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| It all started here. When we realized that the 1/4" (6.25mm) chipboard flooring that was encased in fiberglass... was essentially compost. |
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| We removed as much as we could. The bathroom enclosure is a unit, so that's tipped over and pushed to the back of the Casita. Depending on where we need to work, it gets pushed back and forth. The fiberglass was relatively easy to tear up. Leverage with a shovel edge or a tool could 'shear' or 'tear' it into pieces. I discovered an easier way in the next photo... |
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| The rotozip tool in the lower right was great to set the blade depth shallow, and cut the fiberglass to allow easier removal in pieces. Wear a face mask, or better yet, a respirator. Fiberglass dust is nasty. Also, be warned that my garage is covered by dust from all of the various things I've done on the Casita. I haven't shown my wife yet... |
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| Rotozip tool showing the blade type and approx. set depth. Err on setting it shallow!!! I did cut a bit of a line in the bottom of the fiberglass at the back. |
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| These are left from the machine screws at the front of the casita. You can see that they eroded completely through. I'm not sure whether these were set above the flooring inside, or were just fastened against the fiberglass? If the latter, that would be a bad idea as they bear directly against the fiberglass. Rather than being spread out with a washer, or the wood itself. |
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| From the inside, I tried to remove as many of the machine screws as possible. This involved using a fine point to try to pick out wood and rust to clear out the torx drive socket. Be sure to use the right torx size! it's a larger one that fits pretty tight. I was using a smaller one until I realized that. It would have saved me from stripping a few out. This p[hoto shows me starting to lift the casita from the trailer. A bit at a time, looking under to check if I had left any fasteners. **I'm unsure if I took many photos during the full separation, so I'll make sure I do when I put it back on to show how I got the trailer out** |
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| Here you can see the screws that had worn their way through the fiberglass, still in the frame. |
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| Another bottom show from when I was looking for any leftover attachments. |
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| So, here's a screw that was stripped. |
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| Most of them could be removed with a pair of vice grips. It might have helped if I had used some WD-40 to loosen them, or some heat, but I just tried gradual force. It worked for most. |
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| Success! It came out! |
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| Uh oh... it sheared. For these ones i used a cutting wheel to take them down to the surface above and below, and then ground them flat with a grinding wheel. It's likely my new screws won't be going in the same place anyways. |
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| At first I through I'd drill them out, but opted not to. This is me drilling first with a small bit to get a pilot hole. I would have then drilled to the correct size needed for a self-threading/tapping machine screw. The reason I'm not going to aim for the same holes is that it would be a royal pain to try and locate them from above a new floor inside the Casita. |
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| Lastly... I wound up fiberglassing over ALL of the penetrations in the bottom of the Casita (except table leg insert holes). I wanted to start from knowing it was 100% waterproof. I didn't like how they put the holes below the AC unit (shown) so will redo these to get the right ventilation necessary for proper AC function. The smaller round hole to the lower left is for the bathroom sink drain and vent that goes up through the roof. That will likely happen in same place, but I covered it just in case. For larger utility penetrations like that, I'll likely drill from below anyways, so I can see where the old hole was. |
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