Posted by Tony-VA/NC on September 20, 2004 at 20:07:28:
You may have to add some bracing underneath so that all of your new floor edges rest on a brace but other than that you have it.
Tony
ps. You may be unpleasantly suprised how much water an intact underbelly can hold!
Huge Rolls in the Floor - What Could They Be? - Posted by Garry (OH)
Posted by Garry (OH) on September 20, 2004 at 18:17:51:
I’m just starting out in this business. I’ve seen a number of homes but haven’t bought anything yet, although, if my current negotiations go well, I could have something soon.
One of the homes I’m looking at (no where near making an offer on this one) is a late 80’s 14x70. It needs work. However, I am perplexed about a particular defect that it has. There are huge rolls in the floor at three separate and widely spread locations. They are full width and lie perpendicular to the longitudinal axis. Each is about 18 inches in width and about 3 to 4 inches high at the crest. As you walk down the trailer you walk up and over the hill! The owner installed new trailer width flooring at one end with one of the rolls “built in”, so it is clear that whatever is underneath has this contour. I’m not sure if they put in a second layer of flooring which followed a warped underfloor or if the frame underneath had adopted this contour. Eying the trailer from the outside does not reveal any clues.
I’m going to take another look inside to see if I can figure out what is going on. I can’t believe that it is a general set up problem because the rolls have a very short “wavelength”. On the other hand I could envisage that the sub floor is fitted so tight that upon the addition of moisture the floor expanded and heaved in locations where the attachment to the frame was marginal.
I know that warping and heaving is a general problem but have not seen such perfect waves . Can anyone shed some light on what might be going on here?
Re: Huge Rolls in the Floor - What Could They Be? - Posted by patsears
Posted by patsears on September 21, 2004 at 07:26:02:
Hello,
Not to steer you away from this deal, but be assured that to do your rehab job right, plan on tearing up (hard work!) ALL the old flooring, then replacing it with all new plywood and bracing (even harder work!) Even more time-consuming if you have to replace water lines and do belly repair (crawling under the house SUCKS!)
Reduce your offer price accordingly!!!
Good luck!
patsears
Re: Huge Rolls in the Floor - What Could They Be? - Posted by Tony-VA/NC
Posted by Tony-VA/NC on September 20, 2004 at 18:25:15:
I find this same problem in many of the foreclosed homes we buy. Typically the homes have sat for sometime during cold weather, pipes split in the underbelly of the home and sprayed the underside of the subflooring.
The mobile home subflooring is typically a particle type board such as OSB. As the water sprays from underneath, the board warps away from the spray, causing a speedbump like appearance in the flooring.
Tony
Re: Huge Rolls in the Floor - What Could They Be? - Posted by Garry (OH)
Posted by Garry (OH) on September 20, 2004 at 18:49:06:
You know, the owner mentioned something about pipes and insulation but I thought she was talking about a second home of hers I was looking at. Interestingly, I dropped by the home today and heard water tricking from the underbelly. I called her immediately ( the home is vacant) to let her know and her response was, “well I know I turned the water off so there shouldn’t be a problem”. She didn’t seem in any hurry to check the leak out for herself.
So, I’m assuming that once the pipes are fixed the problem is cured by cutting out the offending “speedbump” and installing new flooring.
Thanks for your insight Tony.
Garry