Help! I bought a rotten MH.....

[sharkboy]

Hi, new to this website, and new to the joys of MH living. I purchased a preowned Guerdon home, built in 93. The previous owners built a deck along the west elevation of the home. Gets lots of wind and rain here on the SW Washington coast. Anyways, the entire length of this house has rotten siding, some rot in the first 12 inches of the wall studs, the sill or base plate is rotting as well. Not sure how much of the 2 x 6 floor joists and/or subfloor are rotting yet. I am unfamiliar with MH building techniques. I'm quickly finding out that standard building practices do not apply to MH's. I am unsure how the 2 x 6" deck is attached to the metal frame.

I was thinking that I can intall temporary support posts to support the vaulted ceiling from inside. Should I install supports below the MH deck to transfer weight to the ground or will the MH frame handle this? I then intend to cut out the rotten areas all down the wall of the house and marry new wood onto the remaining good wood. Big project I know. Never done anything like this before, but have no choice.

Also, I just ordered the manual for MH repair and upgrade, but not sure when I would recieve it. Thus my post. Any constructive advise other than shooting myself would be greatly appreciated.

[Mark Bower]

If you plan on removing the wall studs, a temporary brace will need to be installed. You may also be able to sister new studs or joists next to the old. The difficult part of the whole project will come if you decide that you need to replace sections of the rim-joist.

The construction of the walls themselves aren't normally too different from stick-built homes, with the exception that many mobile home manufacturers use 1x boards for top and bottom plates, and they don't put a double-plate on top. In normal stick-built construction, you'll find a 2x on the bottom and a double 2x on top. Oh, headers around windows and doors can sometimes be skimped on in mobile homes too. Roofs are a whole different ballgame for mobile homes. Floors are partical board, which sucks but I've also seen it in stick-built homes.

Decks and additions should never be attached directly to a mobile home. If that rule is broken, for sure they need their own support as the mobile home cannot support the weight without consequences (like bowed floors, etc).

Good luck!
Mark

[sharkboy]

Thanks for the informative reply. I am unsure what part of this house is the "rim joist". Is that the 2 x 6 around the floor perimeter? The part that the 1x bottom plate and floor are attached to around the perimieter? If so, then that is the most rotten part. Is there a link you can provide that might show a diagram of the floor decking in exploded view? I'm trying to find out as much information without having to go up under the house and start removing the black plastic and insulation. I hope my repair manual gets here soon! Again thanks for any information you can provide.

Mark

[Mark Bower]

Yes, the rim joist is the 2x6 (or sometimes 2x8) that's around the perimeter of the home. A big pain to replace.

The floor construction is pretty much straight forward. You have your rim joist. Then floor joist run from rim to rim. Then the flooring on top of that. Then the walls on top of that. Then siding on the walls. Then skirting. Not fun.

Mark