I'm buying a trailer. It's about 5 years old and in

>>903858
Ive qorked on several. Wiring will be a nightmare. Be cautious. Everything is special. You will need to super reinforce the ceiling boxes to be able to handle a ceiling fan, itll rip the ceiling down otherwise. Walls are very very thin. Studs are not home grade. You run riak of breaking wall removing paneling. If you want drywall, buy 1/4 inch and glue to paneling. Its the best option. Otherwise you risk breaking wall installing 1/2 inch. Changing lighting is ok. New kitchen cabinets, be hyper careful, the walls arent designed to hold traditional cabinets without reinforcement, and then only on exterior walls. Your plumbing is nonstandard also. Toilet may be able to be changed okay, but watch subfloor. Generally its particleboard, but on better models may be osb. In the bathroom, ensure its stable. The whole trailer will flex and expand/shrink with weather, up to an inch or better, so when doing walls, plumbing, and cabinets, ensure you are mounting to allow for the atretch and expansion or else it will tear itself apart. There is a reason why trailers are inexpensive. They are engineered to be the least possible material for how they are designed, any changes begins to shorten the life of it. Make sure you are tied down very tight to ground and pillars before you start changing weight around also, ive seen them flex and twist and settle really wierd.

>>904160

So you would suggest they are a bad idea? I haven't gone through with the sale. My Dad flips manufactured homes and lives in one, and never mentioned any of these issues to me. His trailer is from the early 90s. Looks like trash on the outside, but he's completely renovated the inside and looks like a brand new home almost besides the typical trailer layout and ceilings. He's put in custom cabinets, a dish washer, ceiling fans, new flooring, new walls, new doors, new plumbing, new showers and toilets, etc.

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>>904204

It's not really that bad.

>mobile
>wut?

- so tell me, in what sense are these things actually mobile? Non-murrican, confused - Im guessing, they aint 'mobile' in the sense of, "oh, lets just roll to the beach for the weekend?"

Was interested in the principle, as, leastways in Europe (parts of), you can avoid a few planning hassles if you can prove actual mobility, ie - roll it back it forward 50cm once a year or so.

I guess, these are actually modular, and the terms 'trailer' and 'mobile' are non-meaningful usage? Could you build one of these on wheels?

tldr - dont look very fucking mobile to me.

>>903858
>What are some DIY things I can do to turn it into a nicer home?
Add serious insulation & swap out windows for insulated ones.

Add stronger internal metal pipe structure to suspend things on or affix heavy furniture to it.

Maybe get some solar warm water with a tank.

>>904204
They're not nearly built as well as something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3g4gmRvgko

Doing it from scratch or massively renovating a trailer... IDK. I'd kinda enjoy the creative freedom in doing it better and result with a more efficient house rather than using a cheap old thing that needs to be renovated.

YMMV. Either is maybe not as trivial as it might seem at first.

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>>904220

They're on wheels. They started out as big ass campers but people usually ended up just parking them so they stopped bother to make them anything like campers. Now they're basically just houses on wheels. You can take the wheels off and put them on a foundation but you usually pay less taxes if it's not on a permanent foundation.

As far as the naming, they used to be called trailers, then they switched that to mobile home, and now they're trying to call them modular homes. I live in one, I still call it a trailer but it doesn't really matter.

>>904220
I thought they were named after Mobile, Alabama?

Ok, I googled. Here's what snopes has to say:
http://www.snopes.com/lost/mobile.asp

>>903858
Dywall installation in a traditional manner is not suggested in these types of homes. The mud seams and even drywall itself will crack and fall apart.

There's panneling you buy specifically for mobile homes. They dont get mudded together, instead having a strip of material that covers the seams.

Depending on the age and model, these types of homes can be fairly well built.
I used to work next to afactory that builds mobile homes, chalets we call them, and they were basically as well built as an average american house. Only downside was they were expensive. Really expensive.
So yeah, just figure out how yours is built before you commit to anything.

>>903858
I live in a 15yr old mobile home.

Everything >>904160 says is so true.

That said $36K is not a bad deal. If it's only 5 years, it's probably in decent shape. That's not much money for owning your own house and land. Go for it anon.

>>903858
Roof over. if it has no eaves, or very narrow gutters, you will need to move all that rain away from the side walls. Trust me on this one. Rain running down those side windows will rot out your sill plates.

>>904220
Murican here

In some parts of the states they haul gigantic "double wide" trailers down the road using a semi. Check it out on YouTube. Pretty crazy

>>904381

Definitely do this. my Dad lives in one and once the water gets in behind the walls, everything starts to crumble. Also make sure you vent the dryer out the side of the trailer instead of underneath (Which is what some lazy people do) otherwise the floors WILL rot. Nothing like going to grab clothes out of the dryer and your foot goes through the floor.

>>904160
Why is it called a trailer when you can't trail it

>>904220
while they're definitely not like a camper... they are more mobile than your average house with basement....

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>>904245
>Now they're trying to call them modular homes

>A modular home
I think it's fair enough calling modular/prefabs something different from trailers. Trailers imply they can be pulled themselves or come of the trailer and are done. Maybe a double wide where it needs to be strapped together

Modular homes or prefabs need to be assembled a bit more than that.... not a lot more. But they're definitely a different quality standard, and are on permanent foundations, they count as permanent houses, and you can get a mortgage for one even in California.

>>903858
5 years old is essentially new. I wouldn't bother changing anything.

Not op, but also have questions about my mobile home. When I'm sitting next to an exterior wall, I can feel the cold, is there any way to better insulate the walls? Does insulation get "old" and need replacing? My home is 23 years old but still in good shape.

>>904204
OP asks question/brag. When confronted with problems, has expert relative.

>My Dad flips manufactured homes and lives in one, and never mentioned any of these issues to me. His trailer is from the early 90s.

Get off 4Chan and ask your "Dad" he has more experience than anyone here.

We have been on our Clayton mobile home for 22 years. Ours was built for northern climates, so it is a little heftier. It has 2x6 outer walls with 2x4 inner walls. We have redone both bathrooms and one bedroom. We typically cover the windows, but replacing the would work too. We've been happy with how well it has held up.

>>905931
>We typically cover the windows
explain please?

>>903858
At first I read
>I'm about 5 years old

In all seriousness, if you're sitting on 2 acres, you might want to look into self-sustainability.

A nice, practical garden, some solar panels, stuff like that. It's a good investment that'll pay off in the long run. It's also a better use of land than just pure grass.

>>906285
We covered most of the windows with cheap machine made quilts. We attached them to the wall with furring strips in some cases. It insulates the windows year-round. Of couse you can't open them, but that's never been an issue for us.