Modular homes provide people with beautiful and spacious living spaces at affordable prices compared to their stick-built counterparts.
When you purchase a modular home, in the beginning, you may specify it according to the current size of your family at the time.
However, as the size of your family increases over the years, you may start thinking about remodeling your modular home to cater to the new additions that joined the family.
If you are one of those who have been thinking about this, the answer to your question is yes.
You can undoubtedly remodel your modular home, and you can run upgrades on your modular home to contain the new size of your family.
The upgrades that you do to the home will also add value. Whether you decide to upgrade the exterior or interior of the whole house, you will add value to the house during the process and increase the comfort of your modular home.
Because the home is viewed as a form of investment by most homeowners, doing upgrades that will raise the home’s value is something they are always ready to undertake.
Table of Contents
What Is A Modular Home?
Modular homes are constructed inside climate-controlled factories before they are delivered to the site where the house is to be situated.
This is different from the stick-built homes where everything is built on the site. Modular homes are pretty similar to stick-built homes, and however, the construction of modular homes happens on a shorter timeline than stick-built homes.
A typical modular home can take from 16 weeks to 31 weeks to complete, while a traditional stick-built home could take more than five months. You can also customize modular homes to suit the needs of the homeowners.
How Do I Carry Out Upgrades On My Modular Home?
To start remodeling and upgrading your modular home, you would find several options and energy-efficient upgrades for you to choose from.
Here are some of the upgrades you can run on your modular home. These upgrades range from cosmetic to functional upgrades.
Replacing The Skirting Or Siding
The siding skirting of your modular home impacts the home’s appearance and the house’s lower heating.
The siding or skirting also impacts the cooling cost of the home. Insulated skirting can control the home’s temperature by reducing updrafts and moisture.
Doing so prevents the pipes from freezing during the winter season. So when you are upgrading your modular home, replacing the siding or skirting is one area that you should consider, mainly because it impacts the home’s appearance and, thus, the house’s resale value.
Adding Insulation
If you have owned your modular home for some years now, you should consider adding some insulation to the house’s walls during the remodeling process.
Adding insulation to the home can increase the resale value of the house while making it more comfortable for you and your family to continue living in it.
Energy-efficient Fixtures
When your modular home is energy efficient, many benefits come with it for the environment and your pocket.
Modular homes get more sustained than most other homes with energy-efficient options like high-efficiency heating, high-quality windows, and insulation.
Of course, these must comply with the sustainable building codes before they can be LEED certified.
Cosmetic Upgrades
You can run some cosmetic upgrades on your modular home even when your budget is not that high.
You can still increase the value of your modular home with cosmetic remodeling and promotions that will not cost you an arm and a leg.
One of the things you can do is refresh the home’s interior. You can do this by giving the home walls new paint, and upgrading your light fixtures and plumbing.
Although these changes may look small, they will cause your modular home to become more comfortable to live in and appeal to potential buyers who will come to take a look at your home.
Can Additions Be Added To Modular Homes?
You can add some floor to your modular home. This can be the addition of the second floor or a side addition. You can also add an in-law apartment to your modular home.
When making some additions to your modular home, the new additions will be built at the factory and then transported to your home site, where you will add them to it.
So the only disruption you will deal with is when the new additions are being added to the home after they have been delivered. The additions of modular homes are generally seamless.
This means that you will not be able to tell any difference from the other. You will not disclose the old house from the new additions. You can do some projects within seven while others may take longer than that.
Modular Home Remodeling Limitations
Before you start remodeling your modular home, you should first take a look at your project from two different angles.
These angles are the structural angle and the budgetary angle. Your budget for the project or how much you have for the project.
Inside these two categories, you will probably meet some limitations to the remodeling process.
Let us take a look at both the structural limitations and the budgetary limitations below.
Structural Limitations
When you decide to add an addition to your modular home, you will first have to consider the structure of your modular home.
There are six questions that you will need to ask yourself first before you proceed. This will help you to determine the structural limitations of your property. Here are the six questions below.
- Does the modular home have any covenants or deed restrictions in place?
- Does it have any zoning restrictions that will prevent me from adding to the modular home?
- Can I build a detached addition, or will that have to be connected to the modular home?
- Can my property be accessed easily by a crane and crew that will carry out the remodeling addition?
- Can the foundation of my modular home withstand the additional weight that you will add?
- Will the septic system of my modular home require upgrades before it can accommodate an extra bathroom?
These are the six questions that you will have to ask yourself before you can commence with the addition of your modular home. Now let us look at the budgetary limitations as well.
Budgetary Limitations
Before you can start remodeling your modular home, you should first get a picture of the whole idea so that you can determine a budget for it.
You can do this by writing down all the upgrades you plan to carry out on the home.
This should include all the structural and cosmetic upgrades you will make on the modular home.
After making a list, make a second list where you will organize all the upgrades you intend to make on your modular home in order of priority.
That means you will arrange them with the essential upgrade coming first, followed by the next one, the next one, and the next, down to the least important promotion.
This will help you to spend money on the most critical upgrades before you get to the least important ones, which you could forgo for another time.
After determining the budget, you will probably have to cross out the least essential upgrades on the list since they are unnecessary.
You can also decide to leave them for another time when you have enough money for them.
Before you put the budget together, it is advisable to meet with some contractors and get their quotes for your list.
This will help you get an idea of the contractor you should work with before you finalize the budget and begin the construction.
When you decide to carry out remodeling on your modular home, it is essential to always tackle these two angles first before you start, unless you are someone who can blow a million dollars right away without blinking.
Then you could give the contractor a call to tell them what you want so they can start right away.
Even with that, you will still need to take your time and look at the structural angle to see how you will do the remodeling.
The structural angle should not be overlooked for anything. As a responsible homeowner, you would want to ensure that the upgrades are done perfectly to avoid any future problems with your modular home.
Is A Modular Home A Good Investment?
When you buy a modular home, you get the opportunity to customize and choose an ideal location for your home.
You can even rent out your modular home when you are not living in it and earn passive income. How your modular home gets constructed is a huge decision that rests on you alone.
However, modular home ownership has become quite popular over the last few years in the United States of America. More than a hundred thousand modular homes have been built since 2011.
The majority of modular homes that have been built have turned out to be excellent investments for their owners. So yes, a modular home can be an investment.
It all depends on how you treat your home once you get it constructed.
Conclusion
Suppose you have been thinking of undertaking some remodeling projects on your modular home.
In that case, I am sure that you have received valuable insight on how to go about the remodeling project from this article.
Remember to pay close attention to the structural angle before you begin the remodeling process.
Since you probably view your home as an investment, you surely want to make sure that suitable materials are used to increase the resale value of your home.
