Hello! I am a full time college student. I came across your site while doing research and think ur site is great! I am considering purchasing a mobile home instead of wasting money on rent. I do have some questions and concerns though.
I was wondering…how do you maintain the water/ bathroom situation?
Be sure to have a shut-off valve put in on the water intake line to the water heater!! We learned the hard way.
Thanks for commenting Denise. Yes, water heater issues can really wreak havoc on a mobile home. My mother-in-law had a water heater burst while away on vacation. We had not been down to check her house in two days and when we entered the home, all of the bottoms of the walls in the hall/bedrooms were destroyed with water that kept running into the home because the water heater had burst and emptied and water kept trying to fill it. UGH! It was thousands of dollars of damage and repair. Thank goodness for insurance, which covered it all. All of the lower walls and nearby floors needed to be replaced. It was so depressing! Long story short- YOU ARE RIGHT. While the shut off valve would not have helped us in this situation, it can certainly be of help in many other potential water heater disasters. Shut off valves are essential at ALL water outlets in your mobile home.
Thank you again for contributing. We hope you are enjoying your mobile home!
The McGees
Be sure to have a shut-off valve put in on the water intake line to the water heater!! We learned the hard way.
Thank you for your comment Denise. Yes, water heaters can be a big problem in this regard. Mr. McGee's mom had a water heater that burst in her double wide while she was away on vacation. The lower parts of the all the walls surrounding the hallway and bedrooms and all the flooring needed to be replaced. It was a huge mess and really depressing to look at! Shut off valves are a must at every water source!
Thanks again for contributing your experience!
Thank you for your comment and for visiting our site.
There are a couple of things we would recommend right away regarding water in the bathroom. Perhaps they will answer your question. If not, please feel free to write back and clarify so we can be more helpful.
First, if the mobile home you buy has carpeting in the bathroom, remove it immediately and have either new linoleum or a laminate floor installed. These are small spaces generally, and a laminate floor is pretty easy to install. There is even an nice Armstrong flooring product, I think it's called Allure, that is soft laminate that comes in stickable pieces and can be cut with a carpet knife if you don't want to purchase a saw. We chose this my my mother-in-law when we had both of her bathrooms remodeled last year. If you are sure to caulk with clear caulk all around the edges and maybe even put a small baseboard molding around the bottom, and perhaps a nice piece of quarter round along the edge of your tub (with more caulk around that), it should keep any water from damaging your floor. When we remodeled our bathroom several years ago, we tore up even the sub floor and installed new 3/4" plywood flooring that was waterproof plywood. Then we laid the laminate over that.
Another important thing to do is to have independent shut-off valves installed at each water source. There should be a shut off for the main water that comes into the house. But you want one under all sinks and behind tubs/showers/washing machine. This way you can shut off the water at these locations without having to live without water, but also so you can turn them off immediately at the source of the problem. These are quick to install and if you can't do it yourself, you shouldn't have to pay a whole lot to have it done. Maybe no more than 100-200$ depending upon how many you need put in. Also, if you do it yourself, be sure to TURN THE MAIN WATER OFF before cutting any water lines to install shut offs :-) Even the contractor who installed our new bathroom last year forgot this and it was a crazy mess!
Thanks again for your comment. A mobile/manufactured home is a great choice. We live in a college town (4 colleges in a 30 mile area) and there are several mobile home parks in the area that have lots of college students as residents. It's a great option on a budget!
If any other visitors have advice for this reader that pertains to her question, please feel free to comment below.