Select Page

Sooooo many months ago, I posted on our facebook page that we were getting ready to have our double wide painted.  People asked me to share our experience, and soooo many months later, I am finally getting around to telling you all about it! After 17 years of remodeling the inside of our home, we decided that, perhaps, it was time we start doing something about the outside.

If you’ve ever taken the siding off of your double wide or mobile home for any reason, you may have seen that there is barely anything there to insulate your home.  Especially if it was built before 1996. There is probably the siding, a pathetic layer of wrap that is the consistency of the little sheet of foam that sits on top of a Whitman’s Sampler, then the studs for the walls, and, if you’re lucky, there might be some R11 insulation, and then the gypsum board with the ugly flower print on it on the inside.  That’s it!  No, there isn’t any Tyvek wrap, no R30 insulation, no sheets of plywood forming the exterior walls.  Nooooooo….that would make sense!

Anyhoo, we contemplated taking all of the siding off, putting wood exterior walls on the outside of the studs, then wrapping in Tyvek. Then we would install new siding.  We got an estimate of $14,000 for this job on our 26×48′ exterior walls.  This really sounded like a great estimate at first.  And it still does, if we hadn’t already recovered nearly all of the interior walls in our home with some sort of thicker wall covering.  Whether it be luan, heavy duty wall paper, sheet rock, or tongue and groove knotty pine, we have covered almost all of them with a product that seals them better from the weather outside.

We had always been told that painting vinyl siding was a really bad idea and that after a few years it would look terrible.  But, we got an estimate from a great contractor that we have found and had him do the job.  He gave us great advice, had used the products before, and told us how to care for it once finished.  The estimate was under $1600.00.  Yep.  That’s right. Under $1600.00.  So, here’s the scoop on the products and the job and the issues we’ve had since we had it done 6 months ago.

Here’s a pic of our house pre-paint.

My Mobilehome Makeover House Painting

The shutters on the house were the same ones that came with it and had been spray painted various colors over the years about 5 times.  They had to go too.  So, we purchased new shutters and decided on some colors for the house, shutters, and doors.

The paint that was recommended was Behr Premium Plus Ultra Exterior Stain Blocking Paint and Primer in One (Flat). The product information is as follows:

  • Soap and water clean up
  • Good for use on wood, vinyl, aluminum, fiber cement, siding, metals, steel, brick, masonry, stucco, and fences.
  • Limited Lifetime Guarantee
  • After 4 weeks of curing, paint can be cleaned with non-abrasive liquid detergent.
  • When using on vinyl, you must choose  the same or lighter color than the existing one that’s on the house.
  • 2 hour dry time, 4 hour re-coat time

(Update: It has been 3 years since we painted and it still looks fantastic. No chipping or peeling at all. Many have inquired about the colors we used. Here it is!- Shutters: Behr Ultra Base 4853 Ultra Exterior Flat Matte Color: #1002-7A Regal Plum /House siding: Behr Ultra Base 4854 Ultra Exterior Flat Matte Color:#6006-1C Ivory Brown)

We sought estimates from 3 different people.  One thing we found troubling was that two of them quoted us a price for 1 coat and then another prices for 2 coats.  Personally, if you are going to paint my house, and guarantee it for any length of time, you would think you would want it to be done well.  If it takes two coats to do that, then so be it.  So, I wanted a quote that included two coats only and a guarantee that that’s how many we would get.  They also painted the shutters and installed them.  The estimate we chose was with a local contractor who guaranteed his work for 1 year and the paint had a limited lifetime guarantee.  His estimate was $1370. 00. Yep, you read that right.  $1370.00!

Two men worked on the house for 3 days and the process went like this:

  1. They washed the exterior of the house.
  2. Sealed off windows and stairs front and back.
  3. Hand painted top, bottom, and side edges and around windows and doors.
  4. Painted the whole house using a paint sprayer, then applied another coat the next day.
  5. Did touch-up around entire house and painted and installed shutters.
  6. Cleaned up all mess.

The house looks fantastic.  We are so happy with the job they did and the colors we chose.  Once the house was painted we also had new gutters installed and everything was as it should be.  You can’t even believe how much a couple of coats of paint can change your home.  We talk about it often about the inside of the house, how painting a room can make it feel fresh and new.  But painting the exterior of the house will literally make it feel like you have a new house.  We do not regret making this choice over the new siding at all.  Who knows, maybe several years from now we will decide it’s time to have the insulation and new siding done.  But for now, we are very happy, and saved ourselves $12,000.

The gallery below includes lots of pics of the process.

[flagallery gid=8 name=”House Painting”]

Problems with siding expansion after painting the house.The house was painted in April of this year.  It is now the end of October. So far, so good.  The only issue we have had is due to expansion of the siding.  Some pieces in the back of the house (the East side) have separated a bit, we believe due to the heat it gets in the morning.  These separations have shown where there is old paint. There might be 10 spots where it has done this and they can easily be filled in with a small craft paint brush.  All in all, we are thrilled with the final product.  So much so, we had the same contractor put in our new concrete patio and build new stairs to the back door.  If you want a refreshing new start next Spring, give some thought to painting the outside of your home.  We love it!

Happy remodeling!

The McGees