1969 mobile home renovation

Repair help for the do-it-yourselfer.
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Djstorman
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 1:23 am
Location: Covina, California

Hello, I am new both to these forums and to mobile homes. My wife and I are purchasing an old 1969 3br 2bth 1200 sqfoot mobile home for 10k. For the Covina California area that is pretty decent.

The mobile home was owned by an older lady with several cats and a dog. My initial plan is to tear up the carpets and use a bleach spray to kill all the bacteria / viruses on the subfloor from the urine/?.

There are 4 soft spots that I can tell so far that I am going to replace with ply wood going room by room.

Does that sound like a decent plan? Any suggestions.

I will be starting with the kids rooms first followed by the master and the living room dining and kitchen. I plan on using allure for everything except the bedrooms and maybe the living room.

I have a budget of about $500/month.

I am prior military so I know how to work with my hands and am sure I can get it done.

Will post pictures as I start doing things. Will start with the initial pictures as soon as escrow is done.
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Greg
Moderator
Posts: 5696
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

Hi & Welcome. It sounds to me like you have a good handle on things. Cut the old out and lay new plywood or OSB in.

There are many posts here on the subject, you can do a search on the subject and do a lot of reading.

You will want to do before & after photos to look back on in a few years.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
1987Commodore
Posts: 383
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 9:53 pm
Location: Steuben County, NY

If you have any urine odor to deal with, a vet can steer you to an enzyme spray that will eliminate it.
DCDiva
Posts: 191
Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2009 10:16 pm

Order online odorxit.com Great stuff on all smells but knocks out pet urine and smells. I own many rentals, and pets and own a daycare center. I know stink lol
Melissa
bobfather99
Posts: 195
Joined: Fri Nov 13, 2009 2:09 am
Location: Indiana

Theres lots of products that can kill off the "pet smell". Odorxit, Natures Miracle, etc, they all work well. Whichever you choose will take care of the problem.
Tip your bartender.....
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Greg S
Posts: 541
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 10:13 am
Location: Kingston Ontario Canada

In the areas of the home where the cat stink is the worst, particularly where the litter box was, I would remove and replace the old particle board floor. Particle board soaked up urine like a sponge and surface treating is not always successful. On hot humid days the order will possibly return like a bad memory.

You should also consider painting all floors with Oder blocking paints (KILZ) before reflooring as a addition precautions.
An individual must enforce his own meaning in life and rise above the perceived conformity of the masses. (Anton LaVey)
1987Commodore
Posts: 383
Joined: Mon Oct 25, 2010 9:53 pm
Location: Steuben County, NY

When I had my carpets replaced, I coated my particle board with polyurethane to help provide a water barrier. Keep in mind that it has a strong odor until it dries. Use proper ventilation if you choose that route.
Djstorman
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 1:23 am
Location: Covina, California

My plan was to take out all the flooring and replace with plywood. Going room by room of course. Wanted to bleach the floor to kill bacteria till I can replace that section of the floor. Wanted to replace the whole floor before spending money to make it look good. Don't want to put down expensive flooring only to take it back up because something is wrong underneath.

Before putting down allure and carpet is there anything that I might have to replace that would require me to go through the floor versus from underneath?
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Greg
Moderator
Posts: 5696
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

Personally I'm not a fan of Allure, from what I have heard the subfloor MUST be perfect before you put it down or any imperfections will come through. You may need to use a leveling compound before putting it down. I think Melissa (DCdiva) had some problems with it. You can do a search for other posts.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
Djstorman
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 1:23 am
Location: Covina, California

So everything I looking good for us getting the mobile home. We should get the keys in about two weeks.

I am just doing research to figure out estimates on how much I need to save up for my flooring issue. Was looking at homedepot.com and was unsure on what type of plywood I should be using. I am planning to use 3/4? Not sure what type there appears to be birch and a multitude of different woods to choose from. Any guidance?

Cheaper is better however I don't want to do shoddy work.
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Greg
Moderator
Posts: 5696
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

For subfloor just use regular 3/4" (23/32") plywood, no need to Birch or anything fancy, that is more for cabinets. If you can find a good sanded one side plywood that should work just fine. You may still need a leveling compound depending on your flooring.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
Steve-WA
Posts: 180
Joined: Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:04 am
Location: Western Washington, Puget Sound

Spend your first $12 on the e-version of the MH repair manual on this site
Djstorman
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 1:23 am
Location: Covina, California

So got to working on the mobile home. Have a few semi-before pictures. The whole place smelled life pet piss. There were stains everywhere and basically most every inch of the floor had piss stains on it. There apparently was a small dog that pretty much pissed along every single inch of the wall and the owner let it seep into the particle sub-floor.

Will post some after pictures in a few. Basically replaced the whole living room/dining room sub-floor with a 1/2 Inch OSB. I know that is not optimal however I have to live within the constraints of my budget.

**** Tried uploading some resized photos to the forums, they looked horrible. Is there another way to upload or link photos here? ******
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Greg
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Posts: 5696
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

I use Picasa with auto resize. I drop them into a folder on the desktop and pull from the folder.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
Djstorman
Posts: 33
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 1:23 am
Location: Covina, California

May just have to take new pictures. The issue seems to me that because of the high quality of the photos to get them down to the 256 limit really screws with the quality. May try again tonight.
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