Up to My Own Mischief

Had the day off work, so made it a work day!

Slept in late and headed down to Home Depot for a couple of last minute supplies. Spent a bit of time trying to find the local Zolatone dealer, but couldn't find it in the industrial park. So, got home, gathered up my tools and got cracking.

My first effort was to cut off the remaining rusted portion of the frame member on one side. I did it with my Dremel tool (yet another thing you can do with a Dremel!!!). It took a long time, got the motor a bit warm, wore out a cutting wheel, but I really liked the result. The cut was extremely clean--and the Dremel was much easier to control than I expected. However, Rick doesn't feel the cut was sufficiently flush enough, so I may have to try over again. Oh, well, I'll deal with that this weekend.

Shot of where I cut the rusted end off the frame

I also tried to clean up the rust left there, but it's a struggle. I can't get the wire wheel (on my drill) down there. I may be able to reach with the dremel's wire wheel, but I wanted to let the motor get completely cold first. So, I spent about a half hour with a wire brush, then gave up.

Then I turned my attention to the flooring. Now that we've started working on the front, we are wondering what is underneath all the rest of the floor. Once again, I pulled up the carpet to look at the tiles underneath. Then I removed all the tiles not held down by pieces of furniture. Most of the tiles pretty much popped off when I set the pry bar to them. Three and a half tiles were not so cooperative.

The old epoxy repair is the yellowish mass at the top right, near the wall

These tiles were apparently reapplied at a later date with lots of thick, sticky adhesive. These were murder to remove and took a heat gun, hammer and chisel. I had a hard time holding everything, especially with the rubber gloves that were necessary because of the adhesive. Sometimes the tiles melted before the adhesive. Finally after about 30 minutes effort, they came up...and I found a nasty lumpy epoxy and fibercloth repair! Yuck.

I also made one other unpleasant discovery...as I moved towards the back, I became aware that the subflooring had odors that you couldn't notice standing up. Bad news.

Demo efforts continue

So, when the going gets tough, the tough return to Home Depot!

This time, I did find the Zolatone dealer on the way--and was informed nicely, but firmly that they didn't sell paint except to contractors. Phooey. I'm not sure I'm taking that so easily...I'm the daughter of a builder and my Daddy taught me that there is one golden rule in the trade whenever you reach an impasse: get creative!

Continued on to Home Depot, got a handful of supplies, stopped for sushi, meditated on entering the contracting business, rolled my eyes and went home.

My last project of the day was replacing the teardrop lights on the trailer. This was an awesome project--one I highly recommend, since it takes little in the way of tools, requires little skill, but the results are fantastic.

Overall, I feel I used today productively, but can't stop wondering how much more we're still needing to do with this floor.