1993 32' on a budget Remodel

[ChrisNiemann]

Didn't know where else to put this so I figured that since I'm doing all this renovating as cheap as possible, why not put it on Budget section!

Below will be pictures and descriptions of what I've done to make my 1993 32' Cordoba by Cobra Chevy 454 Powered mut to be the best that she can be. I've done it all for a fraction of the price and I'm darn proud of it. This is the start of our new shop and were trying to flip a few RV's and document everything to get more business rolling. This is not a business ad and I don't want it taken that way, I just want to share with everyone on a budget what "I" am doing to "my" rv to make things a bit nicer than they were in 1993!

First off I want to apologize for the looks of the MH, she has been through a lot lately and my hands aint always clean when I start to touch her, she has a huge bath, wax, and shine day coming very soon as the next few days will be 80's instead of 110's! so look past the nasty grime and crap and focus! LOL


1. Hot Water Heater Extension
I always hated to drain the hot water heater cause when i opened the valve it would pool in the aluminum trough and sit there, then it would run down the side of the rv, down the hinges of my bay door and just make everything wet, nasty, rusty, and after drying it would leave the wonderful brown streaks. So I took the old valve out, added a 3" brass extension pipe, put on a ball valve instead of the old rusty screw out type, and then put a 90 deg. elbow on the end. I cut out an area in my door (still not perfect and I'm putting a screen over it next week). The cutout in the door allows for thep pipe to hang out just enough that i can leave it open while on the road so no matter what way I lean, it will allow the tank to drain at any time, it also allows the water to stay away from the side wall. with the cutout in the door setup the way it is. when the valve is shut, it is hidden insde the door so it isn't accidently opened when not meant to be. Cost was approx $12




2. Bathroom and Kitchen Faucet Replacement
The wife hated doing anything in the sink of the kitchen cause the original faucet sat so low to the sink you couldn't get a dog bowl under it to fill. So I headed to Lowe's and picked up a new high rise kitchen faucet, next to it on the shelf was a matching bathroom faucet that I knew would look great compared to the original plastic yellowish looking one. So for $35 I got them both and for another $6 I'm going back next week to get the sink sprayer too (works as a fire extinguisher too if need be)
Sorry, only before picture I have is of the tub, haven't decided what to replace that with yet, but it is a match to what the bathroom sink looked like!





3. A/C Ceiling Ductwork
The a/c kinda sucked in this thing. It blew cold, but not very strong. Come to find out, where the A/C met the roof there were a bunch of open gaps allowing the cold forced are right back to the intake instead of down the duct. So I got out the good ol Duct Tape and covered all that up. During my front remodel of the nose, i noticed a lot of cold air in the loft up front, it was 100 outside but i could feel cold 70 degree air in there, something wasn't right. Well come to find out, my last vent in my duct wasn't the end of the line for the the air. It continued past that last vent for another 2 1/2 feet and at the end of it was a plastic cap that was starting to seperate from the rest of the duct. This got me thinking, whats at the front is at the rear. sure enough, same thing at the rear. so i measured and cut a piece of small wood to fit in the duct that will stop the air from going any further than my last vent. Tomorrow I am going to pick up some instafoam to seal it off the rest of the way, trim the foam and put my vents back in. this cost me nothing, doubled my force of air in the bedroom and within the 3 hours i was still in there it dropped the back bedroom (furthest from the unit) 18 degrees accroding to the therm. Below is the picture with the open vent, a picture looking down the duct to the foiled plastic endcap, and then a pic with the wood in place. Its held in with 2 screws through my ceiling and into the wood. the screws will then be covered by the vent ring so you won't see anything at all.






3. New Lighting in Bedroom
I posted for suggestions on new 12v lighting the other day and didn't get much of a response. I didn't want to spend $55 on a wall light for an rv, just didn't seem worth the money when Lowe's has them for $14 and they put out a ton more light!! LOL So I head for the local "junk store" THIS PLACE HAS EVERYTHING OLD!! and with old comes cheap! The first picture below is the BEFORE and the 2nd is the after! I'M HAPPY!



This little setup cost me exactly $5 and about an hour to do. I'm not going to babble on about the shutting off power and breakers and what nots cause I don't do it myself, it's 12v and I was practically born on a motor of a car they've been my life, so work at your own risk is best way to put it. Anyawy, I was able to pick up this 110v overhead light from the junk store and the box of glass sconce covers to go with it $5 he told me so $5 i paid.


I first took off the retainer nut insde the 110v light unit and pulled the wires away from the housing so instead of holding all 4 sets, I now only am working with 1. inside the 110v light socket is a small screw that holds the porcelin socket to the mounting tab of the brass unit

remove that screw and with it will come the porcelin socket and the two wires. once those are out,

remove the retainer nut that is inside of the "bell" that hold the glass sconce (I AM REMOVING THIS BECAUSE THE "ARM" OF THE 110V UNIT WAS TO SHORT SO I AM HAVING TO USE MY 12V "ARM" FROM THE ORIGINAL LIGHT) once this nut is off you are left with the "bell" attach the bell to the "arm" of your choice and tighten with the retainer nut again. ReAttach the arm and the bell to the platform of your choice, i am using the original square brass one since it already has the switch installed and holes line back up inside the RV

you should have already removed your 12v light setup from your original light the same way you removed the 110v setup. now screw your 12v light setup back on to your new arm and bell and then feed the wires through AFTER you tighten the light unit, if you run the wires through before you will twist them at take the chance of damaging them.

once this is done, install your glass sconce

mount to the wall and enjoy! looks 200 times better back there and is definately brighter! I got some ideas for the front, but i'm tossing them around with the wife yet. you don't have to use the original light setup, i did cause it was available, cheap, and i have no patience with driving somewhere to get something different :-)

I have more to post but it seems photobucket isn't wanting to cooperate so I will try and pick this up again another day soon and continue. Hope someone is getting something out of this, please tell me what you think, if it's boring, i'll be glad to stop..

Everyone have a good night!

[Me n Slowpoke]

ChrisNiemann,
Thanks for sharing, not too many people would think about the little things that make life easier on the road.
We also are on a budget but I think the suspension/sway is going to be one of our first major redo's. At least the DH and son have automotive repair experience,, I always tell everyone my son is my backyard mechanic since he was 15 so he has lots of years of experience now.
I want to cover the cushions for our dinette, and the sofa as they are still very sturdy but due to the heat in Fl & Tx the fabric has dried out/very brittle.. That should be a reasonable cost as the only $$ will be for the fabric.
I really need a table to put my glasses on next to the bed. Our closet next to the bed on both sides is from the floor up.. any ideas? I thought maybe an addon that could fold down or stay up.
I also want to put some lights near the bed like yours that I can reach to turn on and off without getting totally out of bed.
Lordy,, this is like remodeling the stick house , so many projects don't know which one to start on first..
take care
Helen

[ChrisNiemann]

Sorry for the long time away, been really busy trying to get the old girl ready to go to the East Coast for Earl damages when they send me out.

Anyway, Helen, could you send pics of the bedroom (don't tell my wife ) lol so i could see what were working with here. My inlaw and I do RV remodeling here in the city at our shop so with a picture i could really help, or ehem... you could bring it on up, give us a budget and we'll get to it... LOL but seriously, post a pic and I can go from there, get a wide pic of bedroom, closer pic of just closet, closer pic of area where you want lights, and a pic where your floor meets your wall on both sides of the bed and a pic of where your wall meets your ceiling on both sides of the bed. weird i know but its for a purpose. I'll get back as soon as i go over pics with inlaw.


To anyone else that looked over and read my little post/blog, i'll have more pics as i finish rounding them up and editing them. prolly going to be a bit cause i'm still trying to finish putting everything back together so we can get on the road by monday if need be.

have a great day everyone and thanks for the comment helen. It has been a lot of fun and i have learned alot about this old girl in the proccess! I redid my roof back in June and OMG! NOW I KNOW WHY THEY CHARGE SO MUCH!! it was an experience but a fun one at that!

[Me n Slowpoke]

Chris, are you part of the electric companies etc that go into disaster areas ? So far we have been lucky in regards to the hurricanes but the season is not over yet, only beginnging..
I have some pictures that I took when we got the MH, I will see what I have and what it takes to upload them to a post. Our rear has a window over the bed with mini blinds,, of which I am definitely going to change. I don't like them so I will probably do it in a manner that makes it look like a 'headboard'
my son is a builder/electrician so it is hard to pin him down for a set day to come up to do things here. He is about finished with the bigger one (3000 sq ft house) so unless someone else gets to him first with $$$
he will be up this weekend..
take care

[ChrisNiemann]

no, sorry. Independent Insurance Adjuster. Unfortunately someones destruction is my paycheck. Hate asking for it, but we all make a living somehow. My mom lives in NewBern, NC about 50mi as the crow flies west of Cape Hatteras and she went to bed with about 20mph breeze and a light mist.

i did curtains over my back window to keep eyes and light out when living but then i just pop the rod off so i have an open back window when driving. You may think the headboard is a good idea until you get going and you can't see anything out that window, rear camera or not, its still a safe thing to have incase that camera goes poo on you. if you want to just email me the pics that is fine too, i can work with that easier cause then i can download them to PC and view them easier and larger.

niemannenterprises@hotmail.com


thanks again!

[Me n Slowpoke]

thanks, I will send them to you first thing in the morning. They are on desktop and I use the laptop most of the time.
My oldest daughter lives in Morganton, nc. and they had plans to go to MD this weekend as they used to live up there. Special occasion going on but they may not get to go.
When I get my 'headboard' done I will send you a pic as you will be totalled surprised..
If you go to the coast, be safe
HP

[ChrisNiemann]

thanks for the wishes.


please do send pics of headboard, i may end up doing so myself... i can't wait to slow down enough to put up the rest of my pics. this poor thing was so left behind in the 90's with all the stupid blue everywhere, i have done so much woodwork to it and now i've fallen in love with the look of pure plain pine that i'm starting to do more than i planned on! but thats what i love about it, big enough to live in and small enough to make a thousand different worlds in!

have a good night, and thanks again!

[Me n Slowpoke]

off topic but seems we are the only ones on this thread

Hope this finds your mom doing well and no problems in the storm. My bunch decided to go on up to Maryland for the weekend as planned.
I did send the pics to you by email, that is easier for me, even tho I found the instructions on how to post to 'photobucket' on another forum. May try it later.. got my own website to update right now.

[ChrisNiemann]

well helen, i hadn't head from you for some time so I thought i'd drop in on this thread again and say hi.... hope you had a good thanksgiving...

[Me n Slowpoke]

Chris, must be esp as I was browsing some threads recently and noticed that I hadn't seen you on here either.
We did have a great Thanksgiving, hope you did also. Floyd made it home, along with the youngest one from FT Worth, so it was a great day.
Haven't done anything big in the MH lately, went to the Boomers Rally in Cut N Shoot, great to meet everyone and had a good time, very relaxing.
Haven't gotten the window covering yet, Floyd and I cannot agree on the "scenery" that will be covering the window portion
I did go by Lowe's the other day and looked at some of their 'special order' blinds for the side windows. Their prices are comparable with the day/night blinds so will just stay with what is in the living area.. either way the 'mini blinds' will be coming down..
Merry Christmas to you and yours
Helen

[ChrisNiemann]

Thanksgiving was great. Still up here in Nebraska cold as crap! Should be done remodeling dads rental house soon and then heading back to OKC around the 20th to spend Christmas with the wife! working on the rv right now as i type this actually.... too many holes from ext. electrical and plumbing lines so i'm foaming them all over, to much heat loss in here so i'm trying to button it up best i can!

you have a merry christmas too, hope the weather stays good for ya. hope to hear from you soon and maybe meet up somewhere on a nice sunny day somewhere! lol

take care!

[ChrisNiemann]

So its been a while since I have been able to work on the old girl, but with Fall Harvest fast approaching, I figured I should probably get going on it already... Last winter my water line broke... or so i thought... i tested all the lines a few weeks ago and all was good so only thing it could have been was either 1. the tank or 2. ice expanded something somewhere and allowed water to run around the seals. Anyway, carpet was destroyed and so was the bottom portions of my walls from stains, so the only thing to do... REMODEL THE BEDROOM and on a budget like i've never seen before!! LOL

Entrance Before (note: the entire floor EVERYWHERE was blue carpet)


Left Side Before


Right Side Before


Center Before


really wish i would have taken more "before" pictures... i thought i had more from when i first got the rig but I guess not...

Tear Down







And now for the rebuild... all the wood was leftover scrap wood that I had in the shop or frame wood from the old cabinets. I didn't like not having a night stand. the closets were like 5' tall and didn't need to be, so I made new frames shorter and reused the old tabletops that were there before. spent $8 at walmart for flat brown paint, glossy just didn't look good... all the hinges and handles were taken off to paint and then were painted with spray paint stainless steel paint $6. The new carpet was bought at a carpet store from the remnant stock for $35 and i got plenty of left overs too. had left over paint from a house i painted last year, so that did the walls and the bed wrap. The headboard i bought at a garage sale for $5... it was the footboard of the actual bed, the headboard was destroyed in a move so they sold it cheap! lol the overhead door in the center if you notice, it was the old closet door from the long closets, turned sideways and built the frame around the size of the door... below are the pics going back together











HAD TO QUIT FOR THE DAY...

































next step is lighting for the bed, doors for closets, and siding for the closets. then cover the water lines and electric along the floor, add a side rail trim to split the wall, hang the flat screen and HOPEFULLY enjoy!!

i also got sick of the off white color of the stove top... the oven door is next, just got to hot again to mess with for today





range hood is next too


if time prevails, i'm redoing the kitchen floor again and working on getting rid of the gold handles and hinges and going with silver... more pictures as i go... so far the bedroom cost me about $50 :-) WORKS FOR MY BUDGET!

[ChrisNiemann]

I GUESS I DIDN'T POST MY FREEZER DOOR INSERT ON HERE.....
BURNED THE IMAGE ONTO THE WOOD, USED A TABLE SAW TO CUT THE GROOVE TO ALLOW IT TO SLIDE INTO THE CHANNEL, TOOK THE OLD ONE OUT, AND IN WENT THIS BEAUTY!!

[goreds2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisNiemann I GUESS I DIDN'T POST MY FREEZER DOOR INSERT ON HERE..... BURNED THE IMAGE ONTO THE WOOD, USED A TABLE SAW TO CUT THE GROOVE TO ALLOW IT TO SLIDE INTO THE CHANNEL, TOOK THE OLD ONE OUT, AND IN WENT THIS BEAUTY!!

Nice job! It will be cool when my Buckeyes play you guys this year.