My back door is Kinro, as are my windows. In an ideal world I would do some measuring and see if the door could be replaced with a standard house pre-hung exterior door. More work, but a nice upgrade. My front door is a standard house door that was factory installed. Anyway, my Kinro door seems to be holding up well, but it is protected by a storm door.

Cathy,

I thought about just buying a door from Home Depot but it would be a lot of work since the house pre-hung doors are about 4" taller and the width may also be an issue. I would have to do a lot of sheet metal work since it is an older mobile home which doesn't have vinyl siding.

It is a rental and it is the back door so replacement in kind is what shooting for. Most internet searches lead me to Kinro and mobilehomepartsstore.com. The door would be about $300 with shipping so I guess I'll go ahead and order it. Thanks for the response.

We replaced our front door with a standard pre hung door from Lowe's. We also bought a pretty screen door from there and hung it. It greatly improved the curb appeal of our MH.

Hey there David! I'm curious--did you get the Kinro? I'm in exactly the same boat:

I bought an old MH last January, moved in March 1, officially. My daughter and I are refurbishing it. The home was previously owned by hoarders who apparently didn't notice (or care) that the house was falling down around them. I have bigger fish to fry, such as completely rewiring the house, roof, floors, etc., but my back door is inoperable too. There are no stairs there either. A working back door and steps are mandated by law here, and for obvious good reasons.

So I'd love to hear how the Kinro worked out for you.

By the way, is a storm door the same thing as a screen door, or are they two different things? I'm not familiar with the term "storm door."

Hi Debbie,

I did not order the Kinro because I saw an ad for mobile home supplies (East Laurens Supply, Dublin, GA) in our local Shopper's Guide. I called and they have the direct replacement door for $189. I didn't ask what brand they carry, it may be a Kinro. It is only about 30 miles away so I plan to drive there and pick up the door.

Storm doors are glass but most can be converted to a screen door. The front door on the mobile home has a storm door and there is a screen in the lower section. All you have to do is raise the lower glass panel and it becomes a screen door. My house has a full length glass on the storm door which I can swap out for a screen to make it a screen door.

The two mobile homes I own are a 1994 Homestead and a 2000 Palm Harbor. Both are similar in that the front doors swing in and have storm/screen doors which swing out. The back doors swing out so it would be difficult to have a screen door unless the screen door is on the inside like a camper or motor home. I didn't see any back/out-swing doors on the Kinro web site that came with a screen door. I'll post an update when I pick up the new door. Good luck with your project.

Kinro does make the combination doors. You must have a newer mobile home. Both of my mobile homes have the combination in-swing doors on the front and the out-swing doors on the back.

Yes, my home is newer, not quite 5 years old now.

Interesting! Thanks for answering, David. This must be a regional thing. I've lived on the west coast all of my 56 years (WA, OR, CA, & TJ!), except one year in Zambia. I'd never heard the term "storm door," and I've never seen a whole glass door. I've occasionally seen a half-and-halfer, like Cathy has. What is the purpose of an all glass door in front of the wood door? Does it actually offer some protection against storms? I'm now in eastern Washington and we have a fairly moderate climate. The purpose of a screen door here on the west coast is so you can leave your door open on nice days and not let insects in. Or at least that's how everyone I know uses them. Sounds like you saved 1/3 off the price of the Kinro you were going to have shipped--Yay! I love a bargain! Keep us posted! :-)

I've lived in West Virginia, many years in Delaware, 7 years in Texas and the last 3 years in Georgia. Every house I've lived in had a storm door, but only on the front. I replaced the front door on my house in Texas with an energy efficient fiberglass door and did away with the storm door. You can see the full glass storm door on my Georgia house in the photo. It came with a screen also, the glass can be removed and a full length screen installed.

I'm working on a project on the North Slope of Alaska. There are lots of workers from California, Washington and Alaska. I have noticed a few things that are common to me but unheard of by my West Coast co-workers. Are you familiar with mud daubers? We often use vented plugs with screens in instrument vents that are nicknamed 'dauber stoppers'. The vented plugs have screens to keep mud daubers from entering and building mud nests that will plug off the vents. None of the West Coast guys had ever heard of mud daubers?

The all glass storm door does indeed protect against storms, particularly wind-blown rain and snow. And, occasionally, hail and ice. Screen doors serve the same purpose here as out there, Debbie. But central air seems to be far more common here than either the south or far west, probably due to the requirement for central heating that makes adding central air trivial. I know newer construction has central heat in those places, but homes up north have had it since the days of coal and wood burning furnaces. Over 100 years.

I know mud daubers, David, an the innocent looking nests they build. Paper wasps are more common here, though.

The first time I've ever heard the term "mud daubers" was 30 seconds ago when I read your post, haha! I'm guessing, based on Cathy's comment, that they are some sort of bee/wasp? Here in Washington we have honey bees (although, as you probably know, they are dying off in huge numbers), wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets. When I lived in central California we had all of the above, plus bumble bees. Bumble bees, unlike honey bees, can sting you over and over.

Cathy, I can hardly wait to get the mini-split installed here! Currently, our "HVAC"consists of a living room window A/C, fans in our bedrooms, and space heaters. NOT ideal! but I have to get the house re-wired first. I was hoping to do that this month, but unfortunately, my grant was about $3,000 less than I had hoped it would be. So now the electrical work has to wait until September, when I get another grant. And that, in turn, means the mini-split has to wait until next January, which is clearly less than ideal, because by the end of October it will be getting pretty cold--cold by west coast standards.

Here's another regional thing--David, since you're in the south, do you use the expression "y'all"? And "all y'all"? Here on the west coast we say "you guys" and "all you guys." It has nothing to do with gender; a room full of women could be "you guys."

Have a great day! :-)

Some folks know mud daubers as 'mud wasps'. They resemble a wasp, just a bit thinner and darker. They make a series of mud tunnels where they raise their young.

Being born in West Virginia and spending 40 years in Delaware my accent may be unique. I'm trying to think how they say 'y'all' here in Georgia. They do have a distinctive accent. I wish you could find a number that has a lower Georgia answering service and hear the female Georgia accent. It is genuine Southern charm. I know if you visit Tennessee you may hear "youens" instead of "y'all". When I was new to Texas I took my daughter to a restaurant and the hostess said "justy'alltwo" in one word and I was embarrassed to ask her a to repeat that a couple times until I finally figured it out.

After fighting the traffic in Houston I'm in love with where I'm living now. The entire county only has 10,000 people and one small Mayberry-like town. Some developments in Houston have more people than that. The cotton and peanut fields go on forever and the pecan groves (I live in the pecan belt) are one of the most beautiful sights when everything is turning green. If I ever move again it will be in the Spanish moss region. The nearest Super Walmart is 20 miles away and I may see one or two cars when I go there. I've found my niche.

Last year I bought the property across the road. It is 4 acres with 2 mobile homes, a small store and a 42 unit self storage facility. I bought it to supplement my retirement which will begin next year. There are plenty of vacant store fronts in the town so I don't have a chance of renting the store so I'm going to convert it to a one or two bedroom rental. Rentals do well here, but the rent is cheap. I will be installing a mini split heat pump. I took a HVAC course after I bought this house so I can service and install my own heat pump systems. Heat pumps are the way to go in this neck of the woods.

Hey David,

How goes it? Sounds like you have a nice piece of property. I'm installing a mini-split too. Can't wait.

If you don't mind my asking, how on earth did a tenant manage to damage a door so severely that it has to be completely replaced? Will you be able to get any money from the former tenant? This is why I never want to be a landlord.

Have a great weekend! :-)

Hi Debbie,

The door looks like it has been kicked in from the outside which caused damage in the lower area. The outer skin of the door is textured fiberglass and cannot be easily repaired. The door still works fine, I just want to keep up with the repairs and give the tenants their money's worth. I have no problem putting a little money back in the property. There were also a couple fist holes in the wall of the master bedroom but that was easily repaired.

When I bought the property the tenants were already in place. They were a young couple in their 20s and the husband already fathered a couple children with another woman. Late last year his now wife gave birth so now they had a daughter together and everything looked like it was going well. On Christmas day 2015 they found the 6-week old baby dead in the crib and the marriage went down hill after that. They stuck me with the last month's rent and did not pay for any of the damage. I did have a $250 deposit that helped a little. It could have been worse and I didn't want to push it after what had occurred in their family so I'm taking care of everything.

It is rented again to another young couple and I hope it goes better. The other mobile home is rented to a very nice lady who pays her rent on time and keeps the home spotless. Good luck with your mini split. I'll be ordering a system soon, probably from Amazon. I work overseas where they are more popular and they seem to work very well. I need the heat pump version. Both mobile homes and my house have heat pumps, but the conventional type. The small store I'll be converting to a one bedroom efficiency is ideal for a multi-room mini split heat pump.

Hi David,

How tragic! I can't begin to imagine how dreadful that would be, and such young people haven't always fully developed their coping and resiliency skills. I've read that the divorce rate for couples who go through the death of a child is very, very high. You are a good person to not push to get the money you rightly are entitled to.

My ex-husband owns several homes in Bellevue, WA, that he rents out by the room. That definitely wouldn't work everywhere, but almost all his tenants are young men from the subcontinent who work for Microsoft. He's had almost no problems with any of them. They are very responsible, spend most of their time at work, and were raised in a culture that values a clean home. The ex makes a good amount of money because housing is hard to come by anywhere close to Microsoft and these young guys are also trying to save money. The rent is higher for the master en suite bedrooms in his houses and he rarely has a vacancy. The crash in 2008 barely affected him. The resale value of some of his houses went down, but now they're back up.

I'd be very interested in hearing about your mini splits when you install them, if you would be so kind as to share. I did quite a bit of research (surprise, surprise, lol), but the scales were tipped by the forums on this site. Several electricians on the heating and cooling forum advised me that mini split would be a great way to go for my MH.

Then cathyyg on this forum told me that they had a mini split when they lived in Thailand and it worked well for them, and that convinced me. Finding out that my power company gives a $1,200 rebate to customers who install mini splits was icing on the cake! Home Depot contracts with a local HVAC business to install them and I'll go with them because it's hard to find anyone out here who's even heard of mini splits, let alone knows how to install them. They are also familiar with how to fill out the paperwork for the rebate.

But alas, I have to get the whole house rewired first, so it will be next January or even next June before I can afford it, depending upon how much the rewiring costs. I bought this old 1979 MH in poor condition for a song, and my daughter and I are completely refurbishing it, Lord willing, over the next ten years as cash becomes available. I hate debt, so I have to do it the old-fashioned way and save up for each project. :-)

I do admit to being jealous when I watch programs on HGTV where they completely remodel houses in six to seven weeks, haha! I say to my daughter Joy, our home will be beautiful too, it's just going to be in years instead of weeks. Because she is such an amazing person, she always says, this house has everything I need right now, mama.

Anyway, I love a good ten year plan--it keeps me young! It's always good to have a goal to work towards. But, if the book we're writing together becomes a New York Times best seller, we'll do it quicker, haha!

Good luck with all the repairs and remodeling you're doing! It all sounds like quite the adventure! :-)

Sincerely,

Debbie

Hey Debbie,

Rent here in lower Georgia is very low, but so is the cost of property so it balances out. I rent out the mobile homes for $450 each and that includes a landscaped acre of ground for each. The trailer is in good condition (except for the back door) as the photo shows.

I lucked out on the power issue, both homes have 200 amp service. Rewiring sounds like a big job. Are you going to rip out the walls?

One mobile home was converted from gas heat to heat pump by removing the furnace (upper furnace portion) from the air handler (lower portion with distribution fan) and placing a heat pump a-coil on top of the air handler. The other one has one of those big all inclusive outdoor units (condenser, evaporator and air handler in one cabinet) that just connects to the ducts which is the easiest HVAC to connect to a mobile home if your duct work is intact.

A couple things to keep in mind. Scroll compressors work so well that they've made the older units practically obsolete. There are no compressor valves to fail and most have 10 year warranties, but that is on conventional home HVAC compressors. I don't know what type of compressors are used in mini splits. I believe most have rotary compressors. Environmentally friendly R-410A refrigerant is a given, don't let anyone sell you an old R-22 system which is being phased out. Most HVAC early failures are due to poor installation. Make sure the installer maintains a nitrogen purge on the lines when doing any soldering or brazing. If there is air in the lines the heat will cause oxidation and carbon will develop inside the tubing. You can see demonstrations of what occurs without the nitrogen purge on youtube.

I may be installing the mini split this winter. We need to empty out the shop which is now full of resale stuff. I love projects and will enjoy converting it to an efficacy. It is hard to sell stuff here because everyone is broke but rental property does well. I'll probably go with a 2 zone unit with a ~ 12,000 btu ceiling cassette indoor unit for the main area and a wall mounted 9,000 btu unit for the bed room. You may need a 3 zone system using 3 wall units if you have 2 bedrooms. Ceiling units require an attic so they aren't practical for a mobile home. I don't know if heat pumps work were you are but they work great here.

Right now I'm about 50 miles East or Deadhorse, Alaska on a project. I looked through my photos and found one that was taken in my back yard. You can see the two mobile homes, next is the shop I want to install in the mini split in and then the mini warehouses. If the property wasn't directly across the road I probably wouldn't have bought it. Good luck with your upgrades.

Hi David,

Wow! What a beautiful property! I can sure see why you bought it. $450 seems like a steal, but it sounds like folks are struggling there, from your description. Do your renters pay their own utilities? I don't think I'd ever get tired of that view from your back yard. I'm lucky, because my little MHP is so "out in the boonies" the lot rent is just $300 per month and that includes water (well) and septic. I have to pay garbage, which currently is running about $65 per month. However, as soon as we're all unpacked we'll switch to a smaller can that will save us around $20 per month. Every penny counts! :-)

I'm very excited and incredibly stressed out right now because all my stuff is arriving from my storage unit on Tuesday (the 5th). It will be kind of like Christmas because I haven't seen most of my stuff for nearly two years. At the end of August 2014 I gave up my 2 bed 2 bath apartment and put it all in storage. Then I went to Zambia for a year. I got back last September and lived in a house at my university with eight other women, mostly grad students in their mid twenties. Yikes!! Lol.

That's when the opportunity came to buy this MH (SW 14x64 3/1.5 & pop out in LR). My daughter Joy and I both moved in on March 1, and the previous owners moved out about three weeks later. Or, rather, they stopped sleeping here. Joy and I worked very, very hard to get their hoard confined to two bedrooms. Joy basically packed their stuff up for them, which was incredibly generous of her. Then when they came to get their stuff (to store in their new--3rd!!--storage unit, they left us with a yard completely filled with garbage and a filthy, filthy house I can't even describe.

This brings me to another question for you, if you don't mind my asking. Are your storage units all rented out? How big are they, and what is the monthly rate? I'm so happy to get rid of my $125 a month I've been paying for my unit! I don't remember the size, but it just barely fit my former apartment's stuff. I'm amazed at the number of people who rent storage units year after year. And the number who keep more than one! My friends, the former owners, now are paying $425 per month for their three units to keep, frankly, a lot of sheer cr@p!

The "incredibly stressed" part is two-fold, First, Joy and I are STILL cleaning the filth. We have this opportunity, while the house is relatively empty, to get the nooks and crannies sanitized. Along with that, we're getting what is here into place so that when the guys arrive Tuesday morning, they can move stuff in as quickly as possible. At $160 an hour, I don't want them to have to move anything around or do any rearranging.

Second, given what the hoarders left here that we're keeping, there will be way too much to fit in here. We've made a lot of hard decisions about what we're keeping and what we're selling on Craigslist, but until we get it all sold or given away, it's going to look like we're the hoarders, lol! We're getting rid of a bunch of their stuff that they left behind, and a lot of our stuff that simply won't fit. I mean, how many dressers, coffee tables, and sofas does one person need, haha!!

This is a "girl thing," but Joy and I are having a "garden party" on the 23rd. Some close friends and some friends who are just married or otherwise don't have a lot of basic kitchen stuff--dinnerware, flatware, cooking utensils, pots & pans, etc. We'll have a lovely luncheon, play a couple of party games, and then everyone can go through all that stuff, plus any of the furniture we haven't sold by then, and take whatever they want. A fun way to get rid of the excess and hopefully help our friends out too.

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the info on the mini splits!! Yes, I'm hoping to get a heat pump with it and be done with the ducts. Once the behemoth of the furnace is removed, I can build a utility closet there, yay!

May I ask a question? So my house is a fairly typical layout for a single wide of its era. End to end, it goes: master bedroom with powder room (which we are making into the library), great room that consists of living room and eat-in kitchen, then the long, narrow hallway that goes: main bathroom, washer/dryer in the hall, bedroom (mine), and end bedroom (Joy's). So I was thinking we would need a big unit in the living room to cover the great room area, then three smaller units, one in each bedroom. Does that sound right to you? If not, how would each of the bedrooms get heat and air?

Yes, the complete re-wiring of the house is a big deal, but it has to be done. The system is failing fast; more than half the outlets and overhead lights don't work. As you probably know, these old MHs were wired with cheap aluminum wire that is so bad it's not even legal now. Also, I'm quite certain the extensive water damage, of which I was unaware when I bought the house, has "fried" a lot of the outlets. I'm thinking I'll need to upgrade to 220 amps to handle the mini split and the electrical needs of a 21st century home. From my research, I think I'm looking at around $4,000, and that's before any additional outlets and new lighting fixtures, which I'm thinking will add another $2,000. I'll know more when I start getting bids.

Did you get your door and get it installed yet, or are you waiting to get home from Alaska? If you don't mind my asking, what kind of work do you do? Oh, I meant to tell you I thought your home looks lovely, from the picture you posted to show me your storm door. That looks like a great porch! A requirement for a southern home, yes? Oh yeah, I also meant to tell you about another regional difference: I've only ever heard the term "efficiency apartment" on TV. We call it a "studio" here. My "studio" in Lusaka, Zambia is called a "self-contained" apartment, meaning I have my own bathroom.

Have a great 4th of July weekend!! :-) Joy and I are making the final big push before the moving truck arrives next Tuesday--so no fireworks, but lots of bleach and prayer, haha! And gratitude that I live in a country where even I can become a homeowner.

Sincerely,

Debbie

You need a 2 minute course in electricity. We have a 100 amp service panel, which includes 220 volt service for both our water heater and and air conditioner. Yes, when you add up all the breakers it comes to over 100, but one does not run every single light, small appliance, and large appliance in the home simultaneously. You can't just blithely upgrade your service panel from 100 to 200 amps. That requires an upgraded feed from the electric company, which we were unable to get in our park. YMMV. It may be that you just need a new service panel that will hold more breakers, but still only 100 amps. Check for blank spots where circuit breakers could be added in your existing panel. It also may be that a smaller second panel could be installed just for the A/C. You need to talk to an electrician about the power needs of the mini-splits. I suspect they are less needy of power than you think. Off to read some specs for you!

THANK YOU Cathy for the course! I appreciate it very much! Of course I wouldn't just call an electrician up and place an order for a 200 amp panel. As soon as we get unpacked and set up after our stuff arrives Tuesday I'm going to call some general contractors and some electricians. But I appreciate any knowledge you send my way because knowledge is power, as Francis Bacon put it. Oh, I'm hoping to get a mini split with a heat pump, so heating and cooling is taken care of in one shot, I can get all the ducts closed off, and I can get rid of the furnace and put in a utility closet.

How's your new pine island top? Still loving it? And your water softener? I wanted to thank you for the great tip about "The Works"! I got some at the dollar store and tried it on a hideous stain on my kitchen floor that I deduced was made by a wood set of shelves that sat in the kitchen for a couple of years and no one ever moved it to clean underneath. At some point(s), liquid got underneath it and thus, when they moved it out, the stain from the wood was now a stain on my floor. Nothing worked...until I tried The Works on it the other day. I let it sit for about 15 minutes and then, with a little elbow grease, scrubbed it off! Miraculous! Thanks!

:-) Have a great day!

I did look at mini-splits online. The ones you will likely want, that heat, are 220 volts, but not so many amps. Only 20 for the 9000 btu one. I suspect the 110 volt ones won't heat very well, if they heat at all. Feel free to correct me on that. But one new circuit breaker per mini-split means several new circuit breakers. Even with the furnace circuit breaker removed you may not have the space. I saw a wide variance in pricing, too, but lack the expertise to know if the differences in price are for good cause.

Glad the Works made a job easier for you!

Hmmm... now that I think about it, I have separate circuits for the furnace, range, hot water heater, and dryer. I don't think there are any empty slots on the panel. We have to be very careful not to turn too many things on at once, particularly on the same circuit as the window A/C. My current understanding is that I would need the main mini split panel in the living room that would heat/cool the big space of the living room and eat-in kitchen. Then I'd need three smaller panels, one for each bedroom.

For the main bathroom I want to put in one of those fans that are all in one--a light, nightlight, heater, and fan. Home Depot has one that's $275. Pricey, but I need a new fan and light anyway. I'm going to ask the electrician to wire it so the fan comes on when you turn on the light. It's also programmable so the night light will come on at whatever time you designate and will turn off twelve hours later.

This may turn out to be further out than I had originally planned (the mini split). Now that the hoard has been cleared out and I see the extent of the water damage, I may need to get new floors first, and at least some new interior walls. This is why I need to consult a good general contractor--to see what order I need to do things in.

Well, I'm off to get my morning coffee, then Joy and I are off to church. Hope your day is going well! :-)

My tenants do pay for electric. There is a well and a septic system and the trailer with the new
tenants pays electric for the well pump so the other tenant actually pays $475
a month but $25 is considered a water fee. The tenants that lost the baby were
usually a little late with the rent but my wife said the new tenants paid their
1st month's rent this Friday and that is very good news. I let them move in mid-June and didn't charge for
the half month. They are a young couple with two small children and seemed to
appreciate the gesture. We don't have garbage collection here although some old
guy in a pickup will do it very cheaply. The county has a couple roll off compactors about
1/2 mile down the road where everyone takes their garbage. They charge a couple bucks for tires but it is free to dump anything else.

The
self-storage units are 10' X 10' and there are 42 units of which 40 are rented
at this time. I keep one for myself so I'm lucky to have only one vacancy. The
guy I bought all this from raised the rent from $25 to $30 and then to $35 a
month so tenants pay different rates. I have a couple that haven't paid for a
while so I'm going to have a "Storage Wars" type auction soon. I've
found some freaky stuff in abandoned units but the one that stands out is a
canister from a crematorium that has some guy’s remains in it. I'm not sure
what to do with it since I'm unable to contact the previous tenants.

I’m working
in camp located at the “North Slope” of Alaska. The North Slope is the region north
of the Brooks Range where the land slopes gently to the Arctic Ocean. The camp
is called Point Thomson and is on the shore of the Beaufort Sea. It is an
ExxonMobil project that started in Ulsan, South Korea where the modules were
built. One of the modules contains two 10,000 horsepower compressors which I
assembled in South Korea in 2014. They floated the modules to Alaska last
summer and now I’m commissioning the compressors. The modules would cover most
of a football field and are 3 stories tall. There’s 8.3 trillion cubic feet of
natural gas below us and the gas is under 10,000 pounds of pressure naturally.
The gas flows out of one well and the pressure is allowed to drop to ~ 2,000
psi, liquid called “condensate” (similar to diesel fuel) drops out and my
compressors put the dry natural gas back into another well. I was here through most of the long, dark
winter when the sun never rose above the horizon and now I’m here with the HUGE
clouds of Arctic mosquitoes and 24 hours of daylight. I’ll be glad when this
one is over. There are no roads to get here, we have to be flown in and out.
There is no town, no electric grid, no sign of civilization. We work 7 days a week, 12 hours a day.

The little
store I intend to convert to an efficiency has 125 amp service and I’ll be able
to do everything without upgrading the service. There is already a 220 volt, 30
amp circuit supplying a big window type air conditioner that I will use to run
the mini split. I mentioned the nitrogen purge when brazing/soldering HVAC
tubing but that may not apply to a mini split. I read the specs on a few of
them and it indicates some/most/all? have pre-charged tubing that screws on. I
believe the tubing comes in 25’ lengths and longer lengths are available but I’ll
clarify when I learn more about them. If the building had existing duct work I
would go with a conventional heat pump.

My house has
a heat pump as I’ve mentioned and lower Georgia has mild winters but I still
have backup heat in the form of an electric strip heater. The condenser (outside unit) has a ‘double pole’ (220 volt) circuit breaker and the air
handler has a ‘single pole’ (110 volt) 20 amp circuit breaker but the strip heater
which is back up for when the temperature is too low for a heat pump to
function or if the heat pump fails has a (hold on to your seat) 60 amp double
pole breaker. Needless to say you will find that breaker in the off position
just in case someone hits the wrong button on the thermostat. Natural gas is
cheap and may save you money in the long run if you were to install an
efficient gas heater with an A/C a-coil and use your existing duct work. If you go that route you could possibly get by with a 100 amp service. My house as 150 amp service.

Cathy gave
you some good info and I might add a couple things. If your panel box is full
one option I’ve used is installing half-sized circuit breakers. You can install
two breakers in the place of one full sized breaker if they are available for
your brand of panel box. It is sometimes difficult to find even standard
breakers for older panel boxes if it is an off brand which mobile home
manufacturers probably often use. If it is a Square D, GE, Siemens or even
Cutler Hammer box you may be good to go. Aluminum wire is not the best. A
common problem is the ends break easily when nicked. Your circuits will be
wired in series so if you have a broken wire on an outlet all the outlets
downstream of that one will be dead. Dim and flickering lights are not good.
That may indicate corroded, loose or broken wires that may be arcing and a fire
hazard. Outlets have two methods of connecting the wires. There are holes you
can just stab the wires in or you can bend a little candy cane hook on the end
of the wire and put it under a screw head. Most contractors just stab the wires
in the holes since it is much faster and also seems to work OK but I put the
wires under the screw head. I replaced all outlets on my last 3 houses, mostly
because the plugs were falling out and Duplex outlets are cheap. I took the time
to put the wires under the screws. 14 AWG wire is 15 amp wire, 12 AWG is rated
for maximum of 20 amps and 10 AWG (gauge) wire is limited to 30 amps.
Connecting a lower amperage rated wire to the wrong breaker is dangerous. I’ve
found plenty of 14 gauge wires connected to 20 amp breakers.

Good luck
with your projects.