Your water heater fails so you go to the home improvement place looking for a new one.  You quickly discover that if they stock water heaters for mobile homes they cost at least $100 more than the same size and quality as those for site built homes.  Even worse, they not have any and want you to special order for even more money.

Both style units look the same so Do you have to buy the mobile home rated unit?

Mobile homes may sometime be moved to a new location and may need to change from propane to natural gas or the reverse.  The gas valve in a mobile home water heater can be changed to permit the use of either type of fuel.  This makes the valve somewhat more expensive.

NOT THAT MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE!! you say.  True.

Mobile home water heaters have also been approved by HUD for use in mobile  homes.  SO WHAT? you say, they both heat water.  True.

However, if your home burns down or you have some other reason to file a claim with your insurance company, they will immediately check to see if you  had an approved water heater.  Guess what they do if the answer is NO?

That is not a place you want to go.

So swallow hard, pay the extra, and try to think of it as insurance.

A reader asks : "I have a 2010 14x76 single wide, what i want to do is basically add
another 14x76 on to the existing structure, i know that i will have to
have a secure foundation for the existing part and for the new part.
What i want to know is, in your opinion would adding on that much be
economical compared to buying a brand new modular
home."

Like all investment questions the correct answer is "It depends."    Below are a few things to consider to make the right decision for your situation.

• What are the chances you will want to sell the home in the next few years?  I had a dealer tell me that it cost 30% more to set up a modular home but he had thirty lenders he could go to for financing.  A singlewide on piers was much cheaper but there were at most three lenders who would do the deal.  I believe a properly set up modular is eligible for all forms of conventional financing when/if  you want to sell.  With the project you propose you will be looking at providing owner financing.
• Are you comfortable financing a home knowing you are locked into a lot of debt and monthly payments for a long time?  Are you the kind of person who would rather pay cash and contribute sweat & blood so you can stay out of debt.
• How much value do you put on your time.  Would you rather work extra hours to make the payments, or do you already have the tools and prefer to keep busy working for yourself?
• How important is "Pride of Ownership" to you and your family?  No matter how nice a job you do, it will always be seen by others as "Two old trailers hooked together".  I know from personal experience it was real painful when I looked at a completed project and told my spouse "Doesn't it look nice? We could move here and save tons of money on our house payments."  Her anwer was "You expect me to live in a dump like that?"
• Construction projects are messy & dangerous.  Are there others such as spouse & kids who will be effected by the dirt and mess?  For some this kind of project would be a chance to teach them how to use tools, how to build things, and how to do repairs.  For others it would be a constant worry about kids getting hurt and/or tools getting damaged or lost.
• How much time do you have before you need the space?  The project you describe could take months to complete.  You could set up a modular and have it ready to move into in a week or two.

From a purely economic standpoint I don't think there is any doubt the modular is the better choice.  However, decisions in real life are never only about the money.  Let me know what you decide and why you made that choice, soI can update the post.

Paul

A reader asks "I am thinking about buying a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom 966 sq ft older mobile home. for 1,500.00. The owner told me that the pipes needs to be replaced because at one time the pipes froze. In your opinion, what might the total cost be to repair the plumbing in this home? Would it be worth it to buy this home and make the needed repairs? I am getting tired renting and I would like to buy a mobile home but I do not want to get in over my head with this home. Other than repairing some windows and the plumbing in this home, every thing else is OK"

Are you willing/able to make the repairs yourself?  If you have to hire someone to do all the work, it probably doesn't make sense.  I know from the emails I get it is often hard to find someone to repair a mobile home.  Regular plumbers don't like them because they use different parts and are not the same as site built homes.  I have no idea what labor rates are in your area, but at $100/hour it would not take long for the repair to match or exceed your cost for the home.

I asked some guys I know who specialize in buying HUD repo's how they handle the plumbing question. (For those of you who don't know, these homes are purchased without any of the utilities turned on and may have frozen at some point.)  They said it isn't usually that big of deal.  The pipes tend to freeze at a low point and drain from that break.  So they turn the water back on VERY carefully while having someone under the house listening for leaks.  They have never had to actually replace all the plumbing.

Amazon sells fittings that are expensive, but very easy to use and fool-proof for amateur use.  So you may find you can get all the pipes fixed for $100 or so of parts plus your time.

Could you work with the owner to check out the pipes before you actually buy it?  Perhaps connect a garden hose from a nearby house with the understanding you can try to make the repairs and back out of the deal if you can't get the pipes fixed.

A reader asks, "I have a 1989 14x70 mobile home. When I bought it and moved it into a park the manager of the park told me I would have to update the roof the following year. The roof on it is the older metal type roof. It does have a peak on it but it still has a little curve to it. I am a roofer by trade but work specifically with shingles. I was told that if I were to put sheeting and then 1 layer of shingles over my existing roof that it may not support the weight and eventually bow and cause some problems. Is this true? Is there anyway for me to put shingles on my home? or am I going to be forced to put a metal roof on?"

Shingles are heavy.  Mobile home manufacturers keep engineers on staff to make sure the homes they build meet the HUD requirements but no more!!  That means they have been carefully designed to support the weight of the materials they were built with plus the expected snow and wind loads.  Unlike site built homes there is little or no over design.

I think you have two choices.  You can do a metal roof being careful to add as little additional weight as possible.

If the park and/or local codes allow you could do a roof over.  That would mean building a new roof, that was entirely supported by posts going directly to the ground and strong enough to support the weight of shingles.  That would avoid adding any weight to the roof.  It might also allow you to add some insulation between the old and new to reduce your energy costs.

If you feel like sending some before/during/after pictures when you are done, I can always use them.

Paul

A reader writes "faulty fitting on the dishwasher was discovered over Xmas dinner.. the new subfloor of 2 yrs is swollen in front of the dishwasher.. Flooring man wants "several hundreds" . today I have a heater in the dishwasher space ,
My question is if we dry out the subfloor through the lino would the swelling go down some .. so we dont need the repair.
Insurance has some issures as we had a claim two years ago.
and if we claimed now they take us off the Mobile Home policy and go on Special Risk and 1000 deductible..
If it wont bother us.. Is it okay just to dry it out and proceed with hooking up dishawasher again.. th patch would be probaby 4ft by 4ft... but if we can save hundreds letting it dry.. that would be great.. not a flood leak.. just the faulty fitting split but we dont know how long ago it started dripping. Thank you."

I doubt the flooring will level much even when dry. On the other hand, it's your house so if you are comfortable living with it, I don't see any reason not to. If you can get the subfloor completely dry there will not be additional damage. You may have to work on that for a while because it is not gong to dry quickly if it has vinyl or some other floor covering that won't let water through it.

If the floor starts to fail completely to the point you worry about falling through you need to fix it or have it fixed. In your situation this might be a great time to study my floor repair suggestions and plan to do it yourself. A 4' x 4' section means you would not have to work with a huge piece of plywood to make the repair. Since the floor is already damaged there is no harm in drilling a few holes to see exactly where the floor joists are located. That will tell you how big an area and exactly where you will have to patch.

The patch does not have to be the same material as the original. With a good plywood subfloor repair you would have enough strength to support a ceramic tile surface. That would have the advantage of being water resistant. You could also think about wood laminate, although it wouldn't be as water resistant.

A reader writes "i have a 2000 clayton home and i wet spot in the master bedroom doorway where the carpet meets the tile but i can not find the water leak. checked under the house no signs of water leaking all dry. the spot was wet for a day or two and dried up and was gone for a couple of weeks but now has come back and has been wet for a few days. is it possible that the water heater is leaking from the closet and only getting wet in that one spot. i am at my wits end and can not find where the water is coming from."

You home is old enough that if the water heater has not been replaced it could be beginning to fail. Can you slide a cookie sheet or some other non-flammable material under the water heater and check if for drips?

Has it been warm and humid enough where you live for condensation from the A/C to be a problem?

Water leaks can be tricky because if they are slow there not be any visible drips. The water will run along a supply line until it touches something. You may not be able to see a leak because it is getting out of sight before it leaves any traces.

Try touching any nearby supply lines and see if your finger tips get wet. You can also look for lime deposits on supply lines or at connection points.

I always used 3/4" A/C plywood when replacing or covering damaged subfloor. It costs a little more than 1/2", but when I considered the time and effort of re-doing the floors it seemed like a small price for a large improvement.

For those of you that don't know, the A/C refers to the quality of the two sides of the sheet of plywood. "A" is the best and means any knots or holes have been filled so the entire surface is smooth. This is especially important if you plan to put down vinyl flooring.

Vinyl flooring will quickly show any bumps, dips, or other defects in the surface of the subfloor. We used to joke that after walking on it for a few weeks you could call heads or tails on a dime left under it.

If you plan on covering your floor with carpet & good padding, or put down a wood laminate floor you should be OK using C/C plywood.

"C" grade means the wood is structurally sound, but will have assorted knots that have fallen out, cracks, and the surface will be rough. It's also much cheaper and none of that matters for the side that will be down.

I have been seeing reports that with demand down and profits under pressure some plywood sellers are selling B/C plywood as A/C. If the plywood you are buying is A/C it should be stamped that way. If you can't find that stamp on the sheets you are looking at, or the price seems really cheap, you might want to shop somewhere else.

For more information you might want to look at the Wikipedia article on plywood

I am working on a video which shows how to use a simple, inexpensive, tool to clear the clog.  This is the first time I have tried something like this so it will no doubt take a few tries for me to get it right. Please use the comment box to let me know what you think of this video and other subjects you would like me to talk about.

The video shows how to use a simple tool to get down into bathroom drains and pull out the hair that is almost always the reason for these drains to run slowly or not at all. The rule for plumbers is hair in the bathroom and grease in the kitchen.

Hair is extremely resistant to chemicals so those kinds of treatment have never worked well. Taking the drain apart is not usually that hard but it terribly messy. It can also be hard to get the parts all back together without leaks.

This tool worked like a charm. I bought it on Amazon for less than $4 plus shipping.

Here is a link to the item on Amazon.

I got this faucet repair suggestion from Derek.

He says "The "Phoenix" brand shower handles seem prone to 'strip out' where
they engage the splined part of the valve. After a few trips to buy
new ones at a local home improvement store, I created a fix for this
problem.

Cut a short (3/4 ") piece of electrical tape. Use good quality tape,
you want this repair to last.

Remove the handle. Put the tape over the splined part of the valve
handle along the length of the splines. Don't wrap the tape around the
splines like you would wrap a bare wire. Cut a small slit for the
handle mounting screw to go through. Slip the handle back in place. It
should feel very firm now. Install the center mounting screw and
you're done.

Hope that helps everyone out."

Thanks Derek.

For most floors in a mobile home I think wood laminate flooring makes a lot of sense.  It looks good, is reasonably easy to install, and is easy to clean. I wrote How to Install Laminate Flooring to show exactly how it can be done and how it looks in a mobile home.

Unfortunately, today's laminates won't stand up to all the water in a bathroom.  I checked with a mobile home investor friend who renovates 10-12 mobile homes per year for his current methods.  Keep in mind he is renovating older singlewides and many end up as rentals.

He puts down new plywood.  Not OSB, not particle board,but exterior plywood.  He makes sure the new surface is clean and dry before he puts down self sticking vinyl tiles.  Sheet vinyl is nice because there are no seams but cutting and fitting it in place is much more difficult.

These tiles come in 12" x 12" squares so they are easy to handle.  The small size also makes it easy to cut out openings for the toilet, etc.  He likes to use an off-white because light colors make the room seem larger.  Dark colors will make the room feel smaller.

When the tiles are down he puts molding around the edges and makes sure to run a bead of caulk along both the bottom & the top of the molding.  When the happy splashing of children or grandchildren sloshes water out of the tub the caulk prevents the water from getting to the edges of the tiles and loosening them.

He keeps a few extra tiles on hand in case repair or replacement is needed.  If a tile starts to come loose he loosens the remaining adhesive with a heat gun or hair dryer and replaces it.