Fix-er-Up Questions?
Some time ago my parents bought an old trailer, 16ft long. It was trashed and they never got to fixing it up.
I want to fix it up myself. And by fix it up, I mean completely gut the inside and rebuild everything. But I'm not sure where to start.
Trailer itself:
Floor is solid and in good condition. It's not soft anywhere. However I want to replace the flooring with something that looks better.
The windows have a bit of water damage and rotted wood. Not a lot. Very little. My palm could cover all the (apparent) water damage. How should I go about replacing/fixing that? It seemed pretty easy per youtube and Web tutorials but not sure which "method" is best.
I want to either repaint or put new wallpaper on the walls. Can I just pay someone to do that? Should I replace the walls first or leave them in tact? The trailer is so old that I'm really tempted to just replace all the insulation and walls/floor/ceiling, honestly.
The bathroom ceiling is missing. It's covered by the roof but all the insulation is gone too. So maybe there used to be water damage in there and previous owner never got to fixing it all the way. How should I got about fixing that? From what I've seen its just, remove water damaged insulation and wood, then replace with new insulation and wood. Is that right?
Electricity:
It's 30 amp. I want to upgrade it to 50 amp, first of all.
All of the outlets in the camper work. Yay! However none of the appliances work. Fridge does not work, rooftop ac does not work. Lights do not work.
My big huge question about electricity is this: I don't want to mess with that myself - would it be better to rebuild it and then hire an electrician, or should electricity be the very first thing I do?
I would think the order would be, gut it, hire electrician, then put in insulation and walls/ceiling after that.
Plumbing: it's got a shower, toilet, sink. I want to change to a composting toilet so the fact that *there is no black tank, just a hole to the outside(!!!!)* doesn't bother me so much. However I don't know if the plumbing works in the sink and shower - I kind of doubt that it does. I would think that redoing the plumbing would be pretty straight forward, but should I pay a plumber to do that?
And here is my other big thing: all of the hookup places look like they are at death's door. I can't get the potable water thing to even open. How does one go about replacing these? I haven't been able to find any resources on that :/ but then, maybe I need to try harder.
I'm not in any rush to get this thing fixed up, but would like to have it done by late summer of next year. I'm fairly certain I can do everything except for the electricity.
I want to fix it up myself. And by fix it up, I mean completely gut the inside and rebuild everything. But I'm not sure where to start.
Trailer itself:
Floor is solid and in good condition. It's not soft anywhere. However I want to replace the flooring with something that looks better.
The windows have a bit of water damage and rotted wood. Not a lot. Very little. My palm could cover all the (apparent) water damage. How should I go about replacing/fixing that? It seemed pretty easy per youtube and Web tutorials but not sure which "method" is best.
I want to either repaint or put new wallpaper on the walls. Can I just pay someone to do that? Should I replace the walls first or leave them in tact? The trailer is so old that I'm really tempted to just replace all the insulation and walls/floor/ceiling, honestly.
The bathroom ceiling is missing. It's covered by the roof but all the insulation is gone too. So maybe there used to be water damage in there and previous owner never got to fixing it all the way. How should I got about fixing that? From what I've seen its just, remove water damaged insulation and wood, then replace with new insulation and wood. Is that right?
Electricity:
It's 30 amp. I want to upgrade it to 50 amp, first of all.
All of the outlets in the camper work. Yay! However none of the appliances work. Fridge does not work, rooftop ac does not work. Lights do not work.
My big huge question about electricity is this: I don't want to mess with that myself - would it be better to rebuild it and then hire an electrician, or should electricity be the very first thing I do?
I would think the order would be, gut it, hire electrician, then put in insulation and walls/ceiling after that.
Plumbing: it's got a shower, toilet, sink. I want to change to a composting toilet so the fact that *there is no black tank, just a hole to the outside(!!!!)* doesn't bother me so much. However I don't know if the plumbing works in the sink and shower - I kind of doubt that it does. I would think that redoing the plumbing would be pretty straight forward, but should I pay a plumber to do that?
And here is my other big thing: all of the hookup places look like they are at death's door. I can't get the potable water thing to even open. How does one go about replacing these? I haven't been able to find any resources on that :/ but then, maybe I need to try harder.
I'm not in any rush to get this thing fixed up, but would like to have it done by late summer of next year. I'm fairly certain I can do everything except for the electricity.
