Trailer Prep

I'm on vacation this week, and the plan is to make real headway on the building front. Well, I'm off to a slow start. Yesterday I did lots of running around rather than building--car appointment, hair cut, quick run to Home Depot, blah, blah, blah... At the end of the day, I did clean off the trailer. It had sat so long waiting for me that it had accumulated a lot of schmutz all over it--sticks, leaves, seed pods, snails (tons of them!--related to the exceptionally wet season we're having, no doubt, since I don't remember ever seeing any in other years), etc. Did you hear me scream? When I moved a tarp, a garter snake dropped onto the top of my bare foot. Eek! Harmless or not, snakes freak me out.

As the Advantech plywood has aged, it has shrunk quite a bit, leaving substantial cracks on either side of the c-channel beams. I carefully cleaned out the organic matter that had accumulated in the cracks around the c-channel beams.

I don't want to have trouble with ants or any other critter that might find these cracks to be an attractive entryway into my new home, so today I worked to cover these cracks with flashing, even though it has been a very dark day--threatening to rain at any moment.

I was surprised that the flashing laid completely flat as soon as I unrolled it. (I had anticipated that it would need to be uncurled in some way.) Cutting the flashing to fit around the wheel well was easy, but folding the flashing was a real challenge. Finally, I improvised a method: I used the edge of a cinder block to help me make the fold.

Once I checked that the flashing fit exactly,

I ran beads of adhesive down both sides of the c-channel,

I put the flashing in place, and then used bricks to hold it all in place until the adhesive dries.

When I finished one side, I threw the tarp back over that side, uncovered the other side, and began to repeat the process. Unfortunately, it began to rain, so I didn't finish. Hopefully the weather tomorrow will be more cooperative so I can finish the flashing and begin cutting floor joists.

Update--Next Day:
Yes, I did finish the flashing on the other side of the trailer.

Also see:

Trailer Under Construction

Trailer!

Trailer is Done

Trailer/Foundation Arrives!

Trailer on the Level

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Misc Midweek Progress