I was determined to get the front wall dealt with today, so I got to it early.
I really hate to start a blog entry with an ugly photo but...
The bad news comes as no surprise anymore.
The former owner never bothered to actually repair any damage to the trailer. In this case, he just used what appears to be spray insulation (?) to cover it up. I grabbed a utility knife and started to cut away this stuff, so I could assess how bad things are.
Since there was the real possibility of mold or who knows what lurking behind this wall, I decided that it had to go. Honestly, there wasn't much holding it in place, since the adjacent walls were badly damaged.
In the process of removing this piece, I found what appeared to be small, black stones. In reflection, they were most likely the droppings of a mouse or something similar. I would soon find something to reinforce this idea.
Meanwhile, with that flimsy, damaged wall removed, you could see the bare metal of the exterior wall:
And there it is. A huge gap at where the floor meets the wall. Maybe an inch to an inch and a half wide or so over the whole length of it. Big enough that small critters could easily get in.
I closed up the gap from the outside with some new screws...
...and used Flex Paste inside to seal the crack, plus whatever small screw holes I found.
Placing stud boards on the wall against the bottom edge of the window. These will be part of the window frame, but also give me more surface to attach my wall boards to.
Adding angled stud boards against the slope of the front metal wall. I had to remove the top board, toenail screw the angled board onto it, then remount it. This is all because there is little to no wall surface area left to attach the angled boards to, thanks to all of the unchecked water damage.
Placing the first wall boards. All of these have to be planed, cut and sanded, which - of course - is time-consuming.
Second and third rows, then starting on the other wall:
I reused the 2x4 that was originally attached to the floor here. This will act as the base for the support frame I'm starting tomorrow.
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