Mobile/manufactured vs. multi/SFH Rehabs

[Michael Krosky]

Hello BP’ers,

Is there any major items to look out for when completing a mobile/manufactured vs. multi/SFH rehab? From a selling perspective believe mobile homes get looked over but they sell in the outskirts of RDU.

Appreciate any assistance!

Thank you,

Michael

[Matt R.]

Disclaimer: I've never completely rehabbed a trailer, but I have done repairs to them before.  Most of my experience is with trailers made before approximately the early 1990s, so newer ones may be different.

From what I've seen, the stuff that was installed at the factory is usually done right, but the things that were installed when the trailer was put on the lot vary a lot more in quality.  This includes:

- The blocks the trailer is sitting on.  Sometimes they are steel stands or nice solid blocks; sometimes they are chunks of plain pine 2x4s that are busy turning into dust.

- Tie-downs or straps that hold the trailer to the slab.  These vary more depending on the wind ratings, but they should be at least as good as what your local code calls for, and not rusted, beat up, disconnected, etc.

- Main electrical connection.  Should probably be UF cable and not plain old NM (Romex).  Should be long enough and not go past any sharp edges somebody drilled in the skirting or whatever.

- Main water line.  Should be supported correctly, and at least have insulation on it.  It may have heat tape.  If it has heat tape, the tape should 1) work and 2) not have a scary electrical connection.  Many trailers now have a GFCI outlet under the trailer, near the main water line connection, to make it easy to plug in the heat tape.  On older trailers, people would run extension cords all over the place under the trailer or along the sides to make the heat tape work.

- Main sewer line.  Should be supported correctly and long enough.

- Main gas line (if equipped).  Should be supported correctly and long enough.  I don't know the exact code on this, but I would be suspicious if there is a really long flexible pipe (like what you use behind a stove, but much longer) in this connection; having a rigid pipe come up from the slab and then a short flexible pipe to the house is probably OK.

- Outside A/C unit (if equipped).  Should have watertight conduit, not bare Romex.  Electrical and Freon lines should be supported correctly and long enough.

- Any holes in the exterior for things like cable or satellite TV lines, phone lines, or fiber Internet should be caulked.  The cables should have a drip loop on the outside before they go through the wall.

Inside the trailer, don't assume that any of the mechanical stuff is the same as what goes on a stick-built house.  What that means is - don't just go to Home Depot or equal and buy the first bathroom faucet you like, and expect it to fit on the trailer.  Don't assume that the kitchen drain is 1.5" or that the bathroom drain is 1.25".  Instead, take the old faucet off and take it to the store with you, or measure the drain pipes before you buy anything.  This may be getting better over time, but in my experience, older trailers had a lot of weird "trailer only" parts.

It is semi-common for trailers to have electric furnaces, instead of gas.  If yours does, turn off the power, and check the main wire connections from the trailer to the furnace, and as many of the connections inside the furnace that you can.  These have to pass a lot of current in an electric furnace, and if there is a loose screw or loose connector, that screw/connector heats up fast and melts the insulation nearby.  Sometimes all you need is less than a quarter turn with a screwdriver to tighten things back up.

@Nick Rutkowski has good info on the HUD data plate. That will be a metal plate on the outside of the trailer. There is usually also a paper sheet inside the trailer somewhere - often it's pasted inside one of the kitchen cabinet doors, but it can also be pasted to the wall near the breaker box. That paper sheet has more information about the year the trailer was built, what level of wind it is rated for, etc. (You'll know it when you see it, because it usually has at least one map of the USA on it.) Make sure this information meets or exceeds what local code requires.