How To Repair A Mobilehome Roof

Mobile habitation repair doesn't accept to be hard. With the right parts, a niggling cognition, and good sometime-fashioned elbow grease, you can do a lot of repairs yourself—which volition relieve you money. Simply whether y'all hire a mobile habitation contractor or decide to get your hands dingy, it's much easier than you lot might think to continue your domicile in tip-meridian shape.

In this commodity, nosotros'll discuss some of the nearly mutual mobile abode repairs and how you lot tin can undertake them. We'll give you lot insider tips and tricks, and nosotros'll help you avoid common pitfalls. If you're gear up to become your home in swell shape again, read on!

Click on the affiliate that yous need:

Mobile Home Skirting Repair
Mobile Dwelling house Roof Repair
Mobile Home Door Repair
Mobile Home Window Repair
Mobile Abode Flooring Repair
Mobile Abode Shower Repair
Mobile Home Furnace Replacement

Mobile Home Skirting Repair

Image courtesy of Patricia Pacheco, winner of the 2016 Mobile Habitation Makeover Competition .

We often focus on interior repairs, since that's where we spend the most time. However, you shouldn't overlook exterior repairs, particularly in the skirting section. Mobile domicile skirting protects the underside of your home from weather, and it keeps out pests who would like to brand information technology their dwelling house. It'due south pretty important.

Repair, or supervene upon?

If your skirting is simply mildly damaged in a few places, you may be able to repair it without replacing it. If y'all have a few holes in your vinyl skirting, y'all should absolutely patch them up before wintertime. Think, your plumbing runs under your mobile habitation. If you don't protect it properly, your pipes could freeze in the winter. Definitely patch those holes!

Vinyl skirting often gets damaged by weed whackers (string trimmers). Information technology only can't stand up upwards to that spinning cord on its ain. All the same, an piece of cake fix is to install some brim baby-sit forth the lesser of your vinyl skirting. This guard is designed to stand up to weed whackers and other hazards that damage vinyl skirting.

If your vinyl skirting is really in bad shape, yous can always replace information technology with something stronger. Vinyl tin be a little flimsy—just luckily, it isn't the only choice. Stronger mobile home skirting similar Reil Rock and Novik Stone by and large won't blow out in a storm. Even better: they hold up to weed whacking just fine.

How to measure your home for skirting needs

Start, you need to mensurate the linear footage of your abode. This is the total length of skirting that you will need to go all the way effectually your dwelling house. If you have a elementary rectangular floorplan with no additions or porches, just add upwards 2x the length of your home and 2x the width of your home. This will cover all the areas that need skirting.

For example, say you lot accept a single wide, 16 feet wide x 70 feet long.

16 + 16 + 70 + lxx = 172ft

Yous would need 170ft of skirting for this home.

If you have a porch or other add-on that also needs skirting, you'll want to include those figures in your full. But as Crystal Adkins explains over at MobileHomeLiving.org, y'all just demand to include the length and width of the visible sides of your addition.

Say your 16x70ft single-wide has a porch that sticks out an boosted 6ft from the main floorplan. You would include the porch depth, 6ft, twice. But y'all wouldn't include the width of the porch, since that is already covered in the full length of the domicile.

16 + xvi + lxx + seventy + 6 + vi = 184ft

You too need to calculate the average height of your dwelling house off the ground. Crystal explains the best way to practice this in her post. She says to measure out from the ground to 2" above your siding at all four corners. Then practice the same thing on both sides at the eye of your dwelling house. At present add all the numbers together and split up by 6, and y'all have your average tiptop.

Leaving ventilation

It's critical that y'all exit the underside of your abode well-ventilated. Yes, y'all want skirting to block wind and keep critters out—only yous shouldn't endeavour to seal the underside completely. That will lead to mold growth.

If y'all're using vinyl skirting, yous tin purchase a mix of vented panels and solid panels. Note, all the same, that some building codes may not permit vented panels.

You can also buy automatic foundation vents that open at 70 degrees F and shut at 40 degrees F. This keeps your home foundation ventilated in the summer and protected in the wintertime.

Installing mobile home skirting

Each blazon of mobile home skirting has its own unique installation method. Below are instructions for the virtually common types of skirting.

Installing Reil Rock Skirting

Installing Novik Skirting (all types)

Installing Vinyl Skirting

Mobile Home Roof Repair

You should never wait to repair a mobile home roof. Even the smallest water leak tin cause unbelievable impairment in a brusque corporeality of time. If y'all accept a leak in your roof, discover and prepare it ASAP!

The water tin spread unpredictably. If you find water damage in one place, that doesn't necessarily hateful that the leak is directly overhead. Water could be entering the domicile in another location, running forth a beam or other surface, and finally showing up in the place you lot constitute.

Repair, or replace?

The answer to this question will depend on the state of your roof. If yous have one pocket-sized leak, and y'all're able to locate information technology, it'southward highly unlikely that y'all demand to replace the whole roof.

If y'all take multiple modest leaks, you tin can probably address each one with our techniques below. Withal, if your roof is leaking in many places and showing signs of sagging and deformation, you should consider replacing it.

When in doubt, contact a roofing professional in your area for an proficient opinion. Nigh should provide free estimates.

Safety roofs: repairs made easy with peel-and-seal tape

For condom EPDM roofs, skin-and-seal tape is perfect. Y'all can cutting it to the exact size and shape you need to get around vents and hatches. Just be sure and put downwards some Weatherbond primer first. This volition help the tape to adhere completely.

Repairing shingle roofs

If yous have a missing shingle or ii, you can more often than not brand this repair yourself. Simply insert the new shingle under the one above it, aligning it to the pattern all around. Then nail it in place.

If your shingle roof needs a repair more circuitous than this, information technology's best to telephone call in the professionals.

Mobile Home Door Repair

Photograph courtesy of Carrie Fell, finalist in the 2016 Mobile Domicile Makeover Contest .

The exterior door to your mobile habitation is one of the most important barriers yous have against the weather. If it isn't in tip-top shape, you'll lose estrus in the wintertime and AC in the summer. That means college energy bills.

Luckily, repairing or replacing your door is easier than you might think.

Signs that yous need to repair your door

Information technology's fairly easy to tell if your door needs some love. If it doesn't fit into the door jamb similar information technology used to, so something has probably shifted. Often this means the hinges are non holding the door at the proper angle anymore. It may be a simple affair of tightening hinge screws that have started to pull away from the wall or the door itself. Alternately, you lot may need to replace your hinges.

If y'all adjust and/or replace your hinges, and the door still doesn't fit, you may take a more serious trouble with your wall shifting. In that case, no amount of door repair is going to aid.

If your knob is getting stuck, or if you're having trouble unlocking and locking your door, effort lubricating it outset. Usually, a eject of WD-twoscore is enough to bring an old lock back to life. If you try that and still encounter problems, it may be time to replace the knob and lock associates.

Accept a await at your weather stripping, too. This gets and so much wear, it'southward often the beginning thing to go along a mobile home door. Luckily, it'south like shooting fish in a barrel to supercede.

Signs that yous should replace your door

Mobile habitation doors wear out fast. Sometimes, none of the higher up remedies will assist. If the screw holes in your door are stripped, for example, you lot won't exist able to tighten them to bring the door back up to the proper angle. In that case, at that place is no culling but to install a new door.

If your door is bulging or warped, it'due south time to replace information technology. If any of the door'southward components or moldings are pulling apart, you should replace it every bit soon equally possible.

If your knob associates is breaking downwards and the area that holds the knob in the door is worn out as well, you will need to supplant your door.

Getting the right door

Annotation: Mobile home doors are NOT the same size every bit doors for site-built homes! In other words, that beautiful door at Lowe's probably won't fit your doorway without modification.

The simplest affair is to buy a door that's designed specifically for a mobile habitation.

How to measure your door

Measure the width of the door from the inside of one jamb to the inside of the other jamb. Do non mensurate the width of the door itself, or the width of the frame.

Measure out the height of the door from the inside of the top jamb to the floor.

Select the nearest size. E.g., for a rough opening that measures 33 ½" broad and 75 ½" tall, yous would select a 34"x76" door.

Installing your new door

For most mobile home doors, installation volition exist similar to the instructions here. However, y'all should follow the installation instructions that come up with your door.

For almost all installations, you will need a roll of putty record to create the seal around your new door. If your door is not pre-drilled for a deadbolt, y'all will need to create that pigsty.

Mobile Home Window Repair

Photo courtesy of Marian Frey, finalist in the 2022 Mobile Abode Makeover Contest.

Bug with mobile home windows generally fall into two categories:

1. Broken glass
ii. Window frame bug

If y'all take broken glass, you lot tin cull to replace the glass, or yous can supercede the whole window. (More than on that below.) If you have a problem with the window frame, you will demand to replace the whole window.

Window pane replacement

If you have one broken pane in your window, it may be cheaper to supervene upon the drinking glass but. However, notation that this is far more difficult than replacing the entire window—and information technology volition just be cheaper if you lot have the skills to do this yourself. If you exercise, yous know what y'all're doing. If not, you should replace the unabridged window unit.

Window frame replacement

Showtime off, you need to mensurate your existing window. The video below explains how. If the video doesn't work, run intofootstep 3 below.

Mobile home window replacement is a fairly simple job. Exact instructions volition depend on the window you purchase. However, the video beneath gives a general view of the procedure.

Basic procedure for replacing a mobile home window:

Remove the former window. Unscrew the screws and pull out the window frame.
Remove any old caulking that did not come up with the quondam frame.
Measure out the width and height of the resulting pigsty in the wall. Do Not measure the old window frame.
Your new window should be ¼" greater in height and width than the part of the window that fits into the hole.
Annotation: if the existing window hole is not square to the floor, or if it is more than than one/eight" out of foursquare, the new window will not fit properly. You will take to address this problem before replacing the window.
On the exterior of the habitation, cheque the fit of the window. Make certain there are no gaps between the outer flange of the window frame and the fabric that it will contact once installed. Brand certain the wall is structurally sound and ready to hold a new window.
If there are gaps, it's possible the flange was damaged in aircraft. If so, attempt to straighten the mounting flange before installing the window. If there are gaps that are due to defects in the wall of the dwelling house, you must address these problems before installing the window. Gaps will let air and water to enter, which volition impairment your home.
Close the new window unit while installing it.
Employ a ¼" continuous strip of sealant caulk to the backside of the mounting flange. If you lot're using a caulk that dries, make sure you get the window installed before the caulk sets upwards.
If you need to shim the window to become a foursquare fit, do so Only on the underside. Never place shims on top of the window. Doing so will place building loads on the window, which could cause it to fail. Identify shims beneath the extreme corners of the window as necessary. Too place shims every 12" on center to back up the weight of the window. Failure to follow this shim technique will cause the window to warp.
With the window held firmly against the exterior wall, begin installing the screws that will concur it in place. Start with a spiral hole in the center of one of the sides. And then put a spiral in the center of the opposite side, then the center of the head, then the center of the sill. This is similar installing a wheel on a motorcar; y'all want to distribute the pressure evenly and so the window doesn't become deformed.
Subsequently gently screwing down the centre of each side of the window, check to make sure information technology opens and closes freely. If not, remove the window, adjust the shims as necessary, and try once more. If it operates freely and all sides read as square, go on to install the remainder of the screws. Move out from the center to the corners on each side. Do Non over-tighten the screws, or you will deform the window.

Mobile Home Floor Repair

Photo courtesy of Carrie Savage, finalist in the 2016 Mobile Home Makeover Contest .

Under carpet and other materials, many older mobile homes have the cheapest flooring imaginable: particle board. This stuff is easily damaged by wet. Once it gets wet, it will retain that water, and the h2o spreads easily throughout it.

Life happens. Sometimes a pipe breaks under the sink, or the family dog upsets his water basin while no one is home. Unfortunately, modest incidents like this tin cause crippling damage to mobile habitation flooring.

Luckily, replacing your flooring is easier than y'all might think. You tin lay new plywood over the damaged particle board, then put down the tile or carpet of your selection. As DoItYourself.com suggests, you tin can fifty-fifty reuse your carpet if you want—just be careful when pulling it upwards. It's easy to rip. As that same article suggests, you should use 0.75" plywood rated for outdoor use.

NOTE: placing plywood over your existing depression-quality flooring will raise the overall summit of your floor. This should non be an event, generally speaking. If yous're concerned, you can encompass your new flooring with linoleum, which will create a thinner overall impression than rug.

If you decide to cutting out the damaged patches and fill them with plywood, take note: yous MUST ensure you lot don't cut the underlying joists when cutting out the damaged floor. This could impair your home's structural integrity.

Also, check bordering rooms for floor impairment. Often, wet will spread through the flooring, fifty-fifty under walls. If you accept moisture-damaged floor between rooms, under a wall that is not supported by a joist, note that you CANNOT remove this floor! As the Mobile Domicile Md explains, doing and so will impair your dwelling house's structural integrity.

Mobile Domicile Shower and Tub Repair

Photo courtesy of Carrie Fell, finalist in the 2016 Mobile Dwelling house Makeover Competition .

If you take any kind of leak in your shower, tub, or associated plumbing, it's essential to repair it every bit soon as possible. Leaks travel fast in walls and floors. Fifty-fifty a few days of leakage can cause serious damage to your home.

Luckily, mobile home shower repair is easier than you might think. You can do many repairs yourself.

Repairing a croaky bathtub or shower pan

A cracked tub or shower pan can cause astringent water damage to any wood beneath or nearby. Remember, leaks travel in unpredictable ways. That ways the area directly under the leak might not be the just expanse that'due south afflicted. Information technology'due south crucial to repair a cracked tub or shower pan right away.

A bathroom repair epoxy kit is a quick and easy way to take care of cracks. The epoxy works on plastic, fiberglass, and ceramic and dries completely sealed and waterproof. It sets up in 20 minutes, and yous can utilize it on cracks that are less than five" long. For larger repairs, you lot can go multiple kits.

Replacing a bathtub faucet

You can usually replace your bathtub faucet yourself, though exist brash, you may take the fixture off and discover damage which you didn't know existed. That said, here are the basics of replacing your mobile abode bathtub faucet:

Shut off the water.
Accept off the erstwhile faucet. Loosen nuts by paw or use pliers if they're also tight.
Make clean the area backside the onetime faucet if necessary.
Put plumber'due south putty effectually the inside edge of the new faucet.
Mount the new faucet on the wall. Check for alignment before tightening the basics.
Claw up the water to the new faucet. Utilise fittings equally necessary.
Turn the water on and run your new faucet for a while. Watch for leaks.

Replacing a bathtub or shower pan

Eventually, your bathtub or shower pan will give upwards the ghost. It could be cracked beyond repair, deformed and leaking at the caulking, or and then filthy that you lot but tin't clean it anymore. All of these problems are signs that it's time for a new tub or pan.

Generally, it'due south best to exit this kind of repair to a professional person. Purchase the tub that will look all-time in your bathroom and rent a contractor to install it.

Mobile Dwelling Furnace Replacement

What size of furnace practise y'all need?

First things start: y'all CANNOT replace your mobile domicile gas furnace with a furnace for a site-built domicile. Doing so can put you and your family at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. The 2 furnace types work very differently and require dissimilar venting and duct systems. Y'all need a furnace that is designed for a mobile dwelling or manufactured home.

Your existing mobile home furnace may or may not be powerful enough to oestrus your home. The furnace power yous demand depends on two factors: your home'due south square footage, and the climate where you live.

In warm climates, you can more often than not guess that yous'll need 25-35 BTUs per foursquare foot. In cold climates, you should approximate 45-60 BTUs per square human foot.

Multiply these figures past your home'due south square footage. That volition give you the minimum BTU rating which your new furnace should take. If you choose a furnace beneath this minimum, your new unit will non heat your habitation effectively. It volition have to run all the time, which volition cost you far more in the long run than buying the furnace y'all really need.

Besides take note of whether you lot have a gas furnace or an electric furnace. Though you can switch from one to the other, information technology's far less piece of work (and much cheaper) to supervene upon your furnace with a new 1 that uses the same power source. Then you don't have to run new electrical lines or new gas lines.

Replacing a gas furnace in your mobile abode

Unfortunately, unless you are a licensed gas technician, you lot can't supervene upon a gas furnace yourself. However, you Tin get the right gas furnace for your mobile home, and you tin do some enquiry every bit well as gear up the expanse for your contractor to work in.

Wait up HVAC technicians in your area who specialize in mobile homes. Remember, mobile home furnaces are completely different from site-built furnaces. They're smaller, they're designed to sit safely up confronting walls, and they connect to smaller ducts. Then brand sure your contractor specializes in mobile home heating.

It'due south a good idea to go several estimates. Still, don't base your last choice on price alone. If y'all tin can, attempt to become a sense of the contractor's reputation and quality of piece of work. If the contractor has a website, y'all tin look at their Google reviews. If you have a friend who recently replaced their furnace, ask who they used and how information technology went.

Bottom line, you lot want to take the contractor who offers a good price—as long as he or she is reputable and trustworthy.

Prepare your habitation for your contractor past doing the obvious. Create a make clean path of entry from the door to the furnace room. Remove anything that might stand in the manner of the work. If you have pets or children, make advisable arrangements to keep them away from the work zone.

It helps to be hospitable. You tin always offer your contractor a snack or something to potable. Good volition goes a long manner, and information technology's the right thing to exercise.

Replacing an electrical furnace in your mobile habitation

If you accept an electric furnace that needs to be replaced, you're in luck: you can do this repair yourself. If you lot don't want to carp with all the technical details, you can besides rent a contractor.

The commencement step is to select the right electric furnace for your mobile home. At that place are two popular options in the realm of mobile dwelling house electric heating: Nordyne electric furnaces and Coleman/Revolv electric furnaces. Use the method in the diagram higher up to summate how many BTUs you demand to heat your dwelling house.

After you've selected the right furnace, information technology's fourth dimension to prepare your home.

Take a look at your existing furnace. You may demand to replace some or all of the hoses continued to it. Y'all may besides need a new return grill associates, duct connector, or thermostat.

First, plough off the electricity at the furnace itself. Then plough off the electricity for your entire abode. This is a double safety mensurate. As a triple check, employ a voltmeter to make sure that the voltage actually is turned off.

Disconnect the electrical cords and the circulation hoses from the furnace. Remove the quondam furnace and put the new one in its place. Reattach the electric connections and the tubing. If the furnace is intended to exist screwed to the wall, install those screws at this fourth dimension. Turn the electricity back on but after everything else is finished.

As a last step, test your furnace. Plow it on and allow it to run for a while. Check to brand sure that it is producing heat equally it should.

The Bottom Line

Mobile home repair is easier than you might recollect. With a little knowledge, a picayune elbow grease, and the right parts, y'all can keep your abode in meridian shape for years to come. There's a certain satisfaction that comes with doing things yourself. At present go out there and tackle that repair that you've been dreading. Here's to the DIY spirit!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 16th, 2022 at two:21 pm and is filed nether DIY Instructional Videos, DIY Project Center, Mobile Habitation Roof Repair. You tin follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.