I think that Houzz folks forget sometimes that people have limited budgets.

Remodeling your current home if you or friends/family are capable DIYers can be cost effective. Removing some walls and adding new windows is possible in a manufactured home. The RockyEdgeFarm link above details a couple doing exactly that.

I bought new build Anderson casement windows for $400-$800 each, then my husband did the construction work to install them. It wouldn’t have been in our budget to hire someone to do that work for us.

My brother is looking at a 1300 sq ft new build for around $120k, with him doing A LOT of the work himself in a rural area.

So it all depends on what your budget is. If you can afford $150k plus mortgage, then a new build is a nice option. If that’s not an option for you then you can certainly make improvements to your current house.

It’s not a house is the whole point. It’s a trailer. When the OP is asking about demolition as an option, it’s not worth $1 put into it from anyone. All of that list of 100K virtually rebuilding the whole thing to stick built standards renovations could easily buy half a new stick built. And should. If the land is owned, a new construction loan to build new should be explored.

You and your husband should agree to do research, which will cost you consultation costs. Worth every penny to get ideas and pricing before making decisions. If you love your land and community and want to stay forever, replacing the house would be a good choice (if you can afford it). Ask your local building department about the tax implications of a new home. Research modular, custom stick build, etc. TAKE YOUR TIME. Your land and location sound fabulous, so getting your house (this one or a new one) to be what you want is important. Keep us posted!

Is a manufactured home code for trailer? I thought that term also encompassed modular homes. Not clear to me based on the original post.

If your manufactured home is what is often referred to as a "mobile home" -- single wide or double wide -- rather than a "modular home" (built and delivered in sections), do consider potential alternatives to remodeling what you have, and, depending upon your budget, including even a combination of keeping/remodeling what you have and building to add to it.

Is your current home a single wide or a double wide and how many bedrooms do you have and how many do you need: will children be living in the home -- if so, how many and what ages . What size home are you going to need for the next decade.

Start by considering the land itself, the slope of the land and how the sunlight hits it and what you really need in the way of a home. What specific things you wish were different. Would it be practical to make the changes you want in stages.

Where on your land would you want your dream home -- precisely where your current home is located or beside it -- utilizing current utility hookups and features.

If you'd like a new kitchen and/or bathroom, a building beside the structure you now have could be a lot more practical than remodeling the kitchen in the home you have. Also worth considering on a sloped lot might be building a daylight basement with a desirable exposure to sunlight and then setting the home you now have atop it to be used as bedrooms.

Not a pro, myself, however, more information and pics likely would be needed for the Houzz pros (or anyone) to be more helpful.

Don't get discouraged. More importantly, don't end up losing your land you truly love by investing in a house you cannot afford to keep.

Would not demolish the existing mobile home if it could be moved to the back of the lot for a guest house or rental house or a shop or storage building. When our site built home was complete, we pulled the decade+ old single wide out into the middle of the field and torched it... literally ... we hated it that much. We almost immediately regretted it and, to this day, I wish we'd kept it for an aluminum storage building and, more recently, to recreate into a "tiny house" for an elderly relative.

dan1888

Great video but doesn't the guy ends up with a stagnant pool of water and/or a flooded structure?

I assume you're on septic and well. Some locations will not let you use old septic system if you build new.

Sabrina Alfin Interiors, if the OP is on piers, she is in a mobile, or manufactured home, either a single or doublewide. If she were in a modular home, she would be on either a crawl space or basement. Doublewide, singlewide, and modular homes all fall under the "manufactured" home category in that they are factory built and are brought to the lot in sections and placed on a foundation. The main difference is that modular homes are built to individual state specifications and double and singlewides are built to HUD specifications. Double and singlewide homes have steel beams that run down each section of home and piers are placed underneath those beams at load bearing points.

Sally, we site built porches and decks on to mobile homes all the time. If your piers were done correctly, your home should not sink. Anyone who knows how to build a deck should be able to help you.

suezbell

We'll have to see.

I appreciate everyone’s input! It’s a double wide Schult home on piers. There is a crawl space. I have a four year old son. There’s 4 bedrooms. It feels a lot like a regular ranch. How easy is it to move something like this to the back of the property If we were to do that?

I would guess that you're in the vicinity of 5k to break it down and move it, then you would have to have new piers poured to put it on, which would probably run another 5k. Then you would have to put in new electric for it and a new waste system. It would basically be like doing all the site work again then setting the home on it. You would be better off selling it to someone who might use it as a hunting camp or something similar.

Sabrina.... modular versus manufactured/mobile.

Manufactured homes are an evolution of mobile homes/ trailers. and are considered mobile homes. They have to comply with HUD regulations for mobile homes, have to be tied down, etc.

Modular is a building technique for a structure. It could be a barn, a bridge, an office building, or a house. Heck, jet planes. Whatever. The pieces are constructed in a warehouse.

With a modular house, the pieces are trucked to the homesite on a flatbed trailer and then placed by crane onto a foundation. The placement is permanent.

The alternative to modular technique is “stick built”, where the build is done onsite.

Once in place, there’s no code/regulations/taxes that are different for modular and stick built. A passerby often can’t tell which technique has been used.

Hope that helps.

@katinparadise you can put a modular on piers. In fact, mine is on helical piers, the kind used for bridges and lighthouses.

IMO your wording is confusing something essential: modular homes are NOT “manufactured homes”.

@Sally Jones to move your house to another part of the property, I’m guessing you get it done with a crane. A very LARGE crane.

The Palacio del Rio Hotel in San Antonio is a modular 21-story structure (first 4 floors stick built). When we stayed there in the early 90's, the literature in the room said it was completed in 11 days. We kind of looked around and thought about checking out, lol. I think it actually took a bit longer but not by much.

Tangerinedoor, when I refer to modular homes as being "manufactured" I'm saying that they fall under that category because they are built in one place and transported to another to be assembled into one unit. The same applies to mobile homes.

It's also true that you can put a modular house on piers. Usually, they have steel beams running under each section and piers are put in place under the beams to support the house. The piers are what support the load of the house as opposed to the sidewalls in a stick built house. This is not usually the way modulars are set though. All of the 50 or so modular homes I sold in the 8 years working in the industry went on either full basements or crawl spaces. They were also brought on to the site on wheels, the same as the mobile homes. The difference was, when they were set on basements, the steel structure and wheels underneath were removed and jack posts were used in the basements and crawl spaces along the center load bearing walls. With mobile homes, the wheels were removed but the steel beams stayed in place.

You could contact local mobile home dealers and ask for estimates.

A double wide would certainly be more costly to move, especially if the wheels have been removed (almost always are). How much equipment is needed will effect the cost.

Even site built houses can be moved by separating them into sections and jacking them up and/or lifting them with huge forklifts and putting them on flat bed trucks depending upon the lot.

With a single wide that would be used for storage, sometimes it can be lifted with a huge forklifts or put on skids and dragged from one place to another. With a single wide, it would likely be a lot easier to build immediately beside the existing home and then either leave the single wide in place as a wing of the new home or move the single wide -- potentially reusing the utility connections. With a single wide, I'd definitely say save it, preferably gut it of plumbing, and use it for storage -- and it would tax as storage building. Since your home is a double wide, you need to think about other considerations.

Saving a full double wide home after building a new site built home, however, could have some potential drawbacks:

less likely to be able to live in it and build beside it at the same time and get the new home at or very near where you want it so the only way you could use the double wide would be to connect utilities for it as a totally different residence -- a new electric meter and, likely, even a new septic tank ... and that requires distance from wells for each home and land dedicated to drainage from each tank.

taxes will be higher -- more if the double wide remains a livable residence as opposed to a storage building.

potential for awkward relationships if a relative wanted to move in and you didn't want that or wanted/needed more rent than the relative could afford.

insuring an unoccupied home costs more than insuring an occupied one.

renters can be more trouble then they're worth -- some are even destructive and/or difficult to get rid of..

you'd still see the mobile home you didn't want to live in and it could "spoil" your view of the lot you love.

it could drag down your value of your new site built home just by being there since the neighborhood affects property values.

Unless you are completely out of debt, the financing the construction of a new home, doing so might not be advisable with the COVID 19 pandemic and all the economic uncertainties that entails ... even if your income is steady and sufficient now to do so without difficulty.

If your current double wide home is on the edge of your property AND on a part of it where you might be willing to split your lot into two lots and sell the existing home after you build your new home on the adjacent part of the your land, then building another home might well be worth considering. If not, then do at least explore the possibility of changing/remodeling and/or adding to your existing home before keeping a double wide.

Before making any decision, consider what improvements you actually want/need and whether they could be accomplished by altering and/or adding to what you have.

What, specifically, is it that you don't like about your current home?

If what you dislike is your "great room" -- living and dining and kitchen space -- or if what you dislike is your master bedroom suite,

... is where the current home located situated so it would be practical to build a new great room and/or a new master bedroom suite beside the existing home. As you make that decision, pay attention where the sunlight does and does not reach each room and to what space you do or do not want to block sunlight or view and to the slope of the lot as well as where the access to utilities is located.

If you build on a new great room, the original living/dining/kitchen space could become your den/family room.

If you build on a new m aster bedroom suite, then it might be practical to remove a wall or two and enlarge the existing bedrooms (if their size is a part of what you dislike). If you have one of those angled walls, that might be removable.

Invest in some graph paper and draw, to scale, the floor plan of your home, indicating windows and doors and such things as the location of the washer and dryer and water heater and heat/ac equipment and plumbing fixtures.

Then draw the overall shape and see if you can draw what you want in that space to replace what you have, preferably without moving major plumbing and electrical items such as washer and dryer and water heater and heat/ac equipment and sinks and toilets. Can you get to what you want without adding on or do you need to add on to get what you want.

You can definitely replace all the interior and exterior doors on a manufactured home. You can also add a forward facing gable over the front door to create a front portico or porch. You can even remove a window or two and replace it with a french door or sliding glass door and create a large back sun room or screened porch with skylights with the same right angle roof line. On either end, you could extend the existing roof -- perhaps build a roof over it -- to add what you need or want -- even adding a master bedroom and turning an existing bedroom in a sitting room and/or hall lined with large closets.

There have even been structures similar to "pole barns" built at a right angle to and over the top of a manufactured home to create not only a porch / addition on both the both on front and back but also to a new ceiling and roof over an entry and great room within the existing home.

There are ways to redo a manufactured home and as long as original home is still structurally sound and doing so may well be a more economically sound option than a total new rebuild.

Much older manufactured homes built in the middle of the last century with 2"x2" lumber and, seemingly, only intended to last the seven years or so for which you could then finance them ... not so much (the aluminum building from those would be better suited to be used as a storage building atop concrete or atop a trailer as a tiny house. By 1995, though, I'd think the walls of a double wide would be built with the same kinds of 2"x4" as a site built home. Would want to be sure before doing major renno though.

I think we can make this house work for us as the things I want to change are simple. I just hesitate when investing in it when I’m not sure if it’s a good idea financially. People often act like my house is going to crumble at some point just because it’s a manufactured home. Most of the Windows are fine but I do want to add some to the ends of the house. It only currently has windows on the sides. I would like a front door with a window to let in more light there. I’d also like to update the kitchen and Bathroom countertops. Build a front porch maybe back deck, a garage for storage. We have already removed some knee walls and replaced the carpet with vinyl plank. Tore out the old fireplace and put a centerally located and efficient wood stove on a hearth made form hand-made tiles we found cheap at Habitat Restore. I want new siding as well. We know This doesn’t make our home more valuable (because manufactured homes dont increase in value which I still don’t really understand) but we don’t intend to sell and we just want it to feel nice to live in. The walls are 2x4, drywall. 1700 sq ft. We like it fine but gosh there is some anxiety from it being a manufactured home. It was the only thing we could afford when starting our family and we love the location.

Not everyone can afford to discard their manufactured home and rebuild. Another option could be:

OP, if you sincerely believe you can, now and in the foreseeable future, afford the cost of rebuilding this year -- believe doing so will not muck up your future economically -- then you might consider, depending upon how level your lot is and where your home is located on it:

... first build a two car garage (with attic/ garage one bedroom efficiency apartment with Murphy bed in the living area) adjacent to where you want to build your forever home (perhaps with a Gambrell roof) and add the electric meter to the laundry room at the back of the garage,

... locate the new garage close enough to share the existing plumbing and electrical with your forever home later and also to enable you to include a laundry room and powder room (with shower) so you could use it as a storage building now but with the build planned so you can connect the garage to the mud room of your forever home later, either by building a small screened porch or breezeway in between the two structures,

... then you could store most of your possessions in the new building;

... then sell the existing double wide manufactured home,

... then you could live in the garage efficiency apartment while you build your forever home.

I'd strongly advise have an architect plan the full two stage build for a lot of reasons including so your foundation of the new bill will align properly with the garage rather than having the location/proximity of the two structures become a problem in need of a solution.

Another option -- likely the best one:

With a child and all the unknown unknowns, including as related to the COVID-19 changes to the economy, perhaps it would be preferable to make only minor changes to the manufactured home now and then focus on SAVING for several years so that when time comes to actually build y or forever home, your budget will be larger and your options greater.

You could change out all the existing exterior ( and/or interior) doors for real wood doors with wood finish -- buying replacements in the same size rather than enlarging the doors and change out any windows you truly dislike in the primary living areas -- thus potentially increasing the re- sale value of the home and giving the existing home a more solid vibe now, one that you can be better satisfied living in it while you save for a future with much more real options.

Another option -- likely the best one:

With a child and all the unknown unknowns, including as related to the COVID-19 changes to the economy, perhaps it would be preferable to make only minor changes to the manufactured home now and then focus on SAVING for several years so that when time comes to actually build y or forever home, your budget will be larger and your options greater.

You could change out all the existing exterior ( and/or interior) doors for real wood doors with wood finish -- buying replacements in the same size rather than enlarging the doors and change out any windows you truly dislike in the primary living areas -- thus potentially increasing the re- sale value of the home and giving the existing home a more solid vibe now, one that you can be better satisfied living in it while you save for a future with much more real options.

oops, repeated via copy post trying to post a link

will try posting link again

If you want to change your siding and add a few windows and change your door and build a porch, you should do it. At the very least, the windows and new door will increase your energy efficiency. So will putting up new siding with rigid insulation under it. You deserve a nice place that you're happy to live in. A garage is a garage and would still be there whether you tear down the home and build new or not. It does add value. Your property will continue to increase in value, even if the structure doesn't. If you maintain it, it's certainly not going to crumble around you, any more than a regular house would. An unmaintained house loses value as well.

Unless you're mortgage free, you wouldn't likely be able to get a construction loan to build something anyway. You would have to have enough equity in a new build to pay for the new house plus roll the existing mortgage into the final loan.

If you want to open up one end of the home, would you be able to build your garage beside it and connect the newly opened end of the existing home to the garage via a screened porch or open porch -- or would that block light you want at the end of the home; if so, could you create a right angle such as put your garage on the north side and still let light in the screened porch from the south side and/or via skylights in the roof.

Trying again to post link:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/410320216025719432/

Is the siding damaged or would painting it suffice?

@katinparadise My modular home is not at all like you're describing as modular or manufactured, and I have no experience with the type you describe. This might explain the discrepancy in lingo.

Available financing seems to be different from what is assumed here, too, even for new construction.

Just sayin', "there are many ways to kill a cat." Researching options, getting facts and figures, is everything.

Not sure bit It seems to me that the home may have thinner walls and it may need different windows and doors?..might want to check on that..

I also question the opinions that this type of home is the same quality as regular construction..and that adding on regular construction is okay...i would definitely call your insurance rep to be sure that whatever you do does not effect your coverage....decks are probably ok to add on...but this house is already 16 years old?...

@tangerinedoor, there are a number of homes that fall into the modular category. Your home is beautiful and I know it suits you to a T. Some modulars come as just walls that are constructed on site. At any rate, everyone works with what is affordable and comfortable for their own situation.

@btydrvn, 2x4 walls are common in a lot of older construction, even stick built. Regular windows should work just fine. And as long as the OP has 8 foot sidewalls, a regular door should work fine as well.

Kat ...all of our opinions are directed to the poster...lets let them decide what is valid or worthy of consideration

I am so grateful for everyone’s input here. Thank you!! The siding is fine. Mostly I’m just not a huge fan of clapboard but maybe painting it would make it more appealing to me. Does anyone have any links to manufactured home remodels? I find a lot of single wide, older mobile home makeovers but not many like our house.

@btydrvn, I only offer my opinion on construction because I was in the industry for almost 9 years. I've been to the factories where these homes are constructed and made it a point to educate myself so that I could be sure my customers were well informed. I'm honestly not here to argue, but to offer suggestions based on my personal knowledge of the industry.

Sally, is your siding vinyl? If so, it can be painted but requires paint made especially for vinyl. Here are some doublewides with front porches added to them. The first one has the double gable just like yours that's been extended with a small porch added on.

What color is your roof? I would consider removing the too small shutters and finding a color you love for the outside.

Yes! It’s vinyl and the shutters drive me crazy Would it look ok without any? The roof is brownish grey asphalt shingles. A lot like the second picture you sent, which is also the type of porch I would love.

I think it would look fine without the shutters-better even. Find a color that coordinates with your roof. Here is a link on how to paint vinyl siding. https://www.bobvila.com/articles/how-to-paint-vinyl-siding/ Then you can find a great color to paint your new front door.

If you want both a front and back porch, I would do something smaller on the front and save your money for a great deck to take advantage of your wide open space.

That snow looks cold.

Your home is not at all unattractive and I can understand why you like the lot -- no other home shoved up against yours so you're not looking out your window into another neighbor's window (and vise versa).

At first glance, that your home might be a manufactured home would not be something that occurs to me. Even if I thought to wonder about it, I suspect that it would be the absence of a front porch that suggested it could be.

If the siding isn't actually damaged, you might consider leaving it in place as is and focus on changing the front door to be more appealing to you. I consider a storm door well worth having and like the half/screen kind but the solid glass kind might be a more "upscale" look and better show off a new front door.

You have a small gable in front of a larger gable on your roof. These are actually intended to be a guide for adding a front porch. Extend the larger gable shape, adding a roof over your porch floor about six feet deep -- and create a front porch that wide with sturdy white posts and framing and with the same roofing as the home. A narrower portico/porch would not look as good.

Once you have your front porch in place, adding landscaping will do a great deal toward improving curb appeal as it does with any home -- and the Houzz landscaping pros can be a tremendous help with that (even giving your visual mock ups).

On the left side/end of your home, if you could add a window (or even a patio door and a small deck on the back half (behind the power meter)) by all means, do. -- that could open up the feel of the home. Ditto that window/door/deck idea on the right side/end. Do, however, be careful about digging both for protecting underground utilities and roots of trees you want to save.

A straight hedge that begins in front of the left side of the home and extends beyond it to create some privacy for the side yard could also hide the meter. Doing the same on the right side could give you same on the right side ... perhaps with a sidewalk between home and hedge -- and extending the hedge beyond the right corner of the home could give you privacy for a patio around/beneath the tree.

If Aucuba bushes will grow in your area, consider them -- they keep their leaves year round and look good year round, usually only shedding a few that turn yellow first if they've been damaged such as if by high wind.

What direction -- north, east, south, west -- does your home face?

Edited

Great ideas! The house faces East and we have a large front yard and back yard plus 5 acres of woods in the way back. The property line is close to north side but lots of room to the south where we would put the garage eventually. The septic tank and drainage field are all to the south side. Another eye sore is the back “patio” which is just an ancient concrete slab where we think the original owners had their first single wide trailer.

Do make sure your garage doesn't block the sun to an area you want to be sunny.

Evergreens or hedge bushes could create a green fence along your property line, especially on the side of your house that has the nearest neighbor/property owner.

IF your patio is in a location that suits you, your patio can be upgraded.

... You could outline your patio with brick or pavers (similar to brick or pavers used to create a sidewalk to it). Large faux stones or pavers one step apart with grass growing between them can work well as a sidewalk. There are You Tube videos that show you how to prepare a base for a paver walkway that will stay in place.

... BEFORE you outline your patio, scrub and bleach the top so you can then decide if you need to make it smoother either by adding a thin layer of concrete (the sticky kind) atop it (with or without a pattern) or if you want to add a layer of thin faux brick or stone atop it. Would NOT paint the slab it since anything painted inevitably needs painting again and can begin to peel and look awful before it does -- including paint for concrete.

... You could also build a fire pit or BBQ grill atop it, making it more appealing. You could even build a pergola or shelter over it.

Do know exactly where your septic tank and drain field as well as underground electrical wires before you do any digging for any reason.

Your home will look better with shutters at least unless and until you decide to change the siding at some future date.

If/when you change the siding. there is log cabin siding you might consider or vertical Hardie board siding in the board&battan style.

Removing shutters may leave holes as well?..

Old broken up patio pieces can be re-used as stepping stones also...if you pressure clean them ....they make stain that penetrates..and gives a mottled color like real stone ...and will not peel like paint...

There are vinyl siding repair kits that seem to work quite well to repair holes. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mendyl-Vinyl-Siding-Repair-Kit-Cover-Any-Cracks-Holes-or-Blemishes-on-Vinyl-Siding-2-Pack/620399837?

What is it about this post that has everyone in attack mode?...”be a nice person” is always good advice...for all of us

Had a midnight revelation last nite..re-confirmed this morning...manufactured homes were normally famed with 2x3 posts back in 1955...not 2x4...alto you can evidently upgrade to bigger sizes,these days

@btydrvn, you're right. The HUD guidelines came into effect in 1976. That's when they started building with 2x4 walls. You certainly can upgrade to 2x6 if you like, and add insulation. There were some allowances available post 1976 for wind standards but I don't know of any manufacturers that used them.

SashaDog, I wish I could like your post more than once. I don't understand the point of berating someone's home or their desire to make it as comfortable for their family as possible. Not everyone who owns a mobile home is poor or preyed upon. It's a lifestyle choice they make that suits their family and available housing budget. I don't like seeing these posts devolve into debates that have nothing to do with the OP's original questions or concerns.

Anything you spend doesn't add value to a future owner.

My husband and I received our county tax assessment for the year, back in April (the valuations were done in January, before corona craziness). Surprisingly, our stick-built house value *decreased*, while our land value went up. But the increase in land didn't make up for the value lost in the house, so our overall value went down. Great for our tax bill, not so great for adding fun stuff. :-/

We were hoping to prudently add landscaping improvements, matching the property's value increase from year to year. Now, however, we're gonna go ahead and add the deck and everything else as we want to, careful not to exceed the house's value by more than we feel comfortable losing, should we have to sell sooner than we expect to.

That's all any of us can really do, right? :-D

One devoted ..it is always a challenge to make improvements that you can be confident will definitely add to the value of your home...but if you do the right things it will definitely make your home more sellable ...and in the meantime consider the added enjoyment and pleasure .....you will have....and it becomes a worthwhile investment ...

"Value" is often in the eye of the beholder as is art. Especially when the beholder is the homeowner or potential buyer.

There are things that an appraiser will deem to be of value based upon square footage that a homeowner or potential buyer may consider less or even more valuable, depending upon how it will be used and/or the immediate need.

A size appropriate front porch -- such as would likely be on a site built home of the same size and style (rather than the bare minimum required by code to exit from a trailer park trailer) -- could add more value than an appraiser might assign to it.

A well built garage could well add value, especially if appropriately placed and its appearance melds well with the home and landscaping. You wouldn't want to block a great view or desirable sunlight but having it close enough to be useful for the intended purposes -- and not just parking cars -- can matter. A sheltered breezeway between house and garage can double as a porch or patio, whether that breezeway links to the garage attic or the garage itself if the structure were built on a nearby slope and the homeowner had no difficulty climbing the stairs.

Even the shape of the driveway and how it links home and garage and road and provide parking space can affect curb appeal -- important to attracting potential buyers. Outlining a gravel driveway with landscaping posts and/or pavers ( placed with their tops at ground level) and/or low growing plants can make the yard and driveway much easier to maintain as well as make it visually more appealing -- yet an appraiser may not even decide the considerable investment in gravel is noteworthy.

Unless a homeowner is intending to sell in the foreseeable future, it would be better to have any project contemplated be done to suit the likes and wants and needs of the home owner.