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Complete Mobile Home Remodel

467K views 354 replies 50 participants last post by  lstevens 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hey everyone. I've posted a few times here about my house remodel, and I figured I might as well document the journey and let you all see what we are doing. I'll post the before pictures and the first part of what we did to the kitchen, and if it gets any interest I will keep it going. If not I won't. Anyway, here are some before pictures.
This is a 1980 Oak Creek single-wide. We were told when we bought it that it was livable. This turned out to be a big fat lie. We should have toured the house prior to purchase, but oh well.

Kitchen -
 

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#3 ·
Master bedroom
Little bedroom
Back door/Laudry area
 

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#5 · (Edited by Moderator)
Ok, so we went through and tore out all of the sheetrock. When we first saw the house (post-purchase) I saw a mouse in the kitchen, and half of the electric didn't work, so I wanted to look at the wiring before we moved in. So we tore out the drywall, removed 17 million staples from the walls, and bagged up all of the old insulation, which had mouse tracks through it. We rewired the kitchen and hung new insulation. These are the pictures of one wall insulated, and the other wall wired. We have now finished putting beadboard on the walls, and hanging some shelves, so if this thread generates any interest, I will post more pictures later of the more recent progress.
 

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#6 · (Edited)
No, i cant stay in this house, there is no electric or running water. I go there during the day on weekends to work, and thats about it. Ive talked about this house on other websites as well so you may have seen the pictures posted before, but i dont think ive ever posted them here. My fiance might have though.
 
#9 ·
There was some water damage, because (according to previous owner) the water heater tank sprung a leak and flooded the laundry area, destroying the lower half of the drywall. And the back door leaked like a sieve, i had to go buy a new door to put in there to try to keep the water out, and so far its working. Other than that, no leaks or water damage that ive found. There was some mold in the kitchen, we sprayed it with vinegar, cleaned it with water, and painted the lower half of the wall with mold/mildew-resistant Kilz2 primer, so that it would take care of the mold and hopefully keep it from growing back. So far its working.
 
#11 ·
OK here are a few more pictures, i dont have any of the rest of the house yet but i will go out there tonight and take some. These are just some pictures of the living room with the sheetrock and insulation down. Just for the record, all of this insulation and dirt and debris laying around in these pics has been picked up and disposed of, except for a bit of trim laying under the cracked window, which is covering a huge hole in the floor that a child could easily fall through. Still not entirely sure how to fix that, but ill cross that bridge when we get to it.
 

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#12 ·
Since im out of pictures for now, i thought i would kill some time by telling you about some of the weirder things we have discovered through our short remodel journey in this house.

1. Loose tub - The bathtub was literally ONLY held in by the drain pipe. My future husband went under the trailer, loosened the pipe from the drain, and then was able to just walk up to the tub, and lift it straight up. No screws, no caulk, no nothing. The mold behind it was unimaginable.

2. Irritating blasted door knob - When we first got the house, we noticed that the front door would not seal properly. We had to literally slam it shut with all of our strength, and the slightest pressure applied to it would make it pop back open. I thought, naturally, it was a faulty door knob. So i got my screwdriver and set to work to remove it. The decorative plate behind the knob had come loose, and spun freely, making it near impossible to access the screws. I worked at it for about an hour before i said screw it, and i retrieved a hammer and a metal putty knife. I wedged the blade of the putty knife between the door and the edge of the knob, and began pounding on it. I killed it, (never did find the other half of it) and threw it away. I installed a new knob, which turned and locked as easy as you please. What irritated me was, the damn door still wouldnt seal! I made sure the knob was lining up properly with the strikeplate, and then i happened to glance straight-on into the strikeplate. Inside the hole was a frikken beer bottlecap! It was wedged in there and prevented the lever from gaining any kind of hold. I worked it out with a screwdriver, and finally the door closed properly. No problem since.

3. Money money money - When we pulled up the carpet in the bedroom and living room, tons, and i mean tons, of change was underneath, embedded in the padding. It seriously looked like the dude who laid the carpet filled his pockets with change and did cartwheels around the room before he put the carpet down. You could tell that people had been walking on it, because we had to dig it out of the padding. I cleaned it up and deposited it. I believe the total was right around fifty dollars.

4. Mouse got his just desserts - When we pulled the wire out of the wall in the living room, a dead, still furry, mouse was attached to it, his teeth still embedded in the coating. Freaky. We also found three more stuck to the floor under the cabinets.

5. Wolf spiders - These big ugly buggers had a nest under the vanity in the bathroom. When we knocked the vanity apart, they came out with attitudes. One was dragging a huge eggsac on her butt. We smashed them with a hammer.

6. Old technology - Under the carpet in the little bedroom, (the middle of the room, too, not just on the edge) we found a huge flash drive for a Sony machine of some sort. It was about the size of a Playstation One memory card, and only held 4 MB. Nothing i own would fit it.

7. Toilet paper - In the picture of the master bedroom, you see two huge holes gouged in the wall. Well when we started pullling the sheetrock down, we found a whole roll of toilet paper behind it. We think the previous owner used the window next to it as a second toilet. LOL not really, but still funny to think about. We also found a bundled pair of socks back there.

8. Anybody up for a game? - We found two Monopoly boards hidden inside a wall in the hall closet.

9. Closet no more - We discovered that someone had completely ripped out the master closet. That would be why the breaker panel box is kinda hanging in midair.

10 - Probably dangerous - Someone replaced the 220 wire that used to hook up the dryer with a normal 12-3 wire. Im not sure if that is a fire hazard or not, but im definitely replacing it.

11. Burned - We found several wires were actually burnt. I have no idea how this place did not go up in flames.
 
#13 ·
A friend of mine worked for Fleetwood mobil homes.
I went his house one day and he was showing me a 2, page list of things needing to be fixed on a brand new home.
No power to some of the rooms, siding falling off, no hole for the dryer hose, ECT.
 
#14 ·
Fleetwoods have a lot of bad reviews. Just like Palm Harbor, Big K, Clayton, etc. But thats the strange part, Oak Creek doesnt have any that ive found. I did my homework before i bought it, making sure it was a good brand and made of good materials. I just failed miserably at the inspection pre-purchase, beings the fact that it was never done. But then again, the carpet was tacked down at the room perimeter, and the back door was an interior door, and wires had been messed with and changed out. Obviously someone attempted (read: horribly failed at) remodeled this trailer before i found it. But the structure is still good. Just cosmetic stuff, really.
 
#15 ·
this is my inspiration for my kitchen. all open white shelves on top, beadboard walls, and white cabinets with shaker style doors and drawer fronts. Except my countertop wont be marble, it will be a tan-ish brown color. I think itll be one hell of an improvement.
 

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#17 ·
We did some more work in the bathroom today. sorry just kinda bumping around the place. i did get some more pics of the kitchen progress though, and what the master bedroom looks like. we finished demoing the bathroom and pulled up all of the thirty-year-old tile and linoleum. I will get on tomorrow morning and post pictures, i cant post from this computer.
 
#18 ·
Ok well ive had almost three thousand views, so im assuming you guys want to see more. Here is what the kitchen looks like today. Beadboard walls are up, drywall is up on the end wall, and the shelving is up on two walls.
 

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#19 ·
And here is the work we did in the bathroom. These are pics of the back wall, the front wall, and the spot where the bathtub will go.
 

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#20 · (Edited)
Another mistake! My God how many holes does it take to hit the drain? One, two, three, four, FIVE! Who needs five holes? This explains the nest of wolf spiders. :eek:
And just to freak ya'll out a little, this is what was under the vanity. Ten of the buggers. One with a huge eggsac. Scared the living hell out of me. Most of them didnt give us too much problem, they were trying to get out, diving for the holes in the floor. The female carrying the eggsac was aggressive though. She kept jumping at us, threatening us and trying to intimidate us. Hated to kill a single mom, but i think God forgave us for this one. (full body shudder)
 

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#21 ·
And just for fun, here is a couple pictures of the master bedroom, full of trash bags waiting to be taken to the dump. Insulation, drywall, tile, linoleum, etc.
 

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#22 ·
Question: In the bathroom, my mom insists we need to use wonderboard behind the shower area to protect against moisture. However, with this being a mobile home, im just going to put up an acrylic surround. Im not going with tile, and i was told that you only need the wonderboard if you are using tile, to waterproof it. Do we need the wonderboard, or will the mold-proof drywall work just fine?
 
#23 · (Edited)
i also wanted to post the pictures of the first two cabinets on here, now that im done being scolded on the first thread i posted them on. These are made of 3/4" plywood, 2x4 bases, and whitewood pine face frames. Future cabinets will be made with poplar face frames. These are the sink base and the vanity base for the bathroom. I know i will get scolded for the drawer handle on the door of the vanity, but that was just to see what it would look like. The handle wont be used, ive got another one to use and this one is gonna be used in the kitchen.
Also, the door on the first one looks like its misaligned at the bottom but its not, there is printing on the bottom edge of the left side, and it makes it look like part is missing. Itll look fine once its painted.
 

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#26 ·
I live in rural texas. they are everywhere in the woods, but they usually dont come into houses unless there is a clear and safe way out. I think the five holes in the floor was safe and clear enough. Usually you find them hanging from trees and living in woodpiles and burnpiles but occasionally they do come in, especially during the winter.
 
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