1975 vindale 270

[guido5001]

I recently purchased a 1975 vindale model 270. It was cheap. The Lady that sold it to me was the manager of the property. She said that the people that were staying on the property defaulted on there lot rent. She said before i could move in I had to bring the exterior up to code. (whatever that means!?) It had no skirting on it and was in desperate need of a deck. She told me not to start on the inside at all till all of the exterior was done. So i put close to 1000.00 into the huge deck and skirting. She said nothing to me about the numerous plumbing problems untill after I got the deck on. Her exact words were, "you had better hold back a lil to fix the plumbing leak." I figured no big deal. A PLUMBING LEAK. 2 and a half weeks later and 11 holes in my floor i am done. In the process I removed all the water lines from going into the front bathroom because it was too much of a headache to get underneath the bathroom shower. It looked like someone at some point tried to fix the plumbing. It went from copper to bendable tubing with very large grey connectors. Every one of them leaked. I plulled about 30LBs worth of copper out of the trailer from broken pipes to I dont know why he did this this way. Its very clear that the guy that previously owned the trailer was big into drugs. Not to mention that the neighbors came over and congradulated me on what a fine deck I put on the trailer, and then said that the last people where "big into drugs"
Okay so here is my question(s)...
First do you think anybody has a blueprint or pictures of what one of these looked like inside before the last owners owned it?
If I relocate my electric stove back to (what i think) is the original placement do I need a vent fan.
How do I close up the vent for the old fan?
What is the weird box in the wall that has a weird plug in it. it looks almost like its supposed to be in my computer?
How many 220 lines are there in a trailer? check on all the above: stove HW heater, furnace and AC. But there still seems to be one more in the panel but I cant for the life of me figure out where it goes. Any suggestions?
Where is the best place to pick up the glass for the storm windows?
How do i insulate the under side of my trailer where the water has washed away the insulation?

If you have an answer to one or all my questions they all will be greatly apprecitated.
Thanks,
Robert M.

[trmimo]

The other 220 line could be for a dryer. There really isn't anywhere to find prints for this home anymore. As for the weird box, that's kind of a vague description, but if it is in the hallway and kind of looks like a vent, it is a night light. The bulb is probably burned out, you can take the cover off and replace the small bulb. If it doesn't look like a vent, I would need a clearer description. You do need to have a range hood vented to the outside above your range. Does the current vent go through the wall or the roof? Vindales are one of the easiest homes to repair the underside. The insulation just needs to be replaced with new, dry insulation. You should have rigid blackboard under the home (what is often called Celotex.) Between the frame rails the cross members (steel t bars that go from beam to beam) are laid out so they fall at the seams in the blackboard and will help support it. Outside the frame rails, you just cut it out and nail new back in place and seal the seams with caulk. It is very important to close up all the holes under this home because the return air for the furnace is drawn through the floor cavity so any holes will create serious drafts.

[David Oxhandler]

We get an unusually high number of questions about 70's vintage Vindales. The must have built a hell of a good product for there to be so many of them still in active use.

As far as finding a print for electric or anything else it is doubtful. that you will have any luck in that search. The company has been out of business for some time and we have not had any response for earlier calls for Vindale plans. Back at that time most builders were using aluminum wire.

I dont think I would try to reactivate any circuits that are not in active use. I have converted dozens of homes that I purchased to be used as rentals to total electric. The easiest and safest route would be to just run a new 220 line directly from your outside panel. If necessary use direct bury underground until you get under the home and then you can hang the rest in conduit under the frame. That eliminates potential hours of searching and testing old wires, insures a long term use without additional work and and you can place the stove anyplace that suites you.

To close up the stove vent - I assume that your roof is the metal that was standard in those days. You can cut a piece of galvanized flashing put Flexible Caulking Sealant around the edges (between the patch and roof) and pop rivet it over the hole and then use a product called Kool Seal to paint over the patch. Might not be a bad idea to Kool Seal the entire roof. 5 Gallons will cost less than $100 and will extend the life of your roof. I coat my metal roofs every third year and have never had a problem with any of them leaking. (Some are older than your home)

You can find all the supplies you will need at the Mobile Home Parts Store Online

Not sure about the weird box in the wall... in the 70's factories put lights on the back of mobile homes so when they were transported they had break and turn signals. I remember seeing some drivers running a cord thru the front window and the length of the home to the rear to activate the tail lights... we sold Skyline and the factory supplies a weird plug looped on the hitch for the lights... whatever it is I wouldn't plug my computer into it. Where in the home is that thing ??

I take my windows to a local glass shop and let them reglaze them. I can put glass into a frame, if I dont break it on the way home or if it is cut perfectly. If it is a 32nd of an inch too wide or narrow you have a problem. Try to shave a small slice off a sheet of glass... for me its imposable. If the glass is a little shy of the frame you end up with a sloppy mess of sealer and possibly a loose glass. If I ask the glass guy to come to me he kills me with the service charge. If I bring him the frame the cost is only slightly more than the cost of the glass. This is very easy with older homes as the windows were installed from the outside with screws through a metal flange. If you do remove the entire window unit remember to use new putty tape when you reinstall and caulk over the top edge.

For a great tutorial on insulation MHs see
3 VIDEOS: Adding Insulation To Your Manufactured Home in our archives. These are from the U.S. Department of Energy and will show you the step b y step process for Blowing Insulation Into a Mobile Home Belly which is far easier than using rolled insulation.


It sounds like you have a lot to do but I think the effort and cost will be very worthwhile. Come back and let us know how the project progresses.

If your looking for a book that covers all facets of manufactured home repair, look online at The Manual for Manufactured Home Repair & Upgrade. As you would expect from the title, The repair and upgrade techniques described in this manual are specific to manufactured homes. This book will answer almost every question on manufactured home repai. Not only does this book show you how to repair and maintain your home, but also great methods for upgrading it.