Renovation Project

This house is built on a permanent foundation. However, you didn't think that what looks like the foundation was actually load bearing did you? The weight of the home rests on piers under the I-beams. What looks like the foundation is just a barrier to keep out vermin, water, dogs, etc. The required venting for this house is provided by the metal strip covering the gap between the "foundation" and the exterior walls of the house. If not repaired this is an invitation to mice, wasps, and other trouble makers.

This is the inside of the front door showing the quality workmanship done when the door was replaced. Not only is it not trimmed out, but the door frame is not flush with the door. The renovator can't just put in a new door; the sheetrock has to be redone too.

The ceiling texture is created by spraying on an acoustical material. This has gotten wet and is starting to peel off. It is very difficult to match the texture by shooting drywall material. This house has the problem in several areas. The best solution is to scrape it off and shoot the usual texture.

In this picture the ceiling texture has actually come off. There is also a lot of drywall and trim work to be done. Hopefully, the wires from the thermostat are intact.

Particle board is terribly vulnerable to water damage. That is why water leaks are such a menace in mobile homes. In this situation water has run down the wall and soaked an inch or so into the flooring. Since the plan is to carpet this room the problem can be fixed by just scraping it flush with the rest of the floor. It might also be worth driving in a couple of screws to make sure the carpet strip is firmly attached.

The floors in this house are particle board even in the bathrooms. The two quarters show the scale of the gap. You can get by with putting carpet (with a good pad) over this. However, if you are one of the people who likes easily washed floors in the bathroom, you will have to do considerably more prep work. Before putting down vinyl you would want to put down plywood and seal all the seams to make an absolutely flat surface for the vinyl.

That buldge you see in the ceiling is water damage, not camera distortion. You could just paint it with Kilz and hope for the best. The proper repair requires cutting out the damaged sheetrock, replacing it, taping, bedding, and re-texturing.

This is what you get into when you open up the ceiling to do the repair the "right" way. The labor cost of doing it this way instead of just using Kilz and paint is huge.

New sheetrock in place with hole cut for exhaust fan. What are the chances the insulation above this area is as thick as it was and without voids? Very hard to tell unless you watched while they put this repair in place.

What do you do with a cabinet with all it's doors ripped off and missing? You could buy a new one, but you can't match the others, so if you replace one you have to replace everything. Visit the Completed Project section to see how the owner elected to handle it in this house.

Finally something thats cheap to fix! That plastic flange needs to be tightly against the bottom of the cabinet. There is plenty of room for a mouse that came through that loose vent strip I showed earlier, and climbed through one of the openings in the belly (coming later on this page) to get into the house here.

Many of these trim strips are loose and/or faded from the sun. New strips are expensive and it will be hard to get a good pattern/color match. A drywall guy will suggest covering them with drywall compound and painting to match the walls. For someone without drywall skills it will be much easier to buy new trim.

Vinyl covered sheetrock. The bane of the renovator and home owner!

You can't get replacement panels because the factories are always changing what they use. If you paint it without using an expensive primer, the paint peels off. If you have looked at the contractor bid page you will see that for this project he plans to rip it all down and replace it with sheetrock which he will tape and texture.

More vinyl covered sheetrock to deal with. The cabinets are also an issue. Do you repair or replace them?

This is the answer you get from a drywall guy. Probably not the right answer for the average homeowner! I think even the drywall guy was having second thoughts by the time he removed the glue and staples from the studs and completed all the prep work needed to hang new sheetrock.

Looks a lot better when the wall studs get covered.