Double wide remodel. Have some ?'s

[Eric_v]

Going to finally start my 1988 Norris Parkland remodel here in the next couple weeks and have a few questions for all you guru's.

My first series of questions relate to drywalling the home.
1. How can I check if the home would support 1/2 or even 3/8 drywall? The current walls are covered in a kind of wood fiber paneling (almost cardboard like) and the ceiling has the usual textured drywall panels (so I'm guessing the ceiling will have no issues supporting 1/2 gypsum board, right?).

2. Install wall board vertically or horizontally and staggered as I would in a stick frame house? But before you answer this one read 3.

3. What is my most cost effective method to cover the seams? I thought about hanging the walls vertically and putting battens on each seam as well as the ceiling joints but this may end up costing me more than mud and taping.

My next series of questions is plumbing related.

My current hot / cold lines are a grey type of PEX line. Now whenever I have left the water off for a few weeks while I'm out of town and come back and turn the water back on I get a black soot that comes out of the pipes (both hot and cold) so I did some research and apparently the material is breaking down (if I did my research right).

SO.... I figured since I'm redoing most of the home anyways, why not redo the water lines with some blue and red PEX. So my ?'s.

1. Instead of disturbing the belly insulation can I just run the pex through an exterior wall as long as I keep the insulation between the pipes and the OSB?

2. If 1. is a no, how difficult would it be if I cut access holes in the floor about ever 10' to fish the PEX above the belly insulation and then strap it at each access hole?

3. With 2 baths and a kitchen, should I go 1/2 or 3/4? My main runs to the water heater closet which is in the master bath then leads to kitchen then to second bath? So my thoughts were to use 1/2 to supply the master bath and use 3/4 to run to kitchen then from kitchen to second bath with 1/2". Or should I just save money and use 1/2" everywhere?

4. Do I have to use a manufactured home approved water heater or is that just the recommended approach since the water connection is on the side instead of top?

5. Should I use an expansion tank even though my current water heater doesn't have one?

Final questions regard windows and doors.

Since I'm pretty much gutting the home, is it safe to say I can use windows and doors from home depot or do they HAVE to be mobile home approved?

[Greg]

Eric, Weight is almost always an issue when it comes to remodel work. How your home is supported, traditional piers under the frame or does it have perimeter blocking as well will determine how much weight the outside walls can support.

Sheet rock installation is 6 of one, half dozen of another. What ever way makes it easier. I will however caution you that if you are in a cold region that has ground heave from frost and the home is not on below the frostline footers odds are that cracking will develop at the seams over time.

Grey tubing is not PEX, it is most likely PB tubing, (PEX is usually white, red or blue). I would not recommend running water lines through the outside walls, They are run near the heat ducts in the floor to keep them warm in cold weather. You can carefully slice the belly material, do your work and seal it back up with belly tape.

Much of the water lines are 1/2" but there would be no harm in using 3/4" It would give you a better flow rate.

Water heaters, ELECTRIC units are fine to switch over, GAS units MUST be Mobile Home approved.

Windows are windows. Don't cheap out here, buy the best quality that you can. You will have to either special order the size you have, or reframe to install a stock size window. Doors are the same. If you have enough head room go with a standard 80" door, but remember that you need at least a double top header.

Greg

[Eric_v]

Greg,

First thank you for the reply.

What do I need to look for underneath the home to determine if I should attempt to install drywall or not? To my recollection theres about 20 poured concrete piers placed under certain spots of the house. Would perimeter blocking run the full length of the walls or just placed at certain intervals along the edge of the home?

Would contacting Norris provide any help whether the structure supported only on traditional piers support drywall? If so, how would I contact them?

I live in southern illinos so I'm sure there's ground heave from frost but I do believe the piers are poured 30 in below grade.

[Greg]

Perimeter blocking could be either spaced piers along the outer walls or a full block wall under the outer walls either will do the job.

From your description, it sounds like who ever set the home knew what they were doing. One thing that I forgot to mention that you may want to do before getting too deep in the remodel, Check the home for being level. This is best done with a water level from under the home. Since you are on poured piers it may not need anything, but I would rather spend an hour or two to make sure.

Norris is still in business, But I would be very surprised if the prints for your home still existed. You could try contacting them and get their take.

Greg

[alvasin]

We did the kitchen floor in our mobile home using inexpensive plywood. We cut it into 2 ft. X 2 ft. squares and put it down like tile but changing the direction of the wood grain with each piece we put down. One vertical-one horizontal. Once it was all down we stained it and it came out looking great. Kind of hard to explain but hopefully you get what I am trying to say. Or if you wanted you could use 2 different stains and do some sort of a pattern with the wood til

[Eric_v]

Greg,

Another ? if you will. Now that I have the ceiling drywall removed the insulation used was to put it kindly, crap. So I'm thinking either R30 or R38 to replace with. Trusses are 16 o.c and I have 10 inches of clearance between roof board and drywall. Also, there is a plastic vapor barrier in place between drywall and insulation. Do I need the vapor barrier since I'll be using faced insulation or even with the faced is the vapor barrier a good idea.

I'll have more ?'s to come since I'm knee deep in it now but that's my most imediate concern.

Thank you.

Edit: I'm leaning more towards R30 since it's 9 1/2 in thick and I only have 10 inches to work with. So it'll leave me with 1/2 for air to flow from soffit to roof vents. Right? R38 is 12 in thick

[Greg]

If you have soffit & roof ventilation you should be fine faced insulation. As long as it is open look close for any roof leaks.

Greg

[Greg S]

A properly installed/sealed vapour barrier is always required. Faced insulation does not prevent the infiltration of moisture as it does not completely seal.

As far as the question of ventilation is concerned I believe it will be a issue if you place 91/2 inch insulation in a 10" space and expect it to not restrict the flow of air.
If you do use 91/2" you should install the ventilation baffles from the exterior walls all the way up to a point in the roof where the space opens up. In addition you need to insure you have a clear path of ventilation flowing from the front to the rear of the home. This insures air can reach the roof vents. If all you have is 1/2" and no open space front to back you will have poor to no ventilation.
The result will be ice dams in the winter and over heating in the summer resulting in premature shingle failure.

[Eric_v]

Greg: Leaks fixed

Greg S: So would I be better off using R19 since it's only 6 1/4 in thick leaving me 3 3/4 in of air space? Or even double up R13 making it 7 in thick? Since from what I read by your post the plastic barrier is a necessity... can I just buy unfaced insulation or does it have to be faced?

Edit: Also, should my walls be vapor barriered? My current walls are not.

[Eric_v]

ok guys, I'm now confused. Just had a insulation company come to give me a bid and they said no vapor barriers anywhere. They said all I needed was faced for the walls and they could do unfaced or blown in for the attic.

Is there anywhere that I can read what the proper installation of a vapor barrier is?