Manufactured Home Maintenance Checklist
A Manufactured Home Maintenance Checklist Helps Provide Peace of Mind
Like any living space, keeping your manufactured home clean and maintaining its integrity is important. Regular upkeep helps preserve the house's value. A well-maintained home builds more equity, provides comfort and safety for the family, and lowers the likelihood of expensive repairs in the future.
Addressing maintenance and repair issues isn't always the most exciting part of home ownership, but it's an essential responsibility. It doesn't take long - a couple of hours of work a few times a year goes a long way, offers many benefits, and helps prevent any existing damage from worsening. Many duties, if not addressed each year, can build up and result in frustrating, expensive issues down the road.
Essential tasks to include on your manufactured home maintenance checklist:
- Checking the foundation for levelness and stability
- Inspecting the roof for damage
- Maintaining proper skirting ventilation
- Sealing windows and vents
- Cleaning gutters
- Checking plumbing systems
- Inspecting the exterior siding
- Regularly servicing the HVAC system
This helpful maintenance list for manufactured homes includes interior and exterior items to inspect annually. If all these spaces are managed annually, you can be confident you're on the path to happy and safe home ownership.
Exterior
Foundation and Structure
The manufactured home's foundation keeps it level and solid. It's always at the top of the list to inspect each year. Check for any imbalances or cracks caused by settling. When re-leveling the home, it's best to seek the services of a professional. Watch for signs to address any issues immediately, saving a lot of money, time, and stress in the long run.
Use a water or carpenter level to ensure the foundation and structure are in sound condition. Watch out for cracks, as they can cause problems like difficulty shutting windows and doors properly, leaks or cracks in walls, and air and humidity entering your home.
Skirting
Maintain proper skirting to protect the underbelly of the home. A manufactured home's skirting controls excess moisture, and checking for holes is critical. Once a year, look for cracks or holes in your skirting that might let moisture or pests into the home.
No homeowners want cracks or holes in their skirting, but proper ventilation must be reiterated. Skirting vents should be about one square foot for every 150 square feet. Too much moisture from skirting damage or lack of ventilation can cause issues with the foundation or flooring.
Roof
Regularly inspect for damage, including missing shingles, and reseal or recoat as needed. Check the roof for damage, broken shingles, or debris at least twice a year. Ensure the flashing is in good condition and there are no soft spots or cracks in the roof's caulking. Any damage or weaknesses in the roof could allow moisture, air, or even rodents into your home.
It's a good idea to reseal or recoat your roof yearly, especially if the home's roof is flat. Recoating is essential to keep your home dry and maintain desired indoor temperatures. Roof coatings vary depending on the material used. Aluminum or asphalt coatings can't be used on rubber and PVC roofs.
Gutters
Clean gutters and downspouts regularly to prevent water damage. Inspecting the gutters and cleaning them when necessary is an easy way to prevent roof and exterior damage to prefabricated homes. Clogged gutters lead to leaks and water damage. If ignored for too long, gutters break as they become heavy with debris. When they crack and fail, they can also cause damage to other areas of the house.
Even when not living close to large trees, debris can easily travel with the wind and end up in the gutters and downspouts. When homeowners live where rain, snowfall, or high winds are common, they should check the gutters frequently, ideally during the spring and before winter.
Siding
Siding inspections are often overlooked, but they are critical tasks to complete on your manufactured home maintenance checklist. Clean the exterior siding and check for signs of mold or mildew. Regularly cleaning the siding is important, too. It helps avoid mildew and mold on the home's exterior paneling. Regarding factory-built home maintenance, siding is often overlooked and ignored. However, it should be on your annual checklist. Vinyl siding is standard for manufactured homes and easy to clean with water and dish detergent.
Mildew and mold can be hard to clean off your siding, but a simple bleach and water solution can help break it down for effortless cleaning. There are also special products designed to rid your siding of mold and rust that work incredibly well. Keeping your siding clean helps to avoid exterior damage and keeps your home looking nice.
Windows and Vents
Seal windows and vents with caulk to prevent air leaks. Take care of these before winter, if needed.. Extreme temperature changes can cause caulk to shrink or break down, resulting in gaps, cracks, or warping in the areas that protect your home. Air entering into those damaged areas can make the home's internal climate less comfortable and raise heating and cooling costs.
Many homeowners remember to check their window seals but need to remember about other seals, like those around ducts, vents, and other systems connected to the outside. Resealing these areas each year before winter can keep unwanted moisture and air out of the house, lowering your energy bills and making the living space comfortable year-round.
Related: Protect your home investment
Interior
HVAC Systems
Maintaining and servicing HVAC systems is essential per the manufacturer's recommendations. Cleaning your heating systems and air ventilation at least twice a year can improve the home's air quality. Regularly changing air filters keeps your home comfortable while reducing the effects of asthma, allergies, and skin and breathing problems.
Changing and cleaning filters is only the beginning. Vacuuming the air systems once a year is another step. Homeowners have two options: renting a heavy-duty vacuum and tackling the job yourself or hiring a professional HVAC company to clean the vents and ducts. These systems are fairly expensive, making these preventative maintenance tasks 100% worth it.
Indoor Cleaning
Weekly or monthly general cleaning of fixtures, surfaces, and walls using a gentle detergent yearly prevents surface discoloration. Avoid using abrasive cleaning products.
Abrasive cleaning products have harsh chemicals that can cause surfaces in the prefabricated home to look discolored and faded. Abrasive solutions, like pure bleach, cause fixtures or surfaces - bathtubs, showers, and sinks - to appear older and tarnished. Proper maintenance helps to maintain the property value of a manufactured home.
Other key areas to inspect and maintain include:
- Regularly inspect electrical systems and outlets
- Check plumbing systems for leaks and proper function
- Keep the interior clean and well-ventilated
- Check for signs of moisture or water damage
Choose a Manufactured Home Community Offering Maintenance
Whether you're in the market for a factory-built home or already living in one, living in a manufactured home community is highly beneficial because they often provide certain aspects of maintenance. Depending on the community, these offerings or amenities range from yard maintenance only to gutter cleaning and annual winterizing to complete plumbing and heating maintenance. Research the communities to see what maintenance services they offer. This could save homeowners time, money, and headaches each year when going through this maintenance checklist.
Manufactured home maintenance may seem like a lot, but remember that traditional homes require as much or even more maintenance. It's worth completing these tasks each year to avoid future disastrous circumstances, and homeowners feel good knowing their home is in the best shape. Creating a calendar that plans out maintenance tasks for the year can be a great way to organize and ensure you take advantage of these essential annual activities. These simple steps help homeowners avoid costly and stressful damage in the future and keep the family comfortable and the home happy.
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