Learn me double wides

Got to thinking of retirement/ future. One of the conclusions was living in a single level house w/ no basement, the less stairs the better, ya know. Besides finding or building a single level the double wide w/ crawl space might be the answer. Give that a shot anyway.

Seen some nice homes out there that you'd never know were DWs... maybe they were top of the line w/ additional work that did it. What's the word on these DWs?

My experience w/ these has been installing HVAC units w/ 'real' insulated supply ducts replacing the factory heat supply ducts which were merely tinned joist spaces w/ a register in the floor. That was the 80's though.

Another issue was chemicals used in construction, there was nationwide attention over that. My cousin's kid was severely allergic to some chemical used in the construction process of their DW. Dunno if it's been resolved, prolly has tho I'd assume but I'd be damned if I bought a house I'd be allergic to. Other than that I know little about these.

Online, I stumbled across a 1250 sq. ft. DW, 125 Amp entrance on a .25 acre lot w/ gas heat and central a/c w/ a prolly 24 x 36 garage in a decent neighborhood listed for $100K, age unknown. The house interior looks cheapish from the realtors site, not mid to upper end. Price excessive I thought but I dunno. May do a drive-by next week to scope it out. The shop space is calling my name but I'd like to be armed w/ the scoop on DWs in the mean time.

So what's the word on these DWs?

It makes for a great Southern Culture on the Skids song.

Double Wide

In reply to Appleseed:

Figgered that went w/ the territory, I can blend in.

Did I mention the big shop, I kin prolly run a chop shop outta there.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful. When I was young, no older than 7, we lived in a trailer house. I always thought double wides were the best thing in the world.

if you can afford it.. have you considered having a prefabricated house dropped onto your property? Generally they are considered -better- than stick built houses due to the manufacturing involved. The workers toil indoors with heat or cooling, the wood is pre-cut, and everything just fits instead of having to "fix" a bunch of little issues that always crop up when building from scratch

Have you looked at Modular Homes?

http://www.alvarezmodulars.com/

Better than a double wide! These are built in a warehouse in sections. Each section is trucked to the site with a slab and plumbing. Because they're made in a room all jigged up, they're less expensive that stick building.

There are two of these companies local to me. One made homes and shipped them to Japan. Each section fit smartly in a shipping container; two containers = one home. Build in upstate New York, ship it to Japan and it STILL cheaper than a stick build in Japan. (wood's expensive there)

Dan

modulars are the way to go. plop one on a foundation and it's like a real house, only built better and you can get them built with whatever floorplan you want and with materials of whatever quality you are willing to pay for.

a quick google search found me this place that's right in my area, i'm sure there's a similar place close to wherever you are:

http://www.alexandriahomesinc.com/

modular, sorry, that is what I meant when I said "prefab"

My MiL bought a top of the line DW. It was the "King Kong" model with the "arctic insulation." It is very nice and much more of a "modular" home than a "trailer house." I hesitate to refer to it as a trailer house, but it did arrive there on wheels. Heating costs are less than on my house next door and of similar square footage. It has a real shingle roof. For the foundation, the place that sold it to her said they would set it up, foundation and all, for $2500. I looked at the plans and there was $2000 (at the time) worth of concrete alone in the foundation, and I didn't see how they could set it up for $2500. So I sub contracted out the foundation work to the blue prints provided by them(from the manufacturer.) When they brought it out, they said that they had never seen one like that.

Mine arrived on axles but calling it a trailer or a double wide is short sighted. It is super nice and pretty well priced for what they are.

Don't know nothin' 'bout no trailer homes. I thought the thread was going to be about these:

chandlerGTi wrote: Mine arrived on axles but calling it a trailer or a double wide is short sighted. It is super nice and pretty well priced for what they are.

How do you like it?

Price?

In reply to 1988RedT2:

I was waiting for that.

As others have mentioned, modular homes are something of a step up from a basic doublewide - they're nearly indistinguishable from a site built home, and retain resale value better. One rule of thumb on the resale bit is that the less like a mobile home it appears to be, the better it holds value. I'd imagine modifying a doublewide to give it a taller roofline (the nearly flat roof is often a dead giveaway) could go a long way there.

One other "gotcha" I've hear of cropping up often - a lot of mobile homes seem to have used something like wallpaper stretched over a frame for interior walls instead of sheet rock. Can't hang pictures on them without first finding the studs, and not much for sound insulation.

Modern double wides are a vast improvement over the older ones. They are still not houses, and will not hold their resale value.

New double wides (aka "manufactured homes") have also conquered most of the off-gasing problems (like formaldehyde). They use better components.

Modulars are factory built "real" houses, and are virtually indistinguishable from site built homes. In fact, from a quality perspective, they are better.

But the price point is a LOT different. Modulars are often MORE expensive than site built homes (when you add ALL the costs).

Older manufactured homes are cheaper than dirt. REALLY cheap. Less than Challenge car prices. But they are also very high percentage of problems- formaldehyde, rotted floors, bad insulation, etc., and are not allowed by code in many areas.

Q: How is a redneck divorce similar to a tornado??

A: Sumbuddy's fixin' to loose a trailer!

carry on...

In canada, mobile homes are built to a lower standard and not subject to the building code. They are inspected by a CSA Canadian standards inspector. They can be built with 2x3 framing, hallways are narrower, and they do not need a foundation among other things. Modulars and prefabs must adhere to the building code. They are a proper house with a foundation and they command a much higher resale price.

fasted58 wrote:

chandlerGTi wrote: Mine arrived on axles but calling it a trailer or a double wide is short sighted. It is super nice and pretty well priced for what they are.

How do you like it? Price?

Like it fine, we bought land to build on but can't afford to build what we want yet. I'll have to look again but something like $40k all told with a 2 car attached.

There are small things that tell you you aren't in a stick built, dry walled house. Roofline, walls you have a hard time putting pictures on, low windows, etc. We put the garage on the west side to cut down on wind and it has been the most economical in terms of heating and cooling of any of the hoses we've owned.

Shoot clownkiller a pm. I'm sure he'd be glad to help, and is a wise dude.

I'll research more on DWs and modulars. Our county tax site should show the lot, floor plan and garage dimensions of the property that originally caught my eye. Plus do a drive by. My work schedule is upside down for a couple more days but I'll get to it.

Add more comments, these sound interesting. Thanks.

One of the reasons we went this way is also that when we do build a house we can sell this one and move it off the property, it will be worth half what we paid but that's no worse than the interest money you lose if it were financed. The spot we put this is also graded and prepared to be the spot where the future shop will go once the "house " (future house) is built.

In reply to chandlerGTi:

Interesting perspective. There is some validity to that, but the devil would be in the details.

If you paid $40K and it was worth half, you would take a $20K hit at resale.

If you financed $150K at 3%, the $20K would cover about 5 years of interest. Of course, the interest is deductible, so (depending on your tax rate) it would last a lot longer than 5 years.

It also assumes you bought the trailer for cash and didn't finance it. Interest rates on trailers are much higher than "real" houses.

If you add in the (potential) appreciation in value for a "real" house, I'm not sure it is a win.

This is what we'll be building should the time come we have the property in the right location. Been to the factory in Asheville a couple times for the tour. Nice folks, well thought out, good pricing. Under roof in 7 days.

http://www.deltechomes.com

You might be a redneck if you have one mobile home and 15 cars that aren't.

SVreX wrote: Q: How is a redneck divorce similar to a tornado?? A: Sumbuddy's fixin' to loose a trailer! carry on...

Q: How is a blond and a tornado alike?

A: At first there is a lot of sucking and blowing then someone looses a trailer.

I have nothing useful to add to this thread.