John David and Abbie 9: Yet Another Baby Watch - Grace is Here!

[Silas]

I live in FL and mobile home communities are very popular, I've lived in a few myself. They're lovely homes and we considered buying one but ultimately I didn't wanna risk it with potential hurricanes (which was the only downside imo). Trailers are very much real homes and I've been in plenty that are nicer than the really old houses on the market. 

[tabitha2]

It’s the old stereotype. Many  People hear trailer and their minds immediately go to Jerry Springer guests and COPs episodes and all those associations 

[HideousGreenShirt]

Anyone else watch Texas Flip n Move? I got obsessed with it for a while. Mobile homes aren't common over here but I kinda love them after having that show really open my eyes to what is possible. Some of them are gorgeous and spacious. 

If anyone wants to post interiors of theirs I'd love to see! 

[Grace]

On 11/27/2019 at 9:01 AM, VBOY9977 said:

New video on TLC’s Facebook shows us JD and Abbie’s house for the first time (i don’t remember seeing it anywhere else)

  Hide contents

https://www.facebook.com/countingontlc/videos/467949000517179/

 

Well, that was annoyingly adorable ?

[Gobsmacked]

If, in a parallel universe, I met a Duggar brother - J-D would have to be the one!!!!

he appears quite genuine. 

[viii]

Genuinely gross... 

[JesSky03]

2 hours ago, kmachete14 said:

Coming from Illinois, I'm terrified of trailers. It's been ingrained in me that you need to be tethered to a basement lol. I find it so interesting there are whole neighborhoods of neat mobile homes! Your house looks really cute! 

That is a big downside to them so location is important but thankfully we really don't get tornadoes in my area of the state very often at all. Most mobile home communities that I know of do offer a shelter for the residents to use though. It sucks that you would have to pack your family and pets up and drive the short distance to it during bad weather but its there if you need it. In the 5 years that we've lived in this house we've never felt the need to head to the shelter though and our house has never sustained any storm damage. 

[AussieKrissy]

8 hours ago, kmachete14 said:

Coming from Illinois, I'm terrified of trailers. It's been ingrained in me that you need to be tethered to a basement lol. I find it so interesting there are whole neighborhoods of neat mobile homes! Your house looks really cute! 

Why? tornandos?

 

[SweetJuly]

We did a road trip in Florida when I was 5 years old and we were living in Miami. I don't know how it came to pass, but I clearly remember staying over night in a mobile home park. Are there mobile home hotels or something?

In any case, it was really exciting because I remember the mobile home being huge, and my little sister and I sharing our own room and bathroom. I've never been around mobile homes since then as they are not really a thing in Europe, but I have very fond childhood memories related to this one experience

[HeartsAFundie]

I don't knock mobile homes at all.  When my BFF and her mom lived in their FL mobile home, it was quite nice and very well kept up.  They were in a 55 and over park and their unit had three bedrooms, 1 and 3/4 bathrooms (full bath and a toilet with shower), a Florida room which took up the length of the property, an additional Florida room by the side door which her mom used for laundry and crafts, and a 10' x 10' shed complete with golf cart.   When her mom chose to move from MA to FL permanently, she gutted the place and had all California closets and built-in hutches installed in two of the bedrooms and the dining area; all new Pergo floors in the living/dining area, brand new linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom; and all new appliances and cabinetry in the kitchen. My friend's bedroom and 3/4 bathroom, which was like a little master suite,  were added on from the giant Florida room as a permanent addition when she moved down.  Her mom also had the place vinyl sided and installed a generator and rubber roof; being from New England she was well aware of the damage hurricanes can do.

I'm kicking myself that I was unable to purchase the place when they decided to move back to MA.,  I am seriously considering "snowbirding" after retirement; I know the area very well from my constant visits there;  the park fees were miminal compared to other places; and for a second-to-permanent home, the place was perfect.     They were asking 39K and let it go for 35K (Golf cart was sold separately :)).  But I'm not 55 (yet!) so I wouldn't have been able to buy it anyway.    Hopefully a similar FL residence for me when I need one will be right around the corner. 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 12, 2019 by HeartsAFundie

[allthegoodnamesrgone]

13 hours ago, AussieKrissy said:

Why? tornandos?

 

Yes. I'm in Iowa and this is my main reason for NOT wanting to live in one, too much wind storm damage to feel safe in a trailer. If I ever get my dream to move to the PNW, I wouldn't mind a trailer and it is all I could probably afford there anyway.  I can't imagine living in tornado ally in a mobile home. 

[RosyDaisy]

I'm terrified of trailers for that reason.  Trailers are death traps during severe weather.

[libgirl2]

15 hours ago, AussieKrissy said:

Why? tornandos?

 

I'm the same way. I live in Illinois and a basement is a must. I only lived once in a townhome without one and the two or three times we had warnings, we ended up in our downstairs bathroom... two adults, one child and a cat! Fun. Trailers also fly away too easily  

Edited December 12, 2019 by libgirl2

[Gobsmacked]

What is a Florida room?

[GreyhoundFan]

10 minutes ago, Gobsmacked said:

What is a Florida room?

It's a sunroom.

[GuineaPigCourtship]

I lived in a mobile home in Iowa while in school and it was great. My grad program classes were in a building that was a 5 minute walk from my place and the park had a tornado shelter. I sometimes miss having such a small place to clean, but I do love having a usable yard.

[WarriorJane]

Saw this gem at the card shop:

[cloisteredchild]

If they live in a trailer, I wonder if they have a storm shelter near by. They get tornados in NW Arkansas right?

[grandmadugger]

On 12/11/2019 at 2:12 PM, HideousGreenShirt said:

Anyone else watch Texas Flip n Move? I got obsessed with it for a while. Mobile homes aren't common over here but I kinda love them after having that show really open my eyes to what is possible. Some of them are gorgeous and spacious. 

If anyone wants to post interiors of theirs I'd love to see! 

The majority of the homes on Flip N Move are traditionally built homes that are moved to new locations and not trailers. 

Trailers are tender boxes. They are next to impossible to put out once they catch on fire. 

[OMG]

2 hours ago, grandmadugger said:

Trailers are tender boxes. They are next to impossible to put out once they catch on fire. 

I think you mean "TINDER boxes". As in they WERE made of thin, 'matchbox' type wood that can be quite flammable. 

The very, very old 'trailers' were made quite cheaply, yes. However, this is not true with the ones built after 1992/Hurricane Andrew . Sadly, the "tinder box" stereotype seems to live on.

On 12/12/2019 at 10:09 AM, RosyDaisy said:

Trailers are death traps during severe weather.

They may have been pre-1992/Hurricane Andrew.

However, from this website: https://mobilehomeliving.org/5-mobile-home-myths-busted/

"...after the devastation of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 the building codes developed afterward for newer mobile home ensures that construction is absolutely built strongly enough to withstand a “run of the mill wind storm”.

In areas prone to hurricane-force winds (known as Wind Zones II and III, according to HUD’s new Basic Wind Zone Map) the wind safety standards require that manufactured homes be resistant to winds up to 100 miles-per-hour in Wind Zone II and 110 miles-per-hour in Wind Zone III. In both of these zones, the standard for manufactured homes is now more stringent than the current regional and national building codes for site-built homes located in these wind zones."

and

from this website: https://www.mobilehomesell.com/are-manufactured-homes-safe/

"according to The Manufactured Housing Institute’s president and CEO, Richard Jennison, “The building materials in today’s manufactured home are the same as those used in site-built homes.” Furthermore, he says that the standards of site-built homes have a possibly lower standard than manufactured homes. He adds, “the standards for manufactured housing are subject to robust compliance and quality assurance regulations, sometimes more stringent than those for traditional site-built homes.”

I think 'trailers' or mobile homes are associated with poverty and thus judged harshly. There seems to be more and more enclaves of newly-built (and, imo, quite modern) mobile homes especially in retirement areas. Arizona, for example is full of them.

TL;DR - mobile homes have come a long way, baby. Time to put the derogatory stereotypes to bed. 

*Edited to add* - I do not own one or live in one but I'd certainly consider one if the opportunity arose. 

 

 

Edited December 15, 2019 by OMG

[Idlewild]

I’m just surprised JD is living in a trailer. He’s always been portrayed as the worker, all these businesses etc. I would have thought he was the type to have a house built ready for marriage and children. Perhaps he spends all his money on planes. He’s a pilot you know. 

[AussieKrissy]

1 hour ago, Idlewild said:

I’m just surprised JD is living in a trailer. He’s always been portrayed as the worker, all these businesses etc. I would have thought he was the type to have a house built ready for marriage and children. Perhaps he spends all his money on planes. He’s a pilot you know. 

A pilot, really? I didn’t know! They kept that quiet.  

[Markie]

My parents used to have a fifth wheel trailer before they bought a park model trailer in a 55+ Park. I’ve often thought that RV designers should design small condos. They have so many unique and useful areas for storage. 

[RosyDaisy]

Trailers/mobile homes are indeed death traps during severe weather  This essay from NOAA disputes the information @OMG posted (BTW, those links ars from mobile manufacturers/sellers):

https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/users/brooks/public_html/essays/mobilehome.html

Those manufacturers only care about $$$, and stoop to spreading deadly information to maximize their profits.

I have been to many storm spotter classes.  Each and every time the meteorologists emphasized the danger of being in a mobile home during a tornado.  Local meteorologists repeat the same information on air.

In 2011 and 2014 tornadoes plowed through 2 trailer parks and killed friends and people I know.  Dozens were injured and some left with permanent disabilities.  My comment up thread isn't about trailer park stereotypes.  It's about saving lives.  

[OMG]

2 hours ago, RosyDaisy said:

My comment up thread isn't about trailer park stereotypes.  It's about saving lives.  

Are you upset? You sound upset. It's going to be ok, no one is gonna die this year - tornado season is over for now.

 

2 hours ago, RosyDaisy said:

I have been to many storm spotter classes. 

Please tell us more about these classes you've taken multiple times. Are you talking about SkyWarn?

Edited December 16, 2019 by OMG