New Heights.

As it turns out, the floor joists went as the floor decking did. Again, it felt somewhat wasteful at times, but I had to factor in the labor associated with modifying and repairing what already existed. I have been reminded many times that building new is way easier than renovation. If ease were my main concern, I would have bought a new singlewide. Something tells me that I wouldn't be sharing our adventure in that case! Finding the balance between using what exists and starting new is the key. 

My wife's cat has found new heights to judge me from.

Well built does not mean well engineered.

I spent much of the day today removing the plywood floor. It felt like a waste sometimes because I was often removing large sections of good plywood. There were, however, enough cut outs and rotten spots to justify full removal because I would end up with a patchwork floor if I tried to piece it all together and would probably end up with an additional day of labor as well. These efforts cost me 2 circular saw blades and totaled a borrowed reciprocating saw before I broke out the chainsaw. That saw chain is now totaled as well, but it worked like a charm and was fairly inexpensive. I wish I had used it before I broke all the other tools.  That process was fairly simple, just cut and pry. Removing the ductwork, however, proved to be a little more challenging. The duct work for the old air conditioner was basically just a sheet metal channel between 2x6" floor joists. It sounds simple enough but the sheet metal had been sandwiched between the wooden joists and steel web trusses you can see below. In addition, all three of those components had been through-bolted in a way that I could not access both ends of those bolts and they were free spinning. I'm sure that you'd like more technical details, but it's late, and I'm getting frustrated just thinking about this. All along, I've felt that this trailer was extremely well built. It's strong. It has served it's purpose much longer than many conventional wood frame homes have or will in the future. That's much of my attraction, it's a survivor! But being well built does not mean that it was well engineered. What I mean is that the people who built this trailer never considered dis-assembly. Maybe that was intentional, maybe not. The bottom line is that if something is to be built, It should be built in a way that it can be deconstructed without having to be destroyed. That beautiful and potentially re-usable ductwork now lies in a mangled, twisted pile because I had no option but to savagely beat, cut, twist, and tear it out from between structural members. It really looks like it's been through a garbage disposal. This wrecking bar assault also cost me a few 2x6"s. For some people, this kind of brutal demolition is a good outlet for their anger but for me, the destruction was the source of the anger.   

A couple of good yanks.

My Pop came by this morning and helped me get the large cabinets and old appliances out. The cabinets may be re-used so we hauled them back to put into the already overfilled garage. We then decided to cut out a few bad spots in the floor. As you can see, things progressed pretty quickly to removing the whole floor. I'll finish it up another day. I also went ahead and pressure washed the interior.

As I was putting the wardrobes into the garage, I noticed that the sliding doors on one of them weren't sliding very well.  I almost blew off looking at it to see why, but I had a little flashlight in my pocket so i figured I might as well take a look. This is what I saw.

It might be a little hard for you to see, but it's a snake. Now I don't know my snakes very well, but I have never seen one anywhere near my house. We are in town and not far from the Colorado river, so I know they are present, but not that I have seen at the house. This worried me. I brought this trailer home from the Texas hill country where it sat uninhabited for close to a decade. All of this forced me to assume that it was a rattlesnake. The first thing I did was get out of my flip-flops and into some boots. I thought for about 2 seconds about the best way to capture a snake that I could not yet identify because I couldn't see it's head or tail. And then I thought about about the best way to kill a snake that I could not identify. The LAST thing I wanted was any type of snake alive and loose in my extremely cramped garage. If I fussed with it enough to scare it deeper into the garage, I would never have been able to tell anyone because my wife would make me completely gut the garage and burn the contents if she found out. I brainstormed for the longest, sharpest, skinniest tool that didn't need any clearance for a chopping motion. Don't scour the depths of your brain too hard because there is only one tool that fits that description: the Arborist's polesaw! 

Now you might think I'm a jerk or worse, but I slid that polesaw between the doors and gave a few yanks. The snake thrashed a bit and started looking for an escape route. As soon as I could see it's head poking out and trying to climb, I made a swipe for it's neck. It dodged and struck at my blade a few times before I sunk it in. I had it by the jaw and stretched it out, careful not to yank it out around my ankles. I held to poor thing under tension for a minute or so and let it bleed. When I felt that it was safe for me to pull it out to the ground, I did, and severed it's head with a shovel. I'm sorry that the little dude had to die, but he did. 

I thought about trying to skin it and make it into a belt, but came to the realization that it would probably just hang in this overstuffed garage with my other projects! I buried it in the alley, but if you act fast, I'll dig it up and give it to you if you buy this 1940's Okeefe and Merritt  range.