WE are moving to a trailer??HELP!

The older mobile homes, especially the ones with crank out windows, have a caulk between the siding and window frame. When this Perma-gum dries up, the rain runs down the siding and into the walls by the windows. That is what eventually ruins the floors and makes them saggy. Time consuming taking out the many hex head screws that hold the windows in and re-calking them.
I have replaced sections of the floor by cutting out the rotten parts and pulling them out under the exterior wall (sort of like pulling a cutting board out of a cupboard). I used the old plywood as a pattern to cut out a replacement piece.
Christian or standup folks, doesn’t matter, get stuff in writing. Take pictures of problem areas and let them know. Later on you might get into a dispute about something that was already broken and now you get blamed for it. Keep good records about repairs you do.
I’d keep the place picked up and looking neat. Doesn’t cost much and keeps the owners happy.
If you build a cute chicken coup and use metal fence posts for your fencing, it makes the place seem like home, looks nice and you can take it with you when you move. Resist the temptation to fix more than you must on the trailer. Invest in things you can take with you when you can get your own place.

yes, we are taking our coop from here with us, so making the outside more homey will help Yes, i agree, the windows are rotting around them as well, not sure what to do about that...just trying to cover with curtains

if you build on decking do not attach it and use good quality screws so you can remove it and take it with you if you want to when you move on..I have removed and reused decking several times..as well as fencing.

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Brenda Groth
http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/

that is a great point!

I am in a similar situation in a way. We moved into a 3 bdr. 2 bath mobile home from a 3 story victorian house. Talk about culture shock LOL! Of course, we own the mobile home. It is on the little farm we bought to restore the farmhouse and we are living in the mobile while we do the work on the house, so I keep telling myself, ".this is temporary, this is temporary, this it temporary". Don't get me wrong, I am not a mobile home snob, heck I was raised in a single wide, then my parents got a double wide when I was 12 but, for 14 years I lived in that victorian and got used to having lots of room to roam and 12 foot ceilings. The ceilings in here make me feel clasutophobic.

Anyway, as it sat, it was a mess. Had been a rental unit for years and was abused. Holes in wall, some walls just gone, the once blue carpets were brown and the smell--my goodness the smell. My chicken house smells better even on a wet day. We ripped all the carpet out, that took care of the smell (dog pee yuck!) and replaced and repaired the walls with real sheetrock. We got a good deal on vinyle flooring at Lowes and put it from one end of the trailer to the other. Then Dh's BF, a professional painter, painted all the walls and ceilings with oil based paint in a neutral tan color (oil based helped to seal in any remaining odors) that I picked out of the colors in the flooring. We also had him Cool Seal the roof. Don't plan to do anything else to it, it is livable and we should be getting into the farmhouse by Christmas then will sell this trailer.

Thing is, just remember that home is not the building, it is the people. Don't get carried away doing a lot to the home and concentrate on making it livable and cleanable. I spend more time out of it than in, esp with gardening season here and I suspect you will as well. Do have to say though, I sure do miss my big claw foot bathtub. Have one for the farmhouse and keep threatening to go ahead and install it so I can take a soaking bath once in a while for my arthritis.

Pretty much all over the USA, if a tenant installs anything that is attached to the property, from a legal point of view, it must stay there when the tenant moves.

Metal fence posts are attached to the ground and the wire is attached to the posts, to technically, it stays. Unless the landlord gives permission to take it.

Portable fence panels and portable dog kennels go with the tenant.

A deck is considered a permanent structure, so it has to stay. So if you want to build a deck and take it with you, ask the landlord now if that is OK and get it in writing.

Patios are just as useful as decks and you can build a very nice patio out of broken concrete, that you can get for free. It looks a lot like flagstone when it is finished.

Really, mama, scrub the inside and put a fresh coat of paint on the walls and you won't even recognize the place. Area rugs are not attached, so they can go with you when you leave and they can be had very inexpensively, if you are a good shopper.

Take a deep breath and fix it up one step at a time. It is liveable and your children will be just fine.

Moving is overwhelming as it is, so focus on what you can do right now, not what you can't.

Make sure there are no rotten patches on the floor where a foot could go in.
For the winter put up bubble wrap on the windows. It works great.
Rugs all over the place will keep your feet warmer.

Place your furniture over stains, pick some wild flowers and put them on the side and call it home.
Posters on the walls for the kids and maybe a chocolate treat on their beds to welcome them to their new home, or a ball to play with outside.

You have a home for a very cheap rental rate. Your landlords sound great and are willing to work with you.

Craigslist and Freecycle are great places for your needs. Not to mention yard sales.

Life throws you some curve balls sometimes, but God provides our needs.

I'd also consider a patio instead of a deck. Steps down to it and some pretty containers with fruits, veggies and flowers. A couple of chairs for relaxing and you are good.

"I'd also consider a patio instead of a deck"

If you use patio stones, they can also go with you. I relocated several dozen from the old mobile home to the new farmhouse....several counties away. It took a few trips, but I always came home with at least a half dozen of them.

You can often get patio stones for cheap. Ask for them on freecycle or craigslist!
Just an idea.

Great tips here and the ones following. You can get molds and make your own stones, too. I have seen them sold very inexpensively at Farmer's Markets, even got some tree faces that way.

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Christie Acres
www.SequimForLife.com
http://www.irealtyvirtualbrokers.com...lori-christie/
http://luxurywaterviewhomes.com/
SequimLiving@gmail.com

Before you paint the paneling, take it of the walls. Is there insulation? wind/vapor barrier? When we were in college we lived in a single wide. It was very cold in the winter as the wind came right through the walls. We took down the paneling and put up the cheep plastic sheeting you get at Lowe's for just a few $'s. Made a huge difference as the wind not longer came through that wall.

Oh, and congratulation on your find! More bedrooms for less $ sounds like an winning deal!

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Jen
If my typo's bother you, come on over and take a chair. We can discuss it over some "ham and swill calzones"
Follow us at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimisod/

You can make draft excluders to go at the bottom of any external door. You can also hang heavy curtains in front of them or heavy wool blankets. Will help to keep the heat in and the cold out.
Make sure you search the trailer for any holes a mouse can get in and seal it up.

Thank you thank you thank you!!! I needed that, u r blessings to me

Glad for you. We lived in a single wide when our boys were little. I would collect leaf bags in fall and stack them all under it to help keep the cold away.. Or get spoiled hay bales and stack them all around the bottom. It cost a lot to heat. Come spring you can use bales to form a compost bin, stack it and put a temp roof on it to make a single season building for animals. Keeps them cool If there is no shade. I think I would add an arbor on the side and plant grapevines, to shade the walls. Makes a big difference. Kool seal or something similar on the roof reflects the heat and makes a big difference.
I would go for the oops paint to, that is all I use. We just got a five gallon bucket of deck stain for 30 dollars.

And about mice (since trailer houses tend to be magnets for mice) peppermint oil.
You can get the stuff from GNC, off Amazon or eBay, etc. You just douse a cottonball with it and put them in strategic mouse-friendly locations.
Apparently the smell is overpowering to those with more sensitive sniffers than us.

It drives (and keeps) them out.

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~*~Erin~*~
SAHM, ranch wife, sub and quilt shop proprietress
the Back Gate Country Quilt Shop

Sounds like one heck of a deal! You might want to take some before and after pics so you can show off all your hard work! Have fun and good luck with everything!

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Donna and Lakota
Smiling Wolf Ranch
Cold Creek, NV

"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went."
- Unknown

This. It works and I have done it for years. Mice hate the smell. The first day you do it the house will smell like Christmas candy factory, then it will fade pretty quickly from what we can smell, but will last a few months for the mice.

I use only pure peppermint oil.

Balls are places in corners of rooms, at dryer vents and places like that, under the stove and fridge, near doors and in closets.

I am SO excited for you! I just know you will make it into a wonderful home and your kids will love it there. Having good landlords is huge as you have sadly found out in the past. Having land and fruit trees and a place for a garden is a huge bonus! Do you have seeds? Tools?

For a small deck outside your front and back doors, watch for free pallets. You can take apart broken pallets and use those boards to fill in the gaps. Good luck with your new home.

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“Thanks to my mother, not a single cardboard box has found its way back into society. We receive gifts in boxes from stores that went out of business twenty years ago.”
― Erma Bombeck

Owning vus renting. On renting try of deal to where buyer pre-OKs work and then the cost of materials (Nut not your labor) he cover.

If you could onw: A sister & MIL moved here to TN when they retired in FL. Several months earlier I had bught a 30-acre track adjoining my farm (one sides and back. Had about a 20-year-old single wide. Originally was a guy's retirment place, but he decided he wanted to live elsewhere. Then went to a on and then renters. At one time they had a small meth lab in it. When I bought it I had to sign an agreement I kniew it had once been a meth lab and agreed to take out anything which could absorb fumes. As it sat vacant someone when in and stripped out all of the wiring from recepticals to ceiling.

For example when the pull off the 3/8" wallboard they add on 2" x2" stubbing and then use 6" insulation.

They are slowing rehabbing to where it looks like a typical singlewide from the outside, but a house inside. Since I own the property they have free rent and use of about a two acre lot.