Mobile Home Plumbing - Which Type of Pipe do I use?

Plumbing a mobile home is not fun: imagine army crawling in a compressed space with nothing over head but
rusty metal and coal black bottom board fabric (or if you are unlucky, wet torn insulation).

Mobile homes are plumbed with a variety of piping from CPVC, Polybutylene ('that gray stuff') and PEX to name a few. We at Ashvillemobilehomes.com suggest PEX pipe for numerous reasons.

Why Pex?

1. It's awesome.When I moved in my current home, the first thing I did was re-plumb the entire home from polybutylene to pex - Best.Decision.Ever. We had a hard freeze a few months later, and my water pipes froze solid (how did this happen? I didn't patch my skirting). After 48 hours of being frozen solid, the weather broke, and my pipes thawed. Only a metal shut off had broken.
2. Easy of use - Pex pipe can be cut with a hacksaw, or a pair of pipe cutters. It is flexible and can easily turn a 90 degree angle without the need for an additional elbow fitting. 
3. No Glue Required - You don't have to worry about your repair men sniffing the pipe glue instead of working. Most PEX fittings are reusable also.
4. Hot and Cold Use - PEX pipe doesn't care. Water is water, and so long as it doesn't undergo a phase change into another state due to temperature (water to steam), PEX will handle the water pressure like a boss.
5. Durability - Pex will not shatter, nor crack like PVC or CPVC nor is it degraded by direct sunlight (I'm looking at you CPVC).

Long story short, use PEX pipe when you can. If you need to transition between CPVC or Polybutylene, use a speed fit.

Who is awesome?

Mobile Home Plumbing Tip #1 - Leave Slack in Your Lines!

Mobile Home Plumbing Tip #1 - Leave Slack in Your Lines!

If you live in a mobile home, you are probably accustomed to the following sentiment:

•  'I hope my pipes don't freeze' 
• 'I hope I don't have a water leak'.

Unfortunately, every mobile home home sees at least one water leak, especially if the home is older.

If you are replumbing your mobile home, or running new lines, or replacing a line, do yourself a favor 

and leave slack in the line. 

There is nothing more frustrating than groping at a nub of pipe sticking up from the floor, or realizing 

you don't have enough pipe left after you cut the leak out. 

Sometimes this is impossible (CPVC, Copper). Which pipe to use under your mobile home is another topic, which I will hit on. I will say this: Use Pex Pipe.

One thing is for certain, leave slack. No one cares if your mobile home is plumbed in perfectly cut linear lines that would make aliens marvel at the rigid beauty. You are going to care when you need that slack to fix something you 'fixed' last winter. 

Weatherizing your Mobile Home - Repairing Bottomboard Fabric

Weatherizing your Mobile Home - Repairing Bottomboard Fabric:

The 'belly' of your mobile home is covered and sealed with a waterproof  fabric called 'Bottomboard Fabric'.

This stuff is important, and is often the most damaged and torn. Bottomboard Fabric keeps the insulation secure, and provides a moisture barrier between the elements and the floors of your home. Tears in this fabric can compromise the insulation of your home. This could increase your power bill.

Damage occurs to the Fabric in many ways:

• Water leaks (it has to be cut to fix pipes) 
• Animals may tear it open, or enlarge a hole seeking warmth (bring your animals inside in the cold!)
• Electrical work (have to cut the fabric to expose wiring).

The problem is...most people don't repair the hole. They leave it to be enlarged, or open for future repairs.
Bad. Bad. Bad. BAD.

If you have a small hole, or a straight cut or opening, I would suggest Bottom Closure (AKA Flex Mend) to repair it. Bottom Closure is bottom board fabric with one adhesive sticky side. Think of it as duct tape for this application.

If you have a larger open tear, or a part is beyond hope, we can stock 30" wide rolls of the Bottomboard Fabric. From there you can use a spray adhesive, or us Bottom Closure to make the repair.

Remember to replace any lost insulation before covering the hole.

Weatherizing Your Mobile Home - Vinyl Skirting

Today's topic of weatherization for mobile homes:

 Vinyl Skirting

Every mobile home should have skirting, no exceptions (unless the home is blocked). Without skirting, there is no barrier between the elements and the under belly of your home! You want as many barriers between you and the cold as possible (think of 'bundling up' for the snow).


In the context of weatherization, skirting is a MAJOR part of your homes insulation. Even a few missing panels can compromise the whole effect. However, skirting is often overlooked, or when damaged, ignored.

Unfortunately, this is the case with most home with vinyl skirting (including the author). The following are often causes for concern with your skirting: Weed eaters, your child's toy truck, stray animals, and wind.


Scenarios:

My skirting has small holes in a few panels:

Try our Vinyl Skirting Repair Kits. These kits are GREAT to replace small holes, and go a long way!
Unfortunately, they only come in the color white. Past that, we haven't heard a single complaint.

I am missing a few panels or side of my home:

We sell pre-cut vinyl skirting. We just need to know the average height of the panels, and the length you want to replace. This option is actually cheaper than you think. Let us say you have a 4 feet section of skirting missing, and the average height is ~36". You would only need one full panel of skirting. A whole $9.12 expenditure. That is right, you can patch your skirting for the cost of lunch.

I need to re-skirt my entire home:

It happens. Years of passive-aggressive weed-eating, storms, high-winds. We sell mobile home skirting kits. Check out our skirting calculator. Just input the l x w x h of your home home!

Weatherizing Your Mobile Home - Aluminum Storm Windows

Today, we are going to discuss Aluminum Storm Windows and how they help insulate your mobile home.

Weatherization has always been important. In hot, or cold weather. We need to protect ourselves from the elements. And the same thing goes for your mobile home!

There are plenty of ways heat can be transferred out or in to your mobile home. And that is the problem.

Heat Transfer

Light comes in through your windows and patio door and heats the floor in your mobile home. This heat radiates into you room. Your door gets bathed in sunlight all day. It radiates it inside the home.

There are may ways heat enters and leaks out of your mobile home:

Skirting, windows, doors, bottom board fabric underneath the home.

But enough of that. We are going to focus on Aluminum Storm Windows today. 

Mobile home windows are either aluminum or vinyl. Everyone has the exterior windows,

however, not everyone has the interior storm set.

They work like the double doors at a bank. One window is installed from the outside, another from the inside (our interior storm window), this creates a pocket of air. A small buffer zone that helps insulate your home!

The wider the zone, the better (2 x 4 construction vs 2 x 6 construction).

Storm windows are just one way to weatherize and insulate your mobile home. Every little bit helps!

First Blog Post!

Trailer John is online now. May the internet fear.

I hope to use this blog to discuss mobile home repair tips, and ideas and to discuss mobile home weatherization as it gets colder. First proper post coming tomorrow!