iced98lx
Well-known member
Hey guys, don't mean to abuse the hive mind with a non-garage question but I'm scratching my head on an issue that has recently arisen.
We have a 14x80 trailer home on the lake. Before you ask, no, I can't put a damn house there, and no, I can't put a new trailer in: it's complicated but lets just say for the sake of conversation I'm a bit stuck rebuilding what we got there which is a pretty well built late 80's mobile home, locally built even.
Now, where we are, floods every so often. Did in 93, did last fall. The house is high enough that we don't really get any damage (and we're going to raise'er up a foot this spring as well).
That said, this last flood nipped the floor a bit, pulled the belly pan, insulation etc out. I'll take care of that, re-insulate, etc. No big deal and a great excuse to replace the subfloors which has been on the list. (the list, if you're curious is large with deferred maintenance issues, more on that later).
To the point of this post: the Vents were tore out from below, the condenser outside is kaput and we were have serious issues keeping the old girl cool the last few summers (I suspect a combination of belly insulation and duct leaks...) anyhow.
So we're at the point where we'll be needing significant duct repairs and at minimum a new condenser. In for a penny...
My wife would prefer not to have ducts under the house. I agree, we're looking at doing a decent amount of work in the floor region and having ducts down there with the possibility of floods is.. well, one more thing to fix again.
A note: we are in a real cold-**** region of the lower 48 but this is a may -> september situation that is blown out and not heated at all during the winter. A touch of heat in the shoulder months isn't frowned upon but not strictly required...
So, naturally I fired up Ye Old bad idea generator and googled DIY mini splits and got to thinking that was a sound idea. For ~900 each of the 3 bedrooms and say about 1200 for the "Open floor plan" kitchen/dinning/living room area we could get cooling and some heat with no ducts to worry about. I could mount the compressors up off the ground and hopefully be a bit flood proof..
We are adding about 5ft of height to one side of the trailer (3ft on the other) and putting on a single slope roof. That does leave us with the ability to run some ducts up in the newly gained ceiling space. I posited possibly putting an up-flow air handler in, having one long exposed duct running the length of the house and a traditional AC compressor for it.
This absolutely a function before form situation, if you haven't guessed. The point of the cabin is to be enjoyable and useful and not a complete PITA.
It's all just spitballing, what would you spitball and do?
Here is a floorplan estimation that is not remotely accurate or to scale but gives you an idea of how it's laid out:
TrailerLayout by Christopher Uthe, on Flickr
The bottom side faces west, the top (east) side is going to be the taller wall and faces the majority of the yard (we spend time outside "above" the drawing).
Thoughts?
We have a 14x80 trailer home on the lake. Before you ask, no, I can't put a damn house there, and no, I can't put a new trailer in: it's complicated but lets just say for the sake of conversation I'm a bit stuck rebuilding what we got there which is a pretty well built late 80's mobile home, locally built even.
Now, where we are, floods every so often. Did in 93, did last fall. The house is high enough that we don't really get any damage (and we're going to raise'er up a foot this spring as well).
That said, this last flood nipped the floor a bit, pulled the belly pan, insulation etc out. I'll take care of that, re-insulate, etc. No big deal and a great excuse to replace the subfloors which has been on the list. (the list, if you're curious is large with deferred maintenance issues, more on that later).
To the point of this post: the Vents were tore out from below, the condenser outside is kaput and we were have serious issues keeping the old girl cool the last few summers (I suspect a combination of belly insulation and duct leaks...) anyhow.
So we're at the point where we'll be needing significant duct repairs and at minimum a new condenser. In for a penny...
My wife would prefer not to have ducts under the house. I agree, we're looking at doing a decent amount of work in the floor region and having ducts down there with the possibility of floods is.. well, one more thing to fix again.
A note: we are in a real cold-**** region of the lower 48 but this is a may -> september situation that is blown out and not heated at all during the winter. A touch of heat in the shoulder months isn't frowned upon but not strictly required...
So, naturally I fired up Ye Old bad idea generator and googled DIY mini splits and got to thinking that was a sound idea. For ~900 each of the 3 bedrooms and say about 1200 for the "Open floor plan" kitchen/dinning/living room area we could get cooling and some heat with no ducts to worry about. I could mount the compressors up off the ground and hopefully be a bit flood proof..
We are adding about 5ft of height to one side of the trailer (3ft on the other) and putting on a single slope roof. That does leave us with the ability to run some ducts up in the newly gained ceiling space. I posited possibly putting an up-flow air handler in, having one long exposed duct running the length of the house and a traditional AC compressor for it.
This absolutely a function before form situation, if you haven't guessed. The point of the cabin is to be enjoyable and useful and not a complete PITA.
It's all just spitballing, what would you spitball and do?
Here is a floorplan estimation that is not remotely accurate or to scale but gives you an idea of how it's laid out:
TrailerLayout by Christopher Uthe, on FlickrThe bottom side faces west, the top (east) side is going to be the taller wall and faces the majority of the yard (we spend time outside "above" the drawing).
Thoughts?
Last edited:
