7 Ways to Get Your Manufactured Home Ready for Spring

We still have a few weeks of cold weather ahead of us, but February always brings to mind thoughts of warmer weather and time outside in the sun. While you’re getting ready to spring clean your manufactured home, throw a few of the following items on your to-do list. While some may be a little more fun than others, like purchasing outdoor furniture and games for the family, each will help usher in spring.

1. Make Sure Your Air Conditioner is Ready

Don’t wait until the first heat wave to find out that your air conditioning couldn’t chill a cooler, much less your manufactured home. If you do, you’ll be competing with the others who didn’t plan ahead, which means you’ll have to get on the schedule of a professional who can’t come out for another week or five. Even if your air conditioning appears to be working fine, it could still have a leak that will drive up your cooling costs. So, contact an air conditioning service professional to inspect it. Spending money on this upfront will save you a lot of aggravation and headaches if you decide to leave this up to chance.

2. Enhance Efficiency

One of the best — though often forgotten — ways to ensure your manufactured home is operating efficiently is to fill in any cracks that will let warm air inside the home you’re trying to cool. There are several products you can purchase at the hardware store that were created for exactly this, whether it’s a type of glue, epoxy or weather stripping. You can fill in cracks from the outside or inside, but the former is preferable. Patching from the outside is generally less noticeable than if done indoors. However, finding them may be easier from the inside. Of course, a roof inspection is important, but you may want to leave this up to professionals who do it for a living (and climb atop roofs daily). Inspect your windows and outside-facing doors. Look for cracks in the floors, walls and ceiling. Even hairline cracks can result in higher cooling and heating bills. They all add up.

3. Look for (all types of) Leaks

Water leaks usually originate from the roof, showers, sinks or toilets. While physically seeing leaking water is ideal, you’ll need to look for water damage on walls, ceilings or floors. Inspect all locations where water enters and exits your manufactured home. Look for discoloration; something caused it. The usual suspect is moisture. Inspect connection points and look for water drips. Look at all faucets, shower heads and water knobs. If there is water where there shouldn’t be, you have a leak.

Inspect your manufactured home for other types of leaks, as well, including ones in your septic system, electrical panel or gas or propane line. Look for rust, dust, dirt and cobwebs. While you can inspect for these types of leaks, if you suspect you have one contact an experienced professional. They’re considerably more dangerous than liquid-related leaks.

4. Curb Appeal

While curb appeal is usually linked with selling a home, it benefits the homeowner as much as the buyer. Pulling up to your house and seeing a warm, welcome manufactured home does a lot for your peace of mind. Whether it’s a rocking chair on the porch, a new roof, a colorful garden or a fresh coat of paint, coming home to a well-manicured home and lawn can turn a difficult day into a brighter evening.

5. Review Your Warranties

If you’re in a new, or relatively new, home, you may have appliances that are still under warranty. This is a great time to inspect your home warranties. If you pay for a repair and find out it was under warranty, it will spoil your day. Take the time to look over all your warranties and note which are still in effect. Make sure and inspect what each warranty covers and get covered repairs fixed immediately.

6. Test Alarms

Testing the alarms that keep your family safe is an important step you should conduct at least twice a year. Test your smoke and carbon dioxide alarms and make sure they have fresh batteries. Even if they are working perfectly, change the batteries twice a year with new ones right out of the box. Also, alarms have expiration dates. Make sure your alarms haven’t passed theirs. If any have, replace them, even if they test perfectly.

7. Get Your Home “Outdoor” Ready

It’s great to shop for outside amenities when they’re not in season. You’ll get the best deals; it’s simple supply and demand. Purchase outdoor furniture. Imagine what your family will enjoy when it’s sunny and 75 degrees outside. Who doesn’t want to sit on the porch in a rocking chair or drift off in a hammock while reading a book? Pick out some lawn games your family and friends will enjoy, like bocce ball, croquet or cornhole.

Spring is Right Around the Corner; it’s a Great Time to Buy

If you would like to learn more about manufactured home ownership, click HERE for more information. We can help get you and your family into a beautiful, luxurious manufactured home that will perfectly fit your needs and lifestyle.

The Emerald Floor Plan