Howdy all! I have decided to remove the User Forum from this site since it doesn’t really seem to generate any discussion, but rather, just bogs down my site and makes it slower to run. I’m hoping that discussion will be active if I just get down to business and keep writing here…which is my real desire, but there is always some project going on around here!
On a happy note- I do have lots of photos and posts that I can share as soon as thing settle down for the Summer and I can get those thoughts together. There have been lots of new things happening here, things I’m dreaming about getting done, and lots of questions I’d like to ask all of you out there who like to make your mobile homes even “homier”.
So- on to the topic- since I’m removing the forum, I’m going to make a few posts with the topics from the forum that actually did have questions and responses there and I will open up all posts for comments from registered users. Yes, you must be registered to post, but that helps to keep the site more clear of spam for your viewing pleasure.
Here’s the Big Question of the Day-
How do you get rid of the strips that separate the wall board pieces in your mobile home?
MMHM Member “skrapwood” asked:
“Has anyone found a way around those lovely lattice strips they use to join drywall board without replacing the drywall all together? Either by decorating or another way of taping the seams? We tried using a stucco effect but the seams just cracked. And we tried just painting over them as if they didn’t exist but that doesn’t seem to work either, they are still there in all the wrong places.”
Me again:
I would love to hear all the ways people are doing it, whether you’ve had success, even if you’ve had not so much success, since we all want to know what is a bad idea in order to save ourselves time and money.
I’ll post the rest of the questions throughout the week if I find more. I know there’s one coming up about those infrared heaters. I’d really be interested in some lively conversation filled with your opinions on those. I’m not too optimistic!
Enjoy the rest of the weekend y’all. I hope you find the time to site back and enjoy your labors at your home rather than always laboring.
Remember, just say “no” to wall stripping!
Peace out-
The McGees
We are in the process of redoing all the walls in the house. Hubby did internet research, and this is what we're doing: Remove strips. Wash plastic walls with alcohol. Prime them with Zinser 123 primer. Spackle, sand, etc., to cover the seams. Prime again, this time with a roller for very smooth walls. It does leave a texture, but not much of one. But sure to get excellent coverage. It's this layer of primer that is key, imo. It gives the walls a consistent texture between the slightly textured vinyl and the smooth spackle (note our vinyl has only slight texture). Then paint. YAY!!!
As for the ceiling joint, we are replacing the thin crown molding with some wider crown molding. I haven't done any yet and am not looking forward to it. I also am not breaking or throwing away any of the original cm! We will paint it white. (Note: if I have to reuse the original, I may paint it the color of the walls. Has anyone done this? What do you think?)
For the ceiling joint in the bedrooms, they just put strips of 1/8" x 1-1/2" "wood." I intend to prime and paint those the color of the wall, then reinstall. Opinions?
Hi Mary! Thanks so much for visiting our site and for sharing what you\’re doing. If you think of it, please come by our facebook page and share some pics. We\’d love to see it! http://www.facebook.com/mymobilehomemakeover
I hated crown molding and cried through putting it back up in my bathroom remodel. Literally! But have taken it down in every other room and replaced with flat, wider trim. It looks great!
Thanks for sharing!
i did one bath painted the strips but i did not prime the walls and it is pealing we have a bathe in our shop with the mobile home walls we got a paint with sand ban in it and it worked great still used all the strips the same way we also put in manufactured wood floors really changed the look.
Thanks for checking out our site and for commenting, Cindy. We have definitely found that primer is our friend. I wouldn't do a paint project on mobile home walls without it. A bathroom can be especially challenging because of the moisture level in the room. Paint without primer does not like moisture. Replacing flooring is a great way to spruce up your space! It's great you've been able to do that. We have also kept the strips in one of our rooms. We replaced them with wood trim pieces, but I like how they look and they compliment the wallpaper we put up so it's not so bad.
Good luck with your future projects!
I used a spackle on the entire area where the strip was, let it dry entirely, then applied 2 coats of Kilz on a wall that had been completely washed with a vinegar and water solution. Make sure that each step has time to completely dry. I then used texture in a can and let it dry completely. The next step was to apply 2 coats of Valspar semi-gloss. I need a paint that I can wash. It turned out great.
Hi Lindy. Thanks so much for visiting and for sharing your experience with us. I would love to see pics of your finished walls. Any chance you could share a pic or two on our facebook page? https://www.facebook.com/mobilehomemakeover
Thanks again and happy remodeling!
The McGees
We currently have a manufactured home that sits on a concrete basement. We have removed almost all the of the strips, and used sheet rock mud to close the gaps. After the mud dries, we sand and then do a knock down texture to hide any imperfections. This has turned out fantastic, and makes our home look more modern and updated. We have also removed all the popcorn ceilings, and used the same technique on them as well, then painted them white to give it a nice clean look.
Thanks for visiting and commenting Michelle!
It sounds like you have come up with a great process that works for you. We still have a couple of ceilings we\’ve been debating what to do with since we scraped all the popcorn (ICK!) off. I\’ll have to look into this and decide if it will give us a look we\’ll like.
Thanks so much for coming by and sharing your experience. We get asked about wall strips and popcorn more than any other questions about mobile home.
Happy remodeling,
The McGees
How did you remove popcorn ceilings,..I hate mine…they’re very popcorny..
I purchased a roll of the nylon mesh seam tape, spackle and joint compound. I used a six inch putty knife to apply the spackle over the tape, allowed it to dry, sanded the joints and applied a layer of joint compound with a ten inch blade. I've allowed this coat of joint compound to dry and then sanded. The wider second coat of joint compound has allowed to spread the compound out more evenly over the joint giving it a more finished look. I've also purchased residential crown molding and baseboard molding to go around the walls and molding to frame out around the windows and doors in the room. I purchased a satin finish Valspar paint with primer built in, which gives the wall a beautiful finish. I think it is best to spend a little more for residential quality products because they will give you the residential finish you are looking for.
Welcome Kimberly and thank you for taking the time to comment.
Your process sounds interesting. I'm glad you're happy with it. A lot of people have been coming by and sharing their wall seam secrets recently and I'm so glad because it's the question we get asked the most around here! I'm happy to see so many tackling this issue and being willing to share it with others.
Sounds like you ended up with a lovely finish!
Happy remodeling!
The McGees
Ive recently textured a triple wide i used drywall paper tape and red dot joint compound to fill in wall strips and than shot the texture straight over the paneling it painted it and it came out great ! its been about 2 months and so far we haven't seen any cracking! I don't usually work on mobile homes and have learned theres a completely different set of rules codes and regulations for them. I have another customer in the park that wants me to do the same to her ceilings, they have removed a bunch of walls and opened it up, put wood floors and textured walls, my concern is I've noticed the ceiling sagging in the living room and don't want to add anymore weight to it, can anyone tell me what ceiling paneling is attached to and how i might reinforce it before i try filling it in? I was told there are 2×2's every 12 or 24 that i could possibly screw into does anyone know if thats correct?
Hi Leah. Thanks for commenting and visiting our site! The process you came up with for the walls sounds great. I will be interested to hear if you can make it work for a ceiling as well.
I don't know what type of mobile home you are going to be doing the ceiling on so I can't tell you what it looks like inside the ceiling, but we have wanted to redo the ceilings in a couple of our rooms that we haven't recovered yet and this was an interesting thing for me to research. Thanks!
Here's a video of an older trailer that is a single wide and what the inside of the ceiling looks like : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3z7z48P3Gg
Here's a video of a double wide that is newer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xr_ptTEAQcY
Hopefully these will help you get a better sense of what's up there to continue with your work.
Good luck! Please feel free to come back and share your project success with us!
Happy remodeling!
The McGees
I ran across some faux wood paneling and beams made of styrofoam that I've been considering. Just Google faux wood panels and you'll find it.
Thanks for visiting and commenting, Julie. That material sounds interesting. It's almost like laminate flooring panels.
We have a beautiful Hibachi restaurant in our town that used dark laminate panels on the walls of the Hibachi bar room. It is really stunningly beautiful. I have always loved how warm and sophisticated it feels in that room. I have been tempted to use the same method myself!
If you do use any faux wood products, please be sure to hop over to our facebook page and share some pics of your project. We'd love to see what you came up with! https://www.facebook.com/mobilehomemakeover
All postings were interesting. Has anyone tried replacing the tiny strips with something more substantial. Our living room walls have one side paneling and three sides painted. So how do we deal with that, considering that I do not ever want to use wall paper?
Hi there. And thank you for visiting and commenting!
Have you tried larger strips? We did use the flat trim pieces that were about 2.5 inches wide to serve as sort of a cottagy looking wall trim in one room. I liked it, and now that you mention it, would consider doing it in another room.
How about covering the whole room with a light paneling that looks whitewashed? This would come in 4×8 sheets. I love the look of that type of paneling and think it is lovely in a mobile home. You could use painted wider strips to cover the seems and it would have a cottage look to it. I have thought of doing this in my bedroom.
Good luck with your projects! You sound motivated to get to work!
Does anyone know of a Contractor that works on Mobile Homes. (Drywall, electrical, plumbing etc?) In the Orange Country/LA area.
Hello all, My husband and I purchased our mobile home over 10 years ago and we have tried a few methods to remove the strips between the wall panels, the best method we found was…
Drywall tape and compound… regardless of your method if your mobile home is not on a concrete/blacktop pad it will move/settle with the seasons. We used 2 methods…1) tape and mud joints only and 2) tape and mud joints and feather coat entire surface. Method 1 allowed more movement in the walls thus joints cracked Method 2 which we recommend is great with NO cracks.
Thanks for visiting our site and for taking the time to comment, Renee! Everyone is always asking the best way to get rid of the wall strips and you've offered two great ways based on your experience.
Happy remodeling!
The McGees
What do you mean, "feather coat entire surface"? I have done some drywalling, so I know how to make the seams nearly invisible (I'm not professional), but "entire surface"? Do you mean to coat the entire wall with mud?
You mean the whole wall….I am a woman doing mine…so what is feather coat? Is it a light coat and do you do that with same tool or with paint roller?
Has anyone covered their ceiling with a paneling? Specifically, I'm thinking of using a wood paneling to give it a cabin feel. The outside is already sided in cedar.
Hi Jordan. Thanks for visiting and for posting a comment! We have paneled our ceiling just recently and LOVE it. Here are the links to the two posts in which I write about it. http://www.mymobilehomemakeover.com/2014/04/mh-lr… http://www.mymobilehomemakeover.com/2014/04/mobil…
We are so happy with how this project turned out we plan to do it in another room…at least on the ceiling.
Good luck with your project! Happy remodeling!
The McGees
Thank you for all the ideas for removing the strips. Will try one of them and then paper, with heavy paper from Lowes. They do look bad.
Welcome, Goodie! And thank you for taking the time to comment. Good luck with your projects. If you think of it, please do come back and share your experience! It's so great to see how other people solve these problems and I love it when folks share their stories. Check us out at our facebook link too and comment there if you'd like.
Happy Remodeling!
The McGees
So far, I've used bead board to completely refinish walls in master bathroom. All the trim around windows & doors had to be replaced. Wainscot necessary for vaulted 14' ceilings. Our goal was to get rid of all the plastic! After paying contractor & buying all materials (we tiled floor, ripped out plastic garden tub, replaced skinny shower with much larger with bench. replaced all cabinets, etc.) we spent about $17,000 which I don't consider "cheap". Prior to that we had covered all the popcorn ceilings with a finer textured gypsum purchased from Palm Harbor factory because the feds won't allow them to be sold in 16' lengths to general public.
My next idea on the strips that I hope will be a bit less expensive is to replace the strips with a wider lattice-type strip, repeating once in between each 4' span if that makes sense & then caulking, priming & painting. Best to adhere these strips to walls before painting, as the thinner wood tends to warp if you paint or prime first. This whole process about the walls is a nightmare to me & costly to correct no matter what you do if you are old & have to pay for labor. When we bought this house over 30 years ago, it was the largest, most expensive doublewide on the market & we receive compliments on how sturdy it still seems; however, we have poured a lot of money into maintaining & improving. Good luck to all of you!
Hi Victoria. Thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to comment!
We have run into the problem of having the walls too high at the center for a whole sheet of whatever we are covering the walls with. I can relate to the $17,000 figure. Our first major overhaul included new floors throughout, a new bathroom, bedroom, new hand built wood skirting, all new windows, a pellet stove for heating, new water heater and pressure tank, and new wall coverings plus wainscot in three rooms. That totaled about $16,000. Not bad, I thought. But then in the last few years we have put on a new roof, added a concrete patio, another new bathroom, and a laundry room redo, a pergola, and a whole new living room. I don't even want to tally how much more we've spent. But it has really increased the value of our home so I'm not worried about it. I'm proud of you for keeping the same mobile home for 30 years and maintaining and improving it to your liking. That's quite a fete! We are almost at 20 years here. I think we'll stay a while and enjoy our hard work. You are correct, it is cheaper when you can do the work on your own and we do feel it more and more with each job we do ourselves. We can feel every nail hammered in these bones of ours! Good luck in your future projects….
The McGees
Do you have videos on the floor replacement…I have bad spot and in process of fixing it…I have searched online and found none that were detailed enough
What kind of floor replacement? Do you mean plywood subflooring over joists?
Our subfloors are 5/8" plywood throughout. We ripped out carpet & padding, screwed down hardy subfloor prior to tile. I've heard a floating wood floor is possible but all the floor guys I talked to did not like the idea for wet areas but I do know it's been done in wet areas. If your subfloor is MDF, not sure what to recommend.
Thanks for posting a comment Victoria. Our subfloor is MDF. We have put floating laminate floors in all rooms, including kitchen, laundry, and both bathrooms without any issues in 8 years thus far. Many of the laminate flooring choices are now fine for wet areas. There's also a great floating floor choice called Armstrong Allure that I believe is supposed to be water resistant. It looks like wood or tile and it is really easy to lay. We had it done in both bathrooms of my mother in law's house and it looks fantastic.
No doubt, we all hate the seam strips on walls! I was given a solution for covering the grooves in faux wood paneling that I feel would be a great solution for this issue in our vacation mobile home. A professional recommended using the paintable wall paper sold by Lowe's and Home Depot that has been mentioned. He said to apply a good wallpaper adhesive and apply the wallpaper horizontally rather than floor to ceiling. He said that
any hair lines where wallpaper strips come together is hidden when quality paint is used. I plan to do a small bathroom very soon to test this solution. This wallpaper product is thick enough to avoid filling the grooves in the wallboard but you could. Wish me luck!
O.P.B-
Thank you for visiting our site and for taking the time to comment and offer your helpful tips. You are brave indeed to tackle those wall strips. We have tried every way from Sunday to work around them and have had some hits and some misses. We wish you luck in your project and would love for you to come back and share your experience once finished!
All the best,
The McGees
I hate mobile home walls. They look so cheap. I have been looking at new mobile homes and some of them do not have the strips. I think it is just faster and cheaper to put the strips on. I scratch my head too trying to figure out what to do. Thanks for all the ideas.
Thanks for posting, Sonya!
We have two double wides. One had traditional mobile home walls with strips that were made of gypsum board. It is a 1995. We also own a newer double wide with sheet rock walls.
The sheet rock walls still have strips. I believe that in order to keep cracking and shifting covered up during transport or shifting in place over time, the strips are applied in order to keep this from being visible. We removed the strips and put wall paper over the walls in our older home. One day we went into one of the rooms that we were in every day and overnight, shifting had taken place that made the seam where the strip was (now under the wallpaper) shift and tear the paper on the wall. It was clear that some shifting had taken place and the strip would have hidden this. So, I think as long as manufactured homes have to be moved from one location to another or are not put on basement foundations or concrete foundations that will not shift, they will continue to include strips. However, my mother-in-law had one that was built in the late 80s that had stucko walls. These were sheet rock with stucco over the whole wall including to cover the seams. There has still been cracking in the stucco due to shifting in the home. I just don't think it's avoidable. The strips keep this from being obvious.
We have covered most of the walls in our older double wide and removed the strips. We are starting anew in our newer double wide. We are going to try covering with laminate flooring!
We will be sure to post about it on the blog once we do.
Good luck to you!
Consider using cloth material or cool, inexpensive alligator vinyl (look it up on Google images) on walls just as you would wallpaper. You'll have a designer finish you can be proud of!
Thanks, Wendy. I like this idea! I've seen pictures of alligator vinyl and while I never would have thought of it, it could be a neat idea. I also like the idea of fabric covered walls. The wallpaper we put in our bedroom is made with a fabric weave so it is really heavy and needed to be pasted, but it is beautiful. I have often thought about the possibility of covering walls with fabric. Thanks for these great ideas and for taking the time to post on our site.
The McGees
My husband and I just recent purchased a mobile home and I have been racking my brain for ideas on how to remove those strips and refinish the walls to make them look less, well, "cheap". The previous owner added cedar wood siding to the outside of the house so it looks like a small log cabin, which is really awesome! But, the guy was a bachelor and the inside definitely needs a woman's touch. I plan to pull up some of the carpet because it is just destroyed in certain areas and we have to refinish some walls where the guy cut holes to repair some piping damage and then just left it like that.
From what I'm gathering, removing the strips isn't as treacherous as it seems and, as long as we make sure the sheet rock is firmly in place, we can remove them without some terrible fiasco happening. Also, beadboard, wainscot, and paintable wallpaper are great ways to cover the not-so-perfect walls.
I'm loving the forum and all of the great info! So appreciative for it!
Hello Rachell, and thank you for your comment!
Of all of the questions we get here at Mymobilehomemakeover.com, the one about how to remove and cover the wall strips is THE MOST popular one. We have used several options. One room we covered in a thin luan board and then wallpapered and wainscoted. Another room we simply removed them, filled the seems with some DAP and then wallpapered. Another room we completely covered with beadboard, another room we completely covered with knotty pine tongue and groove. There are really so many solutions to this problem. It's just a matter of how much money you want to spend and how much energy you have to do the work. I did cover another room with some paintable wallpaper that is thick and designed for walls that have lots of blemishes. It worked pretty well, but I painted it with a soft-gloss paint. I'm getting ready to repaint it with a flat paint. I think it will look much more like stucco if it's done in flat. Right now it looks too much like a mobile home wallpapered wall for my liking!
I hope you have great success with all of the projects you have underway. We'd love to see pictures if you care to share them on our facebook page or send a link on our site here.
Happy remodeling!
The McGees
This is a great site. Also the luan board is very smart..is have thought about that idea too. A little costly for me which is why I’m trying to find out how I can best fill the spaces between the sheetrock.
What is Dap? How well did it work?
Nevermind about the dap…I found what you use on in one of your other answers..,thanks.
The luan was really pretty cheap, Tanya. They also make other less expensive sheets that are similar in thickness.
We papered over it and it looks fantastic. Plus, now we can hang things on our walls and they don't fall down! :-)
I took of the strips in my living room, filled it in with plaster several times. Painted it and what a mess, resealed the area with Kilz and painted again, still awful. Today I am buying sand to put into my paint and try again, very expensive so far and time consuming, but I really dislike the strips down the wall, it make it hard to decorate with pictures etc. I hope this sand in the paint works
Hi Norma. Thanks so much for your comment!
It's great to hear all of the ways people have tackled this problem of the wall strips. Our very first remodel project many years ago was exactly this project…to remove and paint over the wall strips in our living room. Unfortunately, it led to my husband and I both in tears…seriously :-). And our solution in our state of emergency was pretty ingenious. What I will say about that experience is just this….DON'T USE SPACKLE to cover the seams. You can use a soft joint filler or hole filler and smooth it out and let it dry, but don't use spackle. It is evil stuff.
If you have some photos of your solutions you can share, please post a link. We'd love to see them!
Happy remodeling,
The McGees
I filled in the cracks with drywall compound, then painted a heavy coat of primer on the whole wall with a roller with, I think, 1/4" nap. It textured both the plastic-coated drywall and the compound the same. Then I applied paint with the same type roller. It has a nice texture–almost but not quite smooth–and you can't tell where the seams were.
The hardest part was feathering out the edges of the seams. I used drywall mesh, so it stuck out just a wee bit. Ok, if you look real carefully, you can tell where the seams are because of that, but unless the light hits it just right, you can't tell.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Mary! We appreciate your visit to our site.
We removed the strips in my son's mobile home. We filled the gaps with silicone caulk and painted but the cracks showed more that we liked. We decided to texture the walls with a sea sponge and the results were good. It was time consuming but the results were worth the effort. The texture disguised the gaps very well. We used a light gray base with a bit darker shade of gray for the texture. Went very light with the sponge for a light texture but it can be done to suit your taste.
Hello, I have removed my strips, and mud and tape over the crack making sure that my sheet rock, was attached firmly to the studs,in some cases I have had to put some panel nail in to secured.i am working on my third room,you do not have to sand they have special sponges to use to smooth out the dry mud, also I wet my tape before I apply it to my sheetrock mud and it seems to help. I AM a loser woman and am doing this by myself but it seem to being doing fine.
I am a lone woman too doing this….I have removed the strips…and now want to proceed to next step…I have mud and tape…so no sandind.huh? That sounds wonderful
Cant you post a picture of the finished result of your work?
Hey, you are doing this yourself to make your home better. That is not a loser!
Working on a 1200sf now. Have used a black & decker sander to first sand out the paint edges left by the strip removal, then spatula in sheetrock joint compound as it comes for the straight strips. May take one more
sanding and a skim coat of joint compound to finish off the joints, even them out, cover the peeled paper that
may be there. I used Sheetrock brand outside corners, fantastic and simple to install using a paint stirrer, joint compound and a 3" roller,,,no better way to do it. The plan is to texture and knock-down. I use silicon in the inside corners, then joint compound either side and sand it. I'll let you know if it works. Using a small room to try all different ideas. Great site, thanks so much.
Thanks so much for posting, Brian. I hope your wall strip solutions and experiments go well. And please do come back and share if you can! This is one of the all time most popular questions we get…how to remove and repair the strips in these walls.
Happy remodeling!
The McGees
Thanks so much for your comments, Cowgirl! And also for visiting our site. I appreciate you sharing your hard gained wisdom on these topics. The walls in mobile homes are a special creature (as are popcorn ceilings) and I think one of the things we battle and scratch our heads over most. I have a dream that one day someone- maybe me!- will invent a really easy way to make those troubles all go away with a technique that takes one afternoon- is water based- and a few minutes clean up :-)
I am taking some time to look at the links you shared now and maybe they will spark some ideas for me.
Thanks again!
The McGees
A few thoughts: Spray foam insulation expands A LOT after you spray it in and is quite difficult to remove. I wouldn't go that route. If you are a pro at drywall bedding and taping, try using this: http://store.straitflex.com/product_p/ct-100.htm
If, however, like, me, you are NOT a drywall expert and, after using tape you are left with big, bulky, lumpy messes when you attempt this (particularly if your wall boards aren't level with one another), I would try to fill with a FLEXIBLE caulk and then texture.
I do recommend adding this to any texture compound you use this to help adhesion: http://store.straitflex.com/product_p/sb-12.htm
Speaking of texture, I bought Wagner's texture sprayer. Do not recommend. Bought this instead and plan to refill the bags with a turkey syringe: http://www.amazon.com/home-improvement/dp/B0058KF…
I lived in a gorgeous site-built house in town and I miss having those lovely orange peel walls in my favorite color. So….I did my daughters' room with the crack tape, Wagner texture sprayer, etc. HUGE mess. I am getting smarter as I go….I hope!
Great blog, by the way.
I just read somewhere that you can use calk to fill in the gaps (check with the home improvement store on the best one for your use and wall type) then once dry you can tape and mud it to make it smooth, then paint or wall paper over it. Just an idea
Yes, Patricia. This is what I've read and recommend to people since I've heard so many success stories about using this method.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing this!
Has anyone tried filling the gaps with spray foam insulation then covering with drywall tape. I am trying to come up with a way to rid myself of those strips as well. I have no idea where to start
Hi Mary! Thanks for visiting My Mobilehome Makeover and for commenting. You ask a great question. Those seams are just the peskiest annoyances in our homes aren't they? In our smaller bedroom, I believe we used a DAP spackle product that came in a little tub. It was white and really quite thin but like school paste…only chalkier. I cleaned out the seams really well and trimmed any of the wall covering (wallpapery junk they cover the walls with like flowery junk or stripes) around the edges of the seams. Then, I filled the seams with the DAP, and smoothed it down with a putty knife. It dries really quickly so within the day, I was able to sand with a find sanding block. It wasn't perfect, but it was pretty darned good. After it was all filled and smoothed and sanded, I covered the walls with paintable white textured wallpaper and painted it. I am really happy with the way it looks. No seams and a nice color. Good luck with your projects. Come back and let us know if you have success with filling your wall strips!
Thanks again.
The McGees
do i have to use a wallpaper after the dap spackle or can i just paint on top of that?
Hi Marcella. Thanks for visiting our site and for taking a moment to comment! You can cover your walls with wallpaper if you like. It depends upon whether or not you are satisfied with how well the dap spackle went on and how nicely it sanded down for you. If you like how it looks and it looks smooth without much or any mess, try painting over it without putting wallpaper on. If you paint it and you are unhappy with how it looks, you may want to use the wallpaper.
Happy remodeling!
The McGees
About how long would you estimate it takes a single person to do an entire double wide worth of these strips?
Hi Blair. Thanks for commenting.
I really couldn't say how long it would take to do it. We did each room at different times using different techniques. My best advice is to try the smallest room first and be patient with yourself and the work. Do a room you don't have to use right away…one that you can have out of commission for as long as it takes. Take your time and note all of the efficient things you do in the process. Then, do those things on the next room. We always come up with an efficient routine for things and try to stick with them. This has worked well for us on each project, but we did the wall strips differently in each room so we could experiment with many different solutions.
There are a ton of examples of how people do this on the Web. Search Youtube and Google for lots of inspiration on this topic. Plus, you can search the comments from others on the post here that you commented on and you should find some great tips on how others have done it.
Good luck to you in the process!
The McGees
Thanks for all the ideas on how to get rid of the ugly strips..(Why do they do that?) I SIT HERE EVERYDAY trying to figure OUT HOW TO GET RID OF THEM. I have thought of the bead board and was pondering trying the spackle. I have also ordered some very real looking brick wallpaper (Vinyl) for an accent wall in the living room which will have a 60 inch flat screen on the wall with an electric fireplace piece below it so that will take away from any subtle remnants of the strips. Also hate that we have no molding around the floors..we are preparing to put in hardwool floors and will have our carpenter put the baseboards in for us. Has anyone tried to remove the large garden tubs and replaced them with a regular tub??? Bathrooms are next project :)
Thanks for commenting, Trish!
It sounds like you have a good project or two in the works. Are you doing real hard wood? Or laminate wood look?
In our first bathroom remodel, we did remove a garden tub and replaced it with a really nice house-style bathtub. It is a deep tub and has a rope design around the edge. It was pretty easy to do. If the opening isn't big enough, it may require reworking the mini wall behind the tub to squeeze it in, but for the most part, that wasn't a problem for us. I blog about it here: http://www.mymobilehomemakeover.com/2010/08/mobil…
Good luck to you in your projects. And if you find a workable solution to the strips, please come back and share!
The McGees
we have put in manufactured wood in our mobile home i wish i would have researched a bit more and gone with the bamboo floors but i am still happy
We've put laminate in every room, Cindy. We love all of them…they are all different. But, we do have one regret. Our great room has a dark wood laminate in it. We have two short haired dogs and one of them sheds. They both drool (Boxers!) and leave spit and footprints and hair on the floor every day. If we had a lighter color floor, this wouldn't be so noticeable. As much as I love the floor and love the dogs, I really wish we had made a different choice with the flooring. Keep this in mind if you replace another floor and have pets. Dark flooring is beautiful, but also shows every mess!
Bamboo is really nice. It's a nice warm flooring.
We removed the garden tub and the sinks that was on each side of the tub. Replace the sink on the left of the tub and the tub area with new cabinets and double sinks. The sink on the right side of the tub became our new 60" shower and a new closet where the old shower was. If you would like to know more email me.
Hi Clara. Thanks so much for your comment.
If you have pictures online of your work, please do share a link here or on our facebook page. We'd love to see it!
Happy remodeling!
The McGees
Hey Clara,
we are considering in the near future to remove the garden tub and the stand up shower and replace with a tub shower combination. I think we may run into issues with the flooring under the shower as the drain was leaking, did you have any issues with your subfloor?
Thank you for commenting and visiting our site, Becky.
We did have issues with our subfloor around our toilet. We cut a small portion there out and then put Georgia Pacific DryPly plywood down. It repels water and keeps from rotting in wet rooms.
Here's a video about it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hinm26omhAI
We got it at Lowe's.
There was also a piece of 2×6 floor joist that had rotted. We simply cut out the bad piece, cut a longer new piece, and mounted it to the two ends of where we cut out of the old piece.
It has held up very nicely for nearly 10 years. I would go under the house and be sure there isn't further damage or sitting water in the underbelly (inside the plastic barrier of the floor) of the home so there isn't moisture trapped there when you have installed new, quality flooring. Make sure everything is insulated and sealed up well. Install the new plywood, and lay new flooring.
We installed the new flooring under the new shower pan, rather than right up to it. We wanted it to be solid under the shower, so this was our plan.
Good luck with your project. Feel free to come back and post questions, or visit our facebook page for advice.
I pulled out the tub and installed a walk-in tile shower the same size, removed the old shower and put in a nice broom &I linen closet. I used glass blocks for 1/2 wall that faces sink so additional light enters the shower are. I also installed a corner bench inside the shower and built in shelves. It is GREAT!! Cost was over $4000 because we also tiled floor.
Happy decorating!!
Julie
Julie- Thanks so much for sharing your story. It sounds magnificent! Our son recently did a tile wall around a tub in his bathroom and it looks terrific. People often question whether or not tile should be installed in a mobile home because of weight and shift. I have seen some really terrific tile installs. I'd be curious about long term results. If you have a chance, we'd love to see pics of your project. You can share those on our facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/mobilehomemakeover
Happy remodeling!
I did a whole bathroom remodel with a jacoozi tub it worked fantastic looks like a picture that came out of homes fabulous bathrooms. remember to put concrete under the tub to hold the weight of tub and the water.
Thank you for commenting! I was afraid to do a jacuzzi tub because of how much plumbing they involve. We bought a hot tub for outside instead! Good for you for being courageous enough to install one :-) Good advice regarding concrete under the tub. We did not do this, but our tub is deep, just not super wide like a jacuzzi.
I am currently trying Fast 'N Final Lightweight Spackle by DAP ($6.00 at Lowe's) for filling the seems on a wall. I'm using my son's old room as an experimental room for different products. I am considering using Behr Texture paint and doing a "knock down" texture that can look like plaster. Has anyone used this product yet?
I'll report on my success or failure with the DAP product once I figure out what to do with this wall.
What do you mean by knock down texture?
Thanks for visiting and commenting, Tanya.
Here's a video instructional about knockdown texture. There are other videos on Youtube that show different techniques, this one is just really thorough. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5meqkchHsE
Good luck with your projects!
I've used Behr Texture paint multiple times and it works beautifully. The only thing I recommend is to use a primer (or paint+primer) OVER the texture paint to ensure a good stick with your top coat paint color. I've also found it helpful to apply the paint and the texture effect over just a few square feet at once, as the paint begins to set fairly quickly.
I know this comment is a bit late but maybe it'll be helpful to someone. :)
Thanks for sharing your experience, Joelle. I agree. We used textured wallpaper once to cover one of the walls in our home. We did not use a primer over top of it before painting and it constantly needs retouching. So, this advice is sound weather using texture paint or texture wallpaper. No comments are too late. This list of comments/ideas just grows on forever. It's great that people continue to provide their experiences here. I hope you are all doing so for years to come. :-)
I have used DAP joint compound and mesh tape. Fill in the crack, cover with mesh and cover that with compound. Kilz paint the wall, then use the DAP again and a plastic bag wadded up to give a texture then paint with quality paint. I have done a bathroom and kitchen. Currently working on the living room. Have not had any issues! I did the bathroom first. It's been about 9 months and it still looks great.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Augie!
I have used DAP joint compound and mesh tape. Fill in the crack, cover with mesh and cover that with compound. Kilz paint the wall, then use the DAP again and a plastic bag wadded up to give a texture then paint with quality paint. I have done a bathroom and kitchen. Currently working on the living room. Have not had any issues! I did the bathroom first. It's been about 9 months and it still looks great. Also, the trim at the top of the wall…take it down and give it a light sanding. It gives a rustic look! I filled in the nail holes with a litte dab of wood filler first then sanded, lightly. Just a touch of stain over the wood filler and wipe quickly. Love the look!
Thanks, Augie. This is great information. Visitors to our site are always looking for the best way to fill the seams where wall strips have been. It's the most visited post on our site. We appreciate your input.
Yes it works good but make sure to use a good primer first before painting on the knock down ,& if you have any lose vinyl cut it off & prime to have a good adhesion .
I totally agree about the wainscot. I plan to use some in my living room with a light designer gray color. Pics of that will follow for sure :)
I replaced some of that stripping. I found if you make sure the existing drywall is secured to the joists/wall you wont get that separation. I used a FINE spackle as opposed to the more thick kind. It's so much easier to work with and leaves a more perfect finish with less sanding. Also I used latex semi-gloss paint as it's more forgiving than matte finishes. It's not pristine but you'd really have to look very close at certain angles to tell. This to me is a much better alternative to the ugly strips of wood. I'll post before and after pics soon.
What brand of spackle did you use?
I use DAP Drydex http://www.amazon.com/DAP-12330-Indicator-Spackli…
Here's the reply I sent Skrapwood on the forum:
Hi Skrapwood! Thanks so much for helping us to build our forum.
We have tried several different things and have had some successes and some failures. We spent a lot of money on a beautiful fabric wallpaper for our bedroom. We put a wide strip of wall repair plain wallpaper over the spots between the wallboard pieces. I think the strips we used were too wide as they are visible under the nice wallpaper.
Link to pic:
http://www.mymobilehomemakeover.com/wp-content/up…
In a bathroom we redid, we used only the wall repair wallpaper and painted it when we were done. This worked fairly well, but in some spots you can still tell there is an empty strip below the paper. A few things we have done to our walls that we are happy with are as follows:
In our living room, we used a spongy, thick wallpaper that looks like marble. We purchased it at Lowes. It was pretty inexpensive, like less than 15$ per roll. We put white wainscot on the bottom of many of our walls just to provide extra insulation on exterior walls, as well as to get rid of the empty strip sections you're talking about at least on the bottom of the walls. Plus, it looks more like a house with wainscot. Home Depot has a really simple, inexpensive wainscot product that comes with a top and bottom rail, then you get packages of 8" wainscot sections that slide into one another. It's so easy we've done a whole bathroom after work in an evening.
Livingroom pics:
http://www.mymobilehomemakeover.com/wp-content/up…
http://www.mymobilehomemakeover.com/wp-content/up…
The spongy wallpaper can also be purchased with a few different textures and colorless so you can paint it. Just look for wallpaper that suggests that it is for wall repair or covers bad walls. Lowe's has several to choose from. The wallpaper we special ordered for the bathroom I mentioned above wasn't as thick as I would have liked it. It's hard to judge when you are looking at it online.
I know you said you didn't want to replace the drywall, but we have replaced several walls (and even one ceiling in our bathroom) with beadboard. It looks fantastic, doesn't need to be painted, and when you use trim pieces to cover the seams, you get a "cottage" look that just looks great.
We have tried spackling it. HUGE mistake. One of the biggest, most depressing blunders we have ever had while remodeling our mobile home. I do not recommend it at all.
I hope some of these ideas spark new ideas for you. Please feel free to reply and ask about any of them. I'm happy to elaborate. And, as always, if you find a great solution to this really annoying problem for all mobile home owners (right up there with popcorn ceilings!), please come back and share your solution with us all here.
Good luck!
Beth and Darren
Hi Beth,
Do you have pictures of your bathroom?
Also, why was the spackling a huge mistake?
Thanks,
Jordan
Hi Jordan. Thanks for taking the time to visit and comment! Here are links to each of the bathroom remodels we have done. We have done one of them twice…once to tie us over while the kids were still living at home and then once to make it a grown up bathroom when we became empty nesters. Here are the links:
http://www.mymobilehomemakeover.com/2013/01/a-bat…
http://www.mymobilehomemakeover.com/2013/05/givin…
http://www.mymobilehomemakeover.com/2010/08/mobil…
Happy Remodeling!
The McGees
BTW- we used spackle when we didn't know how to do it. It was way too thick and heavy for the walls. We use DAP filler for so many things. In one bedroom I used that method and then wallpapered over it. It came out great. Personally, I think spackle is too heavy for these walls, especially when they are made out of the cheap, thin gypsum that is covered in vinyl. Good luck to you in your projects.
Happy remodeling!
The McGees
I am pretty sure that those vertical strips r there for a reason being that in a mobile home not set on a basement type of foundation they work the same way floating laminate floors do example,,, ive been in mobile homes that were remodeled with drywall so of course the vertical strips were removed and so the all the doors were very difficult to open bcuz the walls had shifted and due to the walls the home was built with weren't there and smthn that did not shift as meant to be "buckled" I was going to take off the vertical moldings and spackle them in but was told the walls r made that way for a reason I have been trying to find smthn to just cover them
Thanks for visiting and commenting, Alicia.
We do have a room where the house has shifted and it actually shifted and buckled the seam in the wall after we removed the trim piece and wallpapered over it then replaced the strips. In all of our other rooms we have recovered the walls with either knotty pine, Luan, sheet rock, or bead board, so this doesn't happen in those rooms. It only happened in the room we left the strips in :-). Looks kind of awkward. I'm hoping to remove the strips and cover the walls in something more interesting so it doesn't happen again.
We've had success with all of the wall coverings I suggested above. Perhaps one would work for you?