mobilehomerepair.com

Is getting a roof over with the foam insulation worth the price? Does anyone have this now? How well did it help your utility bills? Did you also have to put insulation in the walls & belly to get better/cheaper heating & cooling bills or just the roof-over? What about windows?
Please give me as much info as you can think of, thank you.

Betty, As much as I hate to say this, You are the only one that can determine if it is worth the price. My advise would be to get as much information as possible. Then factor in your home value, How long you plan on living in it, and your expected energy savings. Now if you are in need of roof work now that will make a BIG difference, since you would need to do something soon. Are you planning on doing the work yourself or contract it out?

Window upgrades are usually well worth the expense. If you have the original "Trailer" windows, usually 2 single hung windows mounted on the interior & exterior walls they are junk.

Greg

Greg, this will be contracted... I plan to live here until I die basically lol... unless it falls apart on me or around me that is, which I'm hoping this doesnt happen!! The contractor said if he does the roof-over he will put in new windows for nearly nothing b/c they stock them & have them in their warehouse. I NEED energy savings which is why he said to do this b/c I'm loosing all my heat & ac from my roof & no theres nothing "wrong" with the roof needing it to be repaired.

Any other suggestions?? IF I get the roof-over & new windows... would it be stupid not to have all the walls & under belly reinsulated or more added? That I wold most likely do myself... well the walls anyway- not sure on the belly part. IS the roof & windows mainly the 2 places you loose all your heating & ac???

Mobile homes aren't sealed that well and some are worse then others depending on age and other factors. Like mentioned only you can determine if these things will be worth it. What do you have for wall and ceiling and belly insulation? What type of windows do you have now and what shape are they in? If you do all these projects for energy savings alone it will most likely take you a while to recoup those savings. You will have to calculate if you think those savings will add up over time, if you are basing these repairs on just looking for energy savings.

A lot of areas will do free energy audits. Try contacting your city/town or power company and see if you can get an energy audit done. They will come look at what you have now and what you can do to get some energy savings.

Mine is from 1973, the windows are the cascade- 3 paned windows (probably from 1973) & I have reg. rolled insulation in the whole place.
And I'm on my own- I went to the county for help & they wont give it to me, which is the audits. My electric company told me they can have someone call me about it & thats it, they dont come out anymore.

Around here there are companies do weatherization and also do energy audits. I am surprised that your power company does not have a line on one. KEEP DIGGING, there must be someone in your area that does them!!!

Where abouts are you, perhaps someone here get you some help.

Greg

I live in Gloucester County, NJ... I tried the electric co & our social services office.... not getting anywhere!!

You could try this.
http://www.homeadvisor.com/sem/category ... 7594553778

Greg

Thank you Greg, BUT I called them & to no-avail ( I'm not getting anywhere with any of these places.. he said b/c its a self contained unit...you cant put blow-in insulation in the walls & ceiling & not have it collapse so he cant help me or any places from the state that he knows of either! I'm trying for a lossing battle apparently!

Here in NY there are county run programs geared for the seniors and lower income households. I know that really does you no good in NJ but you may try from that direction also.

Our home came from the factory with some blown in insulation in the ceiling under the fiberglass. Blown in is very light, I personally dont see how it would cause a collapse.

Greg

it seems to me that you need to have an energy audit done BEFORE you can even know where the energy loss is and what the audit recommends

my dad is on limited income and had to have an energy audit done on his mobile home before the state of connecticut would provide future energy assistance (the help pay for the propane he uses during the winter) and the auditor made the recommendations that needed to be done. some of the fixes that needed to be done was made the local social services department (insulation and new windows) and some were done by my brother (replace the old aluminum back door)

just guessing on what should be done could turn out to be more costly in the long run.

Greg & Norm... I have alread tried my county- filled out all the papers & they WONT help me! SO whatever I get done I have to pay for but NO MONEY!! I had mobile home depot come out & he told me I need a roof-over done which is $4000 & new windows- which is $3000, I dont have the income to do it or even try to do it & getting a loan I cant pay for is probably not going to happen either!! SO again, Im STUCK with no help from anywhere! Greg I used your link above & as I said they wont help either. I'm trying everything I can to get help!

OK let's try working the other end. How about contacting a few elected officials, they work for the Government and EVERYONE knows that the government is here to help!! And you just thought they were here to take our money!

Greg

Are you asking for financial help, or just an energy audit? I'd bet money that there is a way to get a free energy audit from your power or gas company. Just don't ask them for upgrades or anything that costs $.

I think you're misunderstanding and asking the wrong questions of the right people. If the power company says they don't do energy audits, then ask them who does. Then Google it for your area. Then check yellow pages. Then ask social services. I do not believe there's no energy audits done, even if you have to pay a buck or two.

I need BOTH done, the audit to see what needs to be done to make my home efficient BUT I also at the same time dont have the money to fix the issues, unless of course its something cheap but from what I've been told from mobile home depot- he said a roof-over to stop lossing heat from the roof & new windows! Social services wont help me b/c I dont fall into their poor enough category even though I am! I dont have any kids & live alone & to them I can make it by myself... IF I didnt have such HIGH heating & cooling bills I'd be "ok" nor have college loans but thats another story that they dont count toward my debt... IF they actually went by debt to income ratio based on just my college loans (which is my only debt)- I WOULD fit their bill of being poor... but apparently it doesnt work like that