Doing acomplete remodel

[Doug]

In the world of affordabel houseing some Architects have done some vary inovative things with old shipping containers. They have produced some really fantastic looking Homes from these simple retangular boxes. That got me thinking of older mobil homes. Many of these homes are pretty boreing. some i would say are down right ugly. However I see that many of these places that are on thier own land can be had for vary littel money. Unlike Containers thses places have the electric and plumbing in place. so that cuts a lot of cost and effort out of a project. Is there any source of info or perhaps an Architect that is doing anything with older mobile homes? Will a manufacturer sell me a set of plans to a model of home? What things should I look for in under taking this type of project? I'm thinking of haveing a modular unit designed that could be added to a Mobil home to add sq footage. Any ifo would be most helpful Thank you

[rmurray]

Sounds like a good idea...I really do not have any info on this..maybe someone will..

But..sounds like a good project for an architecture class at some university...or maybe even a great idea for one of those TV shows like Trading Spaces....Suggest it to them..

[Doug]

The Class is a good idea. I'm rather creative so i have put down a few idas on Paper. Maybe I'll run them down to a local Collage and see what they say. Now as for a TV show since about one out of every four new homes in The west are now Manufactured Homes Hows this for a Show " This Old Mobile Home"

[rmurray]

There is already a web site to that basic idea...all in fun though..

http://www.thisoltrailer.com/index.html

[Bill Fry]

That reminds me of a project I did back in the 80's.We took a 70'ish 12x60(purchases for 500$) and gutted it.Left the metal siding on but replaced all the existing plates & studs(which were 1 by 2's) with 2 by 4s on 16oc,opened the ceiling, tied in the walls,reinforced and plywooded the floor,rewired the whole place
and replaced kitchen and bath(also added a half bath)Since none of the interior walls were loadbearing we placed the rooms in whatever way we liked,sheetrocked the whole place,painted it and sold it for more then we had in it. Since you have the shell to work with the cost is nominal,materials only.

[Pat]

We're in the process of doing this now - except this is for a business. Fortunately this is in a county without a building inspector - but we will work in it so want it to be safe, etc. Ours is a 70's 12 x 60 - so far we have repaired the roof, kool-sealed it, stripped everything out of the inside including both bathrooms, removed all windows and moved one door, replaced and added metal siding where we removed the door and windows. Caulked every spot that even looked like it might leak someday. Our studs were already on 16 in. centers but we had to replace some of the wall insulation and a little in the ceiling. Will have to replace 4 or 5 ceiling panels. We ripped up the floor and replaced it with 3/4 tongue and groove plywood. We will next tile the front area and then put commercial linoleum over the rest - about 12 by 50. Then frame the bathroom, pickup window and around a deli case also a partial wall about 6 feet behind that and the rest will be a commercial kitchen. We will redo the wiring after the few new walls are done and then add a bathroom and of course all the sinks and water lines that are required. (We may ask for help here - haven't got much experience in that). Don't know when we will get to open. Have been working on it since April. We lost a month because of constant rain and flooding so couldn't get it leveled and set until then. Since then we have gone non-stop on weekends and any vacation days we could cadge! This will be our PIZZA SHOP!!!

[Doug]

Thanks for the Info. Looks like i'm not the only one who sees this as a good and cheap way to get into some affordable houseing. I have done some homework on cost and so far it looks good. Any tips things to look out for would be helpful

[Pat]

It depends on your county building codes. When we brought this idea up with our Environmental Health guy he said we were lucky to live in that county because if we were in the county over we couldn't do it. So before you dive in and start buying old mobile homes, I would have a heart to heart with your county building people. Many times there are older mobile homes for free if you will move them. Of course, there is old and then there is is trashed so you have to check them out to see if there's anything to save. In our case, we were doing a commercial enterprise. Maybe they wouldn't be as touchy with residential, but I don't know that for sure.

[Sheila]

We went to look at new manufactured homes yesterday,to get ideas on how we want to remodel ours.How depressing!! Their all so nice now, I don't know where or how to begin.Ours is a 24x48 and needs to be bigger, so we need to add on, problem being the roof pitch isn't high enuogh....so that means also redoing the roof.My husband is planning to it himself to save money.Where is the best place to get affordable materials?I need HELP!!!! Plus the floor plans we looked at yesterday are nothing like ours.And I guess that means gutting mine and start over?Any suggestions would be very helpful. We'ed like to buy a new one but they cost too much. and there is nothing wrong with this one other than needing a face lift.
Thanks Sheila

[tammy ernest]

I decided to redo the walls in my manufactured home master bedroom & master bath the walls are wallboard that has I think wallpaper its not vinyl. It feels like paper. Im not sure if I can paint it. I tried the paperbag thing did the whole wall and it all fell off in the middle of the night. I used plenty of wall paper glue. So I was wondering if painting it will adhere any help is appreciated