Bought a preowner mh - Subfloor questions

[FirstTimerJoe]

Another quick update.

Hot water tank now seems fine. (Yay). Had an electrician come out and now we mostly have electric (Yay!). BUT... the fuse/power box is uhm... for lack of a better term... screwed. Electrician said he probably should not have even turned it back on. Half the outlets in the house don't work (Guessing fuses, or since the fuse box isn't working right...) So that pretty much all needs redone with the fuse box and wiring under the trailer. Gotta contact them back sometime next week, landlord is going to try to get the park to pay for it (or at least help). But we're finally able to move in! My next mission after the electricity, is the flooring... Kinda "soft" in some areas, I'm guessing rotting; I can see the insulation hanging there under the trailer. Will a simple piece of playwood on top fix, or should I put one up underneath? Or just rip up entire floor and redo it all (I want to do, but don't have the money resources...) What's a nice fix to get us through til tax time? Thanks...

[JD]

It is always best to cut out the soft subfloor as well as any of the darkened wood that may not be soft yet. When you see the water damage on a particle board subfloor, there is a definite dark area/ring around the effected area, that may still fill pretty strong. If it is darkened, cut it out.

You make cuts that are parallel with the joists right down the center of the joists, so you can nail in your new piece of subfloor patch. Don't forget to re-nail the edge of the existing floor where you cut it. Cuts going to other direction will need to be blocked/framed in the same way as the joists. Install the blocking so you can nail down both the old existing edge and the edge of the new patch.

Under vinyl flooring, the repair has to be immaculate, totally level and smoothed out with floor compound. Under carpet it is not as critical, but I would tape the seams of the repair so the edges of the cut wood won't eat away at the carpet pad.

[bobfather99]

JD is right, if in doubt, cut it out. Do it right once, and sleep well at night.

[FirstTimerJoe]

My only thing like that, is that the hallway is just 32" wide, probably about 10' long I want to replace--then the brown wall, then the rest of the floor.. The wall seems to be blocking one of the joists that it's on, so I don't know... would I just like, peel back the carpet and then take a jigsaw and cut through the wood that's there, then measure, measure, measure, and then cut the wood to that size, and nail it down to the joists that are there, hoping the joists aren't messed up as well?

[JD]

Nope. A jig saw would be a bad choice. You don't want to cut the joists themselves. A slight scarring is OK. A skilsaw can be set to cut just the right amount of wood, usually 5/8". But the skilsaw can only get to within 1 1/2" of the wall. If the wood is good there, then that's the way to go. To cut flush to the wall, I use a mini sawzall. Actually it is called a Rigid One Handed Reciprocating Saw Sawzall R3030. Home Depot has them for $90 and on Amazon you can get them for under $80.

I used to use a big sawzall, but they are bulky for close work and have a 1 1/4" throw, or movement back and forth. The little mini saw is so very cool. It has a 1/2" throw, which allows it to plunge cut easily without having a hole first, and you can angle a short blade to not go more than 1/4" below the subfloor you are cutting. This is really cool when wires and plumbing get in the way. Using a quality small thin blade, I can cut a 1 1/2" hole and it will look like a hole saw cut it.

Anyways, back to the floor. After you cut the wood out, you need to "block" (add 2x framing) under the edge of the cut. Put half under the old wood and half where the new wood will be going. Where ever there is old floor showing, not flush cut against a wall, be sure to nail/screw the edge of the old wood as well as the new wood. Fasteners should be 4" o.c. around edges and 6" in the field (middle area). You also want to use a Liquid Nail product on top of all framing wood. I use PL brand polyurethane adhesive. If there are any cuts going across the field, you should at least cover the cut with a good tape, to keep the cut edges from deteriorating the carpet pad. If you are covering with vinyl, the floor needs to be floated smooth with floor compound. This is actually a good idea with carpet too, as you won't find 5/8" plywood and it will be a bit springy spongy anyways. I use 3/4" which is actually 23/32". I use the tongue and groove Sturdi-Floor plywood, available at most home stores.

You really don't want to shortcut this blocking step. If you do, the floor will be very spongy between joists and eventually it will be bowed down like warping.

[JD]

PS on the one handed saw. This name may be because you only use one hand to operate it or it could mean using it will make you one handed. There is no mechanical safety on this saw and no guard on the trigger, which means if you are not careful when picking the saw up, it starts sawing immediately and unexpectedly. I still love mine though. One of the best and handiest tools I've ever bought for mobile home repairs. It is really handy for abs/pvc plumbing or getting into any tight space.

[process_server]

I was lucky enough to make friends with a master electrician who has extensive experience with MH's. Unfortunately, MH's were put together poorly and I'm surprised more of us have not gone down in flames. Every single electrical fixture and outlet in my home was improperly wired and my friend tells me this is what he normally finds. For one, most of the outlets are wired backwards or not properly grounded. Many times there are too many circuits connected to too few breakers (my water heater, stove, and A/C unit were all connected to one 60 amp breaker which explained why the lights would dim every time the A/C or stove was in use and why I popped breakers quite often), the wire gauge is wrong for the fittings used, and the caps used to tie ends were improperly used or the wrong type throughout the whole house. He actually found several places where wires had melted and/or blackened the surrounding area inside the wall. It was quite scarey considering I had never smelled smoke or seen anything burning - I had merely asked him to fix a couple of outlets that had not worked for several years. When it comes to electricity, I don't mess around - you should call a pro in and have them install a new electrical panel as well as re-wire your outlets. With 2 people it was a 6 hour job and was certainly worth the peace of mind. Whatever you do, don't go with the cheapest bidder - you get what you pay for...

[michael1982]

It is always best to cut out the soft subfloor as well as any of the darkened wood that may not be soft yet. When you see the water damage on a particle board subfloor, there is a definite dark area/ring around the effected area, that may still fill pretty strong. If it is darkened, cut it out.

You make cuts that are parallel with the joists right down the center of the joists, so you can nail in your new piece of subfloor patch. Don't forget to re-nail the edge of the existing floor where you cut it. Cuts going to other direction will need to be blocked/framed in the same way as the joists. Install the blocking so you can nail down both the old existing edge and the edge of the new patch.

Under vinyl flooring, the repair has to be immaculate, totally level and smoothed out with floor compound. Under carpet it is not as critical, but I would tape the seams of the repair so the edges of the cut wood won't eat away at the carpet pad.

Great this is the type of help I wanted/needed. Little intro 29 year old with a 2000 model Fleetwood single wide. 3 main issues I want/need to correct and will be getting on hopefully soon. 1st the one that nearly caused me a stroke (not really) and some lost sleep. Over the past several months we had noticed what we thought was a soft spot in the kitchen floor southwest of the sink out about 1 - 1.5 feet the mobile home runs north/south and the same for the sink area. The is a spot about 3x3 or so covered in vinyl (or was). Did notice a steady ridge going East to West just a few inches North of the dip. I was in so much of a panic after reading online about OSB board floors and seeing the youtube videos on floor replacement I thought I could do it myself. But I didn't have the guts to look, being on a tight budget anyway I didn't want to do it if I didn't have to.

I broke down tonight, and it hurt my feelings to do it, but I took my utility knife to the corner as tight as I could get it, and started making cuts in each direction along the walls/cabinets. I was expecting to find rotten or wet OSB. I was amazed to find dry OSB with no signs of issue in the area. The only issue was a bit of a difference in the height between the piece north of the small piece placed in the corner. So after putting the Vinyl back down as best I could for the time being and taking a deep relaxing breath, and trying to figure out what I wanted to put down on the floor now, I decided that this could be due to settling..... Going back a few days the day I went to the home improvement store over the weekend I had grabbed some Tyvek style tape for sealing the underbelly which was hanging down in one place I noticed the other day. Keep in mind I have never been under my mobile home, I am a bit claustrophobic. But I got a flashlight, warm clothes (keep in mind it was in the 60's this day). And grabbed my tape/scissors, and a plastic mat to keep me from getting too dirty. And went to work checking the exposed areas for wet insulation, and any signs of any problems. I also checked my piers and determined I for sure have to have a re-leveling. I have contacted a couple groups and one of them said I should call again in the late summer. But I am thinking my floor issue is probably due to flex in the vinyl and the difference in the floor is likely due to the unlevel condition of the mh. The floor didn't seem to flex when I stood on it and and walked on it, like it seemed to flex when I walked on the vinyl before cutting it up. So I am relaxed there.

But the piers have some cracked blocks (they all are still in place, haven't been displaced), not sure if the cracks are weather related, or earthquake damage. I had noticed a slope to the south west and this is where the property is the wetest so I don't know if that is due to the footings settling or what, We have had a few shakes the past couple years, and like I said going under there was not my thing. But now I am comfortable. And am interested in re-model's now thanks to this forum.

[Greg]

My advise would be to check the level & do a relevel if needed. After 12 years it is probably due. Mark has a section on how to relevel in his book, available in the parts & books section of the site.

Greg

[michael1982]

Thanks Greg will look at that book, had contacted a few companies one took my number the other said to call back in the late summer.