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Mobile home wall opened for insulation (C) Daniel Friedman Mobile Home Insulation & Ventilation Codes
Mobile home, trailer, doublewide energy savings & insulation & ventilation requirements

Mobile home & trailer insulation guide to selection, installation, inspection, troubleshooting, & improvement:

Here we outline steps to reduce heating, cooling, and electricity costs for manufactured homes, mobile homes or doublewides / trailers. While you might think that insulating is the top priority it might not be.

This article series discusses how to inspect, diagnose and correct problems in mobile home, doublewide, or trailer & camper insulation or ventilation systems.

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

Mobile Home & Trailer Home Insulation & Ventilation Defects, Diagnosis, Repair, Improvement

Manufactured home with no floor insulation (C) Daniel Friedman at InspectApedia.comThe photo shown here illustrates a manufactured home that has no insulation under the floor. Insulation may be omitted until after the home has been transported to the site - thus avoiding risking damage or soaking if transport of the home takes place in wet weather.

In fact those muddy streaks on the steel center beam tell us that this home was indeed driven down a wet highway.

[Click to enlarge any image]

So is this where we should first add insulation? No.

In a completed manufactured or mobile home you cannot normally see into the walls or roof to inspection insulation directly, leading renters or home owners to focus on insulation under the home's floor.

Actually the priorities of action to stop heat loss and thus reduce heating costs in cold climates are

  1. stop air leaks or drafts, such as at leaky windows and doors and also stop gales of cold wind from blowing under the home if it is missing its skirting
  2. insulate the roof space
  3. Insulate the wall space and then
  4. insulate the floor or belly-wrap area
  5. Insulate the crawl space perimeter using skirting or insulated mobile home skirting panels

Our page top photo, courtesy of Jeremias, one of our mobile home inspection and repair advice readers, shows a mobile home whose walls have been completely opened to permit:

Damaged insulation & rodent barrier, adapted from US DOE cited in this article - at InspectApedia.com

Shown above is a photo of a damaged rodent barrier and falling insulation below a manufactured home, adapted from U.S. DOE and cited in detail

at MOBILE HOME INSULATION BELLY WRAP.

To understand the condition of mobile home insulation and thus to decide what steps are worth taking to reduce home heating or cooling costs for mobile homes, doublewides, and trailers, we need to inspect the structure focusing on leaks, water damage, and especially air leaks around windows and doors.

If we don't fix those problems first, efforts to add insulation in the ceiling, walls, or floor may be wasted.

Energy improvement choices for manufactured homes (mobile homes, doublewides, trailers)

Mobile home with bad roof (C) Daniel FriedmanThe first citation below offers these suggestions for improving the energy efficiency of mobile homes. For older mobile homes (built before 1976) the following list sets priorities for reducing heating & cooling costs for these older structures.

We have added comments, interpretation and suggestions to bring a dose of (in our opinion) reality to the government's advice and I've re-ordered the suggestions into a priority based on most return for least cost and effort. According to US HUD (energy.gov)

Experiments conducted on pre-1976 manufactured homes by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) from 1988 to 1991 found that these retrofit measures resulted in a 31% reduction in heating fuel usage. [1]

Mobile home rodent barrier & ground moisture barrier, adapted from US DOE cited in detail in this article - at InspectApedia.com

Manufactured & Mobile Home Insulation Standards & Codes

Full text of the manufactured and mobile home heating standards can be found in

PART 3280—MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS [PDF] newer copy retrieved 2017/07/13 - faster-loading

See Subpart F - Thermal Protection in that document.

That subpart includes these sections

Subpart F—Thermal Protection

References for manufactured home (mobile home) insulation & energy conservation

Updated through January 2018 - Steve Vermilye, New Paltz NY and Daniel Friedman, Poughkeepsie NY, Hudson Valley ASHI Chapter Seminar, Newburgh NY, January 4, 2000, NY Metro ASHI Fall 99 Seminar, Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza, White Plains NY, October 2, 1999.

Add or Repair Manufactured Home or Mobile Home Belly Insulation

This topic has moved to its own page

at MOBILE HOME INSULATION BELLY WRAP.

Watch out: when working under a mobile home, manufactured home, or any tight crawl space there may be serious health and safety hazards. More than one reader have reported getting an electrical shock while working under a mobile or manufactured home. Hazards in such tight spaces are outlined

at MOBILE HOME CRAWL SPACES and also

at CRAWL SPACE SAFETY ADVICE

 




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Reader Comments, Questions & Answers About The Article Above

Below you will find questions and answers previously posted on this page at its page bottom reader comment box.

Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2021-01-16 by (mod) - Closing off combustion air rises fatal carbon monoxide poisoning

Watch out: Closing off combustion air rises fatal carbon monoxide poisoning. Be sure you have working CO detectors and then get help from your heating service technician.

On 2021-01-16 by James Ree#

I live in a 1998 Oakwood mobile phone, the problem is sewer gases are entering the house somewhere. The fresh air intake in the HVAC closet is tied off and doesn't let fresh air in is that the problem? We also had plumbing problems at one time a pipe that was cut off and the fit that was under the cabinet was left open, the sewer gases are coming up through the shower drains. I don't think it has a P-trap

my wife and I both have COPD and Sewer gases are starting to affect our health, the events for the sewer are located over top of the front door and when it's cool outside the sewer gases come down the side of the house in the inner somewhere around the door is that normal?

I will let you think about Dad because I could keep on talkin, I would really appreciate your help this is getting to be extremely bad. I'm hoping it just the fresh air vent it comes into the are you Worthy fan blower is located.

Does the fresh air vent have a system to keep inside for does repeat go back out of new event after me fan and turned off? Thank you for your help. Do I return to this page to read me comments you leave? How do I know that you have responded to my question?

On 2020-07-11 - by (mod) -

Kara see MOLD / ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERT, HIRE ? - when to hire an expert

On 2020-07-11 by Kara

Mold is inside and outside home

On 2020-06-24 - by (mod) -

Kara

Is the mold problem indoors or on the outside of the home or both? Washing down an exterior not only will not fix an indoor mold problem it may driver water into the walls or roof, making matters worse.

What's going on?

On 2020-06-24 1 by Kara Mcfarland

I purchased a 2000 double wide Fleetwood mobile home in July 1999 haven't been able to stay in it much for mold have to get it wash down every 4-6months call many places looking for help had trees cut,

was getting inside painted painter recovered there's no insulation in walls I have 3 grans 3 of us has asthma am disabled is there anything I can do seen so many years pasted has paid over $100,000 n 8yrs moer Thank you!

On 2019-04-26 by (mod) - Insulation R-value in a 1986 mobile home?

Dale:

First let's measure or estimate the thickness of your home's wall cavities and ceiling space.

We can inspect through an opening to confirm the insulation material probably used (such as fiberglass) - often one can drill a small hole - in an unobtrusive place like a closet wall and ceiling, taking care to stay away from wiring and ductwork, and where an ugly patch won't offend anyone.

Older mobile homes were often built with 2x2 or 2x3 walls, giving about a 2" wall cavity.

To compare insulating material R-values of fiberglass in various forms as well as other insulating materials, see

our TABLE OF PROPERTIES OF INSULATING MATERIALS inspectapedia.com/insulation/Insulation-Values-Table.php

Now let's pretend we have X-ray vision and can see your actual home (in some country and city and by some manufacturer) and that we see the walls of your home are built as follow - I AM MAKING THIS UP

Typical Mobile Home Wall R-Value

1/2" fiberboard insulating board sheathing on the wall exterior - about R 1.3 - FIBERBOARD at inspectapedia.com/insulation/Insulation-Values-Table.php#Fiberboard

1 1/2" wall cavities filled with fiberglass - about R 4.5 - FIBERGLASS at inspectapedia.com/insulation/Insulation-Values-Table.php#Fiberglass

1/2" drywall on the wall interiors - about R 0.5 - DRYWALL at inspectapedia.com/insulation/Insulation-Values-Table.php#Drywall

Wood paneling - not worth considering

Typical older mobile home ceiling or roof insulation

R-value = (1.3 + 4.5 + 0.5) or about R-6.3

Older mobile home roofs were often made up to include

Metal rooftop construction & insulation

1/2" foam roof underlayment - about R 2 - FOAM INSULATION at inspectapedia.com/insulation/Insulation-Values-Table.php#Styrene

1" of fiberglass insulation in roof cavity - about R 3

3/8" or 1/2" ceiling drywall - about R 0.5

for an older mobile home total roof R-value of about ( 2+ 3 + 0.5) = R 5.5

Watch out: The R-values don't mean diddly if the home is leaky - air leaks will overwhelm the insulation no matter how thick it is. So your best bang for the buck in saving heating costs is to feel around for air leaks - often at windows and doors, and to seal those from the outside or inside with sealant or caulk.


What is the Currently-Required Insulation or R-Value for Manufactured Homes?

Take a look at the U/O Value Zone Map giving insulation requirements (to comply with current manufactured housing codes) for the U.S. for Manufactured Housing.

Unfortunately the insulation or heat loss values are given in U-values while normal people think about R-values.

The relationship between R-value and U-value and the math of converting one to the other are given at HEAT LOSS R U & K VALUE CALCULATION inspectapedia.com/insulation/Heat_Loss_Calculation.php

It's rather easy - U-value is a reciprocal or 1/R-value

So if your home is in North Dakota in Zone 3 the required U-value is 0.079 and if we take the reciprocal of that to get R-value we get

1 / 0.179 = R 12.6 - that's the current required R-Value.

IMAGE LOST by older version of Clark Van Oyen’s Comments Box code - now fixed. Please re-post the image if you can. Sorry. Mod.

On 2019-04-25 by Dale

anyone have an idea of what the r-value probably is in a 1986 mobile home?
Thanks


...

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Or see these MOBILE HOME INSULATION & VENTILATION FAQs - questions & answers posted originally at this page

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Manufactured Home Insulation & Ventilation Articles

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MOBILE HOME INSULATION & VENTILATION at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.


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Citations & References

In addition to any citations in the article above, a full list is available on request.



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