Dented aluminum siding

mobile home university
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I have several homes that have dented up aluminum siding, looks like decades of kids bouncing balls off the sides of the homes. Trying to figure out what to do.

I’m guessing the cheapest way is to just side over the existing aluminum siding with vinyl. Maybe on the homes that are the most visible near the entry even go with Hardi Plank.

The home will of course get new skirting and possibly a deck on the front, considering new windows also. It’s a 3br with a decent floor plan.

Any ideas / thoughts appreciated.

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Ok I like the palm tree. Wow, I notice cardboard in a window and the old crank windows that are difficult to make air tight–35-40 year old home?? Unless you find different tenants or build the sides like a battleship you work will be in vain. Vinyl siding can fade and hail can damage it but since you are in Florida you need to secure it so it can withstand 80 MPH winds. Hardl board will crack easily if hit with a blunt object… So the present value of the home is $4,000 to $5,000??? and you could easily add another $3,000 to make it look nice and presentable to good tenants. The question are you comfortable renting the home in the present condition and do you believe fixing such home has value if you continue to own the property for the next 10 years or just interested in flipping?? Our programs is to buy the best parks available with a good cap rate and keep them long term–we have parks giving 35% return yearly and old homes are routinely moved out when a tenant sells and than new homes come in. Last month we had 3 tenants move new homes in and our demographics are very rural. We will also buy parks in Fl. that are retirement properties. Wish you the best!!!

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Coach62, Congratulations on your MHP! It looks like it has great bones.

It is amazing what a little hard work on the outside of your MH will do.

In the past we have purchased MH metal siding from our Mobile Home Supply Company. One of our small MHs had 3 doors, so we selected to close one of the doors. We then used the MH metal siding on the exterior to cover up the previous door openings.

As you mentioned you can also vinyl the outside. We have an older MH that one of the previous Tenants put vinyl siding on and it looks nice. For this particular MH we actually removed a non-working sliding glass door and replaced it with a new, large picture window. The area on the exterior where the siding was missing was just replaced with new siding. It looks good.

Hardi Plank would look very nice on your homes near the entry. However, we have not gone this route so I am not sure if it would be more difficult to install as it is heavier than the vinyl siding.

For your windows you can get new, window glass cut to replace the broken glass. You can also get new Mobile Home windows from the Mobile Home Supply Store. If you are going to replace the siding anyway and the window is an odd shape (has to be ordered at a higher price), you might want to consider buying an in-stock MH window instead.

Just the new skirting and new wooden stairs alone will be an incredible transformation.

Since you have some great cement pads, I might just have new, wooden stairs installed and cut the expense of a deck unless it overlooks a green space.

Another suggestion is to add shutters to the visual, high impact sides of the MH. You can just go to Lowes and purchased their in-stock shutters. They have basic colors such as: Black, Brown, Red. They also have two styles of shutters.

Coach62, with a little money, hard work and TLC you will have some great basic housing for some hard working people.

Below is a picture of one of our Before and Afters with just the following for the exterior:

  • New Underskirting
  • New Wooden Stairs
  • New Paint Job

We did not add any shutters on this one as it is between two existing MHs and is not highly visible. Plus it has the ‘fake’ metal shutter on the end that we selected to paint. This MH also had some denting that we just painted over. We did quite a makeover on the inside so we used our pennies for that portion. I have also included a before and after of the interior.

We wish you the very best!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

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You might try a binary epoxy coating that would come out looking very much like stucco. You could take it all the way to the ground thus eliminating the new skirting issue. Like Carl I would recommend against the use of vinyl siding in Florida (or any state with a lot of sun) because it will fade badly and more importantly, become very brittle. If you notice what the “siding companies” are doing, you will notice that in heavy sun areas they don’t sell vinyl very often because of sun damage. I also agree with Carl, that given the age of the home, you ought to consider selling outside of the community and replace it with a new or new home because I suspect the $3,000 number Carl quoted is going to be low. You might end up putting more refurb money into the home than you can recover.

Rehabbing old homes extensively (and expensively) works very well in the Keys in Florida because if you move an old home off the site, you lose supply and sanitary. Homeowners do it in the rent control areas of California as well, but when a home is too small for today’s tastes, or too old and out of date, replacing with a new or much newer home often makes much more sense.

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Kristin

Why did you leave the tong on the home when you renovated.

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@Greg , as per your question:
“Why did you leave the tong on the home when you renovated?”

Some of the older MHs have tongues that are integrated into the frame (ie…they slice through the frame…they are not simply bolted on).

These integrated tongues could be removed, but we would have to have a welder use cutting torches.

In SC they allow you to just underskirt around the tongue (by law it does not necessarily come off / however, the tongues that bolt off we take them off with no issues.

Thus, it is not worth the money to have it removed.

We actually have some Tenants who use the tongue for potted plants.

Our MHP Business Model is to:

  • Provide nice and affordable housing

@Greg , from your MHU Forum posts it appears that your Business Model is to have more upper class Tenants who own their own Mobile Homes.

Both MHP Business Models can be profitable.

However, it is the MHP Business Model that dictates if an older, renovated MH would work in your MHP.

For your particular MHP you probably would rather junk these older mobile homes and have individuals bring in their own, new MHs.

However, for our MHP Business Model these older, renovated MHs provide nice and affordable housing and we have no issues with putting Renters in them.

It really boils down to your particular MHP and your particular Business Model.

We wish you the very best!

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Yes, I think the ole home has seen better days. Nice work Kristin on the remodel. I enjoy the remodels myself.

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Actually I have been buying the oldest homes in the community since the beginning and have done complete renos on 4 so far. When they went up for sale they were priced so low by the owners that they would have attracted undesirable residents. I did get somewhat lucky in that three of the very worst (with the worst residents) were destroyed by fire and falling trees and had to be removed. At this time there are only two left that I need to upgrade. All the rest the residents have either upgraded or kept in immaculate condition. One I have is the rental I own which will in the next two years be removed, replaced with new and sold, the other I am waiting for it to go up for sale and will reno.
I also have a community rule in place that only allows new homes to be moved into the community.

  • I remove integrated tongs with a sawsall. Only takes about 15 minutes.*
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It looks like the only big dent is to the right of the front door. Since this appears to be just a cosmetic issue, after you’ve fixed the skirting and painted the home, I’d plant a 6’ pyramidal shrub directly in front of that giant dent – nobody will ever see it again and it will cost you about $50 for the shrub. In addition, it will make the overall home and yard look better.

Kristen, those are terrific before and after photos. You are doing a great job in bringing those homes back to life.

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Interesting idea. Never thought of a shrub

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Many of the dents can be popped back into place using your hands. Just push above or more likely below them. Often times they will pop back into place.

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These were all good things to say. I think it’s a great idea to get some new siding up yourself. I got quotes from conservation construction of taxes and anderson, but in my opinion if you can do the work yourself it is well worth it and much cheaper.

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I would skip the aluminum siding next time. Tear it all down and replace it with Vinyl. I think this will be the best option for you because of it’s durability and you virtually wouldn’t have to ever paint again. There are some great companies out there which offer a ton of options like conservation construction of texas and anderson, but shop around for the best price. If you prefer to do the labor yourself you could save a ton of money.

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The pyramidal tree that Frank is talking about is called Pyramidal Arborvitae. It’s a columnar tree that is slow growing (6"/yr), and doesn’t grow laterally. You can buy it from Costco during spring time for $20-25 or nearest nursery between $40-$90 + 50-100% to have it delivered and planted for you. Brilliant idea as a quick solution from Frank.

FYI, I’m a certified arborist of 10 years (tree guy). :slight_smile:

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