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Hi, all. I've been lurking and looking at some of the posts when I had specfic issues. So far, it appears I've done everything wrong.
Used a pressure washer on my vinyl siding. Noticed one section blew up when I got near, probably missing some kind of clip.
Didn't do a very good check of the trailer before buying it in January. Now I've discovered the original plumber didn't plumb it correctly, got to have it redone. Pipe has sagged, and dripping sewage under the trailer. Plumber said the underbelly looks really good, better than what he's accustomed to seeing.
Had to cut out part of the sheetrock wall under the washer hookups due to old water damage, mildew. Plywood floor seems sturdy, no soft spots.
I knew of some damage. A tree fell on the shingled roof over the bathroom, so they replaced it with a metal roof (pitched). Seem to have done a good job repairing the bathroom ceiling.
The carpet needs stretched, but the carpet cleaners said it would cost as much to stretch it as to buy new, since it was under the walls and I'd need tack strips and molding, plus a lot of labor costs.
And the biggest problem is the previous owner liked mothballs. Sprinkled them everywhere to run off the snakes. She only used it a few days each month, was a vacation trailer. It reeks. Must be absorbed into the walls and cabinets. I leave the windows open and fans going, hoping the heat of summer will remove the smell. It's better, but still bad.
Has a free-standing deck in good condition. Overall, I think the trailer is in good shape, looks like new inside, was barely used. It's a doublewide, Stoneridge by Fleetwood, model 4443k.
This site has some amazing people helping others. I'll continue reading messages, and learning more about trailer life.
Welcome, and good luck with your home! This site will be such a big help to you .. lots of knowledge being tossed around here! I'm not sure how handy you are, but you can get a carpet stretcher fairly cheap from Harbor Freight and try doing it yourself.
I was surprised to see that the carpet runs under the walls in these places .. I have an 82 Fleetwood, and recently tore down the wall between the dining room and bathroom, and discovered that it originally had awesome burnt orange shag carpeting lol.
Welcome. Are you positive the carpet runs under the walls? My single wide doesn't but also didn't use tack strips - they folded the edge under and stapled it to the floor. We are in the process of removing it and installing laminate floors.
My best advice is to read, read and read some more. Then pick a small project that is in an out of the way location and practice there. We are starting with turning a third bedroom into a laundry room. Removing the baton strips from the walls, taping and texturing the walls, paint, flooring - we even installed an arched doorway this weekend. Soon we will move on to the livingroom and then siding, roofing and windows
Take things slow, read and if in doubt, get help.
Best of luck and keep us up to date on the progress.
When you say "blew up" what exactly do you mean? Did the vinyl siding just come off? Or was there more damage? I pressure wash our vinyl siding twice a year without problems, our North side doesn't see the sun so it gets pretty ugly if I don't keep it washed. What tip were you using, if you use the wrong tip it will be too much pressure and can cause damage. The good thing is as long as there wasn't more damage vinyl siding is really easy to repair. They make a "zip" tool that will un hook the layers and let you nail it back on and then use the tool to hook the top layers back on. The tool is only a couple bucks and available at any home improvement store.
Sewage dripping is no good! But the belly being in good shape is good news.
Carpet under the walls is new to me, ours used tack strips and laid the carpet like "normal" except there is no base trim like in most houses. Carpet is just butted up against the wall. I recently replaced all our carpet except the two smaller bedrooms. Not that bad of a job but a lot of work pulling out staples! I rented a carpet stretcher for the week, it was just over 100 bucks for the week if I remember right. I looked at the harbor freight stretcher but it really is junk. Plus it only is 5 feet long so can't reach the other wall and the head is really small compared to a real stretcher. You really pull the carpet when you stretch it so you want a bigger head so it grips the carpet in more places, if you do it wrong you can actually rip the carpet and ruin it. If you can stretch it and are going to do it do yourself a favor and rent a stretcher for a day or two or even the week. Once you get the hang of it, there are lots of good instructions online, it goes real fast.
Trailer life, or more so trailer repair can be real interesting! I have a good deal of construction experience on stick built homes but every time I do a project in our MH I run into all sorts of new curve balls.
Good luck and welcome to the forum. Ask away and we'll try and answer what we can.
Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone! Ponch, the siding just blew in the wind, like taking a piece of tissue paper, holding it up and blowing on it. It blew out away from the house, then fell back in place and you can't tell anything is wrong. There is no damage to the siding, it looks perfectly normal. That side is on the north too, beside a steep mountain, and the orange gunk that looks like mud didn't come off with my first go-round. I used it very gentle at first, just enough pressure to get the dirt off, and that worked on the 3 other sides. I had to redo the back with the pressure a bit higher to remove the orange stains/gunk. I've never had vinyl siding or seen siding installed, and didn't even think about looking underneath to see if it has some kind of vapor barrier under. I suspect it's missing a clip or something.
I also want to put a floodlight on my corner. The existing light beside the back door is in a recessed box. My dad is a master electrician, but has never worked on a trailer, so we don't know what we need to do to mount this light, nor how we protect/cut out a box in the siding for mounting. I guess the mounting method and the siding is the big deal - there's an outlet on the inside wall and we're going to put an outside outlet on the other side of that one. But how do we run the wire up to the top of the wall? Take the siding off from outside, or the sheetrock panel off from inside? Basically, how do we get to the inside studs where we can run the wires, without damaging anything?
Didn't realize vinyl siding could come off and back on with a simple tool. I'll find me a zip tool. Already had to re-do my screens. When I pulled them off to wash the windows, the plastic corners crumbled. I took one in to the local mobile home supply place, and they showed me how to repair the screens with a special tool.
On my power pole where the electrical box/main is, the previous owners put a standard (inside) electrical box on the pole under the power meter box. Not sure how they kept from getting electrocuted. We will replace that one with a weatherproof outlet when we do the floodlight.
I'll have to look at the carpet more closely. I'm not 100% positive it runs under the walls, but from my cursory inspection, it looks like it does, and the cleaners thought so too. The rooms are very large, and I knew the standard stretchers wouldn't work well. For now, the carpet project is on hold. Will need to decide whether to stretch, replace with new carpet, or with hard flooring. The living room has the marriage seam running across it, so don't know how that would work with hard flooring.
I helped remodel a stick built house in the past, but do better as a helper than the leader on a project. I designed the remodel, decided which walls would come down, which openings would be covered, designed a new porch/steps and kitchen, chose the finishes/ paint/ siding, helped with the mudding, laid vinyl in the bathroom. The house looked so different afterward (much better!), people would stop by to ask when we built the new house. But that was when I was married and there were lots of construction friends in our lives. Now, it's mostly me and my son, and my dad sometimes. We recently laid engineered wood on our basement slab, which required leveling. I also do a pretty good repair job on dings in wood. I'll tackle anything if someone shows me how to do it first. If it's complicated or new, if someone is there to help me talk over the approach or options, kind of get me organized and focused, I'll tackle those jobs too. I'm not really trained in construction, but I'm willing to try most anything, as long as I'm confident I can do it "correctly". There are no building codes in this county, which is why the plumbing is bad, and the inside electrical outlet was used on the outside. I'm used to living in a county with strict building codes, so I want everything done to "that" code. I'm buying power tools as needed. So far have a 1/2 inch drill, power stapler/nail gun, jig saw, pressure washer, and borrow my dad's circular saw when needed. Have lots of hand tools, hammers, screwdrivers, specialty saws, various clamps, etc.
Trailer life is one thing, river life is another. The Coosa is going 4 ft above flood stage right now, and my access road is underwater. Oh, well. Thank goodness the trailer is out of the flood zone, even with FEMA implementing 2 foot higher levels this past year.
Hi & welcome. It is not at all unusual for flooring to run under walls. When they build them the start with the floor deck first, then add the walls. some manufacturers will put the flooring down before the walls are added to make it easier to work with.
As Ponch said mobile homes are "different". Anything that you can do to a stick built you cad do to a Mobile home, it may just take a little "Engineering".
Try not to get overwhelmed and take things one step at a time. If you have any questions feel free to ask, that's what we are here for.
Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
Vinyl siding is nailed on normally but like almost everything else in trailers mine was stapled on, I have determined I HATE staples after working on our trailer! Go buy some 1 1/2" siding nails, they are just like roofing nails with a bigger head but are usually ring shanked. You can gently lift the layer of siding above the one that blew off and nail it back on. You want to nail in the middle of the slot and you don't want to nail tight, just until the head touches the siding. Vinyl siding expands and contracts a lot and if you nail it tight you prevent this and it will buckle. Then use the zipper tool to gently pull the siding above down and over that row and lock it into place. I'm sure youtube has a ton of videos on vinyl siding, I use youtube all the time to get ideas on how to do things. Just have to watch a bunch of videos in case the first one you watch is wrong since anyone can upload videos to youtube.
As for power washing it you have to use some elbow grease along with a power washer! Pressure does good but it sounds like you use a little to much. I have 4 tips for mine and think I use a 30* or so tip, decent pressure but nothing crazy. What really helps, especially on my North side is vinyl siding cleaner that my pressure washer mixes with the water, if yours doesn't you can just use a pail and brush to put it on, http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/catalog ... Search+All. But after I put the soap on I use a stiff bristle brush to scrub the dirt off, http://www.homedepot.com/p/Quickie-Prof ... YpZKE4o7IU. This really helps and makes it so the pressure doesn't have to be so high. I use a ladder also to get up high. It takes some work but it will be cleaner and won't have to use such high pressure that blows the siding off.
It's this sites policy to not comment on gas and electrical questions but I just want to say to make sure that the outside outlet you are talking about is on a properly sized breaker for that wire/outlet and not just hooked into the meter or the main breaker. Your dad should be able to tell this and make sure it's safe for you and be able to remove it all together if it isn't done right. From the details you gave I get an uneasy feeling and would suggest not touching that outlet at all until your dad checks it all out.
I didn't knock the siding loose with the pressure washer. I was working about 4 feet away and as I was turning the water flow away from the house, it blew up. Not even enough pressure to get it wet, it was the wind from the washer that showed me it was loose. About 3-4 rows about 4 ft wide blew up, then fell back in place, like a lady's skirt when the wind hits it. I did use vinyl house cleaner in the mix, and it made things much easier. I did have to use a small ladder for the parts that don't have a deck. I'll look at the videos and fix it correctly.
Ponch, I'm with you on the outside electrical box under my power meter. I doubt it has a breaker, and have been afraid to even touch it, much less use it. Who in their right mind would put a standard plug outside?? My dad is going to check, but he also doubts it has a breaker, and will probably remove it. He's going to make sure everything outside is grounded with reset buttons, waterproof covers, and safe to use. I trust his judgement and work because he was an electrical inspector for a major city for many years. All this will probably get done next week.
