RE: Siding, Re-Siding and Residing at the Rat

Da Moose, Red, et al continually remind me to post photos of our rat re-siding project. They're right, this has been a major step towards civility and economic sustainability here. Why I have waited this long to present the status of this project is beyond me - perhaps due to not having finished the window and door trimming. It will look great if I ever get around to that final touch, however, just don't hold your breath, okay?


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We hadn't been moved into the rat for more than 24 hours before we realized that something had to be done to stop the wind and the cold air from infiltrating. While this trailer had probably been state of the art efficiency 35 years ago, both time and technology had long since advanced. We even got a good laugh out of the surviving climate zone (-50 F) certificate in the old furnace closet. Admittedly, the trailer had full 2x4 stud walls stuffed with pink insulation. If you are thinking about buying a cheap rat, do yourself a favor and get one with at least that much going for it. I kid you not, we had carefully diced our way through a number of rat trailers with 2x2 walls - don't even think about those jobbies. This one at least had the big 'P' (Potential) going for it in that regard.

The detractors of the rat were that it had 3/8 plywood paneling on the interior walls and a beer can thick coating of aluminum on the outside and the place leaked air like a bicycle tire in a prickly pear patch. Since it was winter by the time we settled in, we started with the cozy fixes on the interior; putting up drywall here and there and re-securing and caulking the original paneling where needed. Even that helped immensely as far as the number of 20 pound propane tanks we were going through although we still sequestered ourselves into just the living room and kitchen area that first winter. You'd better like each other's company before trying this however. Even Slim testified that he doesn't doubt that this same scenario led to a divorce in his case. So be forewarned.

During the following summer, we started skinning the rat. The aluminum siding was tacked on here and there with hex-head screws and innumerable staples but it was easy enough to take down in ten to twenty foot sections at a time with the help of tin snips to define the cut-off points where necessary. In the process, we eliminated two leaky old doors; one to the now defunct water heater closet and the original side egress. And good riddance. They were nothing but wind and bug liabilities anyway. The hard part was deciding which old windows and doors would stay and where new windows and doors needed to be framed in and installed.

Once the framing issues had been addressed, Mark began infilling each stud center with a precisely-fitting piece of one inch styrofoam over the existing fiberglass insulation. I was impressed since they managed to stay in place even with the high winds ripping by before we could proceed to the next step.

The game plan was to do one complete side at a time and then wrap over the entire side with Tyvec before beginning to install the new exterior paneling. The strategy worked very well, too (sometimes our plans DO NOT work as envisioned). We cut and installed stepped flashings both above and below the paneling as we went and this has paid off nicely in terms of avoiding moisture infiltration.

When the last panel was in place, we painted the paneling. This paneling proved to be a nice material to work with. They're 4'x8' particle composite sheets with a deeply embossed weathered barn board effect which took the paint very well. For the color, I took an average of various pieces of weathered board that we had salvaged for our fencing. If I decide to get fussy at a later date, I will go back and highlight the embossing with a nearly black stain. But, you know what, it looks just fine at the moment and may stay that way forever. As an acquaintance used to say repeatedly "I may be young and ambitious but not THAT young and ambitious." And that was uttered 30 years ago. My former anal perfectionism has mellowed considerably over those intervening years.

Being both pragmatic people, our biggest pleasure in completing the siding project was in being able to expand into the rest of the trailer without any increase in heating costs. The difference was remarkable, in fact. Now that we are entering hot weather again, the benefits seem just as remarkable in terms of heat infiltration. This has definitely become one of our most cost-effective efforts so far.

Next stage: working towards running water in the rat.

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Appropriate humor of the week:

What's the difference between a divorce in Arkansas and a tornado?

There is no difference. One way or the other, somebody's gonna lose a trailer.