@boe dillard, I tried to cover everything, again most of the issues were accessibility - added a foot in the single side of the 3-car garage to allow , added a foot in the master bedroom side, etc. We built the Tiger Creek - another spin-off of the Nantahala/Amicola, etc. (there's also a Houzz thread on the Tiger Creek). Pictures of my build are shown on Garrell Associates webpage Tiger Creek Cottage C 18028, in the photos at the top. (click on either side of stock drawing - says 'more pictures'). I certainly wasn't overly smart about this whole darn thing - when you are doing it all alone (my husband is a severely disable vet) you get taken advantage of from EVERY direction. I feel like I have "SUCKER" plastered across my forehead! Best of luck!

I have the same issue in a 1988 Redman MH. As a Project Manager for a Development/Construction company, maybe I can help. The panels you refer to are MDF (medium density fiberboard) and were used prior to the 1990's in both flooring and exterior wall coverings for manufactured homes. This material, unless treated with a satisfactory primer, will be subject to damage from moisture rather easily. It is a HIGH maintenance material. To deal with the crumbling (it is generally not rot) caused by the invasion of moisture, it is best to cut out those areas that are damaged and replace with construction grade OSB (oriented strand board). It is cheaper than plywood, is more structurally sound, and won't delaminate like layered-panel material such as plywood. Wood putty and caulking might fill the small areas, but the damage goes further than what you can see. If you have a 6" area of damage, you should cut out at least 18" in all directions. Be aware that, if you simply replace the siding with plywood, OSB, or T-111, you will probably not be matching the existing texture of your current siding. Painting it will make it look good from a distance, but the difference in the material will be obvious. You may want to consider covering everything with a different material. As I said, I'm facing the same problem. My solution, since the damage is only where the siding meets the stucco skirting, is to cut out 16" above the skirting, all the way around the base of the home, then replace it with 7/16" OSB. I'll be applying a polyethylene (rigid plastic) faux stone from the bottom of the skirting, overlapping the OSB and the MDF (about 48" high) as a wainscot. Above that, since the MDF is still intact, I'll be applying faux vinyl logs. These are foam-filled and apply just like regular vinyl siding. Be careful when cutting the old siding off. You can use a circular saw, but set your blade depth just slightly less than the thickness of your MDF, so you don't cut into any studs, and heaven forbid, any electrical lines.

The days of seeing gains like those in the above posts where an $80,000 purchase sells for many times that years later are over for at least 10 years. Don't expect any major real estate boom any time soon; real estate is going to return to what it's supposed to be for, a place to live and call home, rather then a slot machine that pays out. With that said, I got a super deal on a manufactured home built in 2003 with new 2 car detached garage on a .65 acre lot for under $40k. The modular homes in a new subdivision being built start around $100k and that's with no garage included and they are still selling! They don't look that much different, they have the same or less square footage, yet they are selling for more then double the price. I guess it depends on what you need. Do you need a basement? The manufactured homes around here will qualify for a traditional mortgage as long as they are anchored on a frost free foundation. Surrender the title and they become real property, treated as such. Why pay more for less in an environment where real estate is going to go down adjusted for inflation going forward? If you can find a good deal, go for it. A house is a place to live, a place to call home, that's the important thing.. not bling bling, unless that's your style.

I officially hung up my pipe wrenches and retired on New Years day 2006. At the time my game plan was to go aboard my 36' houseboat for a two to three month cruise then return and build a tiny little one bedroom retirement home that looks like an English gate keepers cottage that I had been designing and dreaming about for the last ten or so years. So much for long term plans...LOL. I have had so much fun on the boat I don't anticipate ever building another house. So far i have cruised the Ohio river from Pittsburg to Cairo, Ill, Un the Mississippi to the Illinois then up to the Chicago sanitary ship canal to Chicago, then back downstream to New Orleans, turning west on the Intercoastal waterway all the way to Brownsville, Texas and back to Ohio, and next summer we plan to circumnavigate the entire east coast of the USA. Mississippi River to chicago,,across the great lakes to New York, Erie canal and Hudson River to NYC then the coastal waters to southern NJ where we will take the Intercoastal waterway around florida to New Orleans and up the Mississippe river and Ohio river back to our starting point. When we feel in a festive mood we can go down river about 40 miles from our home marina and tie up to a casino boat for a day or two. When solitude is in order we anchor in a quiet cove in a wilderness section of the river where i can quietly sip my coffee and watch deer, bear and other wildlife come to the river for water. When we are tied up in a marina and must make those obligotory pilgrimages to walmart we have a motor scooter on the stern deck that we can set off. Laugh if you will but it gets 60mpg at 50mph with two ppl so it is fine for us. The boat is totally self contained with a 20KVA generator, a marine geothermal HVAC system plus we can heat the boat with circulating hot water generated by the engines when we are cruising. (the same method as a car heater). Full size LP gas range and oven in the galley, plus microwave and all the other non-sensical trappings of a full kitchen. Two bedrooms with queen size beds plus the galley can be converted to sleeping berths when we have extra ppl on board. (We can actually sleep 10 ppl comfortably.) The Head (bathroom) is a bit small but it has all the required amenities,tub/shower, toilet, vanity etc. About the only thing we don't have that we might have in a new house is a mortage and utility bills..LOL.