Renovations Step 1: Paint and level the structure

This camp has taken a beating over the years. The paint was severely peeling, the supports holding the building up were starting to rot and sink into the ground, and the floors were warped and very soft in many spots.

Luckily, painting the camp was fairly easy. I kept it white (for now). I wish I would've taken some more recent "before" shots, but it was peeling really, really badly! A good coat of primer, then another coat of high quality white paint, and I was done.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We debated whether to keep the current supports, or replace them with poured or blocks of concrete. When we took off the skirting all around, we found that most of the "railroad ties" were in really great shape! They've been solid all these years, why mess with what works?

There were a few, however, that were rotten. A nearby friend had spare railroad ties (I don't even know how people collect these things...), so we jacked up the camp, little by little, and replaced the ones that need it.

Then we got to the back side: one of the main support beams was rotten... all. the. way. through. NOT fun. That'll be a project for a later date (when we have a real contractor over).

So for the most part, those two big things are done. The camp looks so much better with a fresh coat of paint, and I feel a bit safer knowing that I'm not going to sink into ground. :)