Thread: Rotten edge joist repair.

We bought a used 1972 Mobile home. The previous owners never repaired correctly. The top of the aluminum siding is opened in places, so when it rains the inside of the wall gets wet. Apparently this was going on for a long time because when we started repairing walls, we found the edge joist has rotted very badly along about 12 ft. We need to know how to replace this. Any help please. We worked apartment mantinance for 5 years, but this is not an apartment.

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I believe if I was doing the repairs I would take off as much of the metal siding as was needed to repair the damage and the cover the entire mobile home is with vinyl siding. If you do the work yourself you can get the siding at a big box store and come out pretty cheap. I had a 1962 mobile home many years ago and my wife still says 30 years later that she liked that house better than any we have ever lived in.

One drawback of the older mobiles is that they did not come from the factory with gutters.
I often recommend the addition of gutters if they have not been installed.
Talk to your neighbors and check out what they've done to preserve their homes.
Replaced the rotted wood. Replace the wet insulation. Make sure the wiring is safe, and replace any aluminum branch wiring with copper. Install a drip edge flashing at the roof edge and install rain gutters.

I would highly recommend that further evaluation and inspections be initiated in other areas of the moble home to verify that the water intrusion is limited to what you found already.
From past experience, when siding is allowing water intrution behind it in various areas, you are subject to find other damage as this.

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Under side of the floor from underneath the trailer

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Improperly installed siding.

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Hand right through the floor at wall to floor juncture.

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Rotted sill plates under the trailer

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Lack of tie downs for hurricane winds in your area and mandated by banks in this area upon resale.

All good suggestions. If you are thinking long-term ownership, consider a roof-over using a light weight system (not wood framed) developed for manufactured homes. The key aspect being to have a 2"-3" minimum overhang that will kick water out and away from walls. The lower section of the walls will have to be opened in order to access the rim joist. Depending on vintage, you may find floor joists spanning the steel carrier beams perpendicularly--if so the band joist would be replaced as in any conventional structure--remember to block and support the sidewall/roof system when pulling the old joist. In some older units, the floor system may actually have supporting joists parallel to the carrier beams, with transverse supports let-in (like girts). The basic repair approach is similar but will require more fiddling with the let-in supports. Surface mounted windows are another notorious avenue for water intrusion--the best fix being to remove the window, clean the flange and then re-install with fresh putty-tape.