Old Single Wide Mobile Home Rim Joist Repair Part 3

Howdy! Here is the next section in my video series on remodeling my old vintage trailer. In this episode I complete the rim joist replacement on the front door side.
As always, thanks for checking it out!
#diy #singlewide #vintagetrailer #mobilehome

[@Drewsroofingandhomerepair]

It just shows that no matter what it looks like it can be repaired

[@oldakron6633]

Thank you for this video. I’ve scoured youtube many many times looking for this type of repair. My outer floors that cantilever past the I-beam are sloping down and I don’t know how to repair them. It makes me feel like those exterior walls are going to collapse! So glad I found this video. Thank you again.

[@oldakron6633]

I wanted to add that my only problem is I don’t know how to access this area on the side of the house since it’s all completely covered. We’ll see.

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Hopefully you're able to get the siding and skirting out of the way so you can work on your joists and hope my vid helps you out! Thanks!

[@darrylmcleman6456]

I have owned 7 mobile homes ( one at a time) in my 70 years. I like doing repairs and actually dug a cement skirting on one of them.( Mixing cement in a wheelbarrow.) Paycheck to paycheck.Did small sections at a time and kept the rain off with black paper.You can fix most anything. CHEERS from Westcoast Canada!

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Thanks!

[@Drewsroofingandhomerepair]

I have always loved working on Mobile Home is my friend always

[@totallylegityoutubeperson4170]

This has given me hope! I paid $14k for a decent single wide. 1988 Fleetwood 16x70 for me an my 70 year old dad in the NC mountains. It was all we could afford. Definitely needs some work here and there, but from what I've seen it's nothing absolutely horrific. The best part is the location, not your typical sandwiched together park. I am in the process of buying tools and raw materials. I did notice there was a lot of dry rot (and id assume termite/ant damage once I start ripping it out) on the joist, and it needs some new underpinning/skirting as well. Was just trying to figure out if I was going to do vinyl or maybe go the hardieboard route. Thank you for the time you took showing us less fortunate, but fortunate enough homeowners to be able to do these repairs we otherwise would not be able to! Quick question...how do you determine how much length you want to use for your repair? I am going to just replace the entire joist around the home. Would it be advisable to go with decent sized planks or the longest I can possibly find? Any benefit to doing one or the other?

[@darrylmcleman6456]

@@totallylegityoutubeperson4170 Hardieboard is popular in the mobile home park I live in and it stands up to the weedeater.

[@W0RLDSSMALLESTVI0LIN]

Just found ur channel and watched all ur videos. For never doing this kinda work before you sure do look like a professional. I have a 1970 with an end bedroom with completely gone rim joists, in fact the entire end is held up by a rigged makeshift ceiling of 2x4s everywhere. I'm scared to take it on by myself and have thought of calling a professional, but I know it'd cost probably thousands for such a job. The whole place needs redone honestly. I wish you were close to PA I'd love to have you do this work for me. Keep posting, ur videos are without doubt the best mobile home repair videos on KZbin.

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Thanks! That means sooo much. I might not be a pro but I've been pretty handy most of my life, from building forts as a kid, or skateboard ramps. I've worked in a factory making snowboards and was a member of a woodworking shop for a year. Made shed and some raised beds on a small farm I worked on too. I do plan on making a wood shop on my property after this is livable so I can keep working with wood. Just smaller projects. Anyway, thanks again. Appreciate it!

[@W0RLDSSMALLESTVI0LIN]

@@thesomewhathandyman9400 Sounds like you could do pretty much anything then! I will be tuned in for all ur upcoming videos and probably use them as a guide if I decide to take on my place by myself....got the bell notification on for ur videos.

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

@@W0RLDSSMALLESTVI0LIN Sweet! You can do it! ;) I'll try to get one up this weekend. Thanks!

[@livinglifemyway7349]

Ryan , you are doing a hell of a job. Now I know what I am in for. Between you and Drew's roofing channel I think I will have good references to look back to. My project is a 74 single wide the center roof section colapsed from snow like your but has been 7 years ago. I know there is a mess to fix in there. But I bought it for the land with hopes to redo the older home after watching drew say " if its made of wood you can repair it "

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Thank you soo much! Always a honor to be mentioned along with master Drew! Best of luck and keep me posted on your progress!

[@macymorse80]

My wife and I just inherited her moms mobile home and it’s in about the same shape, haven’t torn the walls apart to see how bad the damage is but hopefully this a mature carpenter can knock out the repairs

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Best of luck and you can totally do it!!! :)

[@BigAgitator]

Nice job. It helps me get motivated to tackle mine.

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Glad to hear it! I too love to watch other folks working on mobiles for tips and motivation as well!

[@MsRenren24]

Looking good! Can’t wait to watch it all come together!

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

You and me both! ;) It's been slow going since I've only been going out on the weekends this year.

[@hectorgarcia8691]

Good work 👍

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Thanks ✌️

[@Drewsroofingandhomerepair]

That thing was in bad shape. Good work my brother good work.

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Thanks Drew!

[@joedarden2276]

Well Done

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Thank ya much!

[@Na-nc6qt]

Thank you so much for the video. I've been mental building all summer long 😁. I have the exact damage you showed and I didn't know how or where to begin. Was very helpful, thank you again 🙏 You have a new subscriber

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Mental building is the best! Glad I could help give you some ideas on how to tackle your project!

[@fredcolberg8789]

I just cut 3/4 flooring back 31/2 inches and installed pressure treated 2x4 instead of the 3/4 osb and the 3/4 inches 1x4. Braced the flooring with a block. Then wrapped with rubber membrane.

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Nice. Hope that holds up well for ya! Sounds like it will!

[@BigDreamsTinyBudget]

Nice! Cant wait to see more!

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

More to come! Got a few more vids in the cue I need to clip up and such.

[@BigDreamsTinyBudget]

@@thesomewhathandyman9400 You will probably get yours done a whole lot faster than I get mine done LOL. Im living in one room while gutting and redoing the rest. I feel ya on the cost of lumber! It is insane!

[@rogerbranch9248]

That's what I'm fixing to have to do to mine

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Hope you've been able to make progress or even get it done! Thanks!

[@Drewsroofingandhomerepair]

I just subscribed to your channel I just found it today

[@Drewsroofingandhomerepair]

That is very awesome wow you have your work cut out for you on this one. Looks very familiar I just did one myself and I thought the one I did was bad wow looking at the one you’re doing now is worse keep up the good work my friend I hope you come over to my channel and take a look at the one I did

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Thanks Drew! Yup, I’ve been watching your video’s for a couple years now.

[@justaviewerortwo2924]

What’s actually funny is this is the first time I’ve ever seen a minihome with the floor Joyce run length of the home not the opposite way like side to side.

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

@@justaviewerortwo2924 right there with ya. I didn’t expect it either. Doesn’t make much sense structurally. Only makes sense for ductwork and main plumbing lines.

[@justaviewerortwo2924]

@@thesomewhathandyman9400 The only thing I did think actually the floor joist running is the way the framing is it actually might give it more support because you got the outrigging going to the outer walls and the all 2x6 or 2x8 were supported by the steel frame In some cases it might actually be built better than most. Would be kind of cool to have a structural engineer kind of give a comment on it to see if maybe that’s actually built better because when you think about it you have a steel frame sitting underneath the whole thing not just two beams with the out rigging . Kinda like the whole thing is supported by a frame versus the newer ones basically have two wooden beams run up on the left and right inside of the home and the floor joist go the opposite way. I own a mini home at an 85 and I’m totally amazed at how different the construction is from a regular home in some cases it’s better but in other cases it’s not.

[@jesselovejoy6555]

👍🏻

[@newkidflip430]

That base board seal plate has to be pressure treated lumber or else it will rot quickly. And you are supposed to support that load barring wall underneath so it doesn't drop when you repair the seal plate

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

I appreciate the input but I think you're thinking of a sticks and brick house build not a mobile home. This is not considered a sill plate. It's a rim joist and will not be in contact with a foundation so no chance of water sitting between it and a foundation. And yes, ideally I should have supported the walls when I worked on the rim joists and if it were a heavy house that def would have been a must but this is a very light mobile home with aluminum siding at the moment and a 1x2 roof with a light metal cap so I knew it could self support as I replaced sections. But yes, anyone who is watching this, take precautions as this is not a how to channel, just a how I do channel. Thanks for your concerns on being safe though. Cheers.

[@christopherhacker8193]

@@thesomewhathandyman9400 what model is ur trailer your working on I have a 1975 with 2×2 and 2×3 studs and makes it more complicated.on top of having 2×6 and 2×8 floor joist

[@cabman86]

Looks like my old mobile home where the water heater is. The floor joists are rotted away about 18" inward too. The main bathroom sink is just as bad.

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Yup, they were def not built to last! Ha!

[@cabman86]

@@thesomewhathandyman9400 There was so much rot the water heater was about to go through the floor. Only about 1/3 of the floor under it was semi solid.

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

@@cabman86 Yikes! But yeah if it was sitting on that old standard sawdust subfloor, I bet it was just hanging on by a thread

[@cabman86]

@@thesomewhathandyman9400 A couple more inches and it would have hit the ground. I paid $1500 for the mobile home and have put about $4000 in it.

[@slappychap969]

Thanks for posting this video. I just bought an older mobile and.... its bad. Do you recommend doing a hiuse wrap on this old of a mobile?? I ask because the rot I'm dealing with is from condensate during the 10* weather that warms up then freezes constantly.

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Most def. House wrap is a good practice. If you saw some of my other video's I do indeed use house wrap, although a lot of that had to do with it being code, I also believe it works well. Best of luck on your project and hope that my journey can continue to help keep you motivated and possibly give you some good tips. Thanks!

[@Drewsroofingandhomerepair]

What is holding up the walls of the trailer while you take all that out? I’m just wondering how the exterior wall and the roof and everything didn’t at least SAG.

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Magic, Drew. Magic. Ha! Yeah I wasn’t sure it would stay up. But I think it was a combination of the walls being light, the screws in the metal, and probably the little 1x2 runners that go length wise in the walls that the tin screw into. That’s my guess anyway.

[@Drewsroofingandhomerepair]

I’ll be honest I thought it was pretty amazing watching you do that and the walls didn’t SAG I was surprised anyways good job

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

@@Drewsroofingandhomerepair thanks! And totally, I thought it was going to just drop when I removed the rim joist and when it didn’t, I was pleasantly surprised myself.

[@totallylegityoutubeperson4170]

Is it possible to increase the size of studs on a per room basis? I have those small 2x3 boards on exterior, or any way to strengthen them without throwing off the lateral weight too much? I do plan on putting as much perimeter blocking as I can, in addition to adjustable outriggers, from what I can tell it's laid down pretty sturdy. I see 90 degree on most surfaces inside I put the level to. Also, is it possible to repair the rim joist if the and not the wall joist/board? Do you generally have to remove or jack up the wall joists in order to remove the old rim joist? Thanks!

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

If your floor joists are 2x6 I imagine replacing the 2x3's with 2x4's wouldn't be too bad weight wise. If it's just 2x4 floor joists, yeah that could be an issue. Not sure how you could strengthen them without adding weight though. Yeah, you'll pretty much need to do a little bit of jacking up on the walls to remove and replace the rim joists. But if you just work on small sections you might be able to get away with not jacking it up but then you'll have a bunch of scabbed in boards which really wouldn't be that efficient or sturdy. It's really not that hard to jack up the wall with a car jack, some 2x4's and screws though. These walls are made pretty light. Hope that helps

[@falconthree3815]

Did u put a support in the treailer before wall studs were removed

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Do you mean like a false wall? If so, I did not. I had it all gutted in there so everything was fairly light at that point and since everything was eventually getting rebuilt I didn't mind if things shifted.

[@bonniecapolongo4827]

I was wondering how much you paid for the mobile home?

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

I paid $30K but that's really just for the land, septic, and utilities that were already hooked up. I actually got a much better deal because the mobile and all the trash was still there. The listing price was $59K. I guess they had turned down a $28K offer so when I came around they decided they better take it. This is Washington state so real estate is pretty absurd in price, thus I think I got an OK deal.

[@tylerrussell6415]

In the process of doing this now. I know on a stick built house you have to support the joist while replacing the rim joist. Is that true for this process also?

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

It would not hurt I’m sure. However I have the weird build where my other joists run parallel to the rim joist so there really isn’t anything to support except for the front and back ends but those are supported by the metal cross bars. Since the long metal beams running down the middle of the trailer is pretty close to the outside of the trailer I think you’d be ok for support when removing the rim joist. I would just want to make sure you push up on the cross truss’s when you nail the rim joist into them.

[@MrDaryboy]

Do you or anyone have any ideas on replacing the end outer joist on a single wide? I braced the outside wall from inside but it still had some slight sag. I'm trying to figure out how I will get the new subfloor in front outside with this sag. Also, does anyone know the thickness of these subfloors? All the flooring in this trailer got so saturated it's swollen and I can't tell if it's 3/4 or 5/8.

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

Sorry to hear you're still having sag with the bracing. Maybe tack some 2x4's on the outside of the wall (take the siding off if it's aluminum to expose a wall stud) and have that tacked on 2x4 close to the ground so you can put a car jack on the ground and and on the end of the tacked on 2x4 so you can jack the wall up to level or just above. I think my old subfloors were 3/4 but yours might be different. Best of luck!

[@MrDaryboy]

I can't measure the old floor because it was so water logged at one point it's swollen and 5/8 and 3/4 is so close to same it's hard to tell what it is. I was hoping 3/4 because I want to use treated plywood for perimeter but they don't make 5/8 or sell it around here. Only untreated.

[@kuehnel16]

Strike a match already

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

If real estate, building permits, etc, were not so crazy expensive in my area, believe me, I would have.

[@NotSoCrazyNinja]

No matter how bad of shape a mobile home is in, if you have the time, money, determination, and patience, you can fix it. You could literally pull a mobile home shell out of the woods and completely remodel it. Would it be cheap? Oh no. Would it be easy? Nope. However, it can be done.

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

You are not wrong there at all. It just all depends on if it's economically feasible I suppose. I would never suggest someone do this to a place like a park with rented land but since my part of the country is absurd price wise, this just made the most sense economically.....although I do question it every now and again since it's taken me so many years. I'm sure I'll be super happy with the decision once it's all said and done.

[@NotSoCrazyNinja]

@@thesomewhathandyman9400 Happiness depends on what you want and expect out of it. My place is outdated, needs some repairs I've put off, is showing its age, but, hey, no mortgage, it's paid for, and it does what it intends to do (provide me shelter). I have maybe $3,000 total tied up into my trailer and I've had it about seven years or so. Just have to take it a day at a time and keep in mind whatever goals you have. My goals are simple: roof over my head. I've been super close to being homeless a few times and I have been forced to live in some very shady areas. I'd rather dump a few more grand into this place than to go back to what I had to deal with in the past lol.

[@nicolaiuribe801]

How come the outside walls come falling down?

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

If you're talking about those small wall studs it was because the window sill in that area was rotted out.

[@nicolaiuribe801]

I’m sorry how come the outside walls don’t come falling down ? I want to do this to mine but worried they will fall. What’s holding them up

[@nicolaiuribe801]

I’m guessing those rim joist don’t support any load?

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

@@nicolaiuribe801 Oh I got ya. They didn't fall because of the aluminum sheeting screwed to the wall studs and those 1x2 runner sticks between the wall studs all help them to stay connected as well as the top plate of the walls being connected to the roof. It's basically one big unit so you can take sections of the floor joist out and not have to worry about it all coming down. I mean at some point the wall would sink down but if you do it in sections, you'll be A-OK. Hope that helps.

[@chesterossa]

Comment

[@tammyriggs6395]

WeWishYouwhere InLouisiana" HerOlder Moible Home LookeSame "weNeedPerson To DoJob No Help HereHelpTiDoJobLikeWeWaTchYouDoGreaTJob

[@thesomewhathandyman9400]

I'd probably enjoy the weather in the winter much more!