Table of Content
Their window and door frames and sizes are similarly generic. It means that when you want to replace your windows, window frames, doors, or door frames, that you don’t have to worry about sizes that much. Doors and window frames are almost exclusively square or rectangular. Mobile home roofs are usually pretty easy to lift off the frame of the house as a solid piece and a total roof replacement is a common enough remodel. Their lightweight designs also make it common for owners to simply roof over their flat roof by placing a pitched roof on top of it.
SOLUTION – Window leaks can be the most difficult to deal with. If you can tell the leak has been significant, you will need to remove the wall surface inside, or the siding on the exterior in order to repair. Repairs of sub-flooring is not too difficult or expensive. There are plenty of videos and specific posts available on how to correct both rot from leaking windows and soft spots in the floors. When evaluating a mobile home for purchase, you need to be aware of the extent of the repairs that will need to be made. With roof problems, leaks often develop and cause water damage to ceilings, walls and floors.
Foundation
Next, walk through the home and step on every bit of flooring that you can. Especially around any exterior window or near any plumbing fixture. I’ve purchased mobile homes where my foot has gone through the floor when I perform this inspection.
PROBLEM – HUD is very specific that the frame and outer walls to the mobile home were only designed to carry the load of their own weight. Any structure that is adding weight to the walls for frame of the mobile home would not be up to HUD standards. They are less attractive and also come under more strain from the elements. For this reason, many owners resort to installing pitched roofs on top of their flat roofs or by replacing them. Mobile homes are constructed using mass assembly techniques which rely on more generic designs. So, now that you know how mobile homes are structured, what is the actual result?
Plumbing
Double-wides and triple-wides are much more flexible than that. It would be impossible to describe every single layout variation to you here. You can count on the fact that individual rooms will be bigger than their single-wide counterparts. Single-wides are by necessity still very basic in design.
Most states actually require mobile skirting by law for this reason. Today, many manufacturers make use of CAD and improved techniques to allow buyers some level of customization without sacrificing those qualities. You can read more about mobile home sizes and how it should affect your decision to buy one here.
Surface Mobile Mouse
These will usually attach to the roof of the mobile home on one-side and have their own support posts on the other. These materials are of very light weight and specifically designed for use with the mobile home. I have found that this is an easier and less costly fix than working with the panels. If leaks in roofing go undetected, the trusses above the ceiling can become damaged and warp and or rot.
Be sure to check the tie-down straps and anchors and get them re-torqued if needed. Often, the quick fix is to jack up the home just a bit and install wood shims to regain the support. This type of fix simply puts a small band-aid on a much larger problem.
The type of mobile home you choose can impact your chances of getting financing. Additionally, they are transported in different ways based on their number of sections. The ceiling cavity is made up of wooden bats and a ridge pole that runs down the length of the home. The exact design depends highly on the shape of the roof and the individual model of the home. Whether the roof is flat or pitched, individual models also vary wildly concerning the amount of attic space available. We want to shine a light for you on this aspect of manufactured housing by providing you with a bottom-to-top breakdown of the typical mobile home.
Traditionally, mobile homes were constructed mostly with flat roofs. However, these are slowly being replaced by the much more attractive, functional, and structurally sound pitched roofs. Then there is a layer of subflooring that is usually some kind of wood or wood composite. It completely covers the previous layer and acts as a support base for your actual floor.
We have successfully been able to re-plumb an entire mobile home with modern Pex piping for less than $1,000. This is a common occurrence when there are foundational issues as discussed above. It’s not only the sizes and dimensions of windows and doors on mobile homes that are standards. The frames themselves are usually quite plain and understated. Installing decorative frames or simply painting them a new color usually improves the looks of a mobile home dramatically.
Next, there is a cavity layer that is made up of floor joists and insulation. Insulation is crucial to your home’s energy efficiency and this is the main reason for this space. Mobile Home Friend, LLC was started in 2015 by Chuck O'Dell and Scott O'Dell, a father/son real estate team. We've been licensed real estate agents in AZ since 2003. Over the years we’ve settled into a great niche, mobile homes and retirement properties. Repair any missing insulation and belly-wrap underneath the home.
It is always wise to get under the home and inspect the piers and tie-downs to ensure they are in good condition. PROBLEMS – We often see the piers resting completely on the bare ground and not onto a strong and stable cement foundation. The ground may be soft in areas, it may get wet and expand and contract. Over time, the piers will sink or move causing them to lose the support they provide to the mobile home frame. When this happens, the mobile home starts to sag in certain areas, become unleveled, and cause all sorts of problems we’ll talk about further. This is especially true of older mobile homes that have metal rooftops.
PIERS – These are generally steel jacks, cinder blocks or cement pyramids that rest on a cement slab of some type. These piers must be strong enough to support the weight of the mobile home and have minimal movement over time. Damaged Skirting – Skirting is designed to keep the area below the home dry and critter free. This allows quite a bit of havoc to occur which can damage many mobile home systems. HVAC – Over time, previous owners often ad window a/c units because the original HVAC system was not cooling and heating properly. Sorting out the original system can be expensive, but is not difficult to tackle.
The underbelly and floor
Both the interior and exterior of the walls are then covered in panels. The most common types of materials used for mobile home wall panels are wood, faux wood, drywall gypsum or vinyl panels. Metal panels are also sometimes used but are more common on the outside of the home. SOLUTION – Mobile homes are built atop a frame with a crawl space underneath. This makes the replacement of plumbing far easier than it might be in a site-built home that may be multiple stories or built on a slab foundation.
They should be in good condition and not bent or permanently closed causing reduced air flow to that room. Mobile Home HVAC SystemDETECTION – When I walk up to a mobile home, I always look around the house to see if there are any window A/C units hanging out. This alerts me right away that either there isn’t a functional central unit in the home, or if there is, it isn’t operating properly. SOLUTION – There are many types of elastic roof coatings and sealers that can be purchased at your favorite big-box home store. These can be easily applied with paint brushes and rollers.
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