One Busy Day for Mrs. Jones (michael)

One Busy Day for Mrs. Jones

Today we got a lot done to Mrs. Jones. Jeff showed up at 9 am and started to cut in the stove top. I installed Christi's capt. chair. Phil, "Our Phil guy", showed up and installed the 6250 watt Coleman genny with a slide he made from old bed rails. Then we ran a 50 amp yellow cord from the genny to the back bay so we can plug in while underway. It will do until our big Onan gets rebuilt.

Christi picked up her pantry doors at

Cate's Hill trailer sales for $20 bucks on Friday so we laid out the face and Jeff put it together. I ran the rear roof air 12/2 wire. Smoked my good bit, Rats! Then Jeff started to frame the bedroom closet and Phil started on moving the air brake button. Where it is located made it hard to get in and out of the drivers seat, so Phil moved and modified

the housing to sit in a better place. He cut the housing with a hand grinder and then welded it together with my new Mig welder, (It's coming with us. A singer with a welder, Look out!) We had to pull out the spare tire to get to it. Good time for an inspection of the tire and the compartment.

They look good but dirty. Hmm, I wonder what Christi is doing? Hehe. Next we laid out the flat screen TV mount. To the salvage pile we go. We used the HD chair and upper compartment mounting aluminum rails. Jeff did a good job on this one. We saved a bundle! Also, the plumber Jack Jackson of Straight Flush Plumbing came over and lined out the water, waste & gas systems. I will cut holes in the AM so he can start running lines.

P.S. from Christi: Jared, (my son), and I spent the morning at Walmart, Lowe's and Home Depot buying parts for Mrs. Jones. When we got home I found an injured Michael with a paper towel wrapped around his thumb. He managed to take a chunk out of it when the drill gun slipped. Poor baby! So I found the bag balm and a large bandage and sent him back to work. We only have 3 weeks, you know.I had planned to get back to making Mrs. Jones pretty inside, (painting, yippee!), but soon found the rig was overrun with 3 sweaty, dirty males. Too much testosterone for me. I went in the nice cool house and did paperwork all afternoon. Aaaah.

All the Best, Michael & Christi See our other Blog;http://michaelhargisshow.blogspot.com/

IS IT HOME YET? (christi)

IS IT HOME YET? (Christi) I've been spending the last couple of days going through stuff. Right now I'm working on our tool trailer. It stores everything we need for the construction business. Needless to say, it's a mess. I know there are neat, organized men out there. My wonderful man is not one of them. His idea of cleaning up a job site is putting everything; tools, half empty caulk tubes and leftover hardware all in one coffee can or nail bucket. Then, if I'm lucky, that container will make it (barely), to just inside the doorway of the tool trailer. That's where I come in. Well, if I ever want to find those parts again. So, the biggest part of this cleaning and sorting project was finding at least 7 of these potluck containers. (I know, I better get used to potlucks.) I was actually surprised that I only had a handful of, "Honey, what is this and can we toss it?" Five years ago, me in a hardware store was like Michael in Victoria's Secret. I've come a long way, baby. But that's another blog. Anyway, as I was sorting and tossing, I heard a lot of sawing and screwing. (Get your mind out of the gutter.) I went to take a peek. Wow! I can see us living here. The walls are defining our living space. It reminds me of when we're building a house. The owners always have the same reaction. The foundation/slab looks small. Then as we start framing walls, it looks bigger and the 'wow factor' kicks in. Then the drywall makes it look smaller again. And as the paint and finishing touches go in, they see their home. As with them, I stand in our compact 40 x 8 foot space and see our place, our space, our home. We're building this for us, for our adventure. The building of it is an adventure in itself. Michael is finding himself in somewhat unfamiliar territory. He finds that he has jumped the gun now and then, and will have to back-track a little, or do something 'after the fact' that will make it a little more difficult than it might have been. Yet, he keeps moving forward, undaunted. I find myself once again amazed at his diligence and patience. Two qualities I lack miserably. I see my man working hard to fulfill his dream to go on the road again and I fall in love with him all over again. Honey, is it home yet? All the Best, Michael & Christi Please Comment Below

The Shower (michael)

The Shower. First. check that there are no supports or cables under were you will be cutting the drain and supply lines. We framed for a 3' x 3' deep well shower and YES, I had to move it over 1 1/2 inches due to a cable! Placed the pan and marked the drain. Moved the pan and cut a 3" hole for the 2" drain pipe. Install the brass drain to the pan, then set the pan. We will be tiling the walls so we affix Dura-rock to the walls up to the ceiling. Set the regulator and shower head. Ready for tile.

All the Best, Michael & Christi Please Comment Below

Framing (michael)

Framing.

Wood or steel? Steel or wood? Both have their good points. We are going with wood. I like wood. Metal studs are nice and lite, but I know wood. Daddy always said, "Go with what you know". And so we frame. We build all the walls 1-1/2 inches thick save for plumbing walls, they will be 3-1/2 inches for the water and vent lines. We are installing a king size bed. I know it takes a lot of room, but every time we stay in a hotel Christi says, "I can't wait to get back to our bed!" So, we are taking it with us. Next, I will frame the pantry. Mmm food. Let's see what Christi is cooking. Oh, Hmmm, OK back to work. All the Best, Michael & Christi Please Comment Below

Start Framing & Insulation (michael)

Start Framing & Insulation After walls are stripped it's time to affix 1"x 2" furring strips along the base of the side walls and about 1/4" below the window frames. I pre-drilled the base holes. A self tapping screw would not go through the sub-frame without pre-drilling. The self-tappers worked fine on the top run. We put a screw about every 2" or so.

We bought 4' x 8' x 3/4" backed insulation. I measured every 8' to

get a good fit. The MCI bus

seems to be shorter in the rear???

We used 3M spray adhesvie to hold the insulation in place and to keep it from squeaking later on. Spray the wall on the top, sides and bottom, then do the same to the foam. Wait 3 mins. and set in place. Installing the beadboard. I may have jumped the gun on this one.

After putting half of it up, I stopped until we skin the windows.

I am using 1/4", 3 ply wood beadboard that comes in 4' x 8' sheets. Again, because the couch gets shorter to the rear, we took measurements every 4' starting in the rear. This amounted to a

1/2" gain every section. To cut down waste, I took the smallest measurement in each section and square cut the beadboard. I affixed the panels to the furring strips with PL200 construction glue and 1" brads. This made a small 1/2" to nothing gap along the bottom that I will cover with baseboard later. Walls next. All the Best, Michael & Christi Please Comment Below