Removing a wall

[catrel]

Greetings all,
I am a new member of the forum and have a question about removing a wall. I read the posts bout moving a wall, involving a closet, and structural weight bearing wall. I am looking at buying a MH that is currently 3 bdrm. One of the remodeling projects I would want to do if buy it is to remove the wall b/t the 2 smaller bedrooms, making it one larger bedroom. This is a 1979 16x72 Medallion. I have tried to find a structural blueprint if you will of the MH unsuccessfully. So I began researching it on line and found this forum. So I would greatly appreciate knowing (1) where I might find a blueprint of the structure of mobile home, and (2) if I would be able to remove that dividing wall to make those 2 bedrooms into 1 room, and if so what to look for, watch out for, etc. thank you.

[Demolition]

Other than writing the Manufacturer, I don't know where else you could get a blueprint.

I am not an Engineer but here is what I might do.
Install the new wall first, then remove the old wall.
Be sure to locate the wall where it will nail into existing frame boards, both ceiling and wall.

What to watch out for? Electric Lines.
If you can disconnect the power to that part of the house before removing the old wall, that would be good.
Use a meter and do a Live-Dead-Live check on the plug-ins and light sockets.

Live-Dead-Live: You check a Known live socket with the meter, check the (hopefully) dead socket, then check a live socket again.
By doing this you are verifying that your meter works before you check the dead socket and verifying again to make sure the meter didn't crap out on you during the dead socket check.

[catrel]

Thanks Demolition, I've thought of that and still trying to determine who the manufacturer is as online search shows at least 4 companies make Medallions, and the title only indicates "Meda".

Other than writing the Manufacturer, I don't know where else you could get a blueprint.

Hmmm, but I'm not wanting to replace that wall, I want to totally remove it, making it one large room. So there is no new wall to be installed.

[quot]I am not an Engineer but here is what I might do.
Install the new wall first, then remove the old wall.
Be sure to locate the wall where it will nail into existing frame boards, both ceiling and wall.[/quote]

thanks again!

[Yanita]

Hi,

Welcome to the site.

The obvious is that all exterior walls are load bearing. The interior walls in a single wide are typically non load bearing, UNLESS, the ceiling height changes from one room to the next. In other words if the wall you want to remove on one side of that is a flat ceiling and the other side is a cathedral then it could possibly be a loading bearing wall.

And of course outlets, switches and over head lighting may need to be moved which will result in needing ceiling repairs.

Happy Holidays,

Yanita

[catrel]

Hi Yanita,
Thank you. This is a single wide and the ceiling height is same on each room.
The way they did these 2 rooms makes that easier too as the wall that I want removed has outlets on one side only, but the other side has a closet and built in dresser that would be removed as well. thank you again Yanita, Happy Holidays to you too.

[Yanita]

Hi,

Glad I could help and glad you found us!

Happy Holidays to you as well...give yourself a valuable gift for a small price...The Repair Manual that Mark has written. It is applicable for all mobile homes, and written in generic terms and comes complete with pics! Check it out in the BOOKS/PARTS link above.

Let the renovations begin and if you can post some pics so we can see as well.

Happy Holidays,

Yanita

PS need to clarify my post, interior load bearing walls, can be when the ceiling height changes from one room to the next, although this is not always the case.

[Greg]

If the ceiling is the same height throughout, you could make a 16x72 bowling alley if you want. Greg

[skunkman]

my 1975 model home had the wall between the 2 small bedrooms removed when i got it. they put facing boards where the 2 ceilings come together and down the side walls also. the carpeting didn't match because it had been replaced sometime along the way but linoleum was underneath the carpet in both rooms. we have 2 doorways, 2 light fixtures and 2 switches, the furnace is built in between the 2 doorways and the heat ducts are in the middle of the doorways. the room is now 8 1/2 x 16 with 4 off center windows lining one wall. purchasing carpet is a nightmare. these are some of the things to watch out for before tearing out that wall.

[catrel]

Hi again Yanita,
I read bout the repair manual and as soon as finances allow I plan on getting it but there are things that have to come first at this time. I finally got pics but they are not very good. My camera usually takes good pics, but it is hard to get good ones of this room, too small. Anyhow I put them on a page at http://www.whitewolfent.com/remodeling/bedroom.html

You can see along that back wall, the wall already needs replacing, it is evidently one "missed" when the previous repair guy fixed things. To the left you can see the closet and behind it the dresser. I thought this was built in but upon closer inspection it is not as built in as I thought so won't be as hard to remove. Both rooms are set up the same.

Along that closet & dresser is the wall I want to knock out to make the 2 rooms into one large room.

My thoughts were to also knock out the wall where the door is on one of them, replacing with solid wall (no door), but don't mind the double ceiling lights, altho they may be replaced as well.

Anyhow if you can tell anything from these pics I"m open to suggestions!

Oh, and Skunkman, these pics are of the 2nd bedroom, the first is to the left of the wall behind the closet. The furnace is to the left of the first bedroom and the heater vents are right inside each doorway. Does that make sense?

Hi,
Happy Holidays to you as well...give yourself a valuable gift for a small price...The Repair Manual that Mark has written. It is applicable for all mobile homes, and written in generic terms and comes complete with pics! Check it out in the BOOKS/PARTS link above.

Let the renovations begin and if you can post some pics so we can see as well.

Happy Holidays,

Yanita

[Yanita]

Hi Catrel,

I looked at your pics. The closet and dresser will come out alot easier than they appear. Unfortunately these homes are not put together with screws, but a heck of alot of staples.

This is just my opinion..but I would immediately focus my attentions on the wall with the window. Looks to be alot of water damage there. The baseboards appear to be wet.

At the very least you should remove the wallboard from around the window, remove all wet insulation, pull back the carpeting and see what type of floor damage may be present. Find your leaks and then start that repair process.

~Yanita~

[phelpcd1]

We also removed a wall in our single-wide. It was the wall separating the tiny living room and 2nd bedroom. Our ceiling is all the same thru-out and it was not a problem at all. We actually wanted to move the wall back several feet to gain sq footage in the living room, and create a large storage closet area instead of the 2nd bedroom. We built the new wall first and made it a square wall instead of going all the way to the ceiling. We then pulled out the old 2x3 wall. My husband had to move all the electrical and switches into the new wall, which wasn't hard but you've got to know about wiring. The one thing we didn't expect was that the wall appeared to be placed into the mobile home before the roof went on. The studs that were on the ceiling were nailed from the roof down. We had tons of nails and staples poking thru that we could not remove without major damage to the ceiling. My husband got creative and just hammered all the nails down flat and built a box around the stud to make a decorative type molding. It actually looks pretty good. We also had to replace all the flooring and keep in mind furniture placement as to not cover the vents that are about 1 foot apart now. If i can figure out how to post pics here I'd show the project.

[Yanita]

Hi Phelpcd1

When you reply or create a post in the upper right corner of the reply box is an UPLOAD pic icon, click and follow instructions. Also if you complete a profile you can create your personal album here on site. To begin this process you will need to accept the friends pending and then that will give you the MY PROFILE SPACE icon at the top of the page.

Welcome to the site.

Yanita

[Jim from Canada]

I also removed a bedroom. It is not that hard of a job if you take it slow and think it through. Beware of wires. There will be some, usually coming down from the ceiling to outlets and switches. Where they exit the ceiling into the wall that is to be removed, you will have to install an electrical box to make splices. The box will have to have a cover plate and remain accessable. This is the way I have done it, to meet code. Eventually, when the drywall comes down, the spliced wires will be replaced with solid runs to get rid of the unsightly cover plates on my ceiling. Structurally, on a single wide, there should be no problems, with all the ceilings being the same height.

Jim

[phelpcd1]

I'm hoping this works......if so, you can see on the ceiling where the wall used to be, and the new wall that went in several feet further. You can see how we covered the remaining boards to appear more decorative. We also put in a nice vinyl tile floor too.

[Demolition]

Purchasing Carpet is a Nightmare... I used to be the Warehouse man at a Carpet One.

First, the wider carpet is usually not in stock at cheap carpet places. Find a larger franchise store and tell the salesman you want 14 wide or 16 wide carpet. They will dig out the catalog for that product.

Second. If you run the carpet sideways and the room is not longer than 12 foot deep, you can use regular carpet.

Find a Carpet installer and let him measure the house.
The Carpet Installers know some
MAGIC TRICKS that the salesmen don't know.