How Much Weight Can a Mobile Home Wall Hold? (Solved)

If you have a mobile home or are planning to buy one, you’re probably thinking about some decorations and fixtures that might be heavy.

The loads that can be hung on the wall of a mobile home can be classified into three categories and depending on the type of load, different wall anchoring systems will be used:

• light loads (from 5 to 15 kg)
• medium loads (15 kg average)
• heavy loads (more than 15 kg)

To understand how much weight mobile homes can support, both in objects that can be placed on the wall and on the floor, it is necessary to know briefly how mobile homes are built and the materials they contain.

This will not only help you understand precisely how much weight the mobile home can support at a given point but also the proper way to place or fasten the objects that you are going to leave fixed on the walls or floor of the house.

Some mobile homeowners wonder if they can hang heavy objects such as large TV on the wall of a mobile home, as well as if it is possible to have a safe in a mobile home, and the answer is yes, you can have heavy objects in a mobile home, but you must know in advance with what kind of materials the mobile home is built.

This is because in reality not all mobile homes are built with the same materials, depending on the manufacturer, some are more resistant than others and can support much more weight without compromising their structure.

The walls in a mobile home are built with a traditional wood frame and stud system, these studs are usually 2 “x4” in most homes, in higher quality mobile homes they can be 2 “x6″, the 2″ being the surface of the wood that will lay flat on the wall and the 4″ or 6” determine the depth of the wall.

I must remind you that the 2 “x4” or 2 “x6” stud sizes are actually not exact, but are a little less due to the finishing process to which the wood is subjected, but that is another matter.

As for the interior lining material, most mobile homes are covered with vinyl on gypsum (VOG) sheets and this material is used because it is lightweight, remember that mobile homes are designed to be lightweight.

Gypsum boards are recognized by all builders as a material from which very heavy objects should not be hung due to their low structural strength. These boards can support lightweights such as pictures, clocks, and other wall objects ranging from 5 to 15 kg, with the help of special dowels.

Can you hang things on manufactured home walls?

Although the walls of the mobile homes are clad with a lightweight material, objects can be hung without problems using the appropriate anchoring mechanisms depending on the weight of the object and finding the studs in the wall to use as support elements.

Lightweight objects can be hung on the wall of a mobile home without any problems by drilling a hole with a metal drill bit and using dowels and screws, expanding plastic sleeves work very well to support light loads on the walls of mobile homes, while screw-In anchors provide the most popular method for hanging objects on light to medium weight drywall.

With these basic methods, picture frames, bulletin boards, light shelves, electronic devices, doorbells, light fixtures and mirrors can be placed on the wall of mobile homes.

Can a mobile home wall hold a TV?

Yes, you can place a TV on a wall of a mobile home, but for this, you must have a clear idea of the force that will cause the object on the wall and the weight of the TV, as well as to know the precise location of the studs in the wall structure to be able to fix the TV.

To get an idea of the weight of the TV, for example, a 55″ TV can weigh on average 16.5 kg, so it is actually quite light in relation to its size.

The ideal is to place the base of the TV between the studs of the wall of the mobile home so that they serve as support, this will provide much more security at the time of installation.

To find the studs within the wall of the mobile home, the location of electrical installations such as outlets or switches can guide you by observing the location of electrical installations such as outlets or switches.

Usually, these types of boxes are attached to the studs, locate the electrical outlets in your mobile home on the wall where you want to hang the TV, and from there measure 16 inches to one side, since by construction codes the uprights are usually spaced on its central axis by 16 inches.

You must take into account that the interior walls of mobile homes are not considered load-bearing walls and can be walls with 2 “x2″ studs and with separations of up to 24”. It is advisable to use the perimeter walls of the mobile home to place medium/heavy load objects since the structure of these walls is much firmer.

How do you hang something heavy in a mobile home?

There are several reliable methods to hang something heavy on the wall of a mobile home, remember, wall studs are your “friend” when it comes to hanging something heavy on the wall.

These are three of the most reliable methods:

1-Wall reinforcement

This is the most reliable way, but to reinforce the wall should be done at the time of manufacture of the wall, in case you are building the mobile home yourself, or if you are going to buy it directly from a manufacturer, you can contemplate in advance the walls where you will have heavy objects and reinforce them.

It is easy to install additional bracing in the form of pieces of horizontal beams or slats between the vertical studs before closing the walls.
It can be screwed directly to the wood without dowels, and the load is distributed over the wall surface.

2-Use of the stud frame

Attaching heavy objects to the walls directly where the stud framing is located is a recommended option. If you purchase your mobile home from a construction company, you can request a copy of the house’s structural plans, so you can know exactly where the stud framing and wall studs are located.

3-Plasterboard Cavity dowel

If the above options are not possible, there is another option. Like solid construction, cavity wall dowels are also available for secure mounting of heavy objects.

Also called expansion anchors for hollow walls, they look a little different, but have the same function, these cavity dowels are designed with separate “arms” that extend behind the board and provide support over a large surface area. The pin in the cavity of the gypsum board can multiple loosening and fixing of the fixing part without reducing the load-bearing capacity.