Will be gifted a mobile home, repair costs....

[faifai]

Hi there,
First, great community you have here, very helpful from the posts I've read.

Okay, here's my situation. My brother in law will be giving us his trailer when he's done with his undergrad degree. Now, just a guess, but I think this trailer is 30 or so years old. I've known the various people that have lived in it for the last... 10 years or so (it passed from a friend to my brother in law and he's had it since).

It's a 3 bedroom 1.5 bath. I'm not sure the exact size, I'll see if I can get that.. anyway. One of the back bedrooms had a horde of cats living in it (previous roommate of the in law). The flooring in there is all sorts of damaged with several large soft spots. It is particle board and I would love to replace it with plywood. The other back bedroom is in much better shape, but I would like to do the floor in there too, (Ideally we will replace it all, but those are the priorities) as both floors have large softspots/holes surrounding the vents.

Windows are another thing I want done. Now, my brother in law seems to fear that the wall structure itself is in very bad shape and that attempting to replace the windows would destroy the wall?

Time wise, I have all the time in the world. I intend on doing each room separately due to work schedules, and each room is superfluous until it's finished, so it doesn't matter how long it takes.

This trailer is in Central Wisconsin, so has been through many harsh winters and many humid summers.

Our local housing agency just came out 2 years ago and "weatherized" the place (replaced the furnaced, the fridge, the front door and blew insulation under the flooring).

So, to sumarize, is this trailer, due to the age and climate of where we are, going to be too much work to fix up, or is it something Ic an do on my own with enough time, patience, and work?

I'm not terribly worried about doing any electrical work, other than maybe moving some outlets.

[DaveyB]

You have kind of answered your own question here, in that it can be fixed up given enough time, effort, and of course, money. The same can be said of a mobile home that has been run through a sawmill and reduced to sawdust. While that may seem a bit extreme, the question really comes back to how much time and effort and money you are prepared to expend on the project.

Harsh winters and high humidity in the summers may destroy raw, untreated wood fairly quickly, but if the home was properly built, treated and maintained, there is no reason why it shouldn't be in pretty good shape. You have already mentioned the floors in two rooms, and a possible reason for one of them.

The areas around the vents are especially susceptible when running AC in high humidity, due to the condensation that accumulates around the cold metal vent, so it would be wise to lift the other vents in the home and look at the wood around them to get an idea of the extent of the damage.

One question you have to ask, what leads your brother in law to think the walls are in bad shape? Specifically, what has he seen to indicate this? Exterior walls tend to be pretty sound for the most part, since they are a sealed box except where they join the roof, join the floor, or have holes to accommodate windows and doors. Assuming the exterior siding or paint is in good condition, and since you haven't mentioned any roof problems, then your search will be from the floor level, and in the cavities for windows and doors.

The floor level problems may be as a result of rising damp from the already weakened floor, but other than that, the only point of entry for moisture is around the edges of a window or door.

Personally I'd grab an awl and try pushing it into the wall directly under the bottom corners of the windows, both inside and out. If there is any major rot in there, that is where you will most likely find it and the area will collapse under the pressure of the awl. Otherwise, you have a few pinpricks to seal up.

I'm not too sure on this next part, since I have heard of it being done, but haven't seen any conclusive testing. Try an electronic stud-finder on the walls. They work by detecting the density of the material behind the wall covering, and the theory is that a wet stud will have far higher density than a dry one and dry rot will be much lower density. You may have to play with the sensitivity some, but possibly running across the wall to locate the studs, then mark them with chalk (easily wiped off afterwards). Then run up and down the length of each stud to locate differences in density?

Hope that is of some help to you,

DaveyB

[Greg S]

To give you some idea of cost I am presently only weeks away from completing a year and a half long complete reno on a 12 X 65 35 year old mobile, inside and out, drywall, flooring, new bath, new kitchen, windows, roofing, vinyl siding, skirting, skirting insulation, plumbing, paint, porches, shed etc at a total material cost of $18,000.
Keeping in mind much of the material like tub, cabinets, appliances etc were good quality used material.

[Greg]

Hi & welcome. As Davey & Greg said you need to weigh the costs. Remember that Mobiles do not go up in value as a whole (much like a car) but the do bottom out so you will not loose money either.

The more work you do yourself the more you can save. I would do a complete inspection and find out what you are dealing with.

Greg

[JD]

I am with Davey on the windows. If the home is viable enough to do the repairs on, installing new vinyl windows should not be an issue. You may need to pull some wall panels and replace some of the framing, but studs are like 2 bucks each, 2.70 for the "good ones" (premium 2x4x8).

For for replacing all of the subfloors in two 10x12 rooms, you would need about $300 in materials. If you paid a contractor to do this work, the price would probably be over $2000. So you do save a lot of money with DIY. The bigger cost on floors is the floor coverings. Most flooring guys in my area charge about $34 (retail) a SY to install a base grade vinyl like Armstrong Initiator, doing only a finish float. Retail for the vinyl alone is between $10 - $12 a SY.

[faifai]

Thank you gentleman. The tip about the windows is really good, I will be doing that tomorrow. Honestly the window thing is my biggest concern. I don't think I really want to get in to replacing the frame, but, on the other hand, even if it does cost me 18000, it's a good deal, given that it's free and I like the park it's in.

Given that I'm just looking to do floor/panelling/ceiling replacement that $18000 figure makes me feel much better. I won't be doing half of what you did, at least right now. I do want to get the cabinets replaced, but it's not a priority (but obviously I would likely do that when I got around to the floor in the kitchen).

The outside of the trailer looks pretty shoddy, but there's not much wrong with it. The roof is okay, as far as i know, just needs to be resealed.

Back to the windows, Wanting to do them is really just a cosmetic thing, now that I think about it. They're not drafty per se, just not well insulating, and old, and ugly.

So, here's my next question, is there an easy laymans guide to replacing the flooring? I've been browsing around here and I've seen a few, but they all talk about thins like blocking and stuff that means nothing to me. Also, they talk abouit the flooring going under the interior walls, which concerns me.

[Greg]

If I were you I would consider buying Mark's book (in the books & parts section of the site) It covers most of the repairs you will ever encounter as well as upgrades.

Greg