DIY Trailer House Repairs
There are several home repairs that you can do on your own. Simply because you live in a trailer doesn't mean you don't want your house to look nice. Floors, walls and kitchen cabinets are probably the most prominent features of any home, so they are a good place to start. Throughout the years, they take a good bit of wear and tear, so you will undoubtedly need to repair them in time. In addition, trailers are not generally manufactured as well as site built homes, so some parts of a trailer may begin to wear out before they would in a regular house. Does this Spark an idea?
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Things You'll Need
- Flathead screwdriver
- Hammer
- Razor knife
- Measuring tape
- Staple gun
- Carpet
- Finishing nails
- Pliers
- Joint compound
- Putty knife
- Fine-grit sandpaper
- Warm water
- Sponge
- Paint
- ½-inch paint roller
- Drill
- Degreaser
- Scrub pad
- Towel
- Medium-grit sandpaper
- Tack cloth
- Oil-based primer
- Oil-based paint
- High-quality paintbrush
Instructions
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Floors
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Remove the baseboards around the room by sliding a flathead screwdriver behind them. Pull the baseboards free from the wall. Pull any remaining nails from the walls using the claw part of a hammer. Not all trailers come with baseboards installed, but some of the higher quality trailers do. The baseboards aren't any different than those in a home built on site, but they must be removed in order to replace the flooring.
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2
Use a razor knife to cut the existing carpet around the boundaries of the room. In some trailers, manufacturers install all of the flooring before they put in the upright walls, so you must cut the flooring along the edges of the walls. Otherwise, you may find that you can't get the flooring up. Pull the carpet up, using a hammer to pry it loose if necessary. Hammer down or pull out any remaining nails.
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3
Measure the room carefully to determine how much carpet you will need. Generally, the width of the room will be half of the width of your trailer. For example, if you have a 28x80 foot trailer, then all of the rooms on each side will be about 14 feet wide. The lengths, however, will vary. To determine the length of your room, measure along the outside wall. You should have two measurements--one for the width and one for the length of the room. Multiply the two measurements together to determine the total amount of carpet for that room. The new carpet will likely be thicker than the original carpet--trailer carpet is often quite thin--so it should wear better and last longer.
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4
Lay out the new carpet on the floor and use the razor knife to cut it carefully along the boundaries of the room. Staple the carpet to the floor using a staple gun. Begin at one side of the room and work toward the other side, stapling about every four inches to ensure that you or a visitor don't accidentally pull up the carpet with your feet.
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5
Replace the baseboards, if there were any, around the room by nailing them to the walls using finishing nails. Hammer the nails in about every 6 inches.
Walls
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6
Use a flathead screwdriver to pry the wall strips--the thin strips of wood that cover the seams between pieces of sheetrock--from the wall. Use a pair of pliers to pull any remaining staples out of the wall. Usually, the wall strips are covered in the same pattern of wallpaper as the sheetrock, but they are still rather noticeable. Wall strips are one of the largest signals that a house is a trailer as opposed to a site built home, so the Mobile Home Doctor recommends removing them.
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7
Apply a layer of joint compound to each of the wall joints using a putty knife. Allow the joint compound to dry and sand it smooth with fine-grit sandpaper. The joint compound will smooth the wall joint surface before painting.
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8
Wipe down all walls with warm water and a sponge to clean away any residue and dust and allow the walls to dry completely. Paint the walls the color of your choice with a ½-inch paint roller and allow the paint to dry for 4 to 6 hours.
Cabinets
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9
Remove the hinges from the cabinets using a drill. Set the doors aside and take off all of the handles. Take the drawers out of their cabinet bases.
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10
Scrub the doors, drawers and cabinets with a strong degreaser and scrub pad. The Mobile Home Doctor suggests that you get all of the grime off so the paint won't flake. Rinse them thoroughly with a sponge and warm water and use a towel to dry everything, so the wood doesn't soak up the water.
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11
Sand everything with medium-grit sandpaper to rough the surfaces. Paint won't stick to a completely smooth surface. When you're done sanding, wipe everything down with a tack cloth so the dust won't get into your paint while you're working.
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12
Apply an oil-based primer to all of the visible surfaces of your cabinets, drawers and doors with a high-quality paintbrush. Allow the primer to dry completely and apply two coats of an oil-based paint in the color of your choice. Wait for the paint to dry for at least 24 hours before putting your dishes back in the cabinets.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit trailer trash #4 image by Aaron Kohr from Fotolia.com
