Discussions

Can anyone give some advice as to whether the new manufactured double wide homes have warm floors, is the quality the same as a stick built home and what would you recommend for upgrades ie. gyrock vs vinyl covered gyprock, plywood vs OSB, extra insulation, or upgraded windows and doors. The home would be in a wide open area. n the country.

manufactured mobiles, or modulars are built to pretty high csa standards these days. r 20 in walls r 50 in walls are pretty standard. the floors are not too bad but they will be cooler than a house as you dont have the same kind of warm air below them like a house has. think they are r 20 in the floor.  
I would go paper faced drywall if you have the choice as you can repaint easier than vinyl, although the vinyl is more durable.  
 
and definitely tri pane windows.  
 
easy to look up thier specs or drop into the sales offices here in brandon.

Check out grandeurhousing.com, they are top of the line and their specs are already super-high!

Thank you. What are the suggestions for the base. Piles, blocks, heated cement pad? Are you speaking from experience about the floors being colder? And does the choice in skirting make a significant difference in insulating? I do have the specs but would like to hear from some that lives in a new one. TIA

I live in a modular home/trailer in the south end of town where you own your own lot. The walls are R-20 and the roof and floor are R-40. The year we bought ours (back in 2007ish) we were told that hydro changed the regulations regarding these homes to have increased belly insulation. Previous homes such as my neighbors only has R-20 in the floor and she says there is a big difference in floor temperature saying she wears slippers around the house. I believe I am the only home in Brandon who is on a permanent concrete foundation. What this means is I have no wood. Many trailers in my area have piles and pad system. Very typical. Then you have wood blocking to support your trailer on the pads. What I have is the concrete pier running out of the ground with a metal plate recessed into the concrete. Metal shims are used to level the trailer then welded into place. There is no shifting at all. This also allows us cheaper insurance rates as we are on a permanent foundation just like a house. This option cost me about an extra 5 grand but I save over $25 a month in insurance compared to on a pad and don't have to worry about leveling. Skirting I should have upgraded to a more insulated type, you don't want to totally stop air circulation as moisture can build up and create mold. Due to the long lengths of sewer pipe under the trailer, in extreme cold winters like we have had there is a tendency to have them freeze up. This summer I will be like my neighbors did is insulate the shitter lines.

The builders and the local RM. There should be building codes. Piles. Do not even think of anything else. Blocks and pads shift as the soil dries or gets wet.

my parents bought one 4-5 years ago.(semi retired) They did the plastic down with crushed rock packed underneath. They did not insulate the skirting but installed what manufacturer suggested. The worst is the floor feels cooler than the house they had as you have nothing but the air in the house to try and heat it. Heat goes up not down. Having said that they also only have the temp at 70F at the thermostat which is 4 ft off the floor. Very hard to get the heat down to your feet.  
 
The other problem they have and is typical of trailers is, very hard to keep water and sewer line from freezing. If the heat tape gives out it freezes. If you have a toilet or other device that leaks a little water the sewer line is often long and it will freeze, just a matter of time.  
 
The other issue is mice. even with 4 inches of crushed rock they still tunnel under and get in the crawl space. They have a Garage built on and the mice get in from under the crawl space. They have traps set up and that keeps them out of the house but still a pain. Cost wise they could have built a smaller house for almost the same money and had a better resale value when they no longer want to live on the farm. I had lived for 20 years in a trailer and tried to tell them to build a house but they wouldn't listen. Now they are talking about selling the trailer and building a house.

Interesting thread about financing, albeit four years old.  
 
http://www.ebrandon.ca/messagethread.aspx?message_id=846441&cat_id=291  
 
New rules from last June:  
 
https://www.canadianmortgagetrends.com/2017/06/mortgage-changes-impacting-mobile-homes/

Manufacturers will tell you that the belly insulation is enough, not. In this part of the country you will most likely have freeze ups… Ask the 20 or more mobile home owners in Brentwood Village that had their pipes freeze several years ago.  
 
Best skirting is: 2x6 frame, six inches of Roxul (rodents are repelled by rock wool ) and metal siding.  
Do not use vinyl siding as it warps, sags, breaks when you weed whip and looks ugly after a few years.  
Make sure the bottom 2x6 is treated wood.  
Have 4 vents you can open in the summer and close in the winter. 2 on each side, front and back.  
 
If you have a water line that will go into the ground, use 2 heat tapes. One along each side of the pipe, secure them with electrical tape every 5 inches. Never Never Never , wrap a heat tape around the pipe, you will have a burn out very soon. Reason for two heat tapes is that if the one you chose to use is defective or stops working you simply switch to the other . Good insurance against having to dig up your water line in the middle of winter under your mobile. We learned this with our cattle water bowl as the previous owner cheaped out and only had one heat tape .  
Connect your heat tapes with two (2) good quality, 3ft lighted extension cords. Plug one (1) 3ft cord into the provided electrical outlet, run the extensions to a box on ,or built into the skirting where they are connected together, and back to the heat tapes. Make Sure you mark the one that returns to the heat tapes. Lol you think you will remember. If you ever have an extended power outage, you simply disconnect those cords at the box and run a line from a generator, to the return line to prevent your pipes from freezing during the outage.  
If you do the work yourself you can do this for around $2000.  
 
If you do this type of skirting , you should never have cold floors, freeze ups or problems with rodents.  
 
Should you be able to afford it, do the piles and use all treated 2x6 wood in your skirting as this will class as a foundation and will cost you less for insurance and make it easier for a future buyer to get a mortgage.  
 
Mobile homes or Modular Homes built in the last 15-20 years appreciate in value the same as a house does.

We have lived in two mobiles since we downsized. The first had wood skirting crushed rock and no plastic barrier. The floor was warmer than in any home we have owned. Since that time (1996) the codes have changed and plastic is the new deal. Our 2005 home is a different brand and we bought stock not optioned out with triple windows. I'd change that if I was doing it again. Our skirting is PVC and floors are much cooler. There is a new foam backed insulation now with auto venting, if I was purchasing a new one or needing to replace my skirting I would definitely go for that option. As for shifting, that depends on how well the land is prepared. We live in Glendale and our landlord goes above and beyond with lot prep and street building/maintenance. Our home was re-leveled two years after it was set up, as required, and hasn't shifted at all. Re: sewer lines, we have insulated with a wrap insulation and had no problems at all since, I suspect that you wouldn't need it if you had foam insulated skirting.

A good windbreak makes a huge difference to staying warm in a mobile home.  
 
I cannot speak for the new mobiles-but given that my old one has wood skirting with fibreglass insulation and I go all winter barefoot in open toe slippers when i am in the house...i would be disappointed if the new ones are colder. Mine is drafty because it needs new windows, but with the skirting in good repair the floor is warm enough.  
 
As for set up-it isn't true that a trailer on blocks always shifts. Mine has been sitting here-on blocks-since 1976 and it has not shifted. I would have no hesitation in setting a new.one up the same way.