By Kurt Hartman

I Googled and searched forums for ages, and still didn’t have all the answers for completing the task that awaited me. I purchased a manufactured home recently, but almost didn’t, mainly because of those ugly seams they run up and down the walls of the home.

Still, I understood this to be part of the reason that manufactured homes are so cheap. It makes sense: If all you have to do is staple seams over gaps in the sheetrock, then your labor costs will be drastically lower. It is also highly probable that the walls will look like garbage (No offense to those who own trailers, but c’mon, the walls don’t nearly compare to a stick built home).

Regardless of the situation, you will be the beneficiary of my vast experience in actually doing the work, on some 3-7 odd rooms. I really wish that this method allowed pictures, but hey, nothing’s perfect.

First, you need to rip off the seams. I recommend a spackling knife for this endeavor. Insert the spackling knife into the joint, then use the handle as a pry bar, and pull it out towards you. This will loosen the hold that the nails have on the seam. Repeat until nearly half of the seam has been dislodged. After this, you should be able to pull the rest of it off. Pull the seam from bottom to top, and watch out for any nails still lodged in the seam. I recommend immediate disposal of the offending material.

Great. Now you should be looking at two sheets of trailer board. I would call it sheetrock, but it technically is nothing of the sort. It is less thick, and also has vinyl applied to the surface. The nail heads/staples will still be visible, so you will need to pound them down into the board, using a hammer. Run the spackling knife over the area, to make sure that the nails will not catch it, and keep it from doing its work.

Now, you should be staring at a gap roughly 1/8th – 1/4 of an inch in width. There are two options that you can take in addressing this gap:

1. You can go with the traditional method of laying down sheetrock mud, paper tape, and then another layer of mud, or…

2. You can get vinyl mesh tape, and use it to span the gap. Afterwards, you can spread vinyl spackling compound over the tape to finish the seam.

For the greatest simplicity, we will be using the vinyl tape method here. This stuff comes 300 feet to a roll at your local home improvement store, and will most likely be available in the paint aisle of your home improvement store. It will be yellow, and layed out in grid. It’s basically yellow tape with a large grid of squares in it. The folks at your home improvement store will know what to give you, should you not have an understanding of what I am talking about.

Once you have the tape, run it it from the top of the seam, all the way to the bottom, making sure there is around 50% of the tape on either side of the seam. Then, load up a spackling/putty knife with good amount of vinyl spackle. The next step will take a bit of practice. Using steady pressure, run the putty knife from the top, to the bottom of the seam. Make sure the spackle is thin enough that you can still see the yellow color of the tape, and thick enough to fill in the grids and the seams. It may take up to three passes of the knife to get it to this thickness. Just be patient.

If you have a deep gap, that is larger than 1/4 of an inch, fill the gap with spackle, then place vinyl tape over that, with another layer of spackle following. This is highly necessary to prevent bubbling of the spackle, and to keep a sinkhole from developing in the spackle.

Now, let the compound dry, according to the directions on the spackle bucket. Yes, you need a spackle *bucket*, not one of those wimpy 8 oz. containers. Otherwise, you will need to make runs to Home Depot more frequently than you expected.

When things are fully dry, start your sanding. I recommend starting with 120 grit sandpaper, and by all means, buy a sanding block. Do not us a power sander for this task, as it will take far too much off the spackle off, and fray the vinyl tape. I know this from experience. Try to make the a gradual transition, leaving just enough dried spackle to cover the gap. The spackle should be smooth to the touch, and not be so heavy that you can distinguish where the wall starts and the seam begins. It takes a little practice to get things right, so take your time.

A note about corners: If you attempt a confrontation of the corners where the boards meet, you will need 2 specialized tools. People who deal with sheetrock on a regular basis have an “inner” and “outer” corner tool, to help them deal with the problems that they provide. They’re basically right angles on a handle. If my experience is indicative of what yours will be, these tools will be located near the sheetrock and lumber, rather than the paint/spackle/mudding area. These tools will be more than worth the $8 USD you’ll spend to acquire them. Same rules apply for the corners as the straight seams.

After you get done, apply 2 coats or so of primer to the wall to seal things up. After the first coat dries, check for any place where you can see th grid pattern of the tape. Apply a thin coat of spackle in the tiny holes, let it dry for an hour or so, and then apply the second coat of primer. For what it is worth, I prefer Bullseye 1-2-3 to Kilz, as it seems to cover better. Bullseye is more expensive, but you can occasionally get by with a single coat. Kilz is far more watery, and applies white, rather than Bullseye, which applies grayish.

A word about wallpaper: Resist the urge to strip the wallpaper from your manufactured home. Your wallpaper and wallboard were put together in one piece. Should you attempt to strip the wallpaper off, you may well take half your wallboard off with it. No amount of spackle will save you at that point. Prime it, and leave it alone. It will take the paint perfectly, and you won’t have to pay a professional to come in and fix your horrible mistake.

Put on your favorite color of paint, and then dare your friends to say you live in a trailer. They’ll still say it, but you won’t care, as the improvement will be so drastic. I have spent less than $150 on supplies for the spackling of my entire house(excluding paint) and the difference is incredible.

As a closing thought, please hear my plea. Do not cheap out the paint. Buy Benjamin Moore. It’s pricey, but it covers extraordinarily well, and lasts a long time. I’ve talked to painters, read their comments on forums and discussion boards, and checked things out for myself. Don’t buy paint from Lowe’s or Home Depot. Get it direct from Ben Moore, and you will be happy for many years to come.

Now, get ready, it’s more work than you think, but also more rewarding. I wish you nothing but success, and if you fail…well, I’ll have to assume you didn’t read the directions well enough…;).

Good luck.

About the Author: Kurt Hartman knows a few things about the walls of a doublewide. He also knows quite a bit about heavy equipment tires. He serves as Head of Employee Training at Mobile Fleet Service, Inc. They have a large selection of

bridgestone otr

that he’d love to show you. If the instructions are unclear, you can always contact him through the website, and he’ll be more than happy to share anything he knows with you.

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