Can a manufactured home be retrofitted with hempcrete?
I have a 14 foot wide by 70 foot long single wide mobile home. It has a 12 ft by 12 ft add on. The home has sheet rock with 1/2 inch stucco on the walls and ceiling. There are 12" by 12" tile through out the home. The plan is to remove all of these materials and replace with hempcrete and cork floors.
I want to divide my mobile home into two "tiny houses" for myself and my son and his two sons. I own the home and the land it is on. The Tulalip Tribe is open to this option. The remodeling permit is $150.00.
I have the hemp. lime and forms. Has anyone else done this in the State of Washingon? If so, I would like to speak with them.
We intend to live in this home until our Hemp Demonstration Home is built? Any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreaciated!!
Respectfully,
CJ
Sounds like a great idea to insulate, but are you sure you want to do it from the inside? A great way to insulate a mobile home is from the outside, that way you can add a lot more insulation and you don’t lose any interior living space. You can do it as you suggest, but it sounds like it may be more work, and you disrupt the interior of your house by turning it into a construction site during the entire time the work is being carried out. Doing it from the outside has no impact on the interior, granted it may be a bit more costly, but it can be a big up grade in efficiency, comfort and even durability.
Please know that I am really not trying to throw a wrench into your plans, and you can do it from the inside, though hempcrete wouldn’t be my first choice. There is no need for the concrete aspect of it, best to just use straight hemp that you have, since there isn't any need for structural support, so all the concrete will do is reduce the insulation value. and worth noting - you can do it with any kind of insulation, see a bunch of options here -
Choosing the best home insulation
If you like the exterior insulation idea, here is the basics and feel free to check back with additional questions-
You basically create a 2x4 stud frame on the outside so the old metal of the mobile home becomes the interior vapor barrier, and you can convert it into a cute tiny house with wood siding. You can even put a pitched roof over top and you can fill the wall cavities with whatever insulation type you want.
The best way to do that is to leave a bit of a space with the 2x4 stud wall and use 2x6 batts (Rockwool, fiberglass or hemp batts) so they expand into the space behind. And remember that you need to put struts at the bottom (a support so the insulation doesn’t slip down).