“It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity!” “It never rains, it only pours!”
If I had a nickel for every time I said these things this year, I’d be a rich woman. The amount of moisture in the air since the Spring has just overwhelmed our home and our ground and our community. The purpose of this post is to share a few ideas we’re toying with regarding moisture control, but also to offer some great resources we’ve found in our search for ways to secure our home from the horrors of moisture damage.
But! Let me take a breather before I get into this post. It will be full of information about moisture in our mobile homes, but it involves hard work, observation, preventative measures, and cleaning methods. I always like to think of something I like before I tackle things I’m not fond of, and in keeping with the theme of moisture, I had an urge to watch one of my favorite movie clips of all time. Please excuse us while we pause for this brief break…
Okay, now, back to business!
As I was saying, moisture can be a big issue for mobile homes. We tend to suffer with pretty poor insulation. Many states and the federal government developed new building standards for manufactured housing in the late 90’s. Our home was built in ’95. Enough said…but yet, I go on… The insulation, windows, and studding quality is questionable at best. Don’t get me wrong, we love our home and have worked hard to make it more energy efficient, but it seems that as we make changes, more challenges arise that we need to find ways to correct. One simple tip is to use a dehumidifier. These can be expensive, but you can often find one reasonably priced on Craigslist.
The first mistake we made when putting our house on the property was to use only footers for support. Footers are concrete forms that are a little more than a foot wide and run the width of the home from front to back. They are placed several feet apart and then the home is propped on cinder blocks supported by these footers. This method leaves mostly dirt in your crawl space. In our area, the soil content is mostly clay. Clay retains water pretty well and the yard around our home was not graded well or prepared for proper drainage. The home actually sits downhill from the road and yard in front of it, allowing water to drain downhill under the house. Water also collects with each rainfall around the edges of the home and really has nowhere to go but under it.
Here’s a link to a great document about Moisture Problems in Manufactured Homes put out by HUD (Housing and Urban Development). It lays out the many problem areas for moisture in your mobile home and some solutions to these issues. One helpful tip in this document that we will be trying this year is to cover the ground under our double wide with 6 mil plastic sheeting. We built wood skirting three years ago and even though we put four vents (1 for each side) in the skirting, it still retains much more moisture than regular vinyl skirting would. Add that to the saturated clay dirt from a damp Spring and Summer and you get musty, moldy dampness. This can’t be good.
Our plan was to by a roll of 20′ x 100′ 6 mil plastic sheeting (about $100 at Lowe’s) and run 20′ widths from front to back, using a staple gun to fasten the plastic to the bottom frames of the skirting. This should keep the plastic firmly in place, and any water that drains under the home should actually drain into the ground beneath the plastic. The damp ground will no longer share the same space as the underside of our home. It was our plan to complete this project this Fall and to replace our 14 year old heat tape at the same time. However, our love of attending NASCAR races and our season hockey tickets have caused us to play hooky from housework on the weekends over the last month…and I think we’re running out of time.
My dream of what it would look like (picture links to another great article from Inspectapedia.com> about sealing under your home):
Home crawl space lined with plastic
But after reading this great article. Isolating The House From The Earth, from Dirt-Crawl-Spaces.com and others on their website, I’ve had an even better idea.
The writer suggests that 6 mil plastic may be fine, but people report that repair is often necessary after entering the crawl space. They suggest that plastic the thickness of a pool liner would be better suited for such installations. Well, I have personally been in the position of having a swimming pool liner that I didn’t know what to do with when it became stretched or torn. TWICE! I have to believe there are people in our community who would love to recycle their pool liner that has been sitting in their garage while the guilt of throwing it in the landfill was just too much for them to bear. So, now, I begin my quest for enough swimming pool liner in need of being recycled to complete this project next Spring.
In many homes, the heating system’s ducts would offer a bit more ventilation/warmth under the home and keep things from being so damp. However, we have installed a pellet stove to heat our home and only run the furnace about once per month just to keep it from getting rusty. In the winter months, the pellet stove keeps the interior of our home so dry, we actually have to run a humidifier to keep the static and dust down. But once the Spring months come and the stove goes off, the humidity climbs once again.
One thing I found interesting in the HUD document I offered above was an item about ventless gas stoves. We used to have one before our pellet stove was installed. The installer said that propane burns with much more moisture so it feels warmer in the home. We didn’t realize that heating this way with a ventless stove rather than the furnace or vented pellet stove would trap moisture in our home even more, or that this could be a bad thing. I will put together an article on heating with various types of stoves in mobile homes soon.
Because our home sits in a dip, the water collects in our side dooryard once the snow begins to melt. Last year, we expanded the garden in that area and put a sidewalk where standing water was always a problem. We enlarged the garden two years ago and that helped considerably, so this year we did it up big and covered the whole area that was a problem with a garden. We’re hoping this garden will soak up all of the water that might collect there in the Spring. This becomes dangerous because in the Spring in Upstate New York, we’ve had 90 degrees at the end of April, and then snow on Mother’s Day. Mother Nature really has a sense of humor here. (Yes, this article is being submitted on October 29th, and two days ago we had 3 inches of snow) Once all of the snow melts, and then we get another cold spell, all of that water turns to ice….in our yard…where we walk. So! You can see why we want it to be controlled.
You can see the size of the old garden where the new mulch line is.
We’ll keep you updated on our moisture issues and would love to hear about your own concerns, fixes, and questions regarding moisture in mobile homes. How are you dealing with it? Have you had success with controlling it? Let us know in the comments area below!
Stay dry and warm!
The McGees
Its good to see that you thought footers were a big problem for your mobile home. My parents home is starting to smell weird and have moisture issues. I'll let them know that they should call a professional soon so they can get it fixed.
My mom has a mobile home only 3 years old. It has a terrible musty odour both inside and out. It sits on concrete pillars and has ventilation in the plastic skirting. There is not plastic on the ground underneath, is this the reason for the musty smell? How do you attach plastic so you still have ventilation? Help!!
I love this website you all are so helpful! I just purchased a double wide mobile home and realize there is serious mold issues. I’m new to the Lexington Park Maryland area. Do you all know of a company that inspects and repairs the underbelly of mobile homes in this area? I’m seeking to have a safe and clean home.
Thank you for visiting our site Elenora.
I am not familiar with the Lexington Park area. We travel to Rehoboth every other year or so though! Beautiful state. The best advice I can offer is to find someone who inspects homes for mobile home parks or find a home inspector from an area you know there are a lot of mobile home parks. When we bought a home in Florida a few years ago (FL is saturated with mobile home parks on every corner!), the home inspector we found had been doing inspections on mobile homes for years and had even lived in one for most of his life. We received an amazingly thorough inspection from him for about $400. It gave us great peace of mind having his report with pictures and descriptions of things that should be fixed soon or later, or were in great condition. A mobile home parts store in your area may also have a few referrals for you.
I'm sorry I don't know anyone specifically to refer you to here. Good luck with your search. I hope you enjoy living in your mobile home!
Great tip on using a humidifier for when the pellet stove dries out the air. Thanks!
Very good article about the "sponge" under mobile homes this mobile home is 100% loose dirt underneath Last fall was a mold invasion probably when it was raining and had to keep all windows closed with cold weather then I got a thermostat /indoor humidity which went up to 75% yesterday when the water heater had been spraying from a main pipe for a very long time (indirect from the closet of main bedroom). Have a mini dehumidifier also using the DampRid right now which hang from the clothes line. I have two main windows open today in WI . . . humidity in this room is less and going down maybe I should get the hair dryer for the carpet in front of the water heater. rain last night :indoor humidity increase ++ ; Have extra tarps and large rocks to keep the tarps in place.
I know what a challenge the mold situation can be. So hard to mitigate and get under control.
My mother-in-law's water heater burst when she was on vacation and ran water all through the hall and two bedrooms for two days. So much work had to be done to repair the floors and bottoms of the walls. I'm sorry your having such a challenge with humidity. It seems like these homes aren't really buttoned up well enough to trap so much humidity, but it sure does happen.
I hope you can find some solutions soon. Thank you for visiting our website.
hi we purchased a new doublewide home in 2003, , we have heavy clay soil, ,,and jerks, didn't slope land good enough, , , the I beams where getting a little too much surface corrosion, which, freaked me out, and , so was the belly wrap, and woo skirting, , heres what ive done, , I used a drill, and 2 different steel brushes, mask, , knee and elbow pads, , , crawled under every inch, with headlamp, goggles, ect., , in some spots, only 15 inches of crawwwwwlspace, ,and slowly derusted, as much surface rust as could, every angle, of all steel beams, , wiped off, all loose rust dust, , right after, as best as could, 1904 sq. ft., then, used a paint made for rust protection on it, , before I did this, I had gutters installed, with , very long diverters, on the ends, and had some guys help me to , , build dirt moud, under the rear gutter spouts to , pitch, the water , through diverters, by gravity, , dirt, and cinder blocks, , dryed out the crawl space floor barrier, , jerks had a few low spots, where rain water would sit forever, the cause of excessive moisture to begin with, and , , , once dry, then the ibeams where dealt whith, then, replaced 2 passive air vents, jerks, blocked off 2 of them, replacing another 2-4 this year, want it dryer, its good now, but want better, then, jerks had holes in floor barrier, had to seal them up, or all the big ones, at least, down to inch size, , , , then hand dig, behind rear exterior of home, a ditch, few feet wide, with a trench, going around the side of home with best downward slope, clay weighs more than wet cement, ,, extreme heavy labor, don't get injured, , , , and , also repaired almost every wood skirting board, due to clay dirt from , yard, up against, it, , can be repaired with wood hardener, and bondo, for any soft, wood spots, , we cannot afford escavator, , right now, soi do everything I can, to keep it dry, inside and out, , weve only lived in it 12, 13 years, , , still doing somemore, outside sloping away as best I can, by hand, , away from the wood skirting, and from going under the crawl, finally stapled a cut to size pond liner , on very bottom of wood skirting all around, , and used med. size rocks to hold it down to ground, , easy, cheap, and will need to remove , every year to waterproof wood, as we always do, so you don't want to stake it in ground.,i did this all myself, , , grabbing all info., from internet, most of it, like pond liner was , own common sense, now its not , house beautiful, but , it works, and , if you, crawl under your mobile home crawl and see too much moisture, , your going to freak out, and need to act quickly, , , , still doing a few upgades, and always inspecting, also, buttoned up, all, areas, where varmits, pests could get in, and keep checking forinsects, while under there , regulary, , we don't have, and don't want, , also, if its dry, you can dust , good amount of food grade diatomaceous earth powder , all over every inch of , floor barrier, wrap, , for added protection, , I plan on, treating the wood skirting this year , , for proection against that very thing, , since , with cement, , anchor strap areas, I will not be able to trench, completely, my husband , doesn't seem to care , or believe me that there even was aproblem too begin with, , I work full time, and , I just thank god im physically able to do all this, , and without the internet, would never , have gotten all the info., on crawlspaces, to vent, keep dry, , slope of land, soil type, ect., , French drain wouldn't have worked for us , and way too expensive for workin class folks, , my husband is a retired vet, and sometimes you can ask for , some volenteers to help you with some , small repair jobs, , of course you supply materials, and figure out in advance what needs be done and how to do., there are ways to figure things out for poor , workin class folks, , because most stuff, especially, on mobile homes are never discussed, , and ask contractors, even if you cant afford them, about the slope of land ect., , the guys from the vets, helped me , evaluate the slope, we put our heads together, without going broke, right amount of , passive air vents, not too many , not too few, , , repair floor , vapor barrier, no holes, , , no sitting water, , belly wrap inspection, good, , no holes, , , button up, , gutters, with diverters, , , , gravity feed, , slpoe away from , foundation,inspect for everything, yearly
Hi Ruth!
Thanks so much for visiting our site and sharing so much great information with us!
We hope to do a lot of upgrades under our home this Summer including new water lines, new vapor barrier on the underside of the home, lining the ground under the house and new skirting. We built 2×4 framed plywood skirting over 10 years ago and it's time to build new as long as we are going to be tearing things out under the house. We have terrible clay soil as well, so I know what you mean. When we built our first wood skirting a decade ago, we trenched around the house as you suggested. This was really helpful in keeping the ground under the house higher than the ground around it so water would pool around it rather than go under it. While it's musty, it's pretty dry under the house. We did vent the skirting on all sides so it does get some exposure to air.
My husband and I have both been under our home more times than we care to think about! Last year, I spent hours installing new heat tape and insulation by myself because he was out of town. I hated every minute of it, but it felt good to know I could do that task on my own when I have to without the help of someone else. The older we get, though, the harder it is to get under there!
It sounds like you have a great plan for keeping your place up to date. If you have a chance, feel free to pop over to our Facebook page and share some pics of your setup.
Thanks again for sharing all of this valuable info!
Beth
Great long feed. Thanks
This is great!!! I purchased my double wide in 2013, which I believe was manufactured in 1985 and I have gradually been doing minor upgrades. The most important thing that needs to be done is getting rid of the water and moisture underneath the home. It seems the home sits in hole so to speak and of course that creates huge muddy, wet mess. Once the weather gets a little colder and I know for sure there will be no slithering ones under there I will do some investigating and hope to get a plan of action…. So this is great seeing others post on what they have done and how to go about making changes to mobile homes.
Thanks so much for commenting and visiting! I see from your email address you are not far from us. It will be cold enough here soon for sure!
We have been looking at what they call "crawl space encapsulation" where they completely cover the underside and ground under your home with heavy mil plastic to keep the moisture away from it. We don't have that much moisture under our home, but it is exposed to the dirt. I was speaking with someone this week about alternatives that might use recycled products for this purpose. She mentioned she has disposed of 2 solar pool covers over the years that are 16' x 32'. I thought, what a great use for these! They could easily be laid out on the ground under a mobile home to keep the moisture from the ground from exposure to the underside of the home. I am going to consider this for next spring if we can find a resource for these where people recycle them.
Check for leaks around water areas in your home under the house to be sure some of the moisture isn't coming from the water lines and fixtures or septic lines. Also, be sure the underside of the home is well vented. At least one 4"x 10" vent on each end of the home to allow air circulation. You want to be sure to keep cold air out, but there does need to be air flow under the home. This may help inhibit mold and mildew growth. Good luck to you!
Your garden landscape is gorgeous. Good Job !!!
Thank you! They get better every year.
I just bought a module single wide home and I am remodeling my babies room before she gets here. I just had to replace the roof because it was leaking. But now I have pulled the sheet rock off and insulation out from the outside wall and I can see the bear metal that is my siding. When ever it rains the siding becomes really damp like condensation on a cup. I don’t want to put the insulation back in and sheet rock if it’s just going to get ruined and cause black mold again. What should I do without having to replace the siding of my home.
Thanks for visiting, Joshua.
You could install some of the hard foam insulation board against the aluminum siding and then replace the fiberglass insulation with a heavier insulation grade. Ultimately, you may want to remove all the siding, install foam board, wrap with Tyvek wrap and reinstall the siding. This would create a vapor barrier around the house and keep the insulation dry. Even in our 1995 double wide, we have a layer of vapor wrap that is about as thick as the sheet that lays on top of a Whitman's Sampler candy box. It's pathetic.
Good luck with your project!
Place a thin piece of cardboard or foam board on the outside then put exterior tin on. The foam will keep tin from sweating. Then insult plastic barrier 6mil the your sheetrock. Hope that helps. Lonnie C Rocky Mountain Mobile Home Transport/Service Inc.
I recently bought a new house, which has even got a swimming pool. I am excited to take a dip in that, but before that, I must clean it.
Hi there. Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting. Good luck to you with your cleaning project. It can be challenging to clean up after previous owners. You might find my book helpful. I've owned a professional residential cleaning business for over 20 years and have written a book about the method, products, and tools I use to get the job done most thoroughly and efficiently. You can find the link here:
http://www.mymobilehomemakeover.com/2016/08/get-h…
I bought a 1974 North American 2 bedroom 1 bath mobile home about 8 yrs ago. Two years later the central air was history and I didn't have the funds to replace it. Two years later the furnace went out over Christmas. I replaced the furnace but not the central air because of cost. I simply couldn't afford it. This year I had to rip out and replace every floor in the trailer due to rot from the humidity. I have a big air conditioner that tries to cool the place but the moisture in the trailer is still horrible and I still can't afford a new central air unit. Will a dehumidifier help or not? I have even considered window awnings depending on what they cost. I have three sets of windows in the living room that are in sets of three so figure nine windows. I covered all of them to try and keep the sun out.
Thanks so much for visiting, Denise, and for your comment!
I’m curious about the general area you live in that you have so much humidity. Can you share that with me? If the issue is moisture getting up under the home, in my experience, securing the under belly of the home is key. Our home is not on a concrete pad, but rather a series of concrete footers (see the post you commented on for a visual). It is exposed to the ground, which is primarily clay dirt, and it holds moisture pretty well under there. I’ve often contemplated putting a dehumidifier UNDER the house! The best solution we’ve found is good insulation and wrapping the underside of the house in 6mil plastic to keep out the moisture from the ground below.
I would think a dehumidifier IN the house would certainly make a difference. My mother uses one in the basement of her modular home and it takes a lot of water out of the air. Water which would be collecting on her items in that area and compromising the framing of the house above it if not removed regularly. Can you consider window air conditioners? The expense is much lower. That’s how we cool our home now…one 16k btu in our living room, and two 5k units in a bedroom and the kitchen. They all keep the house very cool and the humidity down. Depending upon where you are located, this may be the best time of year to pick them up, as they may be on sale for end of season. Unless you are in the deep South…then I don’t think they ever go on sale :-(.
I will be reporting eventually on how much of an improvement our new windows make in our home. We have huge windows ( 57×53) in nearly all of our rooms. Our single pane windows just aren’t cutting it. They used to be fine when we had the low-e window film on them, but we took that off recently and were going to do a new application to replace the old, then decided to go for it with the window installation.
We would love to hear if you come up with a solution!
We are having the under side if manufactured house repaired and they are not putting the plastic underbelly. Where do you get it and should it be there?
Hi Diana!
Thanks for visiting and commenting!
We did some heating vent repair several years ago and had to tear into the underbelly. It is important to keep the underside covered in order to keep critters and moisture out. Especially if your house is on long footers or bare dirt instead of a concrete slab. If you live in a cold climate, the plastic underbelly with protect the insulation under your home and keep mold and moisture out. We purchased some sticky repair tape specifically for this purpose and we were not happy with it. It didn't stick for very long and was expensive. We found it online at a mobile home supply site.
I would imagine you could probably use a basic black 6 mil. plastic available at Home Depot and use Gorilla tape. That stuff will stick to anything, even if it's damp. We will be doing more heating duct work this summer and have planned to use the same materials to seal it back up.
Good luck with your project. I hope you get your repairs done properly without much trouble and that you have luck with whatever methods you use to seal things up.
Hey there, my husband and I just bought our first home, it’s a double wide 2004 legacy. We’re in sherman Texas, or texoma- north east Texas. There’s a spring head about ten feet from the house. The land underneath the house has settled a bit, so rain puddles under and around. We’d like to have the home leveled but knowing the spring head is right there means we need to be mindful of potential flooding.
A friend had a French drain installed under hers after raising the ground twice and then said she had hay dikes put all around instead of skirting, leaving gaps with grates for ventilation. What on earth are hay dikes and could this work for us?
Hi Andrea! Congratulations on the purchase of your home! And thank you for visiting our site. A "hay dike" is also known as a "straw bale dike" and I don't think it will be a good solution for your situation. But, that's just my opinion. These are normally considered a temporary fix for an expected water event such as flooding, high rains during a predictable rainy season, and such, to keep the ground from eroding. But not for long term or permanent situation. This document suggests this is only a workable solution for up to 3 months. I imagine the hay will start to stink and perhaps ferment and smell like silage eventually if it's out in the elements for a long period of time. It also shows how to construct a hay dike if you choose to use that method for a period of time.
https://www.larimer.org/highparkfire/2012_Straw_B…
I hope you find a workable solution. Perhaps digging some trenches and running some perforated pvc pipe under the home and diverting water away from the it might help. We do that with farmed fields near our home all the time. I'm sorry if I can't be of more help. We do suffer some of our own water issues as a high ditch is across the road from our home and the slues pipe in it isn't up to standard size, so it overflows and floods our driveway and our yard from time to time. We wish we could find a workable solution for this as well. Perhaps a hay dike would work for us! Good luck to you.
I’m in a 93 14×76 Horton in WV. I’ve been thru Hell with Mold in this home and I’ll get I to that more later but my ? For now is the musky eye burning dinginess is intoxicating “before” it rains…..Any comments or advice…thanx,bill
Hi William.
Thank you for posting!
I'm not sure I understand your question. Could you elaborate please?
I have a 2014 single wide on a slab and they did put down plastic, not sure the thickness. I have a skirt of LP 50 year Siding with several vents but we have had three yard floods in the year and a half I’ve been here. I’m in South East Texas so freezing is not an issue, humidity is. I’m not sure how well the ground dries after rain or flooding because I’m not able to access the area. Should I hire someone to go under and look? What would I tell them to look for, moisture or mold on the plastic or on the underside of my home?
Thanks for the info, I will be reading more of your links!
Nadyne
Thanks for visiting and commenting Nadyne.
Welcome to our site!
I cant advise you about moisture and mold under your home. But I can tell you that we have one manufactured home in Upstate NY that has had a couple of yard floods. This home is on footers, which are concrete sections about 8 feet apart and the home is on pavers and cinder blocks on these concrete slabs. The ground is pretty damp under there and it stays that way all year round. We have not experienced any mold. Our skirting is hand built plywood and 2×4 framed wood skirt with vents on all sides. The inside of the wood sometimes gets a little mildew on it, but for the most part, nothing. We haven't seen any mold on the plastic underbelly of the home.
I was just under there last week tearing out old and installing new heat tape and it looked great. It has been there for 20 years.
If I am concerned about anything in my home, I pay a professional to check it out. It just makes sense to be sure you are living in a safe home that isn't going to make you sick. I would be careful and do a lot of research about local businesses that do this kind of work. Their goal may be to sell you mitigation products and you don't want to be taken advantage of. If you can go under and check it out yourself, do so. If it looks fairly good, and you feel comfortable with it, make a choice about whether or not you want to live with it.
You live where there's a lot of warmth. We get warmth in Upstate NY, but we also get enough cold to kill just about anything 6 months out of the year. Our experience may just be different than yours.
We had a home inspection done on the home we just purchased in Florida. He went under, above, around, and inside so much stuff on our home. This cost us about $500 total and was well worth every cent. If you can find a home inspector that is well versed in mold situations as well, it might be worth it to have a full home inspection done instead so you can see if there are any other serious issues you should address that you can learn about for the same price.
I hope this info is helpful!
I am glad to find this section too, as we are in panic mode now trying to hold on to our home. All suggestions for correction will be gladly appreciated as the manufacturered home appears to be shifting on the foundation. The house has been up for 14 years, looks good on the inside but outside, the brick underframing is pushing in and makes the house look like it may cave in oneday. The house is on land that is soft and is near a lake There is mostly dirt in our crawl space and In our area, the soil content is mostly clay. I've had such a concern, I've asked several people in the area for their recommendation and I get all degrees of recommendation, services they can provide, and cost. The most substantial answer I've received to the problem was the frost level pushed the foundation. With this answer or your response to what is happening and how to correct it and who can do it, I'd appreciate your input. I hope I've explained this thoroughly, if not, let me know and I'll get others that see the problem, explain it. Thank you.
Thanks for visiting our site, Mary.
It sounds like you have a potentially expensive problem on your hands. I'm curious, is your home on a concrete foundation? Or is it on concrete footers (concrete slabs that rest about 6-8 feet apart and have cinder or paver block supports that hold up the steel girders of the home resting on them? Or, is it on bare ground with no concrete supports?
We have concrete footers several feet apart. We have noticed a bit of a shifting over the last 20 years. Our ground is clay as well. It's hard to tell without seeing what it looks like to diagnose the problem and suggest a solution. Do you have a mobile home sales place near you? Or a business that caters to manufactured housing? People who work in these environments see common problems and may have the right answer for a solution for you. However, it's hard to hear when someone suggests an expensive fix, but it may just be that that is all there is. I would suggest getting an opinion, then finding someone else knowledgeable about this particular issue, and then asking them to assess the first opinion and offer their own.
Let me know what your foundation is like, I'd like to have a sense of what the situation is that's contributing to this problem.
I had worked for a contractor in Me. He was able to save homes shifting down hill (into the lake!) by doing the following. Dig down below the frost line, or till you hit solid rock. Take a card board tube (Lowe's has them) 8-12''in diameter. Put bracing in the bottom for an leas a 4×4" brace (6" or 8" is better. Nail bracing to wood, and fill the tube with concrete. Be sure the wood is braced against the home to prevent it from shifting any further. It requires work, but will save your home!
We live in Northern NY and just bought a 1999 single wide with an attached room on it. The whole thing sits on a poured concrete slab. The addition is Adirondack style with all wood and has a staircase to outside. Our problem is this: the skirting around the trailer is wood with rigid insulation and two vents. When the addition was added there are no vents and there is always moisture in the space under because of the dripping of rain on the slab. There is a smell, not just musty but also insulation-like in the added room that is bad when it is hot out. We don’t know where to begin since the add-on actually connects our crawl with living area. Any help is appreciated.
Thanks for visiting and for your comment Annmarie. Is it only damp under the addition? Our home is on concrete footers every 8 feet apart with dirt in between. We have a double wide with two vents in front, two in back, and one on each end. It does get damp under the house because we have rigid wood skirting as you have. I'm not sure what to do about it other than installing 6 mil or higher plastic all along the underside on the ground. While concrete holds less moisture than dirt, it still holds cold and moisture and doesn't really absorb much of it like the ground does. It just sits there if it can't evaporate.
I have considered often, even as recently as two days ago when our contractor and I were looking under our home for heat tape installation information, putting a layer of plastic sheeting under the house. This is recommended practice. I really like the guys over at mcgarryandmadsen.com
They are home inspectors and have great advice about this. Here's a blog post of theirs with some great info about keeping moisture down under your home. Check out the other articles on their site too. They have really taught us a lot over the years. http://www.mcgarryandmadsen.com/inspection/Blog/E…
Good luck to you! I hope you find a solution soon.
How can I lay thick plastic down under my existing triple wide MobileHome that has 2×2 concrete block spaced about 8′ apart? What I don’t see is how do you wrap the plastic around those blocks?
Hi Ingrid!
Thanks so much for visiting our site and commenting.
You won't believe this, but we are struggling with the same exact thing right now. This Spring, we want to tear out our existing waterlines and install new PEX pipe, clean out all the old insulation, and seal up any holes underneath, then re-insulate, and reseal the bottom of the home. We are really trying to think of the best way to do this. We've considered using rigid insulation and just mounting it to the floor joists. We've also considered attaching 6 mil plastic to the underside straight from front to back between all of the stacks of cinder blocks, then running plastic over top of that int he opposite direction to wrap in between those block stacks sort of like a cris cross. We haven't figured out the best way of attaching it yet though. If you think or hear of something, Please please please come back and share. We would love to hear about it. To finish up, we will be building new skirting, likely out of 2×4 and plywood like we did 15 years ago. It's lasted a long time, but we have some new thoughts of making new sturdier skirting that will stay in place better without buckling as the house settles. Plus, we put flashing along the bottom and bury it in the ground so rodents don't burrow under it to get under the house.
Have you seen any good ways of attaching the plastic? I am also considering laying plastic on the ground. We are in Upstate NY and the ground is almost always damp. The underside of the house is exposed to the bear ground so we'd like to change this. We're thinking of looking for people who are throwing out large torn swimming pool solar covers that can be cleaned and laid out on the ground under the home. It would be great to be able to recycle some plastic in that way!
I'm sorry I'm not more help with this. I'm really glad you asked though, because we are just this month thinking about this. If I find anymore good ideas to help with this, I'll share them on our site or on our facebook page. Good luck!
How about running a dehumidifier under the house, plugged in to the heat tape outlet, with a drain to the outside?
Hi Andy. Thanks for the comment. You know, I have actually had this crazy idea myself a few times. I'm just surprised I haven't tried it yet! If you do, please be sure to come back and let us know your experience.
Hi Andy, I was thinking of also trying the dehumidifier under my mobile home, but was not sure it would be safe. Really like to know how it works out for you.
How much ventilation should we have around the skirting .
Thanks for visiting, Renee. Here is a link from a site I like that is run by home inspectors with great advice. I find a lot of good information here. http://www.mcgarryandmadsen.com/inspection/Blog/E…
We built plywood framed skirting about 8 years ago that has held up beautifully. We put one vent on each side for good cross ventilation. I think we probably could have done double the ventilation. Perhaps we will some day.
So for mobile homes that are blocked with wood ties and that are in Canada and that have poly under them. the plastic keeps the ground saturated and never dries out. How do you keep from re leveling your mobile more then once a year. As nobody will warranty the leveling when the ground is saturated. This is costly at $400.00 each time you get it re leveled.
Thank you for visiting and commenting, Fabian.
We live in Upstate NY and have the same issue. We have lived here for 20 years with only concrete footers, not a concrete pad. Last year, 19 years in, we noticed some shifting. It's pretty damp under our home and we've had two yard floods that went under our home two years in a row 2013 and '14. We think this is what made this shifting happen. It's slight, but noticeable. We do think we'd like to have the house leveled again but the closest place to us that does it is over an hour away. $400 for this service would be a dream for us! But, I doubt that's how much they will charge. We do not have poly under our home. Just concrete footers every 6 or 8 feet and uncovered dirt for the rest. Do you have poly now? Have you had to have your home leveled? How many times?
We are interested in this as we're looking to possibly selling in the near future and figure we will need to have this done before we do.
Thanks for sharing!
We r have our double wide built and hope to have it on our land soon. So for right now I’m digging French drains to drain the land off seems to be working .
Hi Skip. Thanks for visiting! Good luck as you move your double wide on to your property. It is recommended that the home sit higher than the surrounding area so it is on higher ground so it isn't so likely that water will flood around it.
Hi I have a mobile home left enough crawl space but we built it’s sorrow ding with dirt no skirt is used. what can I put around it so that the dirt don’t sink inder home Help
Thanks for the comment Maria. I'm not really sure by your message what you are asking.
I'm not sure what you can do once the house is there. You don't need to put a mobile home on a slab, but you can do concrete footers every 6-8 feet or so. I'm not sure what you can do once the house is already there. If you can clarify what you are asking, perhaps I can find some information to help you.
We just purchased an older manufactured home, my husband is not a handy man and we have run into some issues that have us stumped. I am glad I found your site and plan to visit often.
Keep up the good work. We are buying a modular home and you have given me a lot to think about.
Thanks for visiting and commenting, Debbie. Good luck with your home purchase. I hope you enjoy all of the projects you will dream up to make your home all your own. Happy remodeling!
The McGees