Originally posted by dansamy Yes, it's a 30+ year old trailer. (At 30+ years old, it's a trailer. Ain't no "mobile home" or "manufactured" nothing to it!) The reason I have to have an electrician is because the power company will not reconnect without an electrician's sign off that the 200a breaker service is wired correctly. The new pole is up and everything is ready, but the county office is closed on the weekends. Bastards! So, Monday it is!
Oh, I just remembered!
Mrs. Racer and I also had a 'trailer' with the meter panel and main switch, here where we now have the house that I designed and built. But instead of a pole, it was on a post, as the utilities are underground from the overhead stuff out on the road. When I put in the electric service for our new house in, I used the opposite side of that post to set the meter base and junction box, then continued underground into the basement.
The trailer was a single wide, Marlette, built in the early 1970's. It was 14 feet wide and 74 feet long.
During the 4 years we lived in it we called it the "shipping container".
I had to move it about 30 feet (sideways) to make room for where we wanted to erect the house. Jacked it up, took out the blocks, mounted the wheels, pulled it forward and then backed it into position, jacked it up, leveled it, set it back on the blocks and reconnected the power, water and septic.
Six months later the house was done and the county said it had to go.
I tried to sell it. The people who had cash enough to buy it didn't have the funds to have it moved. Then I offered it up for free. Then there were people who wanted it, but couldn't afford to pay relocation costs.
There was even one idiot who wanted to take it, but leave it where it was and live in it. I had to explain the finer points of property zoning to him.
Oh, and how inconvenient it would be without electricity and running water.
So, with the clock ticking, I decided to dismantle it, sell the siding, roof, wiring and frame for scrap, cut up and burn the wood structure, and take the rest to the dump.
Took about a month or so, and I made $3,200 on the metals.
Way better than selling it!
And we found a couple Polaroid pictures of it from when it was new, and in a 'trailer park'.
I've shared photos of our new house here before, but here is one again, and the trailer after I moved it to make room for the house. (someday I should scan the Polaroid shots we found)
The trailer, just before basement excavation. You can see where the trailer used to sit, and the concrete pads where the tie downs were.
And if you look closely, just through the arch of the excavator, you can see the meter on the post.
During construction it was clear that I moved the trailer 'just enough'.
In this shot the meter post is hiding by the tree on the left.
After the house was done and I had dismantled the trailer (I really wish I had shot some of the dismantling). Notice the meter post on the left.
And one last bit of fun.
In this shot you can see one of the piles of soil from the basement excavation, under plastic.
Later, when scooping the dirt with a tractor and spreading it around, I had noticed that it looked like some critters had been bedding down on top of the pile. Here is what we saw one morning.
A doe and her two yearlings had been using it to sleep on.
Living in the sticks is way cooler than the city.
Any day of the week, and any month of the year.
Like our first Christmas in our new home. Our first Christmas was a white one, how cool is that?
And the meter post is on the left.