I hope if anyone is reading this and has either bought a FEMA trailer, or is debating about buying one because they are so cheap, they will understand the work and money you have to put into it to get it up to par is probably better to just splurge a bit at first and buy an actual camper that may need just a little bit of paint to spruce it up, not to completely gut it and start new. Not that it's not do-able, but if you don't have the time or skills it's better to just back away and keep looking for a good deal.
You may have noticed the long black streak in the first pictures I posted. We found out about a sale that was going on at Harbor Freight, so me and my husband (including my toddler) made a trip to stock up on some tools/saws. We had a battery powered skill saw but going through two batteries and only cutting about 3' at a time was getting to be annoying. So my dear hubby got a skill saw, table saw and a grinder (to cut off rusted screws etc); but after getting the skill saw out of the box back at home we found a defect and had to go back to Harbor Freight to exchange the saw (hour drive for us). So that second trip we decided to buy a small shop vac too, which has came in very handy sweeping the heat ducts out (and anything else needed). Getting back to work, he had cut the floor section out and discovered low and behold our camper's floor insulation is really lacking. Only half of the space between the joist has any insulation in it. I wasn't really wanting to replace the insulation in the floor because if you do the math for the walls, ceiling, and floors we have about 992 sq feet (27' length, 8' wide, approx 6-8' ceiling height). Insulation is not cheap, and I even get a 10% discount at Lowe's for being active duty military. I have looked online for deals, even trying to go green and find lightly used insulation to buy but either I am out of luck or the companies that provide "green insulation" since they do not provide such a small amount this far south (we are in the Low Country of SC). I know I am going to replace the walls and the ceiling insulation but use foam boards instead of fiberglass. So we got the insulation that we took out and looked for pieces that was not exposed to moisture/mold or had any trace of mice/bugs.
Replacing the wall joist and floor joints that needed replacing on one corner has taken several hours, and has to be done before he can replace the actual floor. Good note, make sure the camper is LEVEL before trying to do this type of work... hubby would be taking out a piece of wood and replacing it with the same measurement as the previous one and things just was not evening out when he realized he needed to jack up that side of the trailer to make it level. After he figured that out, thing seemed to be fitting well.
The black section on the one side of the camper has been cut out, half of the missing floor has been replaced so far and he is working his way up to the door. Progress is slow since it is really only him doing the work, I come help when I can but not really much help having a big pregnant belly and having to watch our daughter too.
Mini goals in order:
1. Replace floor and joist that needs replaced
2. Replace wall joist/joints, add more support in places that may need it (around bunk bed and areas we may add more cabinetry or heavy items like TV)
3. Replace ceiling beams that need replaced.
4. Replace all the wood that rubber roof is/was connected to
5. Lay new rubber roof down (including adding new vent that I bought on amazon) and sealing up the roof edges.
6. Fix any metal on sides of camper if needed (the corner in the main bedroom with water damage had a gap since wood was deteriated)
7. Paint any wood that was not replaced but may have some issues with mold with "Mold killing Primer" from Zinsser (cause of my allergies).
8. Install foam board insulation and fill in cracks with spray foam
9. Do any touch ups (sealing, taping, cleaning etc) to wiring and air ducts for heater and AC.
10. Install walls and ceiling (including making changes to the layout a little).
Then we can work on everything like paint, wall paper, trim, cabinets, floor, cleaning and re-upholstering the couches and cushions for table (I have a great idea for all of these that I will wait to share later). There are more things to do, but just trying to break it down to give us small goals to reach over time.
This is the progress we have right now (cut out the bad floor and replacing after fixing the wall...)
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