said:


> Thanks for sharing your story with us. I support you in your decision to remodel your mobile home. I was looking for any pictures after you remodeled it out of curiousity. Too bad I couldn't find any. Well, I hope you are now enjoying your home mobile!


Thats because its not done yet. Im in texas, we're about to float away out here. Rain every single freakin day. We cant get the car down the drive to work on the place, the ground is nothing but soft wet sand out there. When it dries up, i do plan to start work again soon. We're not living in it though, its most likely either going to be sold or used as a rental.


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## mibmib95

TrailerParadise said:


> Just to let everyone know where we stand at this current moment -
> We have demoed the entire place, rewired one room, and finished the walls in one room. We have all of the wire we need, still need a bit of insulation, and the only thing we need for the bathroom besides drywall is the sink, countertop, and shower surround. We have to replace all of the water supply lines. Still going to spend somewhere in the range of about $2500.
> 
> At this current moment, we have spent a total of $6,737.95
> 
> We have returned and sold a total of $1,035.93
> 
> Minus the cost of the home itself, we have actually spent on renovations, a grand total of $2,652.02
> 
> Add the cost of the dump on Saturday, it brings up our total to $2,692.02
> 
> P.S. Did everyone notice the ultra-fancy trashbag curtains? LOL i cant bring myself to put twenty-dollar curtains out there where they will get covered in drywall dust and sawdust.


how did you replace the outside beams around the bottom of the mobile home that is sometimes called the plate, basically holds everything in place?


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## lstevens

So whatever happened with this? Did you ever finish it?


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