What We've Been Doing the Past Few Weeks

[Chris Seddon]

L kee here. We're nearly done.

Before


Getting There


Chris, Linda & Connor
Click Here for More Pics

[Suz]

WOW! That's terrific!

So you glued on insulation then glued on the carpet? What a chore but worth it. Results are

[Donna D.]

Fabulous!

Yes please, tell us how you did the insulation/carpet install. Inquiring minds want to know

[Deb in MN]

Inspirational! What a stupendous job. It looks so good.

THAT was a LOT of work. You should be very proud, and have a great feeling of accomplishment.

[Andrew Gibbens]

Really great work!

But I'll spare a thought for the previous owner who was probably so proud of how they had let that clock mechanism into the cabinet door - it was quite a neat job.

Andrew

[Sharon Herman]

My oh my, you have done an amazing job. Thank you for sharing all the terrific pictures. Are you coming to the Bandon in July? I'd love to see it in person.

Sharon

[Ron Wrighton]

What a great job you are doing. The insulation with carpet over it is exactly what I need to do in my Quantum. Please, please, please, elaborate more on products used to accomplish such a good looking job. Also let me know if you are looking for work.
Ron

[Chris Seddon]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

Well, the trailer started out with an ensolite interior. There were a few slashes in the ensolite and most of the roof material was missing or at least the outer white vinyl layer was.

We pulled all the loose ensolite off and bought enough reflectix and indoor/outdoor carpet from Lowes to cover the inside of the Trailer.

We began experimenting with adhesives (contact cement, Super 77, etc.) but settled on 3M trim adhesive 08088, which had a great bond between the ensolite foam, reflectix and carpet, yet was easy to handle (you could reposition if needed for a few minutes).

We debated about pulling out the cabinets but decided to work around them.

Linda cut out and glued the reflectix on the wall leaving about a 1/2 inch gap between the edge of the cabinets and the reflectix. She traced the outline of each piece with a Sharpie and applied the trim adhesive. She then went outside and sprayed the back of the reflectix. She cut smaller pieces to fill in the gaps.

For the carpet. I made templates from butcher paper and masking tape. Using smaller pieces of paper to capture the details. I overlapped cabinet edges by about 1/4 inch but went right to the edge for windows, the fan and previous carpet edges. I then took the resulting template taped it to the back of the carpet and cut it out with shop shears (aka glorified scissors).

To attach the carpet, I applied the adhesive in sections to the wall/ceiling and carpets. I used apiece of cardboard to minimize overspray but kept some 3M adhesive remover at hand just in case (I used it a few times) I'd start at either the top or the part I thought would be trickiest to align. I then sprayed it in sections counted to 60 and pressed it together trying my best to prevent wrinkles (which I did mostly).

Finally I went around with a dull putty knife and a screwdriver tucking the carpet under the cabinets and occassionally triming the excess.



For more pics click the link in my signature.

[Maggie O.]

Wow! That's GREAT!

[DianeP]

Great work Chris! It is always good to see one of the trailers given such TLC.
We do know how much work has gone into the project as we are finishing ours also. Enjoy the fruits of your labors.
Diane & Dave

[Chris Seddon]

This weekend it's floors, finishing trim and installation of the table. Well at least floors, I hope. I'll post more pictures as we complete more projects. We plan to "enjoy the fruits of our labor" this summer with a trip through the Western US.

[jdtrotter]

I just love seeing how people fix up and re make their eggs. Yours looks great---keep posting pictures.

Thanks for sharing
Diane

[johnsoba]

I really liked your new floor and the new table. Can you give details about what you used and how you installed it, also cost if you feel like revealing it. thanks

[Chris Seddon]

I really liked your new floor and the new table. Can you give details about what you used and how you installed it, also cost if you feel like revealing it. thanks

Floors First


Supplies:

Two boxes (though I really only used 1 1/2) of Ikea Laminate Flooring (Substitute according to taste and cost)
about $80 total

One roll of underlayment. I used maybe 1/10 of this.
around $20

Some flexible self adhesive tub surround tape for trim work. Many colors and sizes available.
about 10 bucks

and some trim pieces I can't find on line, including a wood veneer quarter round (about $10 from Lowes) and some aluminum trim (about $10 for two 4 foot lengths from Ikea).


Tools (and other supplies) I used:
Scissors (to cut the tub surrround tape)
Mitre Box (to cut wood trim)
Table Saw (to cut flooring)
Tin Snips (to cut aluminum trim to length)
fine sand paper (to make sure aluminum trim is nice and smooth after cutting it with the tin snips)
construction adhesive (to apply flooring to vertical surfaces and to apply wood trim)


What I did.
1) Pulled out all the old stuff, sanded and patched the floors as needed. Gave two coats of white mildew resistant paint. (we have this around from other projects)

2) Cut out underlayment and set it on the floor. One trick, try and lay it out so the natural curve is downward. This will help prevent the underlayment from rolling up.

3) Measured and cut individual flooring pieces to length. I snapped each one in right after I cut it. The flooring I got snaps together. There are a few tricky cuts (like right at the top of the step) but I managed.

4) Cut pieces for vertical part of flooring, including the step up to the dining area and under the kitchen cabinet and applied with construction adhesive.

5) Cut and applied aluminum (using screws) and quarter round (using construction adhesive) trim.

6) Used some flexible self adhesive tub surround tape for trim around edge of floors. This was easy to apply and can be cut with scissors.

I realize looking at this I may have given the impression that I made no mistakes. I made plenty. But patience and a few extra pieces of flooring fixed most problems I ran into.

[Chris Seddon]

And the table:

The original table was structurally sound but cosmetically uh... unsound. The surface veneer was slighty blistered and I'm not a fan of pressed board to begin with.

I drilled out the pop rivets holding the aluminum trim to the edge of the table. Then clamped the original table top to some cabinet grade birch plywood of appropriate thickness. Using a router with a bit designed to trace templates I cut the new table top using the old one as a template.

About 5 coats of polyurethane were applied to the new table top with a very light sanding between coats. Using small screws I attached the old aluminum trim to the new table (I had also cleaned the trim with some #0000 steel wool)

I'm happy with the result



I used the remaining plywood and polyurethane to make new hatch covers.

[Chris Seddon]

I also want to say I wouldn't have had a clue on how to start many of these fixes/upgrades if it wasn't for the fantastic contributors to this forum (and the search function).

so a big Thanks to everyone here.



Chris

[Robert B]

Chris, fantastic photos. Great job and well done. Enjoy the labour on your trip.