We closed on the cabin on 11-1-2016 and headed to the mountains for 3 weeks to get a closer look at what we bought. Oh boy - what a surprise we got! The previous owners left EVERYTHING in a complete mess and it literally took us 3 weeks to just clean it up. We worked our asses off. We made 25 trips in our SUV to the roll-off dumpster. EVERYTHING in the place had 16 YEARS of dust and greasy grime on it. There were at least 5 complete sets of dishes that we just threw away. The attic was FULL of Christmas crap and we gave all that away to some local residents. We just don't decorate for Christmas anymore :)
During the clean-up we discovered that there used to be a small kitchen island in the cabin and they removed it, slapped a piece of plywood over it and covered it with carpet. We didn't look under the carpet when we initially looked at the cabin before buying it. ALL the tile was installed incorrectly ( directly over plywood without cement board backing) and was cracked throughout the cabin. I only saw a few broken tiles before we bought, but as we walked on it, more and more continued to break.
I want to say it was a nightmare... BUT the cabin appraised for more than we paid for it even in it's poor condition and the inside furniture, the patio furniture, gazebo, fireplace, etc. more than made up for the "sweat equity" we put into our clean out. We also got a VERY good deal on a golf cart that the previous owner had so we have a 6 passenger golf cart to run around the campground in! Weeee.
We hired a contractor to replace the tile floor (and sub-floor if needed), install new kitchen counter tops, rip out and re-build the patio railings (they were falling off and not safe for small children), clean up all the stuff left under the cabin crawl space ( 2 old water heaters, power tools, and other stuff) and add new insulation, and paint the entire out side of the cabin while we winter at our home in Florida.
I also learned how to winterize a place! That was interesting. You get a small air compressor and just blow out all the water out of the lines. Easy peazy.
We have more work to do when we return in April. I still have a 8'x6' tool shed to clean out which has a TON of misc. stuff in it. Some yard work to do, some wiring to figure out. The previous owner was a DIY guy who didn't know squat what he was doing. Now I get to go behind him and try to figure out which breakers turn power off to which switches/wall outlets.
Here are some pics of what the cabin looked like when we left (before renovations):
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| Plywood in the middle of the floor where an island used to be. |
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| When we looked at the property there was a rug covering the plywood so it was a surprise to us. |
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| Porch area. Work in progress |
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| Interior of a similar trailer before the kitchen area was ripped out. On our trailer, on the left side, the entire kitchen was removed and all furniture was removed. The bed now sits where the 2 recliner chairs are. |
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| Cracked tiles in the kitchen floor. The entire floor in the cabin had to be re-tiled due to improper installation. Cracks everywhere! |
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| Kitchen before any renovations. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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| Kathy in the trailer AKA our "bedroom." We love the locally made, hand made bed frame! We have to get used to a queen bed instead of a king, but the bed is very comfortable. |
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| I removed the original bath room door because it opened into the front door entrance and installed a "sliding barn door." Needs a little touch up on the top. Gotta find a stain that matches! |
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| One of 25 loads in the SUV taken to the dumpster. |
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| We filled this puppy UP! |
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| Gazebo and fire place covered for the winter |
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| Mumu hanging out on the couch. She got tired too! |
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| Our 2000 Brookstone 33' trailer that serves as a bedroom only. The cabins are not allowed to have a bedroom in them. Has something to do with zoning laws I think... | | |
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| Wall unit. Will have a TV in it one day... |
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More pics of the finished product sometime next year.... LOL
