it all started about 7 months ago. i purchased a mobile home....... in horrible condition and decided to redo it. we knew the roof had to go, along with the floors, all the interior walls, all plumbing and electrical, and the siding. the appliances and tub/toilets had to go as well. the carpet was the worst job of them all. i must have gone through 50 blades for the box cutter!!!!! the smell was overwhelming we had to use a face mask! i will never do that myself ever again! it was a lot of hard work but it felt nice after everything was done:)so after demolition...... we basically started off with plywood floors and four outside walls that were nothing more 2x4's.
yep! it was pretty bad! we ripped EVERYTHING out! it took about four days for demolition and it was no fun! i decided to be my own contractor(with a little help from my father). and boy has this been an adventure! my first carpenter came in and ripped the siding off. his next step was to replace any bad 2x4's. then he was to plywood the exterior and wrap it with whatever it is that goes before the siding. next was tackling the roof! so thats what he did! pulled up the tin roof and replaced it with 5/8 plywood. this was a friday when he finished. by that sunday, we noticed the frame was starting to sagg in several spots! so it was then when i realized that he did nothing to strenghten the structure of the roof... not a thing! it is common sense..... the plywood alone quadruples the weight of the pre-existing roof.... thats not even counting the weight of the shingles. thats when i called in my dad to come and take a look at his work..... and it was a mess. he didnt replace the bad 2x4's, plywood wasnt staggered and he didnt reinforce anything. this is when our new carpenters came in.
and they were amazing... so percise in their work it was almost surreal! they stripped the place once again. the new roof and the new plywood! once everything came off... the possibilities were endless! we added 18in to the height of the walls. we raised the peak of the roof 2 notches extended the overhang 16in. we added cabin windows to the master bath and a peak to the front of the roof above the front door and custom windows. my sons room was increased in size by 2ft. his closet was enlarged twice its original size. the third bedroom lost 3ft but is a perfect size for a darkroom/studio. the walkin closet in the master bedroom gained 2ft by eliminating a hall closet. the bathroom lost a foot but gained a few by knocking down a useless seperation wall.
at this point ..... we put the siding up and trimmed everything in white metal. this took quite some time because all the metal was hand cut and hand bent to fit perfectly in its spot. we also realized at this point that we could have built a house from scratch for the cost so far. but i am still pleased with the outcome thus far. i got to pick everything i wanted and the floor plan. yes, i may have been able to build new, but i would have had to compromise on a lot of things to keep the cost down. so i built a trailer.... lol but its my trailer:) and there is no other like it!!
