Two Mobile Home Questions (from Non-Mobile Home Owner)
 

1) If a home is on a foundation, is there a way to access floor-based
forced-heating/cooling? I'm amazed by the feces, cigarette butts,
mold, dust, cooking grease, pet hair I find when I visit these senior
citizens and shut-ins with respiratory problems, but none seem to ever
consider that their home is making them ill. Yesterday, I counted an
eight-vent floor in an extremely tiny home. If cleaning this style of
duct is impossible--I don't mean blowing them with a Shop Vac, I mean
cleaning the mold out--is there a way to calculate total tear-out and
replacement?

2) Why do mobile home owner/landlords restain woodwork or panelling so
often? I thought it might be some kind of anti-termite measure, but
twice in the dead of winter (Pennsylvania), I've been in newly-
restained homes that made me ill. It was like breathing pure
turpentine. Termites can't be that active in sub-zero temperatures,
right?

Thanks.

Two Mobile Home Questions (from Non-Mobile Home Owner)
 

On Jul 18, 7:12*am, Elmer wrote:
1) If a home is on a foundation, is there a way to access floor-based
forced-heating/cooling? I'm amazed by the feces, cigarette butts,
mold, dust, cooking grease, pet hair I find when I visit these senior
citizens and shut-ins with respiratory problems, but none seem to ever
consider that their home is making them ill. Yesterday, I counted an
eight-vent floor in an extremely tiny home. If cleaning this style of
duct is impossible--I don't mean blowing them with a Shop Vac, I mean
cleaning the mold out--is there a way to calculate total tear-out and
replacement?

2) Why do mobile home owner/landlords restain woodwork or panelling so
often? I thought it might be some kind of anti-termite measure, but
twice in the dead of winter (Pennsylvania), I've been in newly-
restained homes that made me ill. It was like breathing pure
turpentine. Termites can't be that active in sub-zero temperatures,
right?

Thanks.

I'm not an expert but my mother lived in a older single wide for a few
years in FL. The vents were sheet metal between the floor joists.
Then sealed with from the underside. Plumbing was the same. In FL
they slowly settle into the sand so there was not really room to get
under it anyway. We pulled up floor from inside to get at a drain
problem. I don't know about newer ones but it struck me that
maintenance was not given much consideration in the older ones. They
lasted about 30 years and then seemed to be disposable.

Two Mobile Home Questions (from Non-Mobile Home Owner)
 

On Jul 18, 8:48*am, jamesgangnc wrote:

I'm not an expert but my mother lived in a older single wide for a few
years in FL. *The vents were sheet metal between the floor joists.
Then sealed with from the underside. *Plumbing was the same. *In FL
they slowly settle into the sand so there was not really room to get
under it anyway. *We pulled up floor from inside to get at a drain
problem. *I don't know about newer ones but it struck me that
maintenance was not given much consideration in the older ones. *They
lasted about 30 years and then seemed to be disposable.

After I posted, an old(er) lady told me formaldehyde was used heavily
in mobile home construction. Now I'm wondering if that's the reason
for all these wall tear-outs and replacement with cheap(?) plywood,
and that awful stinky stain. I mean, what are the chances of going to
three mobile homes in three different parts of one county and finding
all-wood walls (pretty nice to look at, actually), but all with that
awful stink?

Thanks for the head's up about the floor issue, which has to explain
why the heating system can never be cleaned.

Sad. Your mom was lucky to have you.