Home Improvements

When I purchased this trailer a few years ago, there were a few windows that were broke in one way of a another. I have been fortunate to have a cousin (the same one who fixed up my electricity) who scrapped out an old trailer that by chance had the same type of windows as my ancient model. He kept a few different sizes that I needed and brought them over for me. Last night I removed one of the worst ones and put one of the replacements in its place. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the whole process went. It was just a matter of removing about twenty screws from the metal frame, pulling the old window out, cleaning the old window seal material off and cleaning the new replacement before applying silicone around its perimeter and then placing it in the opening so the frame was against the outside wall and then using the screws to attach it in place. Overall slick and fast, though in a way the ease highlights the simplicity and cheapness of the trailer building process. Regardless, I now have a working window without broken glass that cranks in and out. Later this week I will be tackling one of the other problem windows.

The other day I spent a few hours starting to block up the perimeter and boy, it makes a big difference. I started around the door which was not as level as it should have been and did not open or close easily. I tweaked the opening just right with the perimeter leveling and then worked on the door itself. I had not noticed before, but many of the screws that attach the long one-piece hinge were loose which allowed the door to sag down. I spent a few minutes tightening these back up. With the leveling of the perimeter wall just right and those screws being tight on the hinges, the door now opens and closes like a champ with no scraping on the bottom like it had been. It swings smoothly and the door latch catches perfectly. Now before winter I need to place some new weather striping around its perimeter and all should be good.

I did not get around the whole perimeter though because I ran out of block. This coming weekend I will be poking around to dig up some more. I know of a few places where relatives have stacked old block that is free for the taking. Free is always good, particularly on this project since it is only temporary.

Last night I noticed that the grass is starting to take; little green shoots are now poking through the hay. Just last night I had thought about going and filling up the 55 gallon water barrel to water the lawn since we had not had rain in a few days and according to the weatherman it was not going to rain for a few more days yet, but as usual, he was wrong. Because I had a wheel bearing to go install in my car, I opted to hold off and lucky for me, in the wee hours of the morning we had a proper soaking rain which beats the deluge of rain we have had with every storm prior for the past month. I can''t wait until the whole lawn is all green.