The New Floor!

Well, after 2 days of hard work (by the Hubs) we have a new front floor! I repeat, we have a new front floor!  (Or course, now we have to move on to the back but, let's enjoy this moment, shall we?)

It was a ton of work and a lot of time was spent trying to figure out exactly how to do this thing without compromising on the structural integrity of the body. In the end it took a little creativity and a lot of sweat but, he got it in. It's great! To be honest, I'm mostly excited because I can now prime and paint the front end! Sure, I'm also excited that the rotten, nasty wood is no longer an issue for us and we won't fall through the floor. That's definitely good. But... paint! Yay! It will be such a relief to have it starting to look fresh and clean in there.

I spent the duration of my son's nap today scrubbing mildew and grime off of the walls so I can slap a big, fat coat of Kilz on there later after he goes to bed. I normally choose no-VOC paints and primers but, this particular can of Kilz says "maximum VOCs". Good grief. I'm not going to like that part. However, the low-VOC one wasn't suitable for floors or mildew so... what's a girl to do? Those are the 2 main reasons I needed it! Good thing it's a small space and I should be able to get it done quickly and get out.

Update: I got to paint in the afternoon instead of at night and the primer didn't actually smell too bad. Yay!

Anyway... for those of you who want to see the process of doing the floor, here are the photos.

Nasty, Nasty, Nasty.

More Nast.

Here we've removed the old subfloor and the floor insulation.

He cut out "wings" to remove small spots of rot from the other section.

We sealed any gaps and cleaned surface rust. We then used Rustoleum "Stops Rust" primer and paint to seal the deal.

Burning the midnight oil... 

We have good help.

New insulation (I know fiberglass isn't the best but, we're gonna make it work).
He had to cut the front board into 3 sections to get it in place. Not ideal but, its secure.

Nailed, screwed, bolted and glued. That baby isn't going anywhere.

The wings.

We still haven't decided what to do with the floor. Do we try to use some of it or just scrap it and start over.
There isn't enough to cover the whole floor and I'm worried it might smell mildewy, even though it's newer.  

And here's the before and after of starting to prime. The before pic is also an after-cleaning the walls photo.

Before (but after I scrubbed the mildew off)

After. I still need to paint the trim and cut-in around the windows but, it's getting there.
Much more dramatic in person. 

So, that's where we are for now. Next up: more painting, replacing the back floor and our caulk from Vintage Trailer Supply should arrive early next week so, I guess we'll be working on that, too! :-)

Holy Cannoli!

(Speaking of cannolis, can someone bring me one? It's called emotional eating people. You know you do it, too.)

So, today we started ripping up the old subfloor. Yep. To quote a guy from the (wonderful) Airforums who was commenting on another guy's problem similar to ours,

"Welcome to the forums!

You're not the first -- nor will you be the last -- to discover that Airstreams are far more work than expected!"

In other words, "Sucker! You bought an old Airstream! What did you expect?" 

He went on to be encouraging and helpful, saying it's all worth it in the end but, you know... we are terrible for picking up ridiculous projects and the B-stream (Breinich Airstream) will be no different! When we bought the trailer, one of the selling points was that it had a new floor in it. I figured that was done and it would be one less thing we would have to do, leaving mainly cosmetic stuff and a little plumbing. Oops. Oh well. I guess we'll just have that much more satisfaction when it's all done. And peace of mind, knowing that our feet will not be going through the floor anytime soon. I think it's the unknown that is the most stressful part of it (that and the unexpected lack of funds). If we were replacing the subfloor in the house (which we have done) it's easy because we know how the house is built. With the Airstream it's all new. Rivots? How do you work those? A rivot gun? Nope, don't have one... yet. Crazy, rusted 1975 bolts that won't.come.out.? Check. So anyway, once we get our heads around HOW to do it, I guess it won't be too difficult. (heh. heh. riiiight...)

I'm sure it's gonna be awesome when we're done. It'll probably look like this!

Or this!

Or even this!

Ok so, if it looks like that last one when we're done somebody better come slap me. 

Anyway, we're gonna do everything we can to find the funds (praying, working hard, odd jobs), time and strength to make this thing work. I think it will be worth it in the end. Even if our house doesn't sell, we'll have an awesome guest house and travel trailer and we will have had a fun family project.  Heck! Maybe we'll even sell our cars, buy a Jeep Wagoneer, rent out our house and hit the road. Would be fun! You never know what we'll do next. ;-)

(Post with pics of the floor replacement to follow...)

I've got to do something!

I'm getting so restless! We brought home the camper on a Wednesday which, for my family, means that the Handy Hubby began his work "week" the next day, Thursday. He works 12 hour days, Thursday-Sunday, and then is off Monday-Wednesday. So, like I said, we brought her home Wednesday and I'm having to twiddle my thumbs waiting for HH to be off so we can get to work on this old girl. A lot of what needs to do done initially is demolition and that's his department. However, I just couldn't stand it anymore so I went out and started taking measurements of the windows for new curtains today.

There are 9 windows (counting the front 3 as 1) and I will need to make 8 sets of curtains (the side double windows will share a set). That's a lot of sewing! The kitchen window, seen above, will get a new roller shade which I will cover in fabric. (Like THIS) The window already has this crazy roller shade box with spots at different levels to secure the shade. It's totally weird and I'll have to get a photo of it to show you. I think I'll keep it though, just for kicks and because it's one less thing we have to rip out... and that's a good thing.

If you look at the photo here ---->
you'll see the curtain track that is original to the Airstream. I could take it all out and put in regular curtain rods OR I could leave it and use it. I would have to buy "g-tabs" to slide in there and then I could attach the curtain panels to those for a retro sliding panel. I haven't decided what I want to do yet. Again, it comes down to... do we want to yank those off the wall? I guess we'll have to see.














Here's another shot of the rail going around.

Could be cool to have the curtains all the way around like that. One solid line around the front.
Might be good for keeping the light out as well...











Ok, and here's a rant: Why did these people put so many holes in the wall that I now have to patch?!

Seriously. Why?

Anyway... I have a lot of work ahead and I've got to pick some fabric too! Do I buy fabric and sew them myself or do I buy ready-made panels and hem to length? Check out my Pinterest board to see some of my ideas for fabric, attachments and all kinds of Airstreamy stuff!

Also, I started cleaning the walls tonight. They were so grimy and sticky and yuck! I just used a good spongy/scrubber and a bucket of hot water with Dawn super extra power (not the actual name ;-) ) and it worked great. The walls don't feel tacky anymore so, we should be able to paint over them without a problem. I got about half of the front of the "ship" done and I've got a lot more to go! It'll be easier once we pull everything out, for sure. Can't wait for Monday!

She's Home.

She may not have a name yet (Thinking about "Lola" but, I'm not sold on it. Suggestions welcome!) but, she's home. All 31' of her. The Handy Hubby and I drove 4 hours to get her and bring her back from NC.

The man we bought her from is the nicest and most helpful guy I've ever done a deal with. When we initially went down to check out the Sovereign he agreed to put new tires on it for us, as well as fix the brakes and install a safety release on the hitch so that the camper would stop if it became detached from the truck. A great feature. No one wants to chase a runaway Airstream down the highway... and then try to think of a way to stop it! He's a mechanic by trade and he sells cars that he's fixed-up from his home. If you're ever in Rutherfordton, NC and need a "new" car or truck ask me for Louis' info! I would certainly buy from him.

We agreed that one week later we would drive down again to pick her up. Louis had her all ready to go and he helped us get her hitched-up. We headed out on the road after about an hour and a half of chit-chat and prep and we were proud new owners of a 1975 Airstream Sovereign. I am still in disbelief. I'd like to give a shout out to my sister's father-in-law, Bob Donnelly, for lending us his truck for 2 days to pull this beauty home. His truck is a boss and drove like a dream. Thank you so much! If any of you reading this need any construction or remodeling done, Bob is your man. Check out the Donnelly FB page here!! They are awesome! (Gonna be helping us build my own home if that tells you about my confidence in their work!)

Anyway... We have a lot of work to do, as you will see in the photos below.  I will be posting as we work on her so, I'm going to skip the explanations of future projects on the photos for now. The list of projects looks something like this:

(Not necessarily in order and I will link up to relevant posts as they happen.)

1. Clean and Paint walls.
2. Pull out the goucho bed in the front and replace or repair it. (It's too small and isn't working properly.    
    We want it to be queen sized when it pulls out.)
3. Remove side cabinet in "living room" and all cabinets for cleaning/painting/repairing/replacing.
4. Finish the current floor (if we can find a match) or replace.
5. Find out if stove works.
6. Replace plumbing.
7. Wet sand and clean-up bathroom and the repaint and finish the surfaces.
8. Tile bathroom.
9. Make curtains.
10. Make new covers for the couch cushions.
11. Clean-up and seal the windows (exterior).
12. Strip and polish the exterior (probably won't happen this year).
13. Polish and paint the emblems.
14. New fridge.
15. New toilet.
16. Sand and paint hitch.
17. New AC/Heat?
18. New tankless water heater.
19. Win the lotto to pay for this stuff.
20. I'm sure I'll be adding to this list as we go on.

We are accepting donations! If you have any lumber laying around we'd love to have it! Or... a fridge. Or... a decent toilet. Or... cabinets. Or... money. ;-)


So, without further ado, I present: The Breinich Airstream!

 

My little helper.

And for a bonus, check out this sweet little chair we got for $35 at ReStore in Asheville! I plan to sew a slipcover for it to cover the worn and not particularly my style fabric. :-) It should fit perfectly in the Airstream.