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Set Up Your Manufactured Home For the Thanksgiving Holiday

It might not seem like it, but Thanksgiving is right around the corner! 

Many manufactured homeowners may be hosting a Thanksgiving dinner this year. It’s a great reason to bring the family together, watch some football if your favorite team plays on the holiday, and enjoy some great food!

Whether it’s your first time hosting and you aren’t sure where to start, or if you’re a Thanksgiving dinner veteran, here are some tips you should keep in mind for making sure your holiday gathering goes off without a hitch. 

Know Your Space

Thanksgiving family gatherings come in all shapes and sizes. Some prefer to keep it intimate with a dinner for just the immediate family, while others host several dozen family members from across the country. 

No matter the size of your Thanksgiving gathering, make sure your manufactured home is arranged so that everyone has enough space to feel comfortable. It may be a smart idea to consider rearranging your living room or other common spaces to accommodate more people than usual. 

Arranging chairs (more on that below) in a round, or next to folding tables, is a good idea. So is pushing furniture up against a wall so you have more room for folding furniture so everyone can sit for dinner. 

The amount of space your manufactured home has plays a role here. Think about how many people could comfortably fit in your home for an evening. Just because you can fit 60 people in your home doesn’t necessarily mean that you should if it means that everyone will be packed in like sardines. 

Plan Your Cooking Schedule 

If you’re cooking multiple dishes for your family, it helps to plan ahead. 

Creating a schedule of what you’ll cook, and when, is key. Don’t start Thanksgiving morning with a general “I’ll start at 10 AM and go from there” plan. If something goes wrong along the way, you might feel less prepared to adapt on the fly. 

If making twelve dishes for a family Thanksgiving seems daunting, don’t be afraid to do a potluck-style holiday! Have each family member bring their favorite dish to serve. This is a win-win. You don’t have to feel overwhelmed with cooking for a large crowd, and your family can try all sorts of different dishes from all kinds of cooking backgrounds! 

This is also a good time to take advantage of your manufactured home’s special kitchen features. For example, if you have a farm-style kitchen, use those large countertops to your advantage and serve your Thanksgiving dinner buffet style! 

When it comes to dishes, if you’re not planning to spend your Black Friday behind the kitchen sink, you can use disposable plates and cutlery to get the job done. 

Lastly – for larger families, consider having two separate mealtimes. Kids eat first, followed by the adults. Or, have a mixture of both rotate in! 

Don’t Forget the Chairs! 

You don’t want to have your guests arrive only to find that there’s nowhere for them to sit. 

Make sure you’ve provided ample space for seating when hosting your family in your manufactured home for Thanksgiving. If you need to, move chairs from other rooms of your house into your living room so people can socialize while dinner is cooking. 

For larger gatherings, don’t be afraid to ask family members to bring folding chairs, too. Most people have at least a few that they can bring, and it means that there’s less cleanup for you once everyone has left. 

One last tip: take advantage of other pieces of furniture in your home for seating. We’ve written before about how storage chests can be versatile for this exact purpose. 

Get Classy with the Decorations

It’s not as often that you see people go all-out with decorating for Thanksgiving like they do for Halloween, Christmas, or other holidays. That said, there are ways you can make your home festive for the Thanksgiving holiday. 

Have some leftover Halloween candy? Find a festive turkey-shaped bowl and leave it out for your guests to snack on after dinner! 

You can also revive the classic “turkey handprint” crafting classic. If you have children, give them an afternoon of fun by letting them loose on brown construction paper, colored pipe cleaners, and their imagination. 

But, if you prefer to keep things scaled back around your manufactured home while eating Thanksgiving dinner, you can stick to brown and orange accents throughout your home. Tinsel, wall decorations, paper streamers, and floral arrangements are a great, subtle way to give your manufactured home some Thanksgiving flair. 

No matter which route you choose, you can incorporate any of the above to turn your manufactured home into the ultimate Thanksgiving gathering place. In fact, you just might become the go-to for hosting the family each and every year – no more driving on crowded roads to get to great aunt Bonnie’s! 

Think About Other Activities! 

Thanksgiving doesn’t have to be JUST about the food. After the dishes have been cleaned up, consider what other Thanksgiving-themed activities will help bring the family together. Here are just a few fun ideas: 

  • Set up the living room, den, or media room if you have one for a movie night! Thanksgiving is the perfect time to stream your favorite Thanksgiving movie. 
  • Start a family Secret Santa exchange. If you’re getting together to exchange gifts on Christmas, you can pull names out of a hat on Thanksgiving so you have time to pick out the perfect gift. You can even bring the holiday catalogs to take advantage of Black Friday deals!
  • Have a board game or card game night! It’s the perfect time to get the adults together for some pinochle or poker while the kids play Monopoly. 

Are you looking for other ways to introduce the autumn season into your home? Check out this guide on mobile home autumn painting colors! This is perfect if you’re looking to give your manufactured home a major facelift before the Thanksgiving holiday. 

How to Give Your Mobile Home a New, Fresh Look Inside and Out

There is, in fact, such a thing as fall cleaning. 

Getting your house ready before the large family gatherings that come with the holidays can feel like a daunting task. But, the reality is that giving your manufactured home a makeover inside and out can be done in the smallest, yet most satisfying ways. 

Here are just a few things you can do with your mobile home to shake things up: 

Paint

Painting your mobile home – whether it’s on the interior or exterior – can literally change how your home looks. That’s why it’s at the top of the list. 

That said, there are a few different ways to go about painting. Of course, you don’t have to do all of them to make your mobile home feel new again. 

Interior Painting 

Whether it’s your bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room, or mudroom, giving rooms in your mobile home a fresh coat of paint can be one of the most rewarding ways to glisten up the inside of your home. 

Choose colors that fit within your home. For example, you wouldn’t paint your living room bright yellow if every other room is green or blue. 

With that in mind, you’ll want to choose a paint color that fits the natural flow and feel of your room. So, a living room where you might be doing some entertaining can benefit from a livelier color in some cases. A bedroom should have a wall color that’s calm and neutral, to inspire restfulness.

You can check out our guide on mobile home autumn painting colors for specific color recommendations! 

Accent Painting Can Go A Long Way

Take a look at your baseboards and crown moulding, if you have them. When was the last time you painted them? Chances are it’s been a while. 

Nearly every homeowner overlooks their baseboards, or ceiling trim, when painting a room. Take some extra time to give those baseboards a glow-up by painting over them with their current color. 

Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, why not paint them an all new color? Some homeowners may choose to paint over wood baseboards with white. 

Cabinet Painting

If you’re not in the market for an all-out mobile home cabinet remodel for your kitchen or bathroom, consider giving them a facelift. Painting cabinets is a common way to modernize them without breaking the bank. 

Similar to baseboards, many homeowners choose to paint their cabinets when remodeling a mobile home. Depending on what color your walls and appliances are, you may have some variety when choosing a color for your cabinets. 

But. be careful if you decide to paint your cabinets – most likely, you’ll want a specific kind of paint meant for wood or other cabinet materials, and NOT interior walls. You may also want to double-check and make sure that your cabinets are able to be painted in the first place before you get started. 

Consider Area Rugs

If you’re looking for ways to tie together a room in your mobile home, an area rug should be your first choice. 

Large rugs can look great on either a hardwood or carpeted floor, and provide yet another way to accentuate your mobile home with some flair. They provide elegance without necessarily providing a financial headache: many area rugs can be found at department stores for under $100. 

Area rugs have many uses, too. Want a rug for the desk in your home office? That’s perfect for saving your floor from scuffing chairs or coffee spills. Or, if you want a rug for your living room, it can be the centerpiece under a coffee table to give it that much more visual appeal. 

Take Time to Detail Clean! 

Like we mentioned earlier, there IS such a thing as fall cleaning. Set aside a Saturday for you and your family to dust out all of the nooks and crannies in your home. A cleaner environment at home means you can help mitigate allergies that you may face during the fall season, and gives your home some extra sparkle, too! 

Delegate tasks to each family member – your partner can handle sweeping and mopping while the children dust lower to the ground, saving you the trouble of sore knees. 

If you live alone, don’t feel like you have to get all of your fall cleaning done in one day. Break it out room by room so that you gradually have the cleanest house on the block.  

Scope Out Your Landscaping Potential 

Fall is usually the time of year where homeowners are winterizing their lawn mowers and putting away their hedge trimmers. But, that doesn’t mean that you can’t think about potential landscaping ideas. 

As you’re clearing out weeds for the last time, think about whether you have room for some extra bushes come springtime. Or, think about your current landscaping setup and see where you can make some improvements. 

Does a tree brush up too closely against a window? Does your grass grow evenly across your yard? These are just two examples of questions to ask yourself before the winter sets in. This way, you have a better idea of what you’ll want to do with the outside of your home come springtime. 

Now, we’re not necessarily suggesting that you make a topiary out of your entire yard. You can take even the smallest of landscaping measures now for more success in the spring and summer. For example, setting aside space in your backyard to start a garden in the spring can go a long way in making you feel prepared once hibernation season is over. 

One other thing to note here: if you live in a manufactured home community, make sure you understand your community’s guidelines on landscaping. Some communities may only allow certain types of landscaping projects, or require approval before they begin. 

Clean Up Those Leaves! 

Falling leaves can be a beautiful sight, but they can also be a headache when it comes to cleaning them up. 

When it comes to the exterior of your manufactured home, it’s important to keep on top of accumulating leaves, if you have them. While they can be fun to play around in, if they get too wet or sit out for too long, you can have a real problem on your hands. 

It’s very important that you clean your gutters regularly so that you don’t have a blockage of leaves. Otherwise, you risk long-term damage to your gutters and even your roof due to a lack of proper drainage flow. 

Hopefully these tips on sprucing your mobile home inside and out have sparked some inspiration this fall. Any mobile home project, no matter how big or small, can rejuvenate and revitalize you and your home if you’re willing to put in the work to make it look as best as it can possibly be. 

Looking for more mobile home lifestyle ideas? Head to the MHVillager to read up on other ways to live the manufactured home lifestyle to the fullest. 

5 Surprising Ways a Manufactured Home Can Lower Your Carbon Footprint

What if we told you that you could live a more climate-conscious lifestyle by owning a manufactured home? 

Climate change has made Americans more energy-conscious in recent years. Increasingly, many are wondering how to lower their carbon footprint, whether it’s by making small lifestyle changes or doing so in bigger ways. 

When it comes to manufactured homes, their energy efficiency is stronger than ever in 2022 thanks to new industry developments and consumer trends. This means that, as a homeowner, you can become more environmentally friendly while buying a home at the same time. 

What makes manufactured homes so climate friendly, you might ask? Here are just a few aspects: 

Factory-Built Process

First, it’s important to go over the process of how a manufactured home is built. 

Unlike site-built or stick-built homes, which are constructed on top of the home site, manufactured homes are built in a factory and then transported and sited onto a foundation. This difference might seem slight – after all, you’re still living in a home on a piece of land – but the reality is that this has a massive impact on the energy cost of building a home.

Less Waste

When you build a manufactured home in a factory, you use far less materials and resources compared to a construction site. This is because the factory-built process is so precise that there are very little excess materials thrown out afterwards. 

There are weather considerations that come into play, too. If materials get wet on a construction site, many of them can’t be used. But, you don’t have to worry about that when it comes to an indoor factory. 

This also extends to labor. You can’t always count on building a site-built home in the pouring rain, but indoors in a factory? No problem. 

Made to Order

One major reason for this is because of customized manufactured homes that offer specialized luxury features, such as custom countertops and varied floor plans with alternate bedroom and kitchen arrangements. 

Even if a mobile home isn’t customized, they’re often built to order whenever orders come in from homeowners or communities. This greatly reduces the problem of excess resources being spent on homes that don’t sell, or aren’t sited. 

When a customer orders a customized manufactured home, a manufacturer doesn’t simply ship them a home that’s been sitting in a factory. The home is built from start to finish, exactly how the customer specified it. 

All of these considerations when building a manufactured home means that you can become a more climate-conscious homeowner by owning a home that’s factory-built. 

There are, of course, other ways to reduce your carbon footprint in your day to day life as a manufactured homeowner. Here are just a few things to keep in mind: 

The Foundation Plays a Role, Too! 

There are a number of different types of mobile home foundation out there, with the pier-and-beam the most common type you’ll find. 

There are multiple parts to a mobile home that help protect the foundation from the elements. Not only does this keep the home free from damage, but they help with energy efficiency as well. 

The skirting around a mobile home is perhaps the best example of this. By protecting the space underneath a mobile home from wind and moisture, you don’t have to worry about wasted energy when heating or cooling your home. The skirting acts as yet another form of insulation for your mobile home, saving you money in the long-run! 

You can read more here about mobile home skirting and its benefits. 

Innovations in Insulation 

New developments in the manufactured housing construction process have helped make them more insulated – and therefore, more energy efficient – over the past several years. 

Windows are one such area that have seen new innovations. Manufacturers of windows for mobile homes have increasingly turned to a new building process that utilizes gasses between panes of glass that lead to improved heat retention. This means that, as a manufactured homeowner, you’ll have more energy savings in the long-run with these new types of windows. 

Between this, ongoing developments with insulation found in new and improved construction methods, and new furnace regulations for manufactured homes, every aspect of the manufactured housing building process is becoming even more energy efficient. 

Smart Thermostats

Once we move inside the home, we’ll see another feature that’s become a standard in modern manufactured homes: smart thermostats. 

These new thermostats can automatically regulate the temperature in a manufactured home to save energy costs over time. For example, it’ll know not to blast the heat at 3 AM when no one is awake, and save A/C in the summertime for the hottest part of the day. 

And, modern smart thermostats can connect with other smart devices in your mobile home so that you can control the temperature of your home no matter where you are. If you’re out to dinner and want to cool down the house before you get back home, it’s just a few taps away. 

Smart thermostats are proven to have long-term energy savings benefits, and you’ll be able to see that with a manufactured home that has a smart thermostat built-in. These are one of the easiest, yet most effective ways to be more energy-conscious for both the planet and your wallet. 

As you’re considering energy savings with the oncoming winter, it’s important to remember that manufactured homes, in 2022, are incredibly energy efficient. Looking forward, the developments that have gotten manufactured housing to high energy-efficiency will only keep going as new homes and new appliances are made. 

If you’re looking for a factory-built home near you, head over to MHVillage, the nation’s leading platform for buying, selling, and renting manufactured homes. Many homes offer a variety of photos so you can see for yourself whether your dream home has that energy-saving smart thermostat, too!

Things You Can Do in the Fall to Sell Your Mobile Home in the Winter

If you live in the United States, chances are the temperature has already started to dip a little bit. This is especially true if you live in the Midwest or the Northeast. 

While there are still some warm days ahead for much of the country, it’s important to remember that there are some home maintenance fixes that can’t be done during the winter. 

Whether something has to be done outdoors above a certain temperature or needs to be done to keep your house warm during the coldest months, these are just a few of the things you can do this upcoming season to get ready to sell your mobile home in the winter. 

Caulking

Your door frames and windows all have a layer of insulation around them known as caulking. Caulking can dry, crack and chip over time, which can reduce your manufactured home’s energy efficiency. During the wintertime, this can be critical for keeping your home warm and cozy. 

Most of the time, you can’t re-caulk a door frame or window outdoors below a certain temperature. This is because if you try and re-caulk an outdoor door frame or window while it’s too cold, it won’t properly seal and provide its maximum energy savings potential. 

As the autumn begins to set in, now is the perfect time to do an outdoor check of your manufactured home and see if any door frames or window frames are in need of a re-caulking. If you decide to do some caulking this fall, we recommend reading the manufacturer’s instructions that come with your caulking materials, or asking a professional for help. 

Stain or Weatherproof Your Deck or Patio

Many decks or patios are made of wood, and that holds true for decks and patios that are part of manufactured homes.

If your wooden deck or patio isn’t already stained, sealed, or weatherproofed, you might want to consider staining it before the winter sets in. Both are generally separate processes,  

Having a stained deck means you’ll have less maintenance to do throughout the spring and summer in terms of caring for your wooden deck. If you take the extra step to coat it with another weatherproofing material, you’ll prolong the life of your wooden deck or patio even further. 

This is another home maintenance chore that must be done within a specific temperature range. You don’t want to stain or weatherproof a deck while it’s below 50 degrees. If you do, you risk not having an effective seal on your deck or patio. 

Paint Your Home’s Exterior

This is one task that many mobile home sellers place high on the top of their list before they get ready to sell. Repainting the exterior of a mobile home can give it a fresh new look and add another bullet point to any home listing. 

But, you won’t catch anyone painting their mobile home during a December snowfall. Not only is it impractical to paint outdoors in such cold temperatures for hours on end, but it can impact the drying process for the paint itself. 

So, if you’re considering giving your mobile home a facelift this fall, now is the time to act. Make sure you’re well-versed on the equipment that you’ll need to paint your mobile home’s exterior, such as a spray gun and the right protective and respiratory equipment. 

Make Sure Your Furnace Works

This one might seem like a no-brainer. But believe it or not, mobile home furnace maintenance prior to the winter can often fall under the radar. 

Right now is the perfect time to contact your local HVAC specialist and make sure your furnace is in proper working order. Your technician may recommend a tune-up to ensure that you’re getting the most efficiency and performance out of your furnace. 

Occasionally, your furnace may require repairs or a full replacement. Again, the fall is the perfect time to get those repairs done before the colder weather starts to set in. 

Will Doing These Tasks Raise My Mobile Home’s Value? 

Not every mobile home repair or project will have an impact on your mobile home’s value. However, there are some big ones that may play a role if you’re considering selling your mobile home in the future. 

For example, making a major furnace replacement can positively impact your home’s value in many cases. Many home buyers see value in buying a mobile home with a brand new furnace, meaning that they’ll be set for many years to come. 

There are other fixes that are worth mentioning on a home listing, too. Like we mentioned earlier, painting the exterior of your mobile home can also make for a stylish bullet point on your home listing that attracts more buyers. While it might not affect the selling price of your home, it will certainly bring more attention to your listing. 

Most importantly, taking care of these mobile home fixes in the fall before you sell in the wintertime offers any potential buyer increased peace of mind. The question of when a furnace was last serviced, or whether a deck or patio has been weatherproofed, will inevitably come up during a mobile home tour or inspection. Being able to answer those questions with confidence will make a good impression with your potential buyer. 

Once you’re ready to sell, head over to MHVillage, the nation’s leading platform for selling manufactured homes! With thousands of mobile homes sold every single month and a large pool of potential buyers across hundreds of markets, MHVillage is the first – and potentially last – stop for your mobile home selling needs.  

Barndominium Features in Manufactured Homes

Lately, you may have heard about a new trendy type of home: the barndominium. They’ve seen increased popularity across social media and with homeowners everywhere. 

Whether you already know what a barndominium is or not, it’s important to take a look at all of their features, and which of those features you can find in manufactured homes. (Spoiler alert: many of them!) 

If you’re looking for the barndominium experience in a manufactured home, then this blog post is for you! 

What Is a Barndominium? 

Barndominiums, also known as barn homes, are barn-like structures that are used as homes. They’re usually made of metal and have a floor plan in the interior that allows for bedrooms, kitchens, and other rooms that you’d find in any other home. 

The term has been around for several decades now, but has recently been gaining popularity across social media with homeowners and those who dream of owning a home. 

But when it comes to manufactured homes, do they share any features? How similar are barndominiums to mobile homes, and can one be confused for the other?  

Are They Similar to Manufactured Homes?

While there are a few qualities that manufactured homes share with barndominiums, they aren’t very similar beyond that. 

Both manufactured homes and barndominiums are predominantly built in a factory (some barndominiums can be site-built) and then shipped to their final site, and both have come to share a few features in their interiors and exteriors that we’ll get into below. 

However, barndominiums aren’t nearly as common for use as a permanent home. Going back to their roots, many are still used to hold tools and animals found on actual farms. 

Additionally, their structures are quite different, as it’s hard to find a barndominium that will have as many bedrooms or features as a true manufactured home. And, you’ll find it next to impossible to find a barndominium-style structure in a manufactured home community. 

Of course, many barndominiums are now used today as permanent residences, with open floor plans and other features that make them more similar to manufactured homes than ever before. Here are just a few of the features that they share: 

What Features Do They Share? 

Sliding Barn Doors 

Sliding barn doors have become a popular fixture in both manufactured homes and barndominiums. They offer a rustic feel to any living environment while offering the same level of privacy as a single or double-door. 

While you wouldn’t use a sliding barn door as a main front door or patio door, they’re often used as a door to separate a kitchen and living room, or other types of common areas. 

Most sliding barn doors are mounted on a track system near the top of the door that allows them to slide in and out of the doorway. Some manufactured homes come pre-fitted with these doors. That said, it’s also possible to install a sliding barn door the DIY way. You can find the materials needed for a barn door installation at most large hardware stores. 

Farm-style Kitchens

In short, a farm-style kitchen is one that has a more open concept and appliances that aren’t found in other kitchens. This can include wide-tubbed sinks and large counters and tables to accommodate large meals. 

The aesthetic of a farm-style kitchen is unique, too. Most of these kitchens opt for a rustic, unassuming, and natural look. You’ll find that wood finishes on a lot of cabinets, counters, and chairs are common. The goal with a farmhouse kitchen is to make those who dine and cook in it feel more connected to the environment and the people around them. 

These kinds of kitchens are more and more common in both manufactured homes and farmhouses. 

Open Floor Plans

Open floor plans are all the rage in manufactured homes. They offer more space for storage, more space to move around when entertaining friends and family, and give you, the homeowner, much more flexibility in how you arrange your home’s interior. 

The open floor concept is highly popular with barndominiums as well. Both forms of house have evolved to meet the needs and demands of the modern homeowner, which all come back to flexibility. 

So, if you want to have an open living room that seamlessly connects to your kitchen or mudroom, you can do exactly that! Or, you can turn a common area into a work-from-home office if you live alone. 

Affordability

Okay, so this one isn’t a feature per se, but both manufactured homes and barndominiums are much more affordable than site-built homes. 

Because barndominiums are also mostly factory-built and use more energy-efficient materials and building processes, they come in much cheaper than site-built homes. 

However, if you want the full features of a luxurious home while having thousands of options (literally) to choose from, you should consider a manufactured home from MHVillage. 

On MHVillage, the nation’s leading platform for buying and renting manufactured homes, you can search your local area for manufactured homes for sale. And, you can filter your search based on a number of criteria, so if you want to buy a manufactured home in a pet-friendly community or are looking for a home to be moved onto your own private land, you can search for exactly that! 

Don’t wait – look for the manufactured home of your dreams on mhvillage.com. 

Tour Six New Manufactured Homes at the Novi Home Show this Weekend, Oct. 7 – 9, 2022

Photo by: Windowstill Photography (windowstill.com)

This weekend, October 7th through the 9th, 2022, is your opportunity to tour six model homes as part of the Manufactured Home Showcase. 

The Showcase, hosted by the Michigan Manufactured Housing Association (MMHA), is part of The Novi Home Show taking place at the Suburban Collection Showplace at 46100 Grand River Avenue in Novi, MI.  

At Michigan’s only event for factory-built homes on display to the public, you can tour homes from some of the industry’s leading manufacturers. If you’re in the market for a new home or simply looking to learn more about manufactured housing, this event is for you! 

But don’t wait – this event is taking place in just a few days! Register for the event today by visiting www.novihomeshow.com. 

Homes on display will feature beautiful open floor plans, spacious and luxurious kitchens, and gorgeous master baths with loads of features. The homes will range from 574 to 2,100 square feet in a variety of single-section and multi-section models. 

“Each of the homes are completely furnished, decorated and proudly show off the appeal and affordability of manufactured homes in Michigan,” MMHA President and CEO John Lindley said. “We’re excited to give the public this opportunity to see the luxurious features and amenities that are available in today’s manufactured homes.” 

Manufacturer, community, and retailer representatives will lead tours through the homes and discuss the benefits to manufactured homes, options for private land placement, and community living. 

The event takes place on Friday October 7 from 2 p.m. to 8 pm., Saturday October 8 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday October 9 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Admission & Parking Information 

Admission costs for the Novi Home Show are as follows: 

  • Adult admission (ages 13 and up): $10 
  • Senior admission (ages 55 and up): $9 
  • Child admission (ages 12 and under): FREE! 

All tickets are also $5 after 5 PM on Friday, October 7th and Saturday, October 8th. Note that the MMHA Home Showcase is an exhibit within the Novi Home Show and does not cost additional admission.

Please note that parking is NOT included with ticket purchase. Parking admission can be purchased before the event at suburbancollectionshowplace.com/parking.   

To purchase your tickets online for a discounted price, or to learn more about the Novi Home Show, visit www.novihomeshow.com.  

About the Michigan Manufactured Housing Association

Michigan Manufactured Housing Association (MMHA) is a nonprofit trade association representing the manufactured and modular housing industry in Michigan. MMHA works to improve the image of manufactured housing by educating consumers, media and government about the quality, affordability, design and beauty of the homes. It also works to protect the interests of the industry and the owners of manufactured homes. For more information, please visit www.michhome.org. 

The Basics of Mobile Home Carports

You may have seen them before, and they’re a popular component to mobile homes across the country. They don’t require additional space or land if you have a driveway next to your home, and they come in different materials, colors, and sizes. 

We’re of course talking about mobile home carports. But, even if you’ve heard of them, you might not know what they look like, or how they’re installed. 

So, we’ll go over the basics of mobile home carports in this blog post, from what they are to maintenance and installation. 

What Are Mobile Home Carports?

A mobile home carport is an exterior structure attached to your mobile home that is installed above your driveway. The carport provides overhead coverage for your vehicle, and can either lead to a side door or back door that leads into your mobile home, or stand on its own. 

Most carports are mounted from the side of the mobile home, where the roof meets the exterior wall, and are supported via beams on the opposite side of the driveway. This provides ample room for a car to park safely underneath.  

Occasionally, a carport may have a supporting wall on the far end from the mobile home, for additional strength and privacy. 

Is a Carport and Garage The Same Thing? 

No, mobile home carports and garages are not the same thing. 

A garage is a completely enclosed structure that, besides holding at least one car, may often hold other large tools and appliances. They can be either freestanding or be attached to a mobile home, and usually have a large door at the front that is manually or automatically operated. 

A carport, however, is not a fully interior building like a garage. Rather, it is more like a roof extension that covers your vehicle to protect it from the elements. Because a carport is not a full-fledged building, there isn’t a door at the front to raise or lower each time you park your car or leave for the day. 

But, that doesn’t mean a carport isn’t without its benefits. In fact, carports are highly popular for a few different reasons, and many mobile homeowners prefer them to garages. We’ll go over the reasons in a little bit. 

What Materials Are Carports Made Of? 

Carports are most often made out of a sturdy aluminum or other kind of metal. 

This material is popular for carports because it provides ample resistance to rainfall and other kinds of inclement weather. And, it’s rather durable. A carport made of aluminum or metal can last you at least ten years, if not much longer. 

What Benefits Do Carports Offer? 

Carports have a number of great benefits for manufactured homeowners. 

The biggest one, of course, is weather protection. Your carport will shield your car from rain, snow, and other inclement weather. 

Not only that, but it may offer additional shade, too. If your car is sitting out in the sun for hours or even days at a time, it may be too hot to sit in before you cool it down for a few minutes. However, parking your car under a carport means that you may have additional shade to help keep your car cooler on a hot sunny day.

Carports also don’t take up much space. Since they primarily hang over your existing driveway, a carport installation may not require additional clearing of land. 

If anything, you may just need roughly a foot of space along the side of your driveway to make room for the support poles. However, many carports are anchored onto the edge of the driveway itself.

This means that, if your mobile home doesn’t currently have a carport, it may be incredibly easy to find the space to install one. It’s easiest if your driveway is directly next to your mobile home. 

Additionally, carports can be easier to maintain than a garage. Cosmetic damage can be buffed out or painted over, and small dents can be fixed with a heat gun or hair dryer to the opposite end of the dent before pushing it out. 

Another major benefit of a mobile home carport is the cost factor. If you’re installing a carport onto your home for the first time, you’ll find that most carports cost between $1,500 and $6,000. This makes them an affordable option for those looking for protection for their car compared to garages that can run into the five figure range.  

Can I Install My Own Carport? 

You can purchase your own carport and have it delivered to your mobile home. However, you should hire a professional to have it installed.

If you live in a manufactured home community, you will need permission from your park manager to install one as well. Check before you start any carport project to ensure you’re not stepping on any toes with either your community or the local government. Depending on your local jurisdiction, you may need a permit to add a carport onto your mobile home. 

Additionally, make sure that you’re not crossing lot lines if you live in a community. You can get into trouble if you install a carport that crosses over into someone else’s property. 

There’s one other thing to consider when having your mobile home carport installed. This has to do with the age of your manufactured home. If your home is newer, it may have a certificate, sticker, or some other kind of notice that certifies that your home can structurally support a carport or other outdoor structure. This is not present in older mobile homes. Check with your local or state jurisdiction to see if your home should have one, and if so that your home can indeed support a carport.

Carports can be unwieldy and hard to maneuver into place when they’re being installed. This is why you should never try and install a carport on your own, or build your own with spare materials. A team of contractors will have the safety and experience to ensure your carport is installed smoothly and safely. A group of family members or friends can do the job in an afternoon, provided you follow installation instructions exactly.

Where Can I Find Carport Supplies? 

Many manufactured homes come with carports attached when you buy them. However, if you’re looking to purchase a carport to be installed onto your mobile home, we recommend heading over to our Mobile Home Parts & Supplies Guide.

From this handy guide, you can check out their selection of available carports. This’ll give you everything you need to start your carport project the right way!  

5 Creative Back to School Ideas For Your Mobile Home

Back to school season is almost here! That means the kids are getting ready to go back to school and settle into a new routine until next summer. 

As a parent, you may be wondering how you can make the most out of your mobile home to ring in the back to school season as successfully as possible. Though it might seem like a large task, the MHVillager is here to help. 

Idea 1 – Find Your Flex Room For Homework and Homeschooling 

Many mobile homes have a spare “flex room” that can serve a variety of purposes. Some use the room as a home office, others use it as a spare bedroom. This room can also be used for your children to work on their schoolwork in a productive environment. 

Consider small desks for your children so they each have their own space for homework and projects. This works doubly well in case you have children that are still enrolled in virtual learning. 

Idea 2 – Get Creative With Your Home Automation

We talked recently in the MHVillager about ways to automate your mobile home with smart technology. What if we told you there was a way to use this to your advantage when it comes to setting up homework time for your kids? 

Some smart devices allow you to set routines to occur at different times of the day. So, you could have a smart speaker play a certain song at 7 P.M., for just one example. 

Using something like this can be a great way to motivate your children to start on their homework for the evening. Their favorite song can be a source of encouragement to head to the kitchen table and work on their homework as a family. And, it can establish a routine for the school season that kids and parents alike can enjoy. 

Idea 3 – Take Advantage Of Your Mudroom 

The mudroom is an increasingly popular room in many mobile homes. It’s a great space to hang up your coats and shoes, without tracking dirt and debris throughout the rest of the house. 

The mudroom can also be an incredibly powerful organizational tool. Having a dedicated rack for your children’s backpacks is a great start to keep their belongings in place. This way, there are no early morning scrambles to find someone’s missing backpack or folder. 

You can also consider hanging up a homework chart or whiteboard in your mudroom. This can be a great way to keep track of your children’s tasks for the evening to ensure their success in school. 

Idea 4 – Don’t Forget Your Education, Too! 

We’re not just thinking about the children with this blog post. Perhaps you’re going to school to get a degree, and you need a zen place, studio, or home office in your mobile home.

In this case, there are many ways to improve your mobile home lifestyle to help foster an educating environment: 

  • Dedicate a room or portion of a room in your mobile home to studying. 
  • Set smart routines in your mobile home that get you to bed on time, and up in the morning as well. 
  • Arrange your lighting fixtures so that your softest, least harsh lighting is near your study space
  • Space to work is important, but don’t forget a space for relaxation, too! Give yourself room in your manufactured home to pace, relax, and sit or lie down if you need to. 

Idea 5 – Take Back Your Home Office! 

Has your mobile home’s office space been taken over throughout the summer by children’s toys, or their school equipment, since they’ve been at home all day for three months? 

If they have, the back to school season is the perfect time to re-organize your office and make it your own space again. Having a dedicated desktop surface for your laptop, with a clean background for video calls, is an essential start if you work remote or attend online classes. 

You can also consider various accessories for your office to help boost productivity and even create less stress. For example, desk organizers for your electronics and notepads can make your work surface that much cleaner. 

You can also consider placing furniture to make your home office feel more cozy for the fall. If you have the space, a futon or lounge chair in your office can be a great place to relax or get away from your desk. 

These five tips for making the most of the back-to-school season in your mobile home will hopefully make the transition back into a routine for your children more enjoyable. If you’re still looking for that perfect mobile home to call your own, however, check out MHVillage, the nation’s leading platform for buying, selling, and renting manufactured homes. 

On MHVillage, you can search for manufactured homes in your market based on your criteria. So, if you want a mobile home with a certain number of bedrooms so that your children have a flex room for getting work done, you can do exactly that! 

How To Automate Your Mobile Home With Smart Technology

Manufactured homes, like site-built homes, have kept up with the times and introduced loads of smart technology over the years. For some, though, it can seem overwhelming to start automating their mobile home with the latest tech. 

But, it doesn’t have to be that way. Incorporating smart home technology to increase automation can be a thrilling process that, over time, introduces many benefits for the mobile homeowner. Here are just a few ways to get started. 

Voice Assistants

This is an easy one to implement. Virtual assistant technology from Meta, Amazon, Apple, and Google makes it easier than ever to go about your day with an extra helping hand. For example, if you’re getting ready for your day and need to know what traffic is like for your commute, simply asking your virtual assistant will get you the answer that you need. 

Some of the other smart technology solutions that we’ll go over below even have virtual assistant functionalities built in! 

Smart Thermostats

Here’s another way to automate your manufactured home in a small way that delivers big benefits. A smart thermostat can run on a timer so that it shuts off at certain times of the day, or when you leave your home. 

You can also remotely control your thermostat for maximum energy efficiency. These are a great solution for saving energy costs over time by identifying where you’re using power that you might not need. 

Smart Appliances

Mobile homes can often be found with smart appliances these days, from the dishwasher to the fridge to the washer and dryer. These devices are often wifi-compatible so that you can control them from wherever you are. 

Smart refrigerators in particular have come a long way and are highly sought after in mobile homes. Various models of smart fridge can connect to music streaming apps like Spotify or Pandora, show you what’s inside your fridge without you having to open it, and merge your shopping lists across various smart devices. 

Other smart appliances can be controlled by your phone to start at a certain time, or shut off automatically after use. This is one of the easiest and most popular ways to start automating your mobile home! 

Smart Lighting

Technology that has to do with your lighting fixtures has come a long way in the past several years. Now, smart lighting makes it easier than ever to turn lights on and off, turn lights a different color, and turn on or off based on whether someone is in the room. 

In fact, you can even use an app on your phone to control the lighting in your house. Some lighting manufacturers, such as GE, have apps that pair with their lights to do just that. So, you can set timers for your lights before you go to bed, or set one to make sure your lights are out once you leave for work. 

Your virtual assistant may have connectivity with your smart lights, too. So, you can ask Siri or Alexa or Google to turn off your kitchen lights without lifting a finger.

One alternative option you can look at here are smart plugs. These plug into your existing outlet and can turn a lamp or light fixture into a smart light that can be controlled via an app or your voice.  

Interior and Exterior Cameras

These days, it’s hard to find a home that DOESN’T have some kind of smart camera attached to it. After all, it’s an incredibly convenient, yet smart way to keep your home secure and even watch your feed in real-time. 

Popular smart camera manufacturers include Ring and Wyze. These brands of smart cameras offer options for outside your front door, outside the exterior of your home, and even options for watching inside your home – a great idea if you want to keep an eye on your pet at work, or watch your children from another room. 

Photo of a businessman using mobile phone in the city

And, these smart cameras connect with your cell phone, too. So, no matter where you’re at, you can check in on your front doorstep in real time, or otherwise make sure your home is secure indoors and out while you’re away. 

Your Phone Is Your Friend! 

We’ve referenced this a few times throughout this blog post, but we want to reinforce that your smartphone is a vital tool for automating your mobile home. 

Even if you don’t check out some of the items we’ve listed out here, there are ways that you can make your mobile home a bit “smarter” by just using your phone. 

For example, you can use automation apps such as IFTTT to, say, change your wallpaper or disable notifications for certain apps when you disconnect from your home’s wifi. So, when you leave home to go to work, you can cut down on screen time until you return. 

To make your mobile home as automated as possible, though, you’ll want to consider some of the tips in this blog.  

Your Top Mobile Home Inspection Tips

If you’re getting ready to buy a mobile home, the seller may have already shown you paperwork relating to a mobile home inspection. In many cases, they’ve already gotten an inspection completed prior to listing their home. 

However, you may want to consider a mobile home inspection of your own. A buyer-ordered home inspection is incredibly common, even for site-built homes, so that you can get a full view of your new home’s condition. 

Today, we’ll go over the top four mobile home inspection tips so that, when the time comes, you’re ready to handle the inspection process with virtually zero stress and hassle. 

Tip 1 – Hire a Professional

At the MHVillager, we love to suggest DIY approaches for various remodel and repair projects. However, when it comes to a mobile home inspection, you should always – ALWAYS – hire a professional to do the job. 

Why? Because a professional mobile home inspector will know exactly what to look for when he’s assessing your home inside and out. And, your mobile home inspector can put together a comprehensive report of your mobile home’s condition, room by room, and highlight the most important takeaways. 

Tip 2 – Consider Which Approach Is Right For You 

No two mobile home inspectors are the same. Some, for example, may take different lengths of time. Some may take photos of the inside and outside of the home, while others may take photos of the outside only. In fact, some inspectors offer exterior-only inspections in some cases. 

Take some time to think about what kind of inspection is best for you as the home buyer. Do you want one that’s quick and easy to understand at the end of the day, or do you want one that’s more comprehensive? 

Tip 3 – Don’t Be Afraid to Get a Second Opinion, If You Need To 

Mobile home inspectors will go out of their way to ensure any potential repairs needed to your new home, minor or major, are documented so that you have a clear picture of your home’s condition. 

If you feel unsure that your roof would need a complete roof-over, you could reach out to a roofing contractor to see if there are other options available for your roof repair that will either save you money, prolong the life of your current roof, or both. 

That being said, there may be some repairs that you’ll HAVE to ensure are made before you can move in. These primarily relate to bringing your mobile home up to code with local ordinances – for example, perhaps your stairway on your front porch needs a handrail for safety purposes. In these instances, you’ll want to work with the seller to ensure these fixes are made promptly so that you can finish the closing process. 

Tip 4 – Ask Questions! 

This might be the most important tip on this list. If you’re unsure of what a part of your mobile home inspection means, ask your inspector! 

They will be more than happy to go into further detail about any given part of your inspection. They can also share information on how to best monitor an issue, get a repair done, or otherwise address any part of your inspection report. 

A mobile home inspection can seem daunting. You might be unsure if the inspection will turn up any unexpected repairs. But, the mobile home inspection process can be incredibly assuring knowing that you know everything there is to know about your new home. 

But, if you’re still looking for that perfect mobile home to call your own, head over to MHVillage, the nation’s leading platform for buying, selling, and renting manufactured homes. Our dedicated mobile home search page lets you find the right mobile home that fits your criteria in your market. 

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