Bought used mini, need advice
Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 7:58 am
I've been lurking here for a while and made a few posts in anticipation of what's about to happen; we have now made a deal on a mini home. We've owned a couple of old houses and renovated them, but this is the first structure made in the last 50 years we've ever lived in It's a 1987 64' x 16', 3 bedroom 1.5 bath with the master on one end and the other two on the other. Pretty neat layout, it's open concept with galley kitchen and no hallway anywhere. Don't know the make & model but it's a local company probably. Got a great deal on it (I think), it's a bank repo ($15k). It needs some updating and roof shingles for sure, but nothing serious.
Anyhow, we have our own land where this is going (bought last year). There is already a well & septic (old house burnt down, not ours at the time). It's in the country, a few acres 1/2 woods. There's an old barn there too. So, big concern is going to be mice. I had considered pouring a cement pad for the mobile, then putting a solid pressure treated wood framed skirting around it which I think would give a good solid "foundation". However, the budget is getting tight after I move it, hook up the well, power & septic and renovate a little bit. It's going right where the old house was which has been well filled in and mostly gravel (should drain well, it's at the top of a good hill too).
What advice would you have for skirting in the country? I'm thinking treated OSB or plywood, buried at least a foot in the ground, or even a solid wall of PT fence boards on an interior frame. At this point I'm probably going to skip the cement pad to save some money. If it was going in the mud I might rethink that, but it's basically a gravel lot. BUT, since I have no experience with mobiles, I'm quite possibly overlooking products meant for the purpose. When I looked at the mobile it seemed like there was white vinyl skirting over plywood or something, but it didn't seem to go into the ground and wasn't in good shape. The evidence is the mouse poop we found in the kitchen cabinets and especially around where the water pipe comes up to the water heater.
So, is there any way to skirt these to prevent rodents? Will the gravel help? How far in the ground should the skirting go? Is it OK to use Pentox or some other treatment on wood skirting? Or is there a ready made, simple solution for this purpose that is better?
Anyhow, we have our own land where this is going (bought last year). There is already a well & septic (old house burnt down, not ours at the time). It's in the country, a few acres 1/2 woods. There's an old barn there too. So, big concern is going to be mice. I had considered pouring a cement pad for the mobile, then putting a solid pressure treated wood framed skirting around it which I think would give a good solid "foundation". However, the budget is getting tight after I move it, hook up the well, power & septic and renovate a little bit. It's going right where the old house was which has been well filled in and mostly gravel (should drain well, it's at the top of a good hill too).
What advice would you have for skirting in the country? I'm thinking treated OSB or plywood, buried at least a foot in the ground, or even a solid wall of PT fence boards on an interior frame. At this point I'm probably going to skip the cement pad to save some money. If it was going in the mud I might rethink that, but it's basically a gravel lot. BUT, since I have no experience with mobiles, I'm quite possibly overlooking products meant for the purpose. When I looked at the mobile it seemed like there was white vinyl skirting over plywood or something, but it didn't seem to go into the ground and wasn't in good shape. The evidence is the mouse poop we found in the kitchen cabinets and especially around where the water pipe comes up to the water heater.
So, is there any way to skirt these to prevent rodents? Will the gravel help? How far in the ground should the skirting go? Is it OK to use Pentox or some other treatment on wood skirting? Or is there a ready made, simple solution for this purpose that is better?