Last week I shared with you about our newest fixer upper purchase–a very well used and loved pop up camper. I never shy away from a project and this one is especially exciting to us. Not only is it going to be a fun, but the end result will mean we get to go camping and build great memories. Plus–in my mind–it’s like having a little doll house to fix up (please don’t tell Super Rockstar I said that) (man cave–very manly).
We knew when we bought it that it was going to need a little (okay, a lot) of TLC. The previous owner pointed out that he had replaced a leaky air conditioner with a vent. Not a big deal– we didn’t feel a need for A/C in a camper anyway. Colorado may get a little hot during the days in the summer, but we have a continual breeze blowing and our evenings are always a heavenly cool down. I’m glad that he removed the faulty A/C–but for some reason he did not remove any of the damage the leak had caused. When we first saw the ceiling–we noticed right away that there had been a rather hasty patch job done.
Our first area of focus in tackling this camper fixer upper project was to clean up all the water damage and make it water tight.
Step one was to remove the sagging suspicious looking section in the ceiling. We soon discovered what we feared finding–a rotting mess from all the water damage.
I’m not much of a germaphobe, but I have to tell you that seeing a ceiling flaking away with a black rotting mess underneath it kind of made me want to break out a hazmat suit. I’ve read WAY too many articles about dangerous types of mold and all I could think about was my lungs inhaling noxious fumes. In my mind I was already writing my own obituary–“local woman dies from deadly mold while fixing up a used camper”. That will most likely be my legacy in life–to be known as the bargain hunter/turning trash to treasure queen that keels over from pricking my finger on some rusty edge or inhaling ancient old dust and mold.
Anyway, after removing all of the yuck–we went straight to the hardware store to see what we could find to seal it up and make it look nice again. There was a layer of Styrofoam on the ceiling and even though it looked bad–it still seemed to be pretty sturdy. So, we bought a bottle of mold remover/preventer. I won’t lie–I sprayed every square inch of the ceiling to the point it was dripping and puddling on the floor–meanwhile muttering “Not today my moldy nemesis. Not today.” (insert maniacal snicker)
After we let that dry, we stapled a thin plastic layer and then a reflective insulating layer on top of that.
Since Super Rockstar and I are in complete agreement over how we want this to be our “cabin on wheels”, we found some great laminate sheeting that has a “distressed” wood look. It’s awesome and looks so beautiful.
Step 2 was to spend some time on the outside roof area. Since we were worried about moisture leaks, we made sure to seal every edge with caulk and even put a water proof seam tape down the middle.
The camper had obviously been in a hail storm–lots of dents and dimples (either that or it’s had the same bad eating habits I do).
We found this wonderful product called
Flex Seal Spray Rubber Sealant Coating, 14-oz, Clear
It’s kind of like spray paint, but goes on clear (they have color ones too–black, gray and white, I think) and then it dries in a hardened shell. Super Rockstar sprayed the entire roof and now we are a lot more confident about it’s weather worthiness.
Next week, I’ll show you what we did to the floor and share our fun adventures of trying to figure out the water tank. Stay tuned…