Leaks or moisture problems in Double-Wides, Mobile Homes, Trailers or Manufactured Housing: what are the causes, inspection procedures, & repairs needed.
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I have a double wide manufactured home that I'm renovated. It has vinyl siding and perforated soffits common on manufactured homes.
We've noticed moisture high in the walls all around the home and can't identify the cause. Any ideas? Thank you, - T.B. - Colorado
A competent onsite inspection by an expert usually finds additional clues that help accurately diagnose a problem with too much moisture in a home. That said, gee, with absolutely no information whatsoever about the home you mention, I'd be just arm-waving to offer a specific diagnosis.
But I can suggest some directions of investigation for tracking down a moisture problem:
Generally the approach is to find the water sources and water or moisture traps. That is, high indoor moisture, enough to put condensation on walls, might be tracked down to one or both of:
If I'm right that you're in Colorado, you're not in such a high humidity area as the Southeastern U.S. That in turn makes me wonder if there is not either water below the home or leaks in or into it from roof, windows or doors (notorious leakers on older manufactured homes).
If the moisture is uniform around all of the interior of the home I suspect it could be coming from a source that would equally wet the whole structure - below the entire structure up through floors, or leaks across a wide area of roof. Observing moisture high on walls may just indicate where the cool walls are in contact with warmer, high-moisture-content air inside the home. (Warm moist air rises).
If your renovation permits, you might need to make some test cuts to be sure you know where water is and is not, and to be sure you're not renovating by putting a new skin over a rotting or inset infested structure.
Sorry I can't be smarter but that's about as much arm-waving as I can dare with no more information. If you'd like to send some photos or further description of what's there and what you're seeing, that may permit some further suggestions.
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See also the advice at
Thanks for the reply. I managed to find a manufactured home installer who immediately knew what I was talking about. It turns out all this is a universal problem with manufactured homes (and some stick built homes) in cold, high wind areas.
The soffits are vented continuously. Snow actually drifts inside the soffit then, when the weather warms, melts and some water runs down the walls. As this can happen many days after the initial precipitation it’s often mistaken for a condensation issue.
The installer didn't have any suggestions for a solution. In fact, he said if I came up with anything to let him know. Any ideas?
We have seen several points of frost or even ice accumulation at house eaves and even deeper into the attic in uninsulated HVAC ductwork.
I think a diagnostic clue that can help track down apparent building leaks or moisture on walls that originates in the attic may be the observation of leaks in a warming weather trend after a long cold spell.
Also the moisture shows up only on the exterior walls, not on building interior walls. It doesn't have to be snow blowing into the soffits - which is unusual; anything that allows moisture condense, collect, and freeze in the attic or in attic HVAC ducts can produce such leaks when things thaw out.
The cause your installer cited, snow drifts in the soffits, is possible but more common are some of these other problems that can produce the same symptoms:
How do we fix these problems of ice and frost formation in the attic ... it depends. First let's accurately diagnose the cause by a careful inspection in the attic. Wind-wash will be obvious - insulation will have been disturbed. Ice dam leaks leave characteristic stains that we illustrate in that article.
Details about these attic frost, ice, or moisture problems that show up as "leaks or moisture on building walls" and how they are fixed are in the articles cited above.
At INSPECT ATTICS for MOISTURE or MOLD we discuss inspecting (and correcting) building attics for evidence of condensation, moisture, or even ice.
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