The Addition Shell

Now that we've gotten just about all of the demo out of the way, next up is our addition.  The addition was planned to run along the backside of the master bedroom, bathroom and former utility room/back door.  We planned to use it as a large master closet, an office, and a washroom/pantry/utility room with a covered porch on the end that leads out to the back yard. 

We needed to get the addition done before anything else because we planned on moving the water heater out into the new utility room and therefore we can't run plumbing until that is in. 

Here you can see them prepping the back of the mobile home to start building the addition.  They built it on the same level as the rest of the home.

 

The dimensions of the addition are 24/12 interior space and a 10x12 covered porch to the back yard.  This extra space is badly needed. The home before didn't have a true pantry, I just used a couple of cabinets for food storage.   
 

We intended on using shingles for the roof but the pitch wasn't great enough for shingles so we went with metal instead.  Eventually it would be nice to replace the whole roof with new metal.    
  



 

 

 

We're so excited to get the extra space!  We'll be building interior walls and customizing the pantry with a washer/dryer platform, a platform for the water heater, and shelving.   I also can't wait to do some customization in the closet as well.   We'll be re-tasking some of the good windows from the main house to the addition as long as they aren't leaking. The next step is to frame the walls on the inside of the addition, and continue frame and subfloor repairs in the rest of the house.  This mobile home remodel is starting to come along!  

  

DEMO - Exterior Walls

Well, we've gotten the exterior walls completely gutted, which was no small feat.  The drywall panels on the exterior walls had more glue than staples, and where we were able to cut the panels off of the interior walls in larger sheets, that wasn't possible with these.  They had to come down in crumbles.  Not fun!  It created a LOT of dust and mess.  But we have confirmed that the exterior studs are 2x4 which is good.  The only thing left to do here is to get those studs cleaned off from the remaining drywall remnants, glue and staples, then we'll be ready to insulate and run our cables! 


There were some things we ran into in the walls that have been somewhat of an eye opener for me.  The outside is sided in sheet metal, and over the years there have been holes cut and damage from trees.  Every time there was a utility installed, there was a new hole cut in order to run cables into the house.  Here's a great example of a slash in the siding (probably from a tree) and a phone cable coming into the house.  Not sealed at all!

 

And then there was this little guy. I have no idea what he was or how he got in, but I can't even believe he was there!  Holy Cow!  Luckily the insulation that was there helped mask the smell.  This house is about 16 years old and I can't believe how much deterioration has happened in this time.  Hopefully with the repairs we're doing and the quality materials we're putting in, it'll give us another 20 good years before we have to do any major renovation on this mobile home. 

DEMO - Mobile Home Rot

One of the biggest problems in Mobile Homes is moisture.  There were some areas that I knew I could count on finding rot and mildew, but I had no idea. 

This wall was on the side of the dryer in the utility room.  We maybe had a couple of problems where there was water.  I never would've expected this.  I don't even remember it happening!

 

 

This is an exterior wall in the living room. I knew this one was going to be a problem but wasn't able to fix it.  This is a result of water running down the wall because the outside "gutter" system hardly ever got cleaned out.

  So the water streamed down the house for years and ended up rotting the framing, wall panel, insulation and subfloor.  There's a similar spot at the front door because of the same problem. 

 

Here's another good one, the fan in the guest bathroom.  I was able to see the water rings indicating that there had to be a leak somewhere.  Luckily we're replacing the whole ceiling!  And hopefully the sealing that TJ did up there will prevent this from happening again.   

We've also found that all of the windows will need to be replaced, they are just too leaky.  It was an expense we were going to try to avoid but it definitely needs to be done.

 

This is the guest bathroom.  Just look at all that subfloor that needs to be replaced!  I honestly thought under the bath tubs was going to be worse though.  Let's just hope that this is the extent of it!  As soon as demo is completely done, We'll be able to make the repairs and get on with this mobile home renovation!   

DEMO - Mobile home Craftsmanship

It's finally here!  We've been waiting for this for quite a while.  And, it marks the point of absolutely no turning back.  We've already been in this phase for a couple weeks off and on, and its taking FOREVER.  But we've been in the interior walls and would like to share some of what we've found so far.
TJ's first order of business was to knock out 2 of the interior walls in the kitchen and living room areas to make an open concept living space. 


Kitchen/Master Bedroom looking on from the living room

There was a wall from the center stud that separated the kitchen from the utility room.  That is gone and we're also moving the master bedroom door to the other side of the room near the electrical breaker box.   We've discovered that the internal studs are 2x3. You can also tell where the walls were built on the ground and then put together, which is okay but there was a lot of wasted space because of it.

The walls appear to be some type of drywall that is prefabbed with wall paper, and those sheets are glued to the studs with staples and trim nails to hold them together until the glue dries.   

Glue and Nails on stud

Glue and drywall remnants



As you can imagine, this takes some time to clean.  TJ found a way to use his grinder to grind the nails, staples and glue off.  It's eating up grinder blades but it seems to be the quickest way to get it done.  We need these studs as clean as possible to hang new sheetrock.

Master Tub Wall

In the master bathroom there was a large soaker tub at the end and a wall that jetted out from the exterior wall.  I never really thought twice about why it was there or what it was for.

So we just got rid of that little wall.  All it was there for was to make the tub fit in the space.  We will be putting a longer soaker tub there that will fill the space **happy dance**. 

 

This is in between the 2 spare bedroom closets.  The linoleum is where the hot water heater sat.  We will be moving the water heater to an addition, where all of the plumbing will be in coming into the house.  This will also allow us to make bigger closets. 

 

This is at the end of those 2 closets opening up to the hallway where the central air unit sits.  We will have it professionally serviced and cleaned, and adding a new thermostat.

Demo is almost complete!  Now we just need to tear out the drywall and insulation on the exterior walls and we'll be ready to make repairs to the subfloor and framing.

     

Inside Before

Here are some of the before pictures (well, taken during demo). 



Built-in Entertainment Center in living room



The wall below is the partition wall between the living room and the dining room.  On the Living room side it's a built-in entertainment center and on the dining room side it was a computer desk. The living room has blue carpet and the kitchen has linoleum that is definitely no where close to it's original color.

These faded blue laminate countertops were in the kitchen and both bathrooms. 











Master Bedroom with Blue Carpet

Master Closet

 

 The master closet and a corner of the master bedroom.  That blue carpet!



Master Bath Vanity with Rust stains

Master Bathroom with Carpet









Here is the carpet in the master bathroom.  Can you tell where it's faded from the sunlight coming in the window?  Note to self, never use a dark colored carpet!  And the awful rust stains in the sink from the rusty water.  It didn't matter how often we cleaned the sinks and tubs, the stains would come back way too soon.  And what about that wallpaper?!  That fantastic blue green and red was in both bathrooms and the kitchen.  I'm not going to miss that floral pattern!  





Kitchen/Utility room partition

Utility Room Washer/Dryer hookups

And finally the partition wall between the kitchen and the utility room.  The refrigerator was on the kitchen side, and the washer/dryer hookups on the other.  Can you see that subtle wallpaper pattern?   

We are super excited to get to work on demo!  





Bar

Bar SOLD

Rustic Bar, has 2 shelves on the back side for storage. 

Hall Tree

Hall Tree SOLD

Made from an old 5 panel door. Shelf on top for storage, bench on the bottom opens up for extra storage for shoes or book bags.  2 hooks under shelf for hanging coats or scarves.