6. Fixing the external walls

The next bit of the build is a big one, on the far side of the wagon all the window frames and uprights have rotten bits. I think this is due to weather damage as there was also a lot of moss and dirt sitting around. So I had to remove the sections of bad wood and then replicate them. 

This involved ripping down wood on the tape saw and then using a router to chamfer the edges to shape the new wood into the same profile as the original pieces. For the window frame pieces I had to chisel out the joints so I as to attach them all together in the same way as the original pieces (this took ages as I didn’t want to mess it up and have to remake them again!) Then I notched out sections of the new upright pieces to be able to attach into the existing uprights. I used wood glue and screws to hold everything in place. 

This step took alot of patience and trial and error with little tweaks here and there and It looks completely mad and patchy but I wood filled any slight discrepancy’s in the joins and when its all painted hopefully you won’t even know where old meets new! 

5. The windows

Up until this part of my life I have never made window frames before. So the first step was ALOT of research and then trial and error. I now own a router, a miter saw and a table saw just to get these frames made. I’ve re-made all 5 of the mollycroft windows as well as the two existing side windows and two new ones for the “kitchen” area. This was fun/stressful/confusing/ emotional and over all very interesting. 

After finally getting all the window frames all made up I gave them a coat of primer and fitted them into their allocated vacant holes in the wagon. I then added in their new glazing, which was very satisfying as this means that the wagon is almost water tight. 

1. The beginning

I found Rosie on eBay, I went to have a look immediately (two days after Christmas 2020) and I snapped her up! After a lot of faf thanks to covid lockdowns I finally managed to get her delivered to the yard where I’ll be based for this renovation. 

The first step was to asses the damage. Theres a lot of rot in the walls, the roof isn’t looking that great and all the metal chassis needs to be stripped and treated for rust. Soooo quite a bit to be getting on with. 

*Disclaimer* I am taking on this project and learning along the way, having worked in circus for a number of years now, living in wagons and alternative abodes i’m lucky to know some very skilled people as well as bringing a few skills of my own but I plan on learning as much as I can on this project. 

2. Metal work

My gawd this is a thankless task! 

This wagon is a 1920’s gypsy vardo wagon. So there’s around 100 years of life, wear and tear. The metal work has seen better days and so that it lasts another 100 years (hopefully) i’ve spent the last three weeks scraping and smashing off layers and layers of paint in a plethora of colours. (I managed to wrangle two friends in to help for bits, thank you so much Gemma and Alex)  It’s so interesting to scratch back though the years and the different lives it’s had. It’s also a gross, dirty and time consuming job. Lots of lying there in all the weather and removing paint from above you (not fun). 

Once the paint was all removed I treated the metal work (which didn’t look to bad) with rust converter just as a precaution and then re-painted the whole this with special metal paint. It looks so lovely and fresh and loved, which was satisfying. 

3. The roof

So there’s clearly been some issues with the roof over the years, the most recent was where a log burner has been removed and the flue hole wasn’t covered properly which has lead to a large amount of damp and rotten wood in one of the walls and part of the floor.

The roof is in three section with narrow upright panels that house thin horizontal widows this is called a Mollycroft roof. Recently someone had re-covered this roof in green shed felting and tar which looks awful and was sooo difficult and messy to remove, a good friend Laura helped me remove all this old roofing, which we did in the sun which helped. 

Then after this was all removed we pushed Rosie into the barn so the rest of the build can happen undercover! 

I’ve come back to the roof a few times because I ended up having to remake all the window frames, which diverted my time a little. 

Anyway the next step with the roof was deciding what to recover it with and I have decided to use rubber which is long lasting, durable and “easy” to fit with no seams hopefully limiting the leak options for the future. This rubber roofing has to be laid onto clean wood so I ended up laying ply sheeting over the existing roof slats as well as battening the edges to extend the roof so there is an over hang for rain runoff. 

Gem and I then laid the roof which was relatively straight forward, I unrolled and cut to size the material and it comes with a water based adhesive for the main section and a strong contact adhesive to use around the edges. 

Sticking and tacking down all the edges was the longest part of this job and very fiddly up ladders on my own but i’m happy with the final result. 

4. Making holes

This was my favourite part of the reno so far. I’m changing the layout of the wagon by removing the section of rotten wall/floor and replacing it with a door. So instead of the entrance being at the end of the wagon you will enter from the side, which I think is going to be a better use of the space. 

Taking a jigsaw to the wall was a bit nerve-racking but it went well. After removing the rotten wall cladding I cleaned up the area, replaced the old floor boards with new ones and then cut back a section of the roof. Then I remade the roof and attached in the door frame. 

I’m so excited because my parents found a really beautiful old door with loads of character which I cut in half to make a stable door. So I fitted the door in (don’t try and do this alone it’s tough! Mum and dad thank you so much!) and it’s all looking good! I can’t wait to paint everything so it all looks a little more cohesive.