Two Truths and a Lie

The next two weeks were a whirlwind of destruction. The teardown always made me nervous because 9/10 of the time, that was where you were really going to see the mess you were in. Before we even touched anything, I took about 150 photos of the interior and exterior of the RV and measured EVERYTHING. 




From slide openings to windows to heights, number of doors, number of cabinet hinges and pulls and widths, lights, shower doors, floor lengths, stair heights, cabinet doors, you name it. I've been through this too many times. Normally I get all the measurements and go inside and sketch a drawing with the measurements on it so when I go to a home improvement store, I have it all with me on paper to know how much of what (flooring, paint, cabinet hardware) I need and I have pictures in my phone to go with it. And yes, I do realize I swap between fractions and decimals, but I know my point.

I unpacked the camper of all of its supplies in all the crevices, cabinets, and cargo holds-that took me two days.





I put a lot of stuff out by the road, not because we didn't care about it or that it was bad or broken, but simply we didn't need it and I didn't have the room to store it until I could sell it.

We started by washing the exterior of the camper. This would not only show us how clean we could get it, but also clue us in to potential leaks by seeing water on the interior. The roof was a total mess. We sprayed it with degreaser first and scrubbed it with a brush and the black tar-like runoff curdled down the side of the camper like something out of a grungy horror movie. 


Disgusted we tried concentrated bleach. That made it worse, so we immediately stopped. 


I turned to the internet for answers and on one forum I was clued in that the black runoff was not filth but was actually the underlying UV damaged rubber roof. The original roof coating had eroded away in the years of sitting outside and the black rubber underneath was now showing. I did a bit more research and found that with the type of roof we had, we needed to purchase a rubber roof recoating system. A lot of people were promoting Flex Seal paint as roof coating, however we decided to go with Dicor as it was a product manufactured specifically for rubber RV roofs and had a two-step cleaning and recoating system. The 2 bottles of step one cleaner and 4 gallons of step two rubber coating cost a total of around $400 (Dec 2022). 




The specifics were the roof coating system had to be done in ONE day, and with it being December, daylight was short. I explained to DH that the wash had to be done according to the directions, then wait an hour for it to set up and become sticky, then the first coat of roof paint could be applied. That would have to dry, then the second coat would have to be applied that same day. We would have to start on it at the buttcrack of dawn to get it all accomplished in a day. 

We did manage to scrub the RV sides and slides down and got them cleaned up. It immediately looked much better. 




The skylight had come in to replace the damaged and leaking one, so when the EternaBond tape came in, DH installed the top portion and sealed it off. The inner portion was removed, and DH sprayed the surround with bleach to kill off any mildew and mold. 

DH then got his worker to help him look for the leak in the front of the RV inside the closet. The flooring and walls appeared and felt solid all except the floor in front of the closet. They carefully removed the stripping inside the aluminum screw frame around the seals of the camper. Next was the screw frame. The next day, the guys took the front cap (where it says 'Cedar Creek') off of the RV. The seal around the fifth wheel hitch was removed, and the massive weight of the water-saturated pressboard on the back of the outer vinyl housing immediately pulled the first 5 screws out of the support and puked water out all over the ground. 


Uh oh. It hadn't rained in days.

The mildew was so thick there was almost no pressboard visible. THIS was the source of the smell. I shone a flashlight up into the opening to see the floorboards of the bedroom were actually perfectly clean with no mildew at all growing on them. Curious.





Shockingly, there was no real mildew. The fiberglass was relatively clean, there was no signs of water damage. Upon closer inspection, the weakness in the floorboards in the bedroom were due to improper bracing when the camper was originally built. 




What a relief!

DH and his workers reinforced the flooring over the next two days, put in additional R15 insulation inside the cap and underneath the flooring, scraped the mildewed pressboard off the outer shell, bleached it, and sealed the bottom outer housing around the fifth wheel hitch with 5200 Marine Sealant. We braced the bottom of the outer housing so the 5200 would dry strong and seal it shut. 

In the meantime, I started hunting for leftover ceiling paint in the garage. I was pleased to find we had about 3 gallons of Glidden ceiling paint left in a 5-gallon bucket from the house remodel, so I wouldn't have to buy new. I apparently had spread renovation materials from the bedroom to the garage in my attempt to put them somewhere I'd remember....which is more often than not a self-told lie because I can't remember what I had for lunch yesterday much less where I stored a gallon can of paint from two years ago. 😑 I say this because my next attempt was to find a baseball-sized container of wood putty I bought to fill a hole in a door frame in the house. 

Yeah right.

I searched for that stupid thing for an hour. I found a 1-gallon bucket of spackling paste, so I thought 'Self, we'll just use this if nothing else.' 

Self lied to me.

That spackling paste was as old as Methuselah and was so full of mildew I was scared to leave it open and breathe it. I immediately put the lid back on and threw it in the trash. 

Now where was that damned wood putty. 

In the bottom of a random Rubbermaid bin full of miscellaneous remodel crap like extension cords, kneepads and a crowbar, I saw the familiar pink lid. I opened it up, it was half dried with some pink juice in it, but it mixed up just fine with a paint stir stick. We were in business!

I took my newfound paint supplies into the camper with the power drill and square bit, ready to strip the living area roof down of all of its fixtures. I checked wires with my voltage meter before touching anything, then I pulled down speakers and trim and air conditioner vents; anything that was attached to the roof was gone. Including the dusty old ceiling fan which went straight to the trash. I took the dirty plastics I had taken down to the water hose so I could wash them with some Dawn dish soap and a scrubby and let them dry before spray painting them white. 




The next thing I worked on was sealing the screw-holes in the wood ceiling panels with the wood putty. I smeared it on with a spackle blade while whistling along to my Bluetooth speaker blaring out FFDP at 11pm. I'm sure my neighbors enjoyed it...
probably as much as I enjoy him revving his motorcycle at midnight, so tit for tat I guess. 



It didn't take too long for that to dry so I smoothed the putty down with a fine sanding block and slapped on a rough coat of ceiling paint. It didn't look like it changed the color too much from the original, but this was viewing it in the dark with an LED spotlight. Tomorrow would tell me the difference.





The next day I ventured out to see my progress. The paint was dry and was clearly a different shade of white. I had also missed a few spots. Clearly. DH and his worker continued sealing up the exterior of the RV roof as I worked.

Today was my last day off before I'd head back to work at the hospital, so it was important to compact as many things as I could into one day. I set to putting a coat over the spots I missed and then just resigned myself to doing a total second coat, what the hell would it hurt. After I rolled the second coat, I grabbed the stepladder and cut in the edges all around the roof with my favorite little 2" Wooster angle brush. While that dried, I set out the plastics to be spray painted.

I had already finished the speakers yesterday, today would be the vents and air conditioner return, plus the subwoofer cover and insert for the vent fan. I ran out of gloss Krylon halfway through the spray paint project, so I had to resort to a flat Krylon for the air conditioner parts. I did not like the flat as much, it didn't seem like it coated as well or evenly as the 2x did. 

While the plastics were drying, I decided to give those glass-insert cabinet doors a look. I took one down and inspected the assembly. I didn't believe the glass was inset into the wood, it appeared they were simply silicone caulked into place.





I grabbed my razor knife and carefully cut the caulking away from the glass. I was able to pop the glass out without much trouble after I got more comfortable with the razor knife. 





The next step was seeing if I was even able to get the early 2000s camper-style glaze off the glass. 




Good news, it comes off with a razor blade! 

I was able to scrape all six pieces clean. My hands looked like I had been mining for coal when I was done, but they washed up quickly when I took the glass pieces inside to clean them in hot water with some soap. I set the pieces carefully in my dish drainer to dry inside. I would be able to work on those after dark when I had to shut the rest of my operation down. 

I climbed up and down the ladder to cut in the ceiling paint a second time against the edges with the paintbrush. I kept leaning over on the ladder and had to laugh as I reminded myself if I fell, I'd be headed to my own hospital to my own unit as a 'hip alert' (meaning a potential broken hip).

Next thing on the agenda was helping fit the cap back into place. It took three of us and should have really taken four. The cap was larger and heavier than I expected it to be, and the shell was awkward and cumbersome to maneuver around. We had to wear gloves because the inside of it was rough fiberglass (word to the wise!). Through sheer force and will, we shimmied the cap back on and into place, stubbing random screws in on each side to finagle it back to being seated. Once they got the first two screws in with the aluminum frame rail on, it was much easier to move the cap back and forth without the fear of jostling it loose and it falling to the ground....or onto me as I was the one on the ground holding the damned thing up while they put screws in. 

That was it for me, I was pooped out. Even though it's December, we're still in Florida and the temperatures over the last two weeks have been in the mid 80s in the middle of the day, so it's very hot and humid still-it's not uncommon for us to go to the beach this time of year in shorts and t-shirts. I was soaked with sweat once again, dog tired, and just wanting a shower and a bottle of Gatorade. 

Once I recharged for an hour or two, it was after dark. I set up my couch desk to be a temporary workstation so I could get the privacy film on the glass. I set the glass on a few napkins and cleaned it with glass cleaner. I sprayed an alcohol and water mixture on the glass, then applied the film as directed. I trimmed the edges after smoothing the film down with a squeegie, and was quite pleased with my work. 





It feels like it's coming along slowly, but it's definitely moving fairly quickly. In two weeks' time, we've sealed the roof, fixed the leaks, re-insulated the cap and reinforced the flooring, and well-I've pretty much just made a mess inside. I have chosen my colors and purchased several gallons of paint as of tonight (Dec 9, 2022)! 



SOUTHERN GROWN JG-104 Paint Color | Magnolia Home by Joanna Gaines® (kilz.com) for the insets of the slide walls (the back wall of the slide will be the shiplap wallpaper)



We have such a long way to go, but it will come together, soon! I just have to keep remembering the absolute mess each house was before we had the finished product. Will post more soon! 💗


 

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