There’s a hole in my caravan, dear Liza

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I haven’t posted for a while, sorry! I’ve been busy with uni assignments (blergh) and what not. #studentlyf

I’ve made some progress with the caravan, the first part of which was a complete bodge-job but it’s fixed the problem.

That problem: Water damage.

I’ve already posted about this in my last blog post but to refresh your memory, here’s what the water-damaged wall looked like when I tore back the wood panel…

Pretty grim, I know! The whole underneath the was-wood-panel was wet-through to the touch and it smelt fusty and gross. I had no idea what to do about the problem so, in true young-adult fashion, I buried my head in the sand and left it (secretly hoping that if I left it long enough it’d fix itself…).

A few weeks later, after a tonne of Google-ing and Pinteresting about how to fix damp in caravans, I went back to the problem and decided what I was going to do: bodge it.

Again, in true young-adult fashion, of course.

I bought some fiberglass materials and applied this to the holes in the wall which I could see. Even the mixing of the fiberglass materials was a bodge job because I didn’t measure the correct ratio out; instead I just guessed and hoped for the best… and the best happened so who’s a genius? I’m a genius.

Once the fiberglass had set, I sprayed over it with sealing spray (which I’m ashamed to admit smelt good…). Just to make sure I’d gotten all the gaps, I also sprayed around the window and up the sides and everywhere else. To be perfectly honest, I was probably having too much fun drawing with it.

Then – as if I hadn’t sealed it enough already – I got some expanding foam. I’ll be honest, this was all just a load of fun; like playing with shaving foam, only the foam gets bigger… and bigger… and bigger…

And, yet again, in true young-adult-fashion, I didn’t follow the instructions and I didn’t wear gloves while using the expanding foam. As a consequence, I ended up with my hands stuck together, running around the house like a headless chicken, having a flid, worrying that my hands would have to be amputated. Eventually, my mum (being a fully fledged adult and what not) came up with a way to fix me and, after half an hour, I was saved and back to work on the caravan.

Here’s how it looked by the time I’d finished (brace yourself, it ain’t pretty)…

B-E-A-utiful. If you have any DIY jobs you want doing, giz a ring.

I know how it looks, you don’t have to tell me. But it’s done the job – the holes and leaks are fixed, there’s no water getting in anymore and also the caravan is a lot warmer. And pretty soon I’m going to put a new wood panel over it so you won’t see it anyway.

I know how to bodge like a pro. Don’t worry; I got it.

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After feeling pretty chuffed with myself and my handy work, I decided to do something a bit more therapeutic and, dare I say, feminine!

(No self-inflicted sexism intended… much.)

I bought some paint and some paint brushes and started painting the old, drab-looking wood work.

Again, to refresh your memories, here’s a few pictures of what the wood work looked like before…

I didn’t realise I had so little wood-work focused pictures from before. I should have taken some more… but I didn’t… so deal with it (please).

So the wood work is as follows: the small wardrobe pictured above (next to the now non-existent bathroom door and walls…), a shelf which goes all around above the double bed area, the wooden supports for the seating/double bed, the kitchen cabinets and some cabinets above the water-damaged wall.

The wood was a boring colour and didn’t do the caravan any justice in terms of making it look fresh and new-ish, so I thought a lick of paint would spruce things up a bit – and I was right (as always… just kidding… sort of).

I went for a light colour because I’m going to do the walls (apart from one feature wall near the seating area) in a light blue and, what with the caravan being such a small space as it is, a light-coloured wood work ought to open the space up a bit.

Said paint: Johnstone’s kitchen and bathroom emulsion in ‘silver feather’

I decided to get kitchen and bathroom in the hope that it’ll last longer… I don’t know. We’ll see.

Those of you who follow me on Instagram (zoesimps0n) will have seen this already. My cute, relaxing set up; music playing, dim lamp glowing, heating on… almost like a spa day… almost.

So far I have only painted the cabinets above the water-damaged wall, the small wardrobe, the right-hand-side seat/bed support and the shelf which goes all around above the double bed area. This is because my set up (pictured above) was on the kitchen cabinets and the cushions for the seats were on the other wooden seat/bed support and I didn’t fancy getting paint all over them.

Here’s what it looked like after 3 coats…

I put the cushions back on the seat so you could get a feel of what it will look like when finished. I’m going to either reupholster the cushions or make that area into a permanent double bed so as of yet I’m not sure what it’ll look like but… you get the picture.

This one will probably need another coat. I’m also going to get new door handles for all the cupboards so that’s why the handles have been painted over too. Ignore the ugly wall.

Unbelievable how much difference that small bit of decorating has done! It’s made it feel a lot fresher and so much bigger on the inside.

I also bought some paint for the walls. So far I’ve only bought tester pots because I wasn’t sure what colour I wanted, however I have settled for a pale blue.

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As well as bodging and painting, I’ve also been buying little bits and bobs for the caravan for when it’s finished. Here’s what I’ve gotten so far…

Matching plastic camping mugs, bowls and plates and a matching vase. These can all be found in Wilkinson’s stores for £13 in total.

How cute are these retro coasters!? £1.99 from Store Twenty One.

Also, the lamp in the 5th picture up is new too and will be staying when the caravan makeover is complete. I picked it up at Store Twenty One for £4.99.

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So that’s what I’ve been up to caravan-wise since my last post.

As always, thanks for reading.

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Baring all…

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So today I was planning on fibreglassing the parts of the ‘van which are letting in rain and wind. I bought the things I need to do this the other day. I can’t believe how cheap and easy it is to do it! All you need is a fibreglass mat, resin and the hardener to set the resin with. In total, this cost me around £15.

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So, as I was saying, I was planning on fibreglassing… however, when I went to rip off the water-damaged wall on the inside I realised that job will have to wait…

As you can see from the photo above, the rot behind the wall panel is a lot worse than I originally thought; the polystyrene insulation and the wood framing is completely soaked through and rotten far beyond being salvageable. This isn’t a HUGE deal because I was in two minds whether or not to re-insulate the ‘van anyway. However, it does mean that I’ll have to let it all air-dry out for a few weeks {or months…} before I can do anything further with it.

So, with that being said, I decided to see what else was hiding behind the cardboard wall (yes, cardboard – I’m not sure why caravans are so expensive when they’re made with arts and crafts materials…). The cardboard was that soggy that it was literally tearing like paper – either that or I’m just really strong and muscley {I’d like to believe the latter…}.

Yeah, I know, it’s gross. The polystyrene and cardboard behind the cardboard wall is completely sodden. I’m going to have to strip it all back to the outside wall but I’m scared to at the moment in case the window falls out…

{*nervous laugh/cry/tiny scream*}

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I was planning on keeping the wooden seats in so that I could just re-upholster the cushions that go on top, however when I was sat on them whilst pulling off the wall, I noticed they weren’t secured to the wall as much as they should have been and they were wobbling. Again, this wasn’t a massive problem because, again, I was in two minds about what to do with them; either I was going to keep them in and re-upholster the cushions as I mentioned before, or I was going to rip them out and buy a proper real sofa instead. So, when I realised they were knackered that decision was made for me. So I set about ripping them out.

Uh-oh! I ran into a problem whilst pulling the seats out. I forgot about the plug socket that was on on of them – luckily I noticed just in time before I properly pulled on the seat and ripped out the wiring. I could have taken the socket off the seat but I’m not a novice at electrical work and I’d probably kill myself so I decided, for now, to leave it and to just cut the piece of wood it’s attached to out.

So this is what it looked like when I’d finished taking the seats out. Pretty, right? No? Hmm… Well, it’s ready to start air-drying out now until I’m motivated and brave enough to face the risk of the window falling out when I strip it all back… can’t wait.

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Now, do you remember in my last blog post I put a load of ideas on and one of them was the wall with the shelves on it? I plan to do that on what was the inside wall of the bathroom. I say was because my next job after stripping the rotten wall out was to rip out the bathroom walls to give myself extra space – there was no toilet in there (thank God!) so I didn’t plan on using that room anyway.

Easy job, I thought. Just smash the walls down, I thought… Alas, no. If only the rotten wall was as tough as the bathroom walls and the bathroom walls as weak as the rotten wall.

This job took at least an hour and a half, my mum’s help, an axe, a saw, a hammer, and a lot of screaming, shouting and swearing in frustration. However, eventually, just as I was starting to think I’d been beaten by a caravan, the walls came out.

{“There’s so much room for activities!”}

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Whilst pulling the walls out, the carpet (which I was going to get rid of anyway) began to come up, revealing the floor underneath. I decided, seeing as it was coming up anyway, to pull up the whole thing. This revealed a fairly large area of damp in the corner under the rotten wall I’d just pulled out hours before…

This made me want to cry and made me wish I’d not pulled the carpet up… however, if I hadn’t have pulled the carpet up I would have never have known the damp was there, and would have put furniture on top of it, risking the whole floor on that side falling through and all my hard work and money going to waste.

Again, this won’t be a big problem to fix. When I get round to fixing it (which will be in a few weeks when I’m home from Sheffield for long enough to get the job completed) I’ll simply cut out the rotten wood and replace it.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom! This is the only area of rotten floor in the whole ‘van – God doesn’t completely hate me after all!

As you can see from the photo above, the rest of the floor is completely fine and damp-free. It appears as though the only water-damage is all on one side of the ‘van, which makes life a little easier. It also means I can focus on decorating the side which is okay whilst waiting for the damaged side to air-out, avoiding the prospect of the whole project being put on hold for a few weeks.

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Over the next few days/weeks I’ll be keeping an eye out for pretty fabrics, paint and wallpaper to save ready for decorating. I’ll also be attempting to fix the water-damaged side of the ‘van and hoping it’s not a bigger job than expected…

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