Poor SearchFu Newbie needs help on floors

Repair help for the do-it-yourselfer.
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CaboWabo
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:27 pm

Hi all, I've been lurking here for quite a while and and now the grand adventure begins for my family with a new to us (22 year old to the rest of the world) mobile home.

We just put our down payment on a 1987 Patriot 14 X 70 3 bedroom 2 bath in a local park in NW Indiana. It was a repo and being sold as - is so we got it for a very good price and I know I will have work to do with it.

The first issue is a few bad spots in the floor the worst being in the front bedroom / bathroom area where the water heater sits, right now at a bad angle and the second in the kitchen in front of the sink area. The worst is the master bath where the area around the toilet is all but gone and is very soft up to and under the tub and sink.

my many questions with the floors include:

Does anyone know the thickness of the particle board floor used in a 1987 Patriot?

How warm should it be to attempt repairs on the floors?

When the damage is under tubs, walls, cabinets do they have to be removed to complete the repairs?

How big of an area is the best to work with to repair at a time?

I have found the "Anatomy of a Mobile Home" picture and a few postings on floor repair. I know how important it is to get all of the bad floor removed.

I will have access to the mobile home in the next few weeks and be able to take a better look at the damage and hopefully start the repairs.

Thanks for any help.

CaboWabo
It is what it is
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Yanita
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Posts: 3369
Joined: Sat Feb 17, 2007 10:16 pm
Location: Eastern N. Carolina

Hi,

Welcome to the site.

First off I recommend you invest the minimal fee of the repair manual. It can be purchased at our online store. Will be the best thing you read in the next few weeks. It will help you understand the way to properly repair your home the first time around.

Since you have 2 bathrooms, I would do one at a time, removing all damaged flooring, replace with plywood. Personally I don't think the outside temp really matters when replacing the floor. Directly underneath is the insulation.

We are kind of an all or nothing type of repair people. Meaning we do not patch the floors, but do a complete removal of inferior products and replace with ply. Not saying you have to do this, but I would recommend that for bath and kitchen areas that are always prone to water damage.

JMO, others will come along and give more advice.

Yanita
The difference between success and failure is who gives up first!
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Greg
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Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

another Hi & welcome. Much depends on you and your time table. There are advantages & drawbacks as to how you do it.

When we rehabed Our daughter's we gutted the whole thing from one end to the other. Advantages - you have the room you need to work, you can see EVERYTHING. Any plumbing, electrical work that needs to be done can be.
Drawbacks - you are committed, there is no small repairs done here. Plan on spending money, but you will know what was done and that it was done right.

If you do end up doing it in sections, I would the water heater area first, then any of the common areas, then the bedrooms.

Use PLYWOOD or at the very least OSB for the subfloors 3/4" is the standard thickness. Warmth depends on You, personally I don't enjoy working in the cold anymore. Working around cabinets present challanges. They are not free standing from the factory, but the home is old enough that someone MAY have changed them.

I don't want to overwelm you, but I am one of those "do it once, do it right" type that Yanita warned you about. You WILL have a major degree of satisfaction when it is done knowing that YOU did it! Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
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CaboWabo
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:27 pm

Thanks for answering back so quickly. I do want to do the job right and don't want to have to spend the time and money to have to turn right back around and have to redo it.

We will be on a money crunch, I may have 30 days, give or take that I will have nights and weekends to work on the repairs and planned on starting with the water heater area and the front bath area. The Kitchen area next.

I can't wait to get started.

CaboWabo
It is what it is
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Brenda (OH)
Posts: 325
Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2007 7:57 am

Hi!

this is the link to a posting that has a great diagram of a way to brace and repair floor around an existing toilet flange, that I really found helpful when I went to do the bathroom floor repair:

https://www.mobilehomerepair.com/phpbb/v ... ght=flange

one thing, if you work on floor repairs in the winter, you will immediately notice where the insulation, belly wrap etc is missing when the cold air comes in... lol

Brenda (OH)
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CaboWabo
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:27 pm

thanks Brenda!

This should come in handy for the back bathroom.

Here in NW Indiana it's 7 degrees right now, I think highs this week to hit 28, yahoo!! I'm hoping it warms up a bit before I get to start tearing into the floor but if not I hope the furnace kicks off and the space heaters help my fingers stay flexible LOL

CaboWabo
It is what it is
oldfart
Posts: 431
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:31 am

Well Cabo allow me to post my 2 cents worth here on top of the already excellnt advice you have received. First and foremost..remove everything from the room you're gonn'a be working in...if at all possible. Cabinetry, doors, toilets, tub/shower/sinks etc. etc. etc.! Next up...make a room to cut material without any obstructions. A room big enough to cut 4x8 sheets of plywood and baseboard and trim. I cleared the kitchen for that. Hauled out the fridge/stove/table/chairs and everything else not bolted/screwed down. I did all the cuttin' in the kitchen..then dragged it down the hallway and fitted it into the bathroom. Now..let's make it easy (??????) to rip out the old floor. Grab up yer skill-saw/circular-saw and set the blade 1 inch deep and run it from one side of the home to the other. Outside wall to outside wall. Now get the Shop-Vac and get all that sawdust out of the way and peer down in the cut and figger out where all the floor-joist are. They'll be easy to spot. Next post...removing the damaged flooring. Audie..the Oldfart...
oldfart
Posts: 431
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:31 am

Cabo one thing yer about to find out is the damage is probably gonna be a lot more than you thought. They make these floors out'a compressed-water-soluable-glue-horse-droppings. When they get wet they dissolve like Alka-Seltzer tablets. If you've got water leaking anywhere..it'll travel 12ft. beyond the source of the leak. AND..they put these floors down with enough glue and staples to confound most mere mortal men as to how to rip up a chunk bigger than a postage stamp!! Here's a "relativley" easy way to do it. Locate the floor joists as already mentioned and run that saw between the floor joists end for end...lengthwise in the room...between every other floor-joist. Now sit on yer knees and rock the floor back and forth until a section breaks free. Yer straddlin' the floor-joists and rocking the damaged flooring until the glue/staples break free and then prying it up 1 section at a time. Yup..takes some time to get the knack but it'll save you a helluva lot of time trying to clear all that smutz off the floor-joists! Once the old floor is out..time to lay in a new plywood floor. Don't scrimp on the quality of the new plywood. Use 3/4in. tongue&groove flooring plywood. Fit it tight and fill in the joints before laying in the luan. Audie..the longwinded Oldfart....
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CaboWabo
Posts: 15
Joined: Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:27 pm

Thanks Audie, I've enjoyed reading your other posts and they have given me a lot of ideas. The rooms are all empty right not so I will have my pick of work spaces, I'm thinking the living room has the best access and since it doesn't have any damage (that I know of) it's the place to be.

I bought Mark's book and have been reading it while waiting to get my hands on the keys to be able to start the work. I do like your idea of cutting out slices between the joists, I think that will help a lot.

CaboWabo
It is what it is
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Teresa73
Posts: 37
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2008 3:49 am
Location: St. Johns, MI

Just curious guys because I have that horse dung glue and dust particle board... for a 16x80 trailer, what should I roughly expect to pay to put in the GOOD type of plywood instead?

Thank you!

P/S I ask because I don't know how to figure it out but always willing to learn the formula (way) you do figure out that stuff.

~ Teresa

P/S/S Welcome new person and good luck with your remodel! Just remember if you ever feel overwhelmed or tired of doing it, that it will be so worth it when you are finally finished! (do we ever really finish anyway though?) LoL
Please Spay & Neuter Your Pets =^.^=
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Greg
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Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

Plywood prices are all over, Check Lowes or HomeDepot as well as other home centers & lumber yards. Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
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