Weatherizing your Mobile Home - Insulating Water Heaters!?

People who own older homes (70s models) will find this blog post more useful. 

Every opening, seam, utility and light bulb represents a potential energy drain. Even curtains have an impact

on your heating and cooling cost! Water heaters are often over looked. 

In older model homes, the water heater was only accessible outside through a metal door.
The only thing between your water heater and the cold is a metal door!

As such, water heaters represent a potential energy waste. In the winter, the elements have to kick on

more often to keep the water warm, costing more in electricity. Purchasing a newer more efficient water heater won't fix the problem. You need to insulate the water heater.

Insulate the water heater? What magic is this? Isn't my water heater insulated already!?

Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Yes, but you can make it better. Check out:

Hot Water Heater Insulation Jacket

The insulation jacket works just like a..jacket. It is an additional barrier between the elements are your 

hot water. Just like in the snow, layering helps!

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!