This complete double wide remodel is amazing!
Jim and Deborah Welch paid $37,000 for their standard 1991 model double wide. but it didn’t stay that way for long. After 25 years of updates and upgrades they now have a home that will leave you speechless.
This home is a perfect example of what can be achieved with a basic manufactured home and a vision!
Here’s the home being installed in 1991:
Just a few of the many great updates and upgrades are real wood log siding, a huge covered front porch, and custom interior wood work throughout the home.
The Welch’s have not used any mobile home specific supplies or materials during their complete double wide remodel. Retro-fitting a manufactured home with products meant for a site-built home is often a lot cheaper than buying mobile home specific products.
– Deborah Welch
Every update was made using products available at Lowe’s, lumber supply chains, and other home improvement and thrift stores.
Deborah tells us that a visit to the local lumber yard’s ‘Going Out of Business’ sale netted her a great deal on windows. She states, “I just stopped in to see what they had and I bought every display window they had! Name brand windows! Yep, Jim made them fit! Double wood pane windows for $25 each! They tilt in to clean, had the screens, E rated, interior & exterior trim & all.” Best bargain ever!
They also replaced the interior doors with solid wood doors from Home Depot at a cost of $129 each.
Deborah and Jim replaced all the VOG wall panels throughout the home with 1/2 inch drywall. During the process they added new insulation in both the interior and exterior walls, attached new electrical outlets into the studs, ran wiring for cable television, and reinforced the wall in the living room to mount a TV.
The drywall was painted with Benjamin Moore paint.
The couple found a beautiful tong and groove gun-stock oak hardwood flooring in 3/4″ with a cost of approximately $3,000 – $4,000. They did save money by using tar roofing paper under the flooring to prevent squeaking.
The end-goal was to transform their manufactured home into a legitimate log cabin and using real wood flooring gave the home a true log cabin look.
The stained glass window in the dining room came from the parlor of the Welch’s 100 year old Michigan farm house that they previously lived in and remodeled.
The baton board walls in the dining room is one of Deborah’s favorite projects.
She got the idea from looking through a Pottery Barn catalog. It was a quick and affordable update with materials costing around $200 at Lowe’s.
Since the Welch’s double wide sits atop a high bluff overlooking a gorgeous Arkansas valley they installed two large windows in the living room to take advantage of the view.
The two 5′ by 5′ tinted windows were salvaged from an old hospital. The only materials needed to install them was good silicon, trim, stain, and lumber.
Deborah installed french doors in two of the bedrooms leading out to the large porch. The French doors were purchased at Lowe’s for about $500 each. The trim was bought from River Valley Door & Trim in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Build-in bunk beds for the grand kids:
The master bathroom is Deborah’s favorite room for a reason, the 8′ × 5′ tile shower and separate soaker tub are amazing!
Deborah goes on to admit that the master bathroom was also their biggest challenge during their complete double wide remodel. Read our mobile home bathroom guide here.
Water damage is such a big worry for anyone who owns a mobile or manufactured home. Deborah didn’t want a typical fiberglass shower surround like the original in the home when they bought it. She wanted modern and stylish tile! But finding a fool-proof way of waterproofing the shower unit without adding too much weight to the floor was a challenge.
Fortunately, Deborah stumbled upon the perfect solution called The Schluther Shower System at the tile store. The entire system cost about $600 and it allowed them to use travertine and granite tile in the shower without worry. The peace of mind alone is worth the price.
The shower has been in there about 6 years now and there hasn’t been one water issue so far. Jim goes under the house and checks often!
Learn more about mobile and manufactured home plumbing repairs here.
With a total remodeling price of $8,000, the master bathroom is by far the most expensive project the Welch’s have done.
They went with high-end luxury finishes and top-of-the-line products, no expensive was spared! Plumbing supplies are not cheap. Valves, shower kits, tubs with jets, granite, faucets, hand held shower heads, travertine tile, accent tiles, etc. all become expensive eventually.
Still, Deborah says it has been worth every dollar they spent!
Product and Supplier list for the Welch’s master bathroom remodel:
The master bathroom before the remodel:
The Welch’s double wide is just as amazing as the view!
The couple wrapped their double wide with real wood log siding at a cost of $2,200. This price included the foam board insulation used underneath the wood. it was all purchased at Ron’s Discount Lumber in Heavner, Ok.
My tip is just go at it as a normal home remodel project!
Forget the words “mobile home” unless you’re installing a wood stove (make sure it’s mobile home approved), other then that just GO FOR IT!! Everything else can be braced & tweaked!
Manufactured home’s are built to code just like every other home! The headers are there just like your ground built homes! In fact, my husband said it’s harder to tear out a wall in a manufactured home than a ground constructed home.
When we bought this manufactured home they said the only thing not to code for our home to be in a subdivision is the pitch on the roof but I notice the newer mobile home’s have a roof pitch that meets building codes now. We paid $37k for our house and it’s been paid off for 10 years. I don’t want a house payment!
The porch. At 62′ foot long by 10′ wide at the narrow sides and 16′ wide in the center section, this was one massive project. Jim had to make the steel brackets to hold the 6″x 6″ treated beams for the porch’s roof.
They used all treated lumber on porch project. All the hardware, lumber, and footings cost around $8,000 at Lowe’s.
I’m excited to install rock around our fireplace and we’re going to put a roof on later with a few dormers. But that will be after we put on a kitchen & family room addition one day.
A lot of us in the process of remodeling our own mobile homes tend to get disappointed after realizing the slow(ish) process of a complete home remodel. Luckily, seeing the Welch’s complete double wide remodel and others like it puts it all into perspective; they’ve been working on their home nonstop for 25 years. We can have the same thing but it takes time!
The Welch’s prove it is absolutely possible to live debt-free in style!
Thank you so much, Jim and Deborah, for sharing your beautiful home! It’s wonderful inspiration!
Thank you for reading Mobile and Manufactured Home Living!
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