Tag: dry rot

Bathroom Dry Rot

I have been putting off inspecting the bathroom further until today and decided to peel back some of the paneling and see what kind of dry rot issues we might have in there. At some point a previous owner had covered up water damage by laying paneling on top of the bad areas and I removed that. You can see some of the cover up panels in the photo below:

Bathroom with toilet and shower.
See the wood paneling in the corner

After removing the paneling I found LOTS of dry rot.  Making matters worse the rot isn’t just limited to the paneling – it is all the way through to the structural core of the trailer.  The wood is rotted so bad that I can literally remove with the vacuum.  I am going to have to remove all the paneling in the bathroom and check for further rot areas.

The Beginning

Alright, now that she’s all tucked away in her spot for the winter, we’ve started to tear things out we don’t need, want or that doesn’t work. We got out our drills, gloves, candles, Lavender Pinesol, heaters, hammers, pry bars and headlamps to attack 40 years of dirt, grime and smell and demolish the clunky inefficient 1970’s technology. Bye, bye curtains, cushions, furnace, water heater, hinges, A/C unit and the newer college dorm refrigerator. While Chris tore out most of the big things, I took down the curtains, and started wiping (and wiping, and wiping again) the inside of the trailer out. To keep parts strait, Chris took pictures of all the original set up and parts to refer back to when he adds new stuff in. I salvaged the curtain rods labeling them to make it easy to put them back up when the time comes. The most challenging part will be the electrical but Chris is excited to learn how it all works. We’ve found a little dry rot here and there but it hasn’t really been that bad.

 

She’s All Original

We love the layout of our little 15ft trailer. It’s a very functional design with a ton of storage and a full bathroom. When standing in the door way, to the right is a couch that pulls out into a full size bed that we’ll sleep on with a small bunk bed over head; what we’ll use for linen storage. Looking straight ahead is the kitchen with a little sink, stove/oven range with a matching hood in the original avocado green. The countertops through out the trailer are also the avocado green and in perfect condition. We love the retro green and will be keeping it completely original. In the back right corner behind the door is a retro yellow toilet accompanied by a matching shower. The color is so bad it’s good! We’ll be switching up the wallpaper and floor in here but keeping the fun (or funny) yellow toilet and shower. In the very back of the trailer is another sink which we can only presume is for hand-washing since it’s by the bathroom. There’s a large closet and shelves in the back as well. Lastly, looking directly to the left when standing in the doorway is a little dinette that folds down into a bed.

We’ll be painting the inside white and adding fun wallpaper as well to give it a light and bright look. The original cushions and curtains have to be removed due to their mildew smell and age. We’ll be saving a swatch of the original fabrics, wallpaper and floor to frame and hang up in the trailer to remind us of her in her glory days.