MH vs Site Built

Daphne's Perspective:

There are factory built homes that are almost undistinguishable from their site built counterparts. Of course, their price tags reflect that accomplishment. The manufactured homes that we deal with tend to be at the lower end of the cost spectrum. These homes could be purchased from the factory for $20-25/sq ft. In order to achieve this price point, liberties are taken in construction and materials used. These homes are a bit more fragile than the average site built home.

We had a few years experience rehabbing houses, but were surprised by how different the process was with MHs. We’ll point out some of the issues we’ve encountered that are particular to MHs, and the techniques we’ve used to address it during a rehab. Our comments are based on experience with homes from Horton and Fleetwood. The characteristics of homes from other manufactures may differ.

In some cases, we use higher quality materials than OEM for two reasons. First, because standard materials may be readily available and not cost a lot more. Second, because we are carrying long term notes on the homes and don’t want to face the same problem in the future should we get the home back.

Site built homes usually have a subfloor of concrete or plywood. In MHs the subfloor is usually particleboard, which is much more sensitive to water than plywood. Even without extreme abuse, soft spots are likely to be encountered in a bathroom, entryway, or under a window. Subfloor repair is a very common rehab issue. We cut out the bad spots and replace with ¾” plywood, reinforcing the joists if necessary.

Site built homes have walls made of drywall that is mudded, taped and painted. In MHs the walls are typically made of a vinyl covered wallboard. Batten strips cover the seams between boards. This wallboard is thin and easily damaged under ordinary wear and tear. When rehabbing, the choices are patch with drywall, replace the panel with drywall, or replace with another panel of wallboard (patterns constantly change so matching is virtually impossible). All methods will require the entire area be painted. At least two coats will be needed, and even then, deeper textured vinyl patterns may not be completely hidden. Battens are frequently damaged; these can be purchased at MH supply stores. Alternatively, strips of 1x2 available at the local home improvement store could be substituted. Occasionally when whole rooms needed battens, we taped and mudded the seams, eliminating the need for them entirely. This is time consuming, but makes the home feel more like a site built house.

The ceilings of MHs also present a challenge, as they’re also made of panels. They will have either battens or have a textured finish to hide the seams. These panels are expensive to replace, and patching leaves imperfections. It is almost impossible to match the original pattern. We try to match the texture as best we can with drywall compound and then apply Kilz primer to give it a clean, white appearance. We don’t usually paint ceilings. This is in contrast to the walls, which are always painted in a colorful or neutral shade.

When MHs are being built at the factory, the floor coverings are laid down before the interior walls are constructed, so the walls sit on the floor coverings. This makes their removal a bit more of a hassle. We use a nice thick padding and inexpensive carpet in our rehabs. The plushness this creates fools a lot of folks into thinking its expensive carpet. We get great prices on carpet by buying leftover rolls from the Horton factory, which is only 30 minutes from us. Kitchens and bathrooms get linoleum. If there is linoleum already in place, we don’t remove it unless it is coming up at the edges. This is a good waterproof layer to protect the subfloor. We just lay our new floor covering overtop it.

The framing of windows and doors in MHs is different than the standard in houses and therefore windows and doors are not easily interchangeable. Openings have to be reframed in order to accommodate the standard ware at the local home improvement store. At MH supply stores, windows and doors are sold in the frame assembly. Replacing is as simple as screwing the new unit into the existing opening.

There are differences in the plumbing and fixtures. Most site built houses have PVC or copper pipes, in our 1980s era MHs we frequently encounter rubber hose. When repairs are necessary we try to use PVC where we can, although the fittings can sometimes be tricky. Kitchen and bathroom faucets are made out of plastic. They are cheap to replace, but flimsy and break easily. This is an area we usually upgrade- it’s worth spending $35 to buy an attractive metal kitchen faucet with a long gooseneck. This is a nice finishing touch and makes washing dishes in the sink easier, since a lot of our units don’t have dishwashers.

Guess how long it takes to swap out a light switch or receptacle faceplate. In site built homes, swapping out a broken or dirt encrusted faceplate takes maybe 30 seconds. In a MH its not so simple- the electrical box, switch or receptacle, and faceplate are an integrated unit. The easiest solution is to replace the whole unit, which we’ve only been able to find at MH supply stores. Alternately, the individual components could be purchased from the local home improvement store, installed into the wall and rewired. Sometimes we paint over them, sometimes we replace them.

Although there are nuisances to MH rehab, in general they are simpler and easier than rehabbing houses. There are fewer things that can go wrong, and the amount and quality of material used is usually lower than in most houses, so the rehab is cheaper. A budget of $2-3,000 can go quite far in transforming a MH. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Next time I’ll use fewer words.

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