I bought yet another motorhome. It is a Class A Komfort S31 built in 1987. I Paid $800 for it and it has less then 1500 miles on the moter and 42000 miles on the chasis. Now you say wow great price. No it is not. Everything works but the previous owner who died was a heavy drinker and he and his 2 dogs deficated and urinated throughout the motorhome. Have to rip out all the carpet, rebuilt the toilet, and clean clean clean. It is nasty and gaged me when I went into it. Should be ready by May of next year.
WOW!
You have yourself a PROJECT for this winter. Good Luck. I hope you can rid the motorhome of all the smell.
Keep us posted on the progress,
Mike
This project should remind you why you love to build fly rods during the winter months.
Good luck with the restoration.
harleybob87,
if you haven’t bought a case of Febreez yet, do so now. not the air freshener stuff, but the liquid spray that takes odors out of fabric. it’s magic stuff, especially for pet smells. good luck!
Bob, Not trying to be a smartypants here but you may want to find a place to rent one of these:
http://www.steamjenny.com/steamhome.html
Or you could go to Wally World and purchase the Bissell version.
By the way, not to hijack your post, how is your son doing? Prayers continue for all from here.
Hi Harleybob,
You certainly do have some courage to take in this project. I’ve heard of fixer-uppers but your Class A Komfort may be the ultimate project in this category. Good luck! 8T
Here is what we are up against
Now I know it seems like a impossible job but it is not. I need to buy one air bag for the back and a little sealing of the seems change out one vent and patch some cracks in the body and it is done outside. Inside we are tearing all the carpet and tile out. We will be replacing some of the floor and fixing the toilet. Once everything is out we have a air saitizer that kilss bugs and mold (and people). It will go in the motorhome for a couple of days. This removes all smell from the chasis as well. I have a large camping club here in idaho and we work together on these projects. I just got a set of captain seats for free as well as new carpet. My one friend is a handy man and one of the jobs had 105 square feet of laminate flooring left over so I get that for free. Rebild kit for toilet 24.95. Most of the flooring will be free. Total expected out lay for everything is $800. In this area this motor home will sell for $7000 through a private party and 12000 through a dealership. I will post pictures as it goes along. May first we should be ready to camp YEA!!!
Nighthawk I took no offense to your posting I found it funny and very fitting to the situation.
Hi Bob - I sure don’t envy your upcoming project, but I can sympathize with you. Thirty years ago, I bought my first home for a song ($16,000), but it too came at a price I didn’t fully appreciate until up to my elbows in it. The previous owner was an old woman that grew too decrepit to let her 13 cats and 2 dogs out to do their duty. She just covered their mess with newspaper and that was it. Layer upon layer. The home had all hardwood floors too. I spent months with a scraper on a long wooden handle scraping up the mess, steamed everything, disinfected,…
I finally just wound up carpeting and tiling the whole place. I don’t own it any more, but I can still smell it in my mind. I never intended to live in it, but just rented it out. The first time the realtor took me in, I noticed black specks all over my pants when I got outside - they were hundreds of FLEAS! Even the exterminator was grossed out when he nuked the place.
Anyhow, here’s something that may be of use in case the anti-stink bomb isn’t 100% effective: Put a smear of Noxema under your nose. It kept me from tossing my cookies and adding to the mess. Good Luck!..Ed
Bob,
Back when I had the hardware store, a friend of mine 's dog took a direct spray from a skunk. He asked me for suggestions AFTER he had tried the tomato juice bath, etc, etc. I sold him my favorite, “Smells Begone”. He came in later that day & said 3 rinses & no more skunk smell. He is the DARE officer with the North Canton Police & was my best advertisement for the stuff. He talked it up all over town! I don’t know about this company, but what follows is a good picture of the product I handled… www.gaiam.com/product/id/1007042.do?GCID=C18376x003&keyword=06-0061_12OZ
Just a suggestion for a great product that may help you out at some point.
Good luck with your project.
Mike
Hey Bob,
Those pictures were great for my diet. I think I’ve lost my appetite for at least a week. Thanks for sharing.
Mark
You know when ever I spoke with my Dad in the same con-tense as you are here, and I would start my sentence with the word we, he would always say you must have turd in your pocket, now I know exactly what he meant…lmao!
One fine project you got there harleybob…
No wonder the original owner died. This looks like a job for a gallon of gasoline and a well placed match. Good luck, Bob! 8T
harleybob,
The most important thing is you did not buy a “new” motor home!
Good Luck!
Doug
HarleyBob; You really got some time to go on that project. I hope you get a lot of help ( and wished I lived closer) I think you’re gonna be real busy. Good luck. Wish I could help
Mark
Well we got most of the flooring out today (carpet and tile). I say we it was the wife. We will finsih that tomarrow and start replacing some of the wood and finding used furnature for it. To everyone that has stated here and through pm’s thanks for the encouragement and offers of help. Once everything is out and cleaned I will post pics.
Harley,
After those pictures, I think I would have invested the $800 in Christmas presents for the kids, good luck and as always, Best Regards…
harleybob87,
I think you should a copy of this post and your pics to this show. I am sure they will be knocking on your door soon there after. http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/dirtyjobs/dirtyjobs.html
I, for one, am looking forward to the “Silk Purse” that will come from this sow’s ear. I make my living as a Handyman and have the ability to look past the dirt and filth, and see what the end product CAN be with some elbow grease and few bucks. No, it won’t be pleasant work, but the rewards will be worth it.
Why do you think plumbers charge the big bucks? Unpleasant work brings big profits for those willing to put their pride aside and invest in a little protective gear. I had to replace a floor flange for a toilet earlier this week. The work took 45 minutes and the parts were less than $20 and it was 1/4 mile from my house. Final bill (happily paid by the homeowner) was $185. The homeowner said that he knew how to do the repair, but didn’t want to deal with a “Yucky toilet.” I love guys like him. Cha-Ching!
Joe,
I could not agree with you more. It amazes me how someone can “look past the dirt and filth, and see what the end product CAN be” as you said. I wish I had that vision. I can’t wait to see hb87 pics of the transformation.
Joe thanks for the words of encouragement. I agree wear protective clothing and save a lot of money. I have to admitt I did gag a little when I first walked in to this thing. I will be posting more pics in the next few days. All the carpet is up and the tile. The toliet was thrown away and almost all the cusions and such removed to be cleaned and replaced by hard labor and a little money. We recover cusions ourselfs and went to craigs list and found a queen sized matress for $60 new in the factory wrapper. It was taking up space in the guys carport. My friends have brought over new captain seats, carpet, pergo flooring, plywood, and now a friend is bringing over a generator, 2 new air conditioners, a door, headers for the motor, 2 batteries, and his tools to work and check propane lines. My brother in law has got a bunch of stuff for fiberglass bodies and will be over with that as well. Cost of everything they are bringing over $0. Now folks I am not one to take advandage so all these folks are getting a very nice meal. Home grown angus rib eye and sirloin and tbone with all the fixings on us of course. This is what my camping group does. We had a member that ws put in the hospital with congestive heart failure. While ther we as a group took care of his wife as far as meals and such and he had to tell us to leave so he could get some rest. This groups is like well this group family.