Top tips for park home refurbishments

Perhaps you’ve just purchased a second-hand park home, or you’re looking to update the one you’re living in.

Park home refurbishments can make a huge difference to the overall atmosphere of the living space, turning it from a project into a home. But it isn’t easy to know where to start when most guides focus on brick-and-mortar houses.

Here you’ll find some great tips on this process and a breakdown of how much it costs to refurbish a park home.

 

1. Choosing a new bathroom

Before refurbishing your park home bathroom, there’s one thing to consider—water ingress.

You may only discover this once you’ve hired a company and they’ve extracted your old bathroom suite. But it pays to be aware of this, as it could incur extra costs if your chipboard floor needs to be replaced with a water-resistant material.

You may also opt to move your window apertures to allow for layout changes. Just another thing to be aware of.

Now that’s out of the way, we have a few tips on refurbishing your park home’s bathroom. The first one is to decide on what you need from this process.

The main areas to consider include:

• walls – waterproof panels are the most durable
• flooring – non-slip vinyl is a popular option 
• ventilation – you may opt for an extractor fan alongside your window 
• lighting – is one cost-effective LED bulb enough, or do you want accent or floor lighting?
• the bathroom suite itself – this is down to your budget and personal taste 

If you’re working with a small space, which is typically the case in park homes, you should carefully consider your layout.

Where will your sink, toilet, shower, and bath go? Do you need a bath, or will you go for a walk-in shower to save on space? Asking yourself these questions early on will make the process much easier.

Finally, it’s good to have an idea of the cosmetic elements of your bathroom. If a modern, stylish bathroom is a priority for you, that’s great.

But if you simply want a minimalist and cost-effective bathroom, it’s good to establish this before getting a quote. Then, you won’t be swayed into going over your budget.

Check out this Pinterest board for some inspiration.

 

2. Updating your kitchen

As with a brick-and-mortar home, this can be as simple as replacing your cupboard doors, or involve a complete transformation.

If you’re hiring a single company to refurbish your park home and have enough in your budget, we recommend an open-plan kitchen/living room.

It can make your home feel larger and less cramped, especially when working with limited space.

Have a limited budget and can’t afford to spend around £8,000 on a new kitchen? A set of cupboard doors alone would only cost around £600 (depending on your kitchen size), yet they can instantly brighten up an old kitchen.

If you have a kitchen that adjoins your living room, you may also want to invest in some new furniture to help pull the space together. A new dining table can work wonders for this, or a breakfast bar with accent lighting.

Here are some park home kitchen examples to help you get the most out of your space.

 

3. Insulating the property

Depending on the age and current state of your park home, you may want to enhance its insulation through additional cladding.

This can be expensive, but it’s a great way to retain heat in your park home and reduce the cost of your energy bills, saving you more money in the long run.

The process involves installing heat-retaining materials to the exterior of your park home before covering it with an outer layer. This provides even more insulation and makes a noticeable difference, especially in those harsh winter months.

CanExel cladding is a popular solution, but it can be costly.

If you don’t have room for insulation in your budget, it may be worth looking into park home insulation grants to help you cover the cost. You can contact YES energy solutions to see if they can access this for you.

Another thing to consider is windows. The most popular windows used in park home refurbishments are double-glazed uPVC, as they’re incredibly durable and insulating compared to single-glazed alternatives.

 

4. Chassis refurbishment

The chassis is essentially the foundation of your park home.

Before you purchase a park home, you should ensure the chassis is in good condition, or at least get it inspected to gather how much reparation work is needed.

If you live in a park home, you should get it inspected regularly to ensure its upkeep. They can deteriorate with time or if significant internal refurbishments occur, which can alter the weight distribution.

Signs of deterioration include:

• corrosion
• gaps spearing below the skirting
• uneven flooring inside your home
• damp flooring

When planning any park home refurbishments, it’s useful to have your chassis checked by professionals. That way, you can ensure that your home remains in good shape and has a strong foundation.

 

5. Roof, gutters and fascias

As with a brick-and-mortar house, re-roofing a park home is costly but necessary if it needs to be replaced.

They typically last well over 25 years when properly installed, so it’s a worthy investment.

Gutters and fascias cost significantly less, with fascia boards being the most expensive to replace if they’re rotten. This occurs mostly on older park homes, as they’re usually made from timber rather than uPVC, which is more weather-resistant.

If you have a newer park home with uPVC boards but no soakaways installed on the downpipes, you may want to consider spending £700-850 to get this done.

This protects the skirting from dampness, which can spread to and damage the rest of your park home.

 

How much does it cost to refurbish a park home?

This isn’t easy to pinpoint for several reasons. But we’ve done our research, and the typical costs look something like this:

• Bathroom: £8,000
• Kitchen: £9,000
• Insulation with Canexel cladding: £12,000
• uPVC windows: £8,000
• Re-roofing: £7,500 Cleaning gutters: £100 
• Fascia board replacement: £1,400
• Chassis restoration: £3,800

Please consider, however, that the cost to refurbish a park home can vary depending on the property’s size and current condition.

Going off these averages, it looks like fully refurbishing a park home can cost around £50,000.

It sounds steep, but this, combined with the price of a second-hand park home, typically costs significantly less than paying for a brand-new park home. Plus, you get more choice over the final product.

If you’re looking at refurbishing the interior of your park home, it may only cost around £20,000.

The most effective way to price up how much it costs to refurbish a park home is to request a quote from multiple companies and hire the one you feel offers the best quality service at a price within your budget.

 

Specialist park home insurance with Ripe

Following our tips on park home refurbishments, another is to protect your home through specialist park home insurance.

At Ripe, we arrange bespoke park home insurance that covers your property, including fixtures and fittings up to the value of £500,000 and your contents up to the value of £75,000.

Click here to discover how we can help, or get an instant online quote today.