There’s a great blog called ‘The Walden Effect‘ written by Anna Hess and her husband Mark. It’s a well-written insider’s view of all the aspects of homesteading, especially with an older mobile home.
Anne is the web’s authority on the subject of homesteading with a mobile home. She writes about a range of subjects that pertain to living off the land in a frugal, self-sustaining method. In addition to her blog, Anne has also published popular ebooks. One of the most popular is called ‘Trailersteading: Voluntary Simplicity In A Mobile Home (Modern Simplicity)‘ and is available on Amazon. If you are interested in learning more about homesteading, you’ll definitely want to buy the book and read the blog.
On the blog, and in the book, Anne features a few great manufactured homes that have been transformed. The single wide below was remodeled into a much larger home, complete with a sunroom. Here are some of the before and after photos of the mobile home transformation:
Above, a full basement is built and the single wide manufactured home is installed over it.
I’m not sure what make or model of home this is but it looks remarkably like a double wide with its dormer style roofing. I concluded that the roofing was modified by the owner but I could be way off. Seems they added a complete roof over in order to attach front and back porches, which would later become enclosed additions. It would be a great way to make a single wide have more of a double wide look or style.
Installing a Manufactured Home Over a Basement
To install manufactured homes over basements or high slab foundations the home is jacked up and rolled little by little. It’s a really neat system and you can see a video below:
Related: A Look at Placing a Manufactured Home Over a Full Basement.
Adding Additional Insulation to a Manufactured Home
On the blog, The Walden Effect, Anne writes that the owner of this house added additional insulation over the original. Foam board with foil on one side was added and tightly taped. This is an easy way to install additional insulation, especially if you are in the midst of replacing the siding which would eventually be necessary in this manufactured home transformation due to the extensive additions that will be added to the home.
If I had to guess, this home is outside of city limits and therefore is not subjected to any kind of code inspection although this construction and remodel could have happened before local governments got strict with code enforcement too.
Once the manufactured home was installed over the basement and the additional insulation added, the owners added a beautiful sunroom to the back of the home. What better way to bring light into your home, add additional living space, and have a year-round gardening space for owners interested in homesteading?
The front of the manufactured home had a large deck built onto the front of the single wide manufactured home. This would later be extended and another glass enclosure added to it.
Below is the completed manufactured home transformation. You can see the owners installed solar power.
Below you can see the owners are still working on the home – once you start you can’t stop! Looks like some porch banisters will be added.
Manufactured home transformations can be a great way to save money and still get the home you want. Buy an older, affordable factory-built home and add onto it as you can. It’s amazing how much you can do with a little bit of money and a whole lot of innovation.
Related: A Look at another homesteading mobile home: Manufactured HomeSteading – New Life for a Manufactured Home.
All images are the property of The Walden Effect. Please consider supporting Anne by purchasing her books on Amazon. She is showing the world the great benefits and advantages that living frugally and within your own means is a great way to live. Homesteading is becoming more popular because it’s an honorable way to live with lots of advantages as is buying an affordable home and transforming it into the home you’ve always wanted – it is absolutely possible!
If you have a mobile or manufactured home transformation please consider letting us feature it here on MHL. Together, we can inspire and educate a whole lotta people and make a difference! As always, thank you for reading Mobile Home Living!
Hi Brandy,
Good question! This is way out of my knowledge range but I have seen several bricked manufactured homes in Southern WV but there isn’t a lot of code restrictions outside of towns and municipalities so anything goes. I rented a single wide in NC that was bricked half way up with yellow vinyl siding on the top half and it was gorgeous! I’ve added this to my ‘ask an expert’ list and will try my best to get you a better answer but for now all I can do is tell you that I’ve seen it several times so I know it’s possible but I don’t know how it was done (regulation wise and construction wise). Apologies!
I have a question. Is it possible for a 2017 modular be bricked completely in leaving a crawl space of course?
I wish they did too! Thanks so much for sharing your site with us!
Wow, what a transformation! It makes my heart happy to see people who truly pour their hearts into designing a manufactured home. Unfortunately, I am dealing with a horrid mobile home park situation right now myself. We have dirty water, low water pressure, etc. I wish mobile home park owners would have as much passion to take care of their properties and residents as designers have to design these beautiful homes. This is the kind of stuff I deal with regularly: https://mobilehomeparkreviews.wordpress.com/2015/01/23/bexley-mobile-home-park-is-no-stranger-to-water-problems/
Hi Deniece!
I don’t remember exactly which post it was on but I had this PDF saved in my research folder so it may have been a resource: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehhe/trailerstudy/pdfs/08_118152_new-resident-flyer-final-032508.pdf
It seems to have a lot of great information on the subject! Hope that helps and thanks so much for reading MHL!
Hi. I recently read a reply you wrote concerning a Formelydehyde warning in some manufactured homes. Could you please repeat or direct me to a site or link with some solutions. Yank you
Hi Cherry! Thank you for commenting! It’s great to hear you like MMHL!
Homesteading is something I love to read about too – I would love to be able to have a completely self-sufficient homestead someday. The Walden Effect is definitely the most thorough of resources on the subject, especially for mobile home owners so I’m glad the you found it interesting and helpful. I hope to hear from you lots more!
I have a doublwide mobile home and am interested in remodeling/adding to. I love your website and I am interested in the recent homesteading article you just posted.