Old mobile home disposal

[Mike Miller]

When I was traveling 200 miles on weekends to build my house for when I retired I needed a place to stay, so I bought the place next door. The house got done and the old mobile began to deteriorate. An empty lot around here is worth more than one with one of these on it and having it moved and deposed of was quite expensive. So I asked our local fire dept. if they wanted it for a training burn, they said sure, here's a list of things you need to do. The list consisted of having a lab guy inspect it for asbestos and pvcs. I did this, and there was asbestos in the roof coatings so having been the hazmat guy at work I did the necessary paperwork to dispose of the roof skin at the land fill.
After all that was done and the power disconnected they showed up.
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[fordbroncodave]

good to know. I have an old mobile home from the 1950's I need to get rid of. only problem is there isn't a hydrant in 10 miles

what does it cost for a company to tear it down and haul it off?

 

[Mike Miller]

Same here, they brought their own water supply.
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[Mike Miller]

]And a bunch of students from the college, and all the equipment for a house fire.
and sandwiches.
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[ShiftedSolutions]

I had two of them to get rid of on the property I bought. I a couple old retirees stop by and told me if I get them a 20 yard dumpster they would do it for $600 a per trailer. They tore them down and anything could be scrapped was scrapped, burnables burnt, and everything else went into the dumperster. Took them two weeks and everything was gone. It was a good deal I thought!

 

[Mike Miller]

Then they all went inside and set the place on fire room by room, studying how the fire acted in different situations.
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[Mike Miller]

They spent all day at this, the fire chief thanked me several times, saying they don't usually get whole mobiles. they are usually gon when they get there.
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[Mike Miller]

They would ignite a room and put it out then ignite it again, until they showed the students all the things that happen in a house fire, very rairly do they get to see a flash over or a black out in a controlled situation.
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[Mike Miller]

When they were done there was nothing but metal and ashes. I cut up the metal and hauled it to the scrap yard and filled a drop box with the ash debris.
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[Mike Miller]

They left a tender and a couple of guys to watch it that night. The next mourning I had the Chief sign a form that said it was destroyed by fire and the county refunded me the taxes I had paid on the building that year. The fire department sent me a thank you card and a fruit basket.
All in all it was a good deal, they had a training opportunity, some fun, the neighbors got a spectacle and I got rid of an eye sore and had a clean sell able lot.

 

[Norcal]

Title is fitting they are disposable homes unfortunately. They do not tolerate deferred maintenance very well.

 

[pmiranda]

That is awesome. Thanks for posting!

 

[38Chevy454]

That is a good solution, and you helped get some points with the local fire dep't. Get rid of trailer, save disposal expenses and taxes, and provide good training opportunity. Seems like a good win-win situation for all involved.

Old joke, but kind of related: what does an earthquake in CA, hurricane in FL, and a divorce in WV have in common? Someone is going to lose a tralier.

 

[Chaznsc]

You can probably put the frame on CL and come out ahead on this deal.

 

[Mike Miller]

You can probably put the frame on CL and come out ahead on this deal.

The frame and axles were pretty well twisted from the heat. Gone was all I wanted from the deal. My total out of pocket including the drop box and lab fees was around $1500.00, and everything was done on the up and up.

 

[Mike Miller]

good to know. I have an old mobile home from the 1950's I need to get rid of. only problem is there isn't a hydrant in 10 miles

what does it cost for a company to tear it down and haul it off?

To move it off the property and make it go away was right at $4,000.00.

 

[WVBrady]

...Old joke, but kind of related: what does an earthquake in CA, hurricane in FL, and a divorce in WV have in common? Someone is going to lose a tralier.

I ran across an interesting statistic the other day. Guess which state has the highest percentage of personally owned homes. WVa, and no, most of them are not trailers.

 

[oldldh]

Another bad WVa joke...

How do you tell the rich folks from the poor folks in WVa???

Simple-the rich folks trailers are less than ten years old...

 

[brownbagg]

i sold mine to a group of illegal mexicain for two dollars, just to get even with the lot owner

 

[Norcal]

Old joke, but kind of related: what does an earthquake in CA, hurricane in FL, and a divorce in WV have in common? Someone is going to lose a tralier.

I heard it as: What does a Texas twister & a Texas divorce have in common? Either way someone is fixin' to lose a trailer.

Read that Texas is the mobile home capitol of the US, cannot remember where though.

 

[readhead]

Around here a 40 yard dumpster, a trackhoe and about an hour and it is gone. Of course disconnect the utilities first.

 

[brownbagg]

What does a Texas twister & a Texas divorce have in common? Either way someone is fixin' to lose a trailer.

here its how is a hurricane like a marriage, in the begiiniing they a lot of sucking and blowing but in the end somebody getting the house

 

[NUTTSGT]

Did you hear about the fire at the Governor's mansion in WV ? They thought they could save the hitch and axles.



All joking aside, Mike, we've never met and much less probably never will but I'd like to thank you for giving some of your local guys a chance at some serious training. Mobile homes usually do not last long in a fire and are not savageable afterwards. Due to their extreme lightweight construction, flammable building materials and the ease that they self ventilate, they generally present a different fire experience for the guys on the nozzle.


Thanks for sharing.

 

[Chaznsc]

I heard it as: What does a Texas twister & a Texas divorce have in common? Either way someone is fixin' to lose a trailer.

Read that Texas is the mobile home capitol of the US, cannot remember where though.

I had a sales rep call me one day and told me that joke....and at the time I lived in a trailer. When I told him that I lived in one there was TOTAL SILENCE on the other end of the line. I had to resuscitate him letting him know the joke was funny. I just wanted to mess with him.

I miss my old trailer some days, and some days not!

Chaz

 

[Norcal]

Did you hear about the fire at the Arkansas Governor's mansion? Pert near took out the whole trailer park.

All jokes aside there was a article in Fine Homebuilding about renovations at the Governors mansion during the Clinton admin. & it was a nice place...

 

[Oldbear]

We often do the same around here with houses that are past repair. It really gives the local fire department a chance to train and learn.