Florida Flip 2...Tearing Up The Yard And Starting Inside

Part 2 Good morning. Since I had so many good responses I decided to post another story to whet your appetite for more. My husband, Mike and I went down to Florida to work on our other house in October of 2009. We had no plans of working on this house at all until we finished the first house....but of course plans change Our tree guys finished up at the first house and while we had them working we decided to let them start on this house. He went over before us to start cutting. This is what Mike and I saw when we got to the house. The overgrowth. and One of the things Mike and I hate most about a lot of the homes we do is the total lack of maintenance on the landscaping. These houses are just too small to have jungles in the front and back yards. We always have the trees and overgrowth cleared away when they are too close to the house. Our tree man cutting and clearing: Almost done in the back. And the pretty pineapple palm the way it should be. While the guys were outside Mike and I went inside. We don't have time to work on this right now but of course Mike just "has" to do something, lol. The master bedroom...Eww!!!! and somebody lived here. Mike starting to tear up the carpet....which has to go before we can move over to this house when the first one is finished. The tree guys finished and that's all we had time for. We told the workers they could take "anything" out of the house they wanted except for the refrigerator. The only thing he wanted was the laminate flooring that was in the living area. That was one less job for Mike and I We didn't make it back to the house until November 30, 2009. The men showed up to do the curbing at our other house and then came here to do the curbing here. There are a few very important things that Mike and I do when we remodel. 1. We fix anything that is broken and can't be used. 2. We make sure the place is clean and move in ready. 3. We get rid of all the junk. On the outside of the house we always have curbs done along the entire perimeter of the house. Then we fill those curbs with rock and eventually some plants. The whole idea behind this is to keep things as maintenance free as possible. The curbing and the rocks keep the dirt away from the house...therefore keeping possible termites away. Dirt at the bottom of your house and sitting water is never a good thing. It also helps when you mow and weed eat. Your house paint can never get dirty or chipped away. So here are the steps for something I think is pretty cool. First the curbing guys have to cut out where the curbing will be poured. On the truck they have to mix the concrete and then pour it into wheel barrels. Next one of the guys will bring the wheel barrel over to the curbing location. Once there, they shovel the concrete into the hopper of the machine. Then it shoots out in the form of a curb. So cool Once the machine is empty, the men smooth out the curbs and put expansion joints in. This will keep it from cracking. Smoothing it out by hand. And the curbing around the pineapple palm. While the curbing is being done we brought a couple of our other contractors inside to see if they wanted anything. They started in the kitchen while I got my first real pictures of the inside of the house. This is the spare bathroom. and The front small bedroom. And the back bedroom. It looks like these carpets haven't been cleaned in decades. I feel bad because it was an old man who lived here and I guess no one cared about him enough to help. There was also some water spots on the ceiling which is the reason why the roof was replaced. Back to the kitchen. Mike and ones of the guys taking out the dishwasher. While they did that, I started to tear up the green indoor outdoor carpet on the back patio. Taking out the kitchen sink. I took up the last of the laminate flooring. While the guys took the things they wanted, I went to take some more pictures. The master bath. and As much as we would like to dig in and do demo, we just don't have the time right now. Although Mike couldn't resist starting on there kitchen cabinets The cabinets in the kitchen could not be salvaged. Things were just too rotted away so we will tear it all out and start fresh. Oh yeah...we will also be moving the kitchen That is all of the pictures for today. My next story will be about some real work and some real demo.....our favorite

Motorhome Remodel Before and After

Time for the fun stuff:):)

The before and after pictures


The motorhome looking back before:

After:

and

The kitchen area before with no cabinets...only small drawers that didn't reach all the way back.

And after:

Front of the cabinets with the kick plate underneath.

The new storage underneath.

The wet area:

My cabinet...where the old seat used to be.

Our original door...without a screen which is a stock photo with the seat in the way, no privacy and no screen:

Our new screen door which is awesome:)

That's all for this remodel. It took Mike and I just under a week to do this project. We were also cutting down trees and splitting logs in between, lol.


I hope you enjoyed this story and information.

Happy camping. Time for a road trip 

Motorhome Remodel...Part 2

Time for the new cabinets and countertop to go in.

Mike wanted me to remind everyone that this job was not as easy as we make it look. It is very nerve racking to redo things in motorhomes and you never know what you might find underneath. It takes a lot of time especially removing all of the glue and black rubber stripping that Winnebago used.


OK....now onto more pictures.

Time to work on the cabinets. First we have to bring the first cabinet inside to see how the depth is going to be. If it is too wide we will need to cut the backs off of the new cabinets. We measured and we are pretty sure it will be OK. We bring the first cabinet into the back and put it in place. It does not extend past the refrigerator Mike measures the cabinet around the wheel well.


Time to cut.

Mike starting to cut the back of the cabinet out to fit over the wheel well.

Using the reciprocating saw to cut out the rest.

And our measured opening is cut. Hopefully it fits

It fits and we got it in place.

Next we measure some boards and paint them to cover the inside of the cabinet. We don't want any openings into the motorhome. Winnebago left two open holes in the bottom of the old cabinets. No wonder why we had mice inside

Here is our supervisor, Niki. No matter what project we do, Niki will always find the most comfortable spot to sit whether a towel, sweatshirt, or paint cloth, lol.

Next Mike works on the "wet" cabinet. We decided to designate one cabinet for all the plumbing, the water heater and also the sink above.

We took the styrofoam off the water heater so Mike could work on things. He had to cut down the drain pipe and add a part of his own. He will attach a longer pipe to this later.

Mike already cut the hole in the cabinet for the water heater. Now he is cutting a hole for the drain pipe.

Before all of the cabinets are installed I paint the back tops black. You can see the backs of the cabinets from the outside of the motorhome. The windows are tinted but we want to blend them as much as we can.

Mike uses the cutoff wheel to cut off the bolts from our old passenger seats. They are above the floor and we need to level it before the last cabinet and new floor can go in.

The bolts by the door.

The cabinets are in place and the drain pipe will work

Time for the wiring. This is where I am no help at all



What Mike has to figure out.

Drilling a hole inside the cabinet and through the shelf for the pipe that will hold the electric wiring.

The large pipe to protect the electric wires.

Where the wiring begins...and it needs to go through each cabinet. By the time Mike gets to the front cabinet most of the wires will drop off except for the last electric outlet.

The tubing that will protect the wires behind our new drawers.

And over the refrigerator.

And into the front two cabinets and out the front cabinet where Mike will install our new electric outlet.

Next is plumbing.

Mike works on the hot and cold water using pex tubing inside the "wet" cabinet.

Mike uses the torch to soften the pipe so it will slide in easier. 

Crossing fingers for no leaks. Time to test Mike's plumbing work. He hooked up a temporary faucet to the hot and cold pipes and is using a coffee can to catch the water when it is turned on.

Yay...no leaks....better than Winnebago


Now we are ready to try the countertop. First we open the back doors and take the sofa bed out. This is one of the main reasons we bought an ERA. We also use this motorhome as a remodeling van and we need to get the back seat out for the cargo space.


Next we carry in the countertop and measure for the length.

We bring it back outside. 


Now that we have the basics ready to go....we bolt in the cabinets to the exterior wall of the motorhome. This is a scary part. You do not want the screws to go through the outside wall. Mike put the first screw in and he told me to go out and see if it went outside. He followed me out and was behind me. When I got around to the other side I said "oh no" and he said you're kidding me. Gotcha ya. I know...it was mean but he would have done the same me



Mike makes the first cut in the countertop.

We bring it back in and take measurements again. It takes awhile but we decide that we can get away without having to cut the whole backsplash off. This was very tedious and nerve racking. Lots of back and forth with the countertop, lots of measuring, and lots of rechecking before we cut anything.


Next we measure for the new sink and the stove. Mike makes the fist cuts for the stove using the circular saw for cleaner cuts.

And then the jigsaw for the tighter cuts.

We are ready to go back in but first we want to make sure there is no gap or rubbing between the countertop and the cabinets.


While I paint the back of the countertop(to hide it from the outside windows), Mike puts some small weather strip around the whole perimeter of the tops of the cabinets.

We get the countertop on and Mike hooks up the stove and turns on the gas. All is good



Next he installs the sink.

And the plumbing from under the sink.

After that is done it's time for the electric outlets.


Our ERA came with a total of 6 outlets for the kitchen area. Two on each end of the cabinets and two more in the middle above the refrigerator. We were constantly juggling the back two outlets for the coffee maker, the toaster, the satellite receiver and Mike's headphones. Mike is going to fix this by installing two surge suppressors with six outlets each on each end of the cabinets. We will never use all of these outlets but it sure is nice to have them



Mike installing the first electric strip.

Then he installs the one on the front side. The cabinets, counter and electric is installed.


View from the back.

And from the front.

Mike will spend time making sure all of the cabinets and holes are completely sealed and secure for traveling.


I hope you enjoyed today's pictures.


Next will be the floor and the finishing touches.


Have a wonderful day!!!