Is it Worth the Trouble to Fix?

[mokehillannie]

We bought two lots in a small town. There is an old double wide mobile on the lots. It is 24 X 60 1,440 square feet. The cabinets are not particle board, they are all real wood. It is two bedroom and two bath. I don't know the brand and was told it was a 1971 model. Did they make double wides in 1971?

We paid so little for these lots that basically the mobile was free. Even the lots were way under priced because the owner had inherited them from his parents and he didn't want to mess with it.
He lives in another state.

The floor and walls are sound. No soft spots at all, but the ceiling has leaked. It looks like the leaks are mainly from around the roof jacks and the roof jack covers are gone or broken. The roof is metal and looks real good. The leaks supposedly have been fixed, seams have been caulked, but may still be leaking. It is going to need a new ceiling in a couple of rooms. It has ugly dark brown paneling that I would like to replace or cover up. It has a pier foundation that is sound.

The BIG drawback is that it has aluminum wiring. Since we need to take out some of the ceiling and I want to take out the paneling, how big a job is it to do it yourself rewire the place? Is it even doable?

Are there pitfalls in mobile renovation that we need to be aware of? I realize there could be wood rot that can't be seen until we pull the ceiling.

We have done a few house renovations, but this will be a first.
We are excited about giving it a try. I figure we can put $15,000 in it and still come out way ahead it we should decide to sell it.

[JD]

Hi mokehillannie,

Welcome to the forum. Looking forward to your posts.

The way you described the mobile home, I would certainly think you could come in under budget. If you are planning to do some of this work yourself, I would think you could replace the ceilings, the wall panels, install an inexpensive DIY roof (like the one Mark details in his Mobile/Manufactured Home Repair book) and hire an electrician to do the rewire. You might want to check your plumbing too. With all your remodeling going on, it would not make sense to leave Gray polybutylene plumbing in the home, if that is what you have.

To save even more money, if the metal roof is in good condition, no rust, no weak seams, no patches, etc., the roof could be sealed properly and give you many years of service. Sealing the roof properly involves removing all old sealants and applying new. To getthe most mileage out of your labor, I would recommend using Conklin Benchmark or Rubber Roof as your sealant. This sealant costs more, but considering the added service life and the amount of labor to properly seal a roof, it is well worth the added cost.

Also, I do recommend having a licensed electrician do your electrical work. But if the wall panels are removed, he should be able to lower his price considerably. Electrical repair is truly something best left to someone with lots of experience. He will know the condition and type of electrical boxes and whether they should also be replaced. He may want to add circuits for the increased demands that modern appliances and electronics puts on a home compared to 15 years ago and earlier. He will also know if your main breaker panel is out of date, as for as availability of service and parts is concerned. Maybe a happy medium is to have the electrician line you out on the work to be done, and then come in for an inspection and complete the work. It might be hard to find someone willing to do that though, because he wil be relying on someone else's work.

Again, I can easily see all of the above be done within your budget, if you are doing all the work other than electrical. This could come in way under budget actually.

JMO

JD

[gram2logan]

As to whether they made double wides in 1971.........ours is a 1967 and it's a double wide!! It even came with real oak hardwood floors. We bought it almost 2 years ago and moved in one year ago. I LOVE it!!

[Greg]

Hi & Welcome to the family. By the sounds of it I think you did in fact get a deal. I don't know how much work you are PLANNING to do, however if you are going through the trouble of pulling inside walls apart to redo wiring you might as well look at doing a window upgrade in needed as well. you should plan on a few months of work if you are doing the work yourself, again I do not know what your time table is, but I would try to do as much "major" work as I could once and do it right. Greg

[Yanita]

Hi,

Welcome to the site ans Congrats on your purchase!

JD an Greg gave good info.


About the only things I would like to add is now would be a good time to purchase Marks Mobile/Manufactured Repair and Upgrade Manual. You can find it in the books/parts link above.

Also did you read the "sticky" on the main repair forum page titled "Purchasing a Used Mobile Home? Read this article, it will give you a good idea of things to check. This is a guide only and not meant to replace a professional inspection.

As for the wiring, if you have limited knowledge in this area, please hire an licensed electrician to do this.

Again welcome, we look forward to helping you in the future.

~Yanita~

[mokehillannie]

Thanks for the replies. We have all of the time in the world. We don't have to live in the mobile and have a motor home we can park next to it as we work. As the mobile is in Arizona, I don't want to get started doing anything until about late October.

As soon as we get back down there we will order Mark's book for sure. We didn't close escrow until after we had left for a prolonged trip to Alaska.

We both have some experience with remodeling and my brother is a building contractor that specializes in electrical work. If he can't get over to do the work, he will walk us through it if we decide to tackle it. I haven't had a chance to talk to him about it too much yet. He did tell us to check for aluminum wiring and suggested changing to copper if it was aluminum.

I have already learned a lot and have gotten a lot of good ideas from this forum. Thanks lots!!!

[JD]

You're welcome moke. Hopefully you will post pictures of your repairs one you get underway. All of your projects are of high interest to the forum.

I get down to Tucson about once a year.

JD