Found more stuff for the Spartan

Well needless to say I haven't been up to the Spartan in almost a month. Work that pays comes first! The good news is I will be there to try and seal up the holes in the floor this weekend.

I have been in and out of the local Goodwill store and the Restore in Elgin the past couple weeks. I found a few new things this week to go in the Spartan.

The rear bedroom of my Spartan is missing the original nightstands. They were originally in both back corners of the bedroom. Recently someone had two for sale on craigslist for $150.00 but with shipping it most likely would have been costly. I decided to set up the bedroom in the future for maximum capacity. I will set up two twin beds on either end with a night stand in between which I can move if I want to push the beds together for one large bed. I found the night stand at Goodwill this week. The nightstand is a all metal nightstand from the 1950's. The best part is I paid $6.99 for it!

My second great find was a sink that should fit in the bathroom just fine. I found it at the Restore for $25.00 It is a Kohler and brand new. I think the green color will blend well with the pink of the bathroom.

Today I decided to check the price of underlayment at Home Depot and while I was looking around I found insulation on clearance. I figured I would be stuck with R-13 insulation because of price. I found R-19 for $7.16 each bundle. I bought 6 bundles. I'm pretty sure this won't be nearly enough!

Fabrics for curtains and booth cushions

So I stopped by Joann Fabrics today and look at some of the fabrics for the future curtains and cushions for the booth. Now many great fabrics can be purchased online that may be better then the ones I picked out here.

The curtain fabric here is kinda funky with old motel signs and different cool stuff. I'm not sold on the color of the back ground. This is only $3.99 a yard on sale.

This next fabric has good colors but the theme is not as interesting as the first one but it is the same price.

This one was just added for fun. If I made the curtains from this friends would give me crap forever!

I found a couple options for the cushions on the booth. I think it looks retro. The only issue is the fabric is $34.99 a yard.

Or I can go with the usual vinyl for $12.99 a yard

Leave me a message and let me know what you think!

Front screen door restoration

So the front screen door was painted silver by a previous owner. I cannot imagine why you would paint a aluminum door silver?!? I started with the usual wood stripper which took most of the paint off and then moved onto the mixture of lacquer thinner and denatured alcohol. It all seemed to come off with a little elbow grease. I purchased new aluminum screen from Menards with new spline. The old stuff was totally trashed, it even smelled as bad as the camper!

Cutting and replacing the screen was fairly easy with just a little blood shed from the sharp ends...yes I know I should wear gloves but I'm a man and chicks dig cuts, oh wait, maybe that's scars.

I used my medium and fine sanding and stripping wheels on the door and it seemed to shine it up a little but not to my satisfaction. I will do the final polish on it when I get to the trailer polishing phase.

Starting on the floor

So it's fourth of July weekend. Not exactly a weekend I want to go up for a day because of the traffic on the tollway. After sitting home all day on the 4th watching TV I decided to go up on the 5th to do some work instead of repeating a day of TV.

I bought myself a respirator mask that filters out asbestos and furnace filter from Menards to make a air filter from my box fan. Maybe it will filter some of the stink out!

I washed out the inside of the upper kitchen cabinets with pinesol and water. I couldn't tell if this made a difference since I had the mask on the entire time I was there.

So I tested some of the floor by walking on it. It appears the floor under the side windows are the softest. Some spots are actually so soft you can put your foot right through the floor.

After cutting the 3/4 plywood from the floor with my circular saw it reveals the insulation. You can see the holes in the insulation where little critters made tunnels in the past. I will remove the insulation from these areas as well since removing all the floor and insulation is not a feasible option for me.

The belly pan is fairly complete. There is one spot toward the front that has rotted away and that section of pan is now loose and hanging a bit lower. Perfect "doggie door" for animals big and small to make a home. That needs to be repaired ASAP.

I noticed a drop of water hitting the floor and it was too far away from me to be the sweat poring off me. The light fixture in the dining area had a steady drop of water coming from it. This ceiling panel is scheduled to be removed and discarded anyway so no better time then the present to remove it. I cut the power to the light, removed the screws from the underside of the fixture and carefully took it down. The panel is also held up partially by the decorative room divider which divides the kitchen from the living area. I carefully removed the divider since I want to restore this piece of non painted wood. I removed all the screws from the panel and pulled and tugged and was pelted with mouse pellets until it was down and out the door it went.

The worst part of demolition is the removal of the old insulation. It is falling apart, full of mice droppings and sometimes wet. I am never fully prepared for the job and most of the time have on short sleeves and I am left with itchy arms for days.

Since I spend more time away from the camper then at the camper I wanted to take a few things home with me to restore. I took the room divider and the front screen door this week. I hope to get the screen door finished first so I can reinstall it to keep out the bugs.