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.