mobilehomerepair.com

Hello to all, my name is Dan and I am new to this site. I would like to find out if I am going about my project the correct way. I own a 80's vintage mobile home and have recently developed leaks in the water pipes. The pipes were the older style plastic and so I replaced all with PEX.
To accomplish this I have removed the belly bag and all the fibreglass insulation. Once the new piping was installed, I put new insulation between the floor joists and I am currently putting a new covering underneath. I am using house wrap to cover the insulation and the exposed heating ducts, which I am also covering with Roxsul insulation.
My wife is still complaining of cold floors, laminate. Is my next step to insulate the skirting with Roxsul also? Will this cause water vapour build up underneath? Their is a vapour barrier under the mobile.
Also, I live in south central BC (Shuswap) in Canada.
Thanks in advance for the info
Dan

Hey Dan,
My mobile home works like this. The underbelly sags down with the insulation laying on top of it. The insulation is not in between the joist like the walls are insulated. The water pipes for the most part run down alongside the duct work and the duct is not wrapped at all. There is open space in between the floor and the insulation allowing the duct to radiate it's heat into this space keeping my water pipes from freezing and helping heat the OSB flooring. I hope this was clear enough and helped you get a mental picture.

If you setup your belly like rookie35 did, it will help prevent freeze up of pipes and may help with the cold floors a little.

Dan, Hi & welcome. The insulation & belly is designed to hang under the joists like a big blanket. You want some space between the joists & insulation to allow for the warm air to move. This helps keep the pipes from freezing and actually does keep the floors warmer.

Since you have the insulation in place, I would add insulation behind the skirting. That will make a big difference also. You need skirting & belly fully in place with no holes or gaps, if you insulate it all the better.

Greg

In my park (eastern Ontario) many of the home owners have taken to having foam insulation sprayed on the inside of there skirting. All those I have spoken to over the last few years say it has made a big difference improving the warmth of the floor and reducing heating bills. Cost for a average size (60'-70') single wide is about $1000.
In addition some, that have spray foamed the skirting, have diverted one heat register in there home down into the crawl space to increase the warmth of the floors.

Hi Dan.

I live just East of you in Southern Alberta, so I know all about the long cold winter's "up here".

I'm about 90% finished my mobile reno which included replacing the whole kitchen, adding a second bathroom, installing laminate throughout, moving/removing walls, drywalling over the wood paneling, replacing the plumbing with Pex, etc.

My final project will be addressing the heating issues. My skirting is currently 1 inch plywood. Insulating the skirting will make a huge difference in heat retention, although I haven't decided what type of insulation to use. I'm leaning toward Roxul bat insulation.

Rigid foam insulation goes up quick, I used 2" on ours.

Greg

I want to thank you all for the great insights. I am going to finish the belly as I am over 50% done now but I am definitely going to be doing the skirt. I am hoping that because I have the new piping buried between layers of 2" thick insulation, that it will help to prevent them freezing. I have looked around and I think that I am going to continue with the roxul as it seems to be the easiest to work with. I will continue to let you know how I am making out.
Oh and Greg, I loved the saying but when the wife saw it, did I get the look. LOL

I see that some people are insulating their skirting to the point of even spraying foam inside. Won't that cause serious condensation problems? Where I live the building code requires a certain amount of ventilation in the skirting for that reason. I've seen fully enclosed crawl spaces with incredible rot and fungus due to poor air circulation.

Ventilation is important in warm weather. In freezing weather I close it up as tight as possible. I have 2 4'x2' panels that I replace with screened panels in warm weather.

Greg