Sealing the Deal`

  Flashed and flipped, squared and secured.  D K is adding L shaped brackets that the plans don't call for.  We will bolt up through the bottom and through the frame later.  We have further plans to ensure we're secure that we'll post on later.

Next, we cut polystyrene insulation to size to insulate and waterproof the floor of our trailer.  The closed cell foam didn't make me react at all but I know some people with MCS can't tolerate it.  It comes in big sheets that we cut with boxcutters.  We had the shop-vac handy to suck up li'l bits 'o foam that chipped off.  That did cause a reaction that I wasn't expecting.  The smell of the shop-vac motor and exhaust air was sickening. Guess I haven't vaccuumed out our car in awhile to have realized this:)

Jon is filling all the flashing seams (which fall on trailer planks below) with Mean Green adhesive.  We layered a 2 in. and a 1 in. layer of the polystyrene into each space as we couldn't find the 3in. the plans call for.

This is not a kit.  It's a set of pricey plans that leave a lot to the imagination and many things must be modified to fit your specific trailer.  Fine with us because we're building our safe haven just how we want it and with our own hands. We are fortunate to have my brother, Jon's expertise, advice and hours of labor, not to mention a chunk of his yard and accomodations due to my MCS.  Jon leaves off the hair gel and deoderant and walks far down the road to have a cig and Lisa holds off from running the clothes dryer while we are there.  Canaries count these blessings as HUGE!

In the last pic you can see we added a cedar skirt.  We also used a product called Fomo Eco foam to fill the seams around the polystyrene.  It is soy based and the best we could find but- holy nasty!  Let someone else do this for you if you have MCS or are chemically sensitive.  It's probably the propellent because in an hour it was cuttable and inoffensive.

A friend from the Canary Report posted an idea for testing tolerance and if something is still out gassing.  I've heard of doing this with water, too:  the jar test.  Just put the possible offender in a jar for 24 hours, then open.  Canaries know!