Ceramic Tile, Skylight and Spackle?

[Willow]

Hello everyone! Newbie here....:--)

We just bought our first mobile home. It is a 1995 (14x70) Fairmont, and in good condition and in a park. We are going to take the first month and just fix her up a bit with some paint and hopefully (budget allowing) flooring.

My hubby is a professional tile setter and we were originally thinking of tiling the floors since we don't like carpeting. However, due to natural home settling, water, etc., I am beginning to think tile isn't a good solution for flooring. Am I on the right track with that? I am thinking it will crack at grout lines...?

I also read that the sub-flooring could be particle board and not plywood. If this is the case, we would have to lay sub-floor - if tile is feasible, do you think it is okay to lay over the particle board or should we take the opportunity to replace it while we are in there?

I read a lot about the vinyl flooring options and that would be a great solution - however, as an environmentalist and ecoprenuer, I know how bad vinyl is, even from a human health standpoint with phthalates being released as it breaks down. I would so much rather put down ceramics. (even though they are cold on the toesies!)

This weekend we begin the pain of removing the board strips and filling with spackle. Another question regarding this: What type of spackling should be used? I originally thought vinyl due to its flexibility; however, I thought I read somewhere that it is hard to paint over that type of joint compound. Should we use regular spackle?

Thank you for this wonderful site and forum! I have already learned so much.

Oh - one more thing... we would REALLY love to put a skylight in the master bathroom as it is windowless and dark in there. I see some of you have installed the tubes, but what about a full blown window skylight up there? Is that doable? I see them sold on mobile home equipment sites and they are affordable.

Blessings!
Willow

[Harry]

Hi

Your concern for tile and tile grout cracking is valid. I have seen lots of problems with tile in MHs.

Sheet vinyl is my choice.

Harry

[JD]

Hi Willow,

The problem with ceramic tile in mobile homes is all mobile homes settle. They don't settle end to end or side to side in a uniform manner. Generally there will one corner settling more than the rest of the home. This will cause a twisting effect on the floor. It should be expected that the grout and probably tiles will crack. I definitely agree with Harry on sheet vinyl flooring.

Vinyl spackle such as the DAP or Red Devil products are formulated to be paintable. You should use a primer coat. The vinyl spackle takes longer to cure than regular spackle. You need to give it 2-4 hours drying time. It also seems to shrink more. I usually use a standard spackle, most times the DryDex stuff that is pink but turns white when dry. When using primer and a quality paint, I have not had a problem of cracking at joints more than would be expected.

With the rectangular skylights, they do tend to be leakers. On a metal roof, you probably should use the mobile home product. If it was a factory shingle roof with good trusses, I would opt for a standard curbed skylight from the home store. You would definitely want to stay with the narrow units where you do not have to modify the trusses. Weak, lightweight or modified trusses may eventually relax and warp a little at the skylight causing the sealants to fail. The tubes would be my recommendation.

Hope this helps,

JD

[Greg]

Hi Willow, welcome to the family. I installed an opening Velux sky light in our living room 15 years ago. I can not say it has been 100% trouble free, but the few drips that I have had were caused by cracks in the sealer as JD said. Personally I would not be afraid to do it, but do it right, do not cut corners and be ready to get up on the roof at the first sign of ant type of leakage. Greg

[Yanita]

Hi,

Welcome to the site.

Your post has several different questions in it, I will try to work my way thru them all. In the future would you please ask one question per thread, that way you get all your answers.

Congrats on your purchase! Putting paint on the walls is the easiest and least expensive thing you can do. What a transformation it makes.

Tile of any substance is not a good finished floor for mobile homes, exactly for the reasons you said. It can be used and has been successful as counter tops and small entry ways.

The recommendations for finished floor products in MH's is either laminate, full sheet vinyl, high quality peel and stick tiles (Novalis) or carpet.

Your subfloors...in my opinion it is never OK to lay plywood over the top of particle board or OSB. If you are going to the expense of plywood then proper installation should follow. Should you ever sustain a leak and the water made it's way to the particle board it will crumble and eventually the plywood is going to weaken in that area as well and create a sag in the floor.

The removal of the battens between the wall boards is up to you...on site here the jury is still out. Many have removed, muded and painted with great success, others have had them repeatedly crack. If your home has substantial movement from the changing of the seasons, alot of rain, I would leave them in place and paint over them. JMO

Skylights, thats another one the jury is out on LOL. Greg, has had fairly good success with his, yet Mark, our fearless leader here has had problems with his. Again, this is another area that I would not mess with, at least not a full blown skylight, the chances of failure are great.

In the Album JD has posted some pics of a tubular skylight that allows alot of light but does not require such a large roof penetration. You might want to consider that. Again, JMO.

OK, hope I answered most of your questions, again, please post separately for each question in the future.

Glad to have you here and hope we can help you again!

Yanita

[Willow]

Wow... thank you everyone for all your wonderful advice and help!

Okay, well Lowe's had a 10% off sale today on Armstrong "Inspirations" tile. They didn't have the Novalis in the long wood grain, and the ones they had were really shiny and didn't look like real wood. So I went with the Inspirations tiles - they are a parquet (not first choice, but...) with peel and stick tiles. Bought some adhesive for extra coverage. They were only .79 cents a sq. ft. - not bad!

We are going to tile only the countertops. Since we heard that relaying the countertop sheeting is a pain in da rear - and since my hubby does tile by trade - will work fine.

As for those wall dividers - too late! We were there all day sweating it out pulling those strips (which were under layers and layers of paint so we had to be careful not to pull the paint and paper down to the outside! Maybe a mistake... hopefully not. I couldn't stand them. They reminded me that I could blow away in a windstorm... LOL!

I have some questions - so I will post them separately!

Thanks again!

Blessings,
Willow