I have a double-wide trailer in Delaware and need to replace all my rugs due to an errant dog who has now passed.
I am thinking of trying hardwood flooring or laminates, but I have to wonder if I can do that. I am thinking that my sub-flooring might not handle hardwood flooring. Laminates might be possible since my understanding is that they can be installed as 'floating'. I am not sure I really care for laminates however.
I guess what I am looking for here is any advice pertinent to my concerns - even 'don't do it'.
When you say "if the subfloor can handle it" are you referring to the weight of real hardwood? If so, the weight will not be an issue at all-- even a very small person standing on the floor will put far more pounds/square foot than hardwood flooring. In fact, some mobilehome floors are not that sturdy-- kind of "springy" feeling. Real hardwood (about 3/4" oak) would actually be better than laminate I would think. Good luck Larry
I agree, if you can afford it, and you think the investment is worth it, go with 3/4 inch real HW it will be stronger (prefinished 3/4 inch T&G is available too). Remember yachts have real HW floors and doublewides can too. If not then an engineered real hardwood veneer might save some time and money but you will have to make sure current floor has no spongy areas. A cheap laminate will probably look right at home in a mobile home, but then it wont set that home apart from any neighbors (selling competitors) when you go to sell it either. Also the gas-out on real HW is negligible, whereas on laminates and engineered in a closed trailer you will have to vent frequently till the formaldehide releases (remember the Katrina trailers and health problems with those).
I saw a trucker the other day at a stop here driving one of those new Navistar LoneStar semi's, it had a real hardwood floor in the sleeping compartment! Wow what a beautiful truck, if you ever get a chance to see one of those LoneStars do it, they are quite impressive.
the sub floor is likely chip board and might be 1/2 inch thick or less.
mobile homes often have springly floors, trying to nail real hardwood to a springy surface will likely cause lots of squeaking, loose hardwood over time etc........
On Tue 07 Oct 2008 08:53:57a, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com told us...
A lot depends on the age and manufacturer of the home. We have a double wide *manufactured home* that I would hardly consider a *mobile home*. Its construction materials and characteristics are the same as a stick built home. Our subfloors are 3/4" plywood. Our home is "ground set", in that it has a stem wall foundation and steel pier support on 3 foot centers under the entire house. Our bathrooms and kitchen have ceramic tile floors which have no cracks in either the tiles or grout. I'm sure if I wanted to install hardwood floors that it would not be a problem.
There are many options. When you say hardwood, do you mean the regular 3/4" think wood that has to be finished? There are real hardwood that is pre-finished too, but the easiest for DIY is engineered hardwood. It is a plywood with a nice top layer and a very tough finish. A few tools and a weekend will do a good sized area. IMO, it looks better than laminate and installs about the same. It can go down as a floating floor, same as laminate.
Take a cruise over to a local flooring dealer and see the array of goodies they have. Many options in every price range.
How dry is it under that trailer? Most trailers I have seen aren't real solid on the bottom, and hardwood does not cope with moisture well. Not to mention the problems with the floors getting taller on all the doors. I'd go with a good grade of textured vinyl and area rugs, myself.
On Tue 07 Oct 2008 04:49:42p, aemeijers told us...
Again, age, manufacturer, and method of installation of the double wide unit are key to its construction and the various characteristics that some folks are criticizing/evaluating without knowing all the details.
Modern manufactured homes, in this case a double-wide, often exceed the specs used for stick built homes. They go through rigorous inspections, are well insulated, have sturdy subflooring, and are extremely well sealed from the underside.
Unless the OP states otherwise, I rather doubt that this qualifies as a "trailer".
Manufactured homes, whether they are installed above grade or "ground set" at grade, have no more moisture underneath them than a stick built home with a crawlspace.
I think we need to hear more from the OP to accurately make any kind of recommendation.
Let me quote the OP: "I have a double-wide trailer in Delaware", so barring info to the contrary from the OP, I'm going to assume he has a double wide trailer a.k.a. mobile home, not a manufacturered home that is placed on a foundation.
My recommendation would be for the laminate as adding the least thickness, and being more tolerant of dampness that hardwood, conventional or engineered. If it's replacing carpeting, the laminate thickness should be comperable so no door issues would be expected.
OP did state otherwise- he called it a 'double-wide trailer'.
What you are describing is, around here, called a 'modular' home. I never hear the term double-wide applied to those. Basic dividing line seems to be, is the house designed for use in a 'manufactured home community', or as a alternative to a stick-built house?
I'm old fashioned- if it has metal floor joists, it is a trailer, AFAIAC. Yes, most of them are a lot better than they used to be. But by virtue of the price point they have to make, they all compromise somewhere. Flip side of that is, few stick-built houses are as good as they used to be, unless you have the money and knowledge to make the builder build it properly.
And as to the moisture underneath- unless they are on a real foundation with proper drainage, yes, they are prone to being damp underneath. Skirting is decorative, if it only goes down to ground level. Most crawl spaces I have seen are damp, too, since almost nobody bothers to address drainage in those either. I'm lucky- on this half-ass addition I am sitting in as I type this, at least they did the crawl right- deep and dry, with correct grading on the outside. More like a 3 1/2 foot tall basement with a dirt floor. Sure wish they would have spent the extra few thousand to make a real basement attached to the original basement, though.
Sorry, Pete, I did miss that first line. Still, in some places people refer to manufactured homes as "trailers", since they units are brought in on wheels.
Personally, I really detest all of the lainate floors I've seen. All I can think of is *plastic* and *fake*. Unless, of course, it is a laminate with an actual wood surface. I would also not like having vinyl flooring installed throughly my home. If it were mine I would re-carpet, since the source of ruining the present carpetis no longer there.
On Tue 07 Oct 2008 05:53:55p, aemeijers told us...
I'm sorry, but I actually did miss that statement. Still, in some areas, manufactured homes are referred to as trailers, since their method of arrival is on a removable wheelbase.
In our area, "modular" refers to a home built from various multiple units that end up joined together, often with as little as an individual room being a module. Manufactured homes cover everything else, except those that are true "trailers".
Our manufactured home has 2 x 6 wooden floor and wall joists. All of our joists, including ceiling, are 16" on center. We have 3/4" plywood subflooring and 5/8" thick drywall, along with better insulation than we had in our stick built house that was built in 2000. I do not consider it a trailer by any means. It arrived in two segments which were then joined down the middle line. There are also triple and quad wides that are similarly assembled, and may be as large as 3600 sq. ft. Their construction is quite substantial.
We have an approximately 3 1/2 foot tall crawlspace below the house, with concrete block and pour concrete stem walls. It has a dirt floor, but there is a central drain which flows to our septic tank.
One advantage we also have is that we live in the desert, so moisture is seldom something one needs to consider, with or without a drain.
Yes, there tends to be a lot of confusion between the mobile homes, manufactured homes, modular homes, panelized homes, and the variants in between. Manufactured housing these days covers quite a range from standard low end, to fully custom high end.
Personally I think a combination of flooring would be in order, even in a relatively small home. Carpet is appropriate for some areas, vinyl for others and wood or laminate in still others. For a mobile home with typically mediocre insulation underneath, carpet may have an advantage in comfort for bare feet.
Yes, I agree. Vinyl or tile in kitchen and baths and tile in foyer. I do like a nice cozy carpet underfoot even though we don't have an insulation problem. We could have opted for real hardwood flooring when we made our selections, but we didn't want to invest that much money in the majority of the flooring. We have sautillo tile in the kitchen and adjoining den, carpet through the bedrooms, livingroom and diningroom, and limestone in the foyer.
No - my double-wide is not on a normal foundation. Just a concrete-block wall placed around the perimeter which provides no supports whatsoever for the trailer itself. The latter is supported by 'piers'.
My underlying ground is always dry, so I don't have a moisture problem
- although I have to say, I am close to the ocean and probably get some moisture from that.
As a double-wide, it is on steel framing underneath. I don't know how thick the sub flooring is, but I think it is press-wood (?spelling?).
I am interested in hard-wood because laminates do not turn me on. I have dog-soiled rugs now, but they all show and retain depressions from furniture and furniture legs. Rug dealers say I can't avoid that.
If it's on piers, it may not be considered a trailer / mobile home. Pier-beam type manufactured housing is a bit different and generally at least a step up from a mobile home.
If it's a pier-beam and not a trailer / mobile home, the sub flooring is probably decent. You should be able to inspect in the area of a plumbing drain to see what the sub floor structure is.
Check the carpet and padding thickness to determine the space you have before you start to have door issues. If it's high enough you can do the full 3/4" hardwood (pref. the pre finished variety), if it's lower, the engineered hardwood is a good choice since it's essentially the same substrate as laminate, with a real hardwood veneer as the top layer. Lumber Liquidators is a decent source for a lot of flooring.
'Pier beam' is my wording. I may be using the wrong descriptor. I have several concrete-block 'towers' or 'columns' supporting the metal framework of my double wide which is about 30" above the ground.
I checked and I think my interior doors will all clear 3/4" flooring. Especially without a rug to clear.
I have heard of Lumber Liquidators. Of course installing such flooring may be beyond my capability. I certainly have no tools to do that (such as a nail gun).
Actually, if it were mine, I would still pursue real hardwood flooring. It would add stability to your existing subfloor. There are some laminates, howeer, that have a thinner top layer of real wood.
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