installing new floors in old MH

[Samantha]

My elderly mother just purchased an old MH but in a very nice retirement community where the MH was well maintained. She is on a very fixed income and we are raising 5 young boys in our home...so renovation is something we are approaching as a family and from a VERY tight budget.

Because the MH is old, the carpets and vinyl needs to be replaced as well as numerous other things that need to be done. The carpets do not smell bad or appear extremely soiled...but they are that old long shag type carpet from the 70's so with my mother's allergies...we have to replace them.

Went to Home Depot to get prices on vinyl and carpet (preferably a berber because of her allergies) but was a little taken back by how much it looks like it is all going to cost. The guy started saying that I might need to replace all the wood under the existing floor if it is warped or rotten and that at the least I should place some kind of backing type board even if the existing floor is not rotted or warped badly. The price quote kept going up and up.

Is what he told me about the backing board or the need to replace all the wood correct? If so...is there any economical ways that we could accomplish this ourselves that a Home Depot guy may not tell me?

We really want to make this a nice place for my mom...but neither she or we have the extra money to go for an entire renovation with professional contractors. We also have to replace the back door, there is a cracked glass pane in the front, the appliances seem outdated...and eeewww the cabinets need to be sanded down and painted....they appear to have about 50 coats of paint on them right now....

HELP! We need any advice or tips you can offer us! Please tell us what to look for and any cheap solutions or short cuts you may know about!

[Mark Bower]

You won't know about the wood in the floor until you pull the carpet up. If it doesn't feel soft, my guess is that it would be OK.

Mark
You gotta see my repair manual!

[Samantha]

yeah I figured we would have to wait until we pulled it up to see for sure. The Home Depot guy said that even if the floor was in good condition we would need to put a backer board down to ensure a smooth surface for the vinyl. Is that true?

[Mark Bower]

For vinyl you do need an underlayment or it will void the warranty on the vinyl.

Mark

[Nancy]

Samantha,

I have an older MH that I have spent the last five years trying to update. I was fortunate that the previous owners had already replaced the carpet in the living room and master bedroom, and had even put tile in the kitchen/dining area. I can't afford to pay someone to finish the rest of the floors, so I have so far done the bathrooms myself. I found a really nice looking "peel & stick" vinyl tile at Lowes. It's large 16 x 16, kind of a beige and has a dark edge "grout" line. It looks so nice, I was able to do it myself and people think it's real tile. I just cleaned the existing floors really well and layed them on the original flooring. Had the kitchen/dining room not already been done I would have done the same in there as well. Since your mom has allergies, you may want to consider a laminate wood floor. If you or you know something who's pretty handy, you can do this yourself. Lowes even has peel and stick vinyl "wood" strips, I used these in the my entry way and no one knows they are just vinyl and I just may do that in the spare bedrooms some day as well. After all, you want it to look nice and up to date, but you don't want to over spend so much money on an older MH. I hope this helps you!

Nancy

[Alfred Oakes]

yea self stick tile work good. we did this in a house with vinyle in the ketchan alread down and with some holes in if. Also it had a inbossement to it. well every said to tear up the old floor and installunder layment. We found that armstrond sells a licquid floor lever and froor prep all in one bottel pour in on and spread it out with a board so that if fills in the holes. An bang you have a level floor and best of all the self stick tiles stick with with a vengences. they will not come up no matter what. on one tile we stumbled it went down in the wrong spot it took pulling up the old vinel to fix that one spot. the tile weld them selves to the floor with the loor prep.