Gruesome

Warning! The following pictures are very graphic and somewhat gruesome. 

After much soul searching I have decided to release photos of the gruesome disembowelment of my trailer. If it is too much for some of you to handle, please click here:

Snow load due to build-up from no heat in the trailer collapsed the roof on the living room and kitchen area. I was trying to decide if rebuilding the trailer was worth it. On one hand, trailers are only a couple grand down here, in fact there is two currently for sale for 1K each. The real cost is in not only moving, but actually dragging a trailer up this mountain. The one that is here took three days with massive chain hoists and lots of block and tackle to get up the mountain once we got it to the bottom. The tractors and four-wheel drives we were using just spun. A bulldozer might be able to do it, but may not make it back the driveway without sinking, much less over the bridge. 

Anyway, I finally decided to tear off the damaged part and make a porch/deck out of it. I no longer needed the extra room, and this was much simpler. 

Once I stripped off some of the aluminum siding and removed a couple of the windows, I ran a log chain thru the windows at the corner and hooked it up to my rusty trusty tractor. Sorry about the picture quality. I only had my cell phone along because I hadn't planned on doing this today. While I had been thinking about it for a while, this was a decision that needed action to be final before I changed my mind again. I don't have the luxury of time to keep stalling and still get done before winter. Once the decision was made I fortified myself with an adult fermented beverage or two and proceeded to start ripping and tearing before I lost my nerve. 

The funny thing was, I had the tractor hooked up and I was really worried that when I pulled on the corner I'd pull the trailer off it's foundation. Instead, the chain ripped thru the beams and internal paneling just like a can opener. Didn't do nuthin'! Damned thing was just standing there laughing at me with a big split in the corner , just like a big grin!

So, in order to bring down the house, so to speak, I had to knock out the rest of the supports by hand. Kinda touchy, considering I didn't want to get stuck under there or hurt with no one else around. But, with a little judicious whacking, the walls came tumblin' down. I think it's gonna make a nice porch. And like my son Ben says, "and who doesn't like a nice porch?"

Now to clean up. I wonder how much aluminum siding is going for these days?