Getting ready to update my home

upnover

upnover

Grumpy, decrepit Old Man
Moderator
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Morganton NC
Yeah, I am trailer trash. I live in a 85 mobile home. I have weighed alternatives. Buy another home, but that comes with many more expenses such as more plumbing, under pinning( I have block now) and even with a new, or newer one, I will still have the cheap ass stuff they put in them.
So, phase one is going to be gut the inside of everything that needs to be gone. Both bathrooms, kitchen cabinets, and flooring. My floors are plywood, so very little repair like the ones with OSB, particle board, water damage and so on. Plans for the bathrooms is new fixtures, and tile floors. Kitchen will get a lot more cabinets, and counter space. I am doing away with the kitchen table, will have a eat at bar, seating at least three, maybe four. Living alone this makes the most sense to me. I am on the fence in putting in a dish washer. So looking for advise. If you have one, do you use it often? Do you see a lot of difference in your power bill from it's use? Does it get your dishes clean as if you hand washed them? I am also converting over to a propane cook stove from electric. The biggest reason for this is when we have power outages, I can still cook, without having to bring in the camping stuff, or leaving home to live in the RV until I get power again. That only leaves the need for water. Which I plan on dropping in another pump, a 12V one, that I can use if need be. The Generator, and solar will take care of the rest.
Floors are all going to be that snap in stuff. Sorry, I don't know the proper name for it. But the need for it is great. I have two grand kids, that can't be in my home because of dog allergies. They have dogs in their home, but their floors are easier to clean. so this is why I have to change the floors. Kitchen and bathrooms will be tile. Windows will also be changed out. Only three left to change. I am going to make them smaller, and just basically the top part. This way furniture can be placed in front of them, and they will still be able to be used.
Another big change will be my living room. Since I have owned this place, there has never been an overhead light, so in the rebuild, I will not only have a light over head in there, but also a ceiling fan. The light that is now over my kitchen table, will also be moved a few feet, to also have a ceiling fan in there too.
I am excited about all of this, way past due! I am not looking forward to living in the RV for 4-6 weeks, but,. I'll manage.
Phase two will bring on a new roof to include covering both my front and back decks, and siding.
 
Have you seen the trailers that they build now? Mine is a 2014 double wide and unless I told you it was a double wide, you'd think you were in a modular. The whole thing is 2x4 walls, finished drywall interior, flat ceilings, recessed lights, a nice archway from the living room to the kitchen, splitfaced block foundation, and it's ridiculously well insulated...stuff like that. Nothing really says cheap trailer stuff.

Obviously, what you're doing will be cheaper. The new ones are real damn nice though. Mine was 99,500, if I remember right and two guys I used to work with got single wides for around 60k, I think. All of these are from Oakwood who gets them from Schultz. They come with new appliances too, but there are a LOT of options so you could get it without an electric stove and stick in a gas one.
 
Croatan_Kid said:
Have you seen the trailers that they build now? Mine is a 2014 double wide and unless I told you it was a double wide, you'd think you were in a modular. The whole thing is 2x4 walls, finished drywall interior, flat ceilings, recessed lights, a nice archway from the living room to the kitchen, splitfaced block foundation, and it's ridiculously well insulated...stuff like that. Nothing really says cheap trailer stuff.

Obviously, what you're doing will be cheaper. The new ones are real damn nice though. Mine was 99,500, if I remember right and two guys I used to work with got single wides for around 60k, I think. All of these are from Oakwood who gets them from Schultz. They come with new appliances too, but there are a LOT of options so you could get it without an electric stove and stick in a gas one.
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Yes I did look at the newer ones, some a lot nicer than others. And like you said, they look much more like a modular than a mobile home. But, with the coin for one, they stand outside of my means, so, it's do the best I can do with what I have. It's kept me dry and warm for 33 years, now with some updates, it will continue to do as it has done in the past, just look better and give more comfort than I am used to.
 
Roger that! Gotta do what you gotta do.
 
As a former singlewide owner I give the following recommendations. Dishwasher get a 18" from compact appliance website we love ours and your dishes are cleaner. If your floors are plywood and the roof does not leak you are way ahead in the game! Put in some nice cabinets from IKEA not the stain your own stuff. Laminate is the best choice. When you put on a new roof do a wrap around covered porch and it will dramatically improve the curb appeal.
 
how often do you use the stove how often do you use the stove cooktop and how often does the power actually go out? I would think that in the long run it will be way more expensive to use propane all the time instead of electric. Why not just pick up a used Coleman stove for $20 and use that when you lose power?
 
Trouse living at its finest.
i mean that in no way of dissing you.
we just redid my buddies trailer similar to what you are wanting to do.
get a dish washer they are great and dont use alot of power. are you going to change out the wall coverings? im assuming they are probably plywood sheathing. if you do consider re insulating as you go. when we took his down the insulation was basically worthless. he has seen a massive improvement in heating and cooling cost.

for phase 2 of your plan consider building a curb on the old roof and adding some 2" blue board then covering it with the new roof system.
 
Regarding the dishwasher, we have one, and use it about 1/2 the time. Before the kid, we used it about once or twice a month. My wife always handwashed growing up, and I'm that anal guy who pre cleans everything really well with a scrubber and HOT water before putting it in the dishwasher anyway. Ours is annoyingly loud, about 10 years old. The newer stuff is very quiet. You might hear the pumps running but not the dishes clanging. If you generally wash dishes after every meal, I wouldn't worry with one. If you let accumulate a little more, then it might be worth considering.
 
If you're living on your own and have company sometimes, you'll be hard pressed to get good use out of a dishwasher. Anything you dirty on a day to day basis will get hand washed, otherwise it'll sit in the dishwasher for a week.
 
RatLabGuy said:
how often do you use the stove how often do you use the stove cooktop and how often does the power actually go out? I would think that in the long run it will be way more expensive to use propane all the time instead of electric. Why not just pick up a used Coleman stove for $20 and use that when you lose power?
Click to expand...

I have several coleman cook stoves already. I've been in homes, namely, my mom's and I like the gas vs electric. Been wanting to do this for a long time, and now presents the perfect time to do it. The less I have to depend on grid power, the better I will like it. and to answer, I prepare most of my meals at home, cooking sometimes once, sometimes twice a day.
 
Loganwayne said:
Trouse living at its finest.
i mean that in no way of dissing you.
we just redid my buddies trailer similar to what you are wanting to do.
get a dish washer they are great and dont use alot of power. are you going to change out the wall coverings? im assuming they are probably plywood sheathing. if you do consider re insulating as you go. when we took his down the insulation was basically worthless. he has seen a massive improvement in heating and cooling cost.

for phase 2 of your plan consider building a curb on the old roof and adding some 2" blue board then covering it with the new roof system.
Click to expand...

Some of the wall coverings will be replaced, some will have 3/8 sheet rock put over top. Living room area, still up in the air, looking at possibly something more rustic, cabin-ish, not sure yet. I will have to strip the roof, before re-roofing it, and yes I do plan on more isolation there, same with siding. Over all, as it is, I don't spend a lot for heating. A monitor heater, and my wood stove, always pretty comfortable. But added to the new windows, should be even easier to heat when finished. Main place better isolation will be will be in the floors.
 
upnover said:
I have several coleman cook stoves already. I've been in homes, namely, my mom's and I like the gas vs electric. Been wanting to do this for a long time, and now presents the perfect time to do it. The less I have to depend on grid power, the better I will like it. and to answer, I prepare most of my meals at home, cooking sometimes once, sometimes twice a day.
Click to expand...

One thing to keep in mind, with a propane stove in an extended outage...what if you cant get the propane tank filled?
Usually 5 gallon grill tanks run at a different pressure. You could be stuck in a situation with power and no way to cook. Also as mentioned LP stoves cost more top operate than electric.

If its just a fawk it I want an LP stove....rock on. Just know that its a losing decision financially.
 
Ron said:
If its just a fawk it I want an LP stove....rock on. Just know that its a losing decision financially.
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yep, people use nat gas for cook tops bc it is waaay cheaper per therm than propane. obviously that's not an option for you.
Heck if you've got a nice back porch, put in a nice gas cook top out there and just use whichever one fits your fancy for the day.
 
Ron said:
Usually 5 gallon grill tanks run at a different pressure.
Click to expand...
How is that? Propane boils and makes pressure regardless of what container it is in. Home stuff runs on inches of WC. It's all about your regulator.
 
Old one. Sorry- this is all that comes to mind.

image.jpeg


The only real advice I have is that it's a trailer. It will not go up in value. Do what you need to in order to keep it livable but that's it- from a financial standpoint.
 
There is a regulator ofpv built into the valve.
 
broncosbybart said:
Old one. Sorry- this is all that comes to mind.

View attachment 267451

The only real advice I have is that it's a trailer. It will not go up in value. Do what you need to in order to keep it livable but that's it- from a financial standpoint.
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I am doing this "because of" a financial standpoint. It's what I can afford! I am NOT doing it to raise value, but rather raise my standard of living. Not from what others perceive, but rather what I perceive. This is for me. When I am gone, kids can do what ever they want with it.
 
rockcity said:
I like the dishwasher. It hides the dirty dishes on days I’m too lazy to wash them by hand until the wife finally decides to turn it on.
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Umm kinda what I am thinking too. Dishes usually get done, when I am out of either bowls, big spoons or forks. I have become the master of "just how many dishes can I fit in my dish drainer!"
Yeah I can buy more of those things, but something has to make me do them. A dishwasher would aid in "keeping up"!
I looked at some today, annual cost of operating, once a day, was in the neighborhood of $34 a year. I know there are other cost involved, such as well pump water, and heating the water, but still not too bad. I figure every couple or three days before I would use it.
 
If it's only you filling it, unless it's tiny and you have yuuuge plates, you should be able to go several days before it's full.
You'll also become the master of "Where can I fit this one last dish in here" Tetris.
 
upnover said:
I am doing this "because of" a financial standpoint. It's what I can afford! I am NOT doing it to raise value, but rather raise my standard of living. Not from what others perceive, but rather what I perceive. This is for me.
Click to expand...

I grew up in a trailer. It's all my mom could afford. It wasn't the newest or the nicest, but she made sure it was the CLEANEST and the best environment it could possibly be until she could afford a house. In fact, about everyone that came over commented on how nice it was inside. "You'd never know this was a trailer". It's hard to take that as a compliment, but I suppose it was even harder to GIVE it and not sound like a snotty twatwaffle.

We lived there till I was 22, putting myself thru college at NC A&T (commuting from Winston). Then mom had saved enough for a down payment on a house and we moved.

A few miles down the road from where I grew up, one of my VERY good friends; Corky grew up in a nice brick home in a great neighborhood. When he got out of school he chose to live in a trailer out on an acre of land about 10 miles from where we grew up. I'd spend weekends there listening to his grand ideas of expanding it, and then One weekend I go over and HE DID IT! He started tearing out the back door....for the same reason Chip said. We ripped a hole in the back where the back door was and made a 10x16 "living room" with a lean-to roof and wood panel interior, and metal siding. Then we gutted the kitchen and opened it up to the main room. Why? Sure as hell wasn't to add value. It was to make his life a little better. And it did just that.

He stayed there for about 10 years then bought a house, and still rents that trailer out to someone.

I swear I think he was happier in that trailer than I've seen many a folk in a $500k home.

I get it. Yeah I have some bad memories of the absolute hell the snotty rich kids gave me for living in a trailer park, (and I've made comments in the past about it that may have been interpreted as looking down on trailer park life.....but it wasn't looking down my nose at it...it was remembering how damn cruel kids can BE to those who happened to live in a trailer)

Hell, you can't control the cards you're dealt. You play your hand and make the best of it. And if a dishwasher and pep'n the place up adds value to your LIFE, screw what anyone else thinks
 
CasterTroy said:
I grew up in a trailer. It's all my mom could afford. It wasn't the newest or the nicest, but she made sure it was the CLEANEST and the best environment it could possibly be until she could afford a house. In fact, about everyone that came over commented on how nice it was inside. "You'd never know this was a trailer". It's hard to take that as a compliment, but I suppose it was even harder to GIVE it and not sound like a snotty twatwaffle.

We lived there till I was 22, putting myself thru college at NC A&T (commuting from Winston). Then mom had saved enough for a down payment on a house and we moved.

A few miles down the road from where I grew up, one of my VERY good friends; Corky grew up in a nice brick home in a great neighborhood. When he got out of school he chose to live in a trailer out on an acre of land about 10 miles from where we grew up. I'd spend weekends there listening to his grand ideas of expanding it, and then One weekend I go over and HE DID IT! He started tearing out the back door....for the same reason Chip said. We ripped a hole in the back where the back door was and made a 10x16 "living room" with a lean-to roof and wood panel interior, and metal siding. Then we gutted the kitchen and opened it up to the main room. Why? Sure as hell wasn't to add value. It was to make his life a little better. And it did just that.

He stayed there for about 10 years then bought a house, and still rents that trailer out to someone.

I swear I think he was happier in that trailer than I've seen many a folk in a $500k home.

I get it. Yeah I have some bad memories of the absolute hell the snotty rich kids gave me for living in a trailer park, (and I've made comments in the past about it that may have been interpreted as looking down on trailer park life.....but it wasn't looking down my nose at it...it was remembering how damn cruel kids can BE to those who happened to live in a trailer)

Hell, you can't control the cards you're dealt. You play your hand and make the best of it. And if a dishwasher and pep'n the place up adds value to your LIFE, screw what anyone else thinks
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Yep, you get it!
and......................

You said Twatwaffle! LMDAO
 
Do you have a covered porch? My parents had a single wide for years down near Ocean Isle. The best part was it had a large covered and screened in porch. That screened in porch was the largest room in the trailer and where everyone spent the majority of our time. It also helped keep the afternoon sun off that side of the trailer, so it kept the trailer a little cooler.
Other things they did that made it more enjoyable was replacing windows and tinting them.
 
VortecJeep said:
Do you have a covered porch? My parents had a single wide for years down near Ocean Isle. The best part was it had a large covered and screened in porch. That screened in porch was the largest room in the trailer and where everyone spent the majority of our time. It also helped keep the afternoon sun off that side of the trailer, so it kept the trailer a little cooler.
Other things they did that made it more enjoyable was replacing windows and tinting them.
Click to expand...
In my best Jeff Foxworthy voice "If your trailer has tinted windows..." :flipoff2:
 
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