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.

I am frequently asked for help finding someone who does good, affordable, repair work. I find that difficult because repair people tend to work in a very limited area and there is no way for me to hear about them. Many handymen won't work on mobile homes which makes the problem more difficult. I refer people to Angie's List, but their contractors work on site built homes and may or may not be willing to work on a mobile.

The best answer I have come up with over the years is to suggest calling the manager of a mobile home park(s) in your area and ask if they have someone they can recommend. You can also ask if their guys are allowed to do side jobs. If anyone has a better method, use the comment form to tell me about it.

I have thought about creating a space on this website where I could list recommended repairmen but am afraid of the possible legal and other issues. How would I know a recommendation (good or bad) was objective and came from a real customer? How would I keep up with the rapid turnover as people enter and leave the mobile home repair business. While it could be a valuable service I think doing it well would be very hard.

Why don't handymen want to work on mobile homes? Making money at home repair requires accurate estimation of material costs and good labor estimates. Mobile homes are enough different than houses that someone who doesn't work on them all the time may not feel comfortable estimating mobile home jobs. In addition, mobile home repair work will require a few different tools and different fittings and connectors. That increases parts inventory and adds time that must be spent looking for and buying the right parts. It also increases the chances of mistakes.

Water is the kiss of death in a mobile home so extreme care should be taken to be sure leaks are quickly discovered and fixed.  Unfortunately, the variety of materials used, the terminology and the sizing issues, all combine to make water line repairs much more difficult then they should be.  In addition the defective nature of the Poly tubing which was involved in a class action law suit didn't help.

Even experienced people may have to make multiple trips to the hardware store before they get it right.
Inexperienced people resort to cobbling together some amazing fixes that may hold for a while but pity the person who has to work on it next.

Click on the keywords in the tag cloud to the right to find articles about fixing your water line leaks.

Mobile home water heaters are NOT the same as those used in site built houses; they are taller and  narrower to fit in the space and maintain clearance from the walls.  They  cost more than those designed for site built houses, so people are always tempted to make them fit.  It can be done, but an inspector who spots it will red tag it at once because it's a fire hazard!

From a reader.  Thanks LeAnne

I have a 1995 Palm Harbor that has regular drywall in all the public spaces, but the vinyl covered wallboard in the bedrooms and bathrooms.  I would like to say that I've had GREAT success texturizing and painting this stuff.  So far, in one room, I simply applied two coats of regular latex primer, then two coats of a colored latex paint.  You can still somewhat see the vinyl design through all four coats, but the paint is not coming off at all and it's been two years already.

In another bedroom, I wanted to get rid of the vinyl"design" altogether, so I first applied a thick coat of masonry leveling "paint".  It made the wall look like regular drywall.  I then painted normally.  No pattern, the wall looks great.  I also replaced that nasty, plastic, vinyl covered seam molding with regular lathe strips.  Looks wonderful.  Just thought I'd share.

LeAnne