Carefree Lifestyle offers an impartial guide to helping you make an informed start to owning your own Mobile Home in Spain or Portugal.
The choice available with Carefree Lifestyle will hopefully extend beyond your expectations, with so many floorplans, features and manufacturers choose from, it may become information overload, but don't worry, we help you take it step by step and we make sure that you identify all the questions that require answering and maybe on the journey a few you may not have considered.
Whichever way you choose to tackle it, Carefree Lifestyle will be there to advise and guide you.
Carefree Lifestyle as the name suggests offers a freedom a choice to express yourself and we pride ourselves on being able to offer informed and impartial advice on every aspect of the process of owning a mobile home on a residential or holiday park outside of the UK. Nothing can beat a chat with us to discuss your needs, but we hope the information here will help as start. Please do contact us for a friendly chat if you need more specific help or just to pick our brains.
Please use the speed links below if you would like to jump to the respective information quicker or simply read down to get a good insight into what we recommend.
Park | Mobile Size | Floorplan | Facilities | Insulation
Cladding | Chassis | Heating | Windows | Standards
1. Location, Location, Location!
Finding the right mobile home park with the right mix of facilities where you can live happily is, we think, the most important starting point. Knowing that the location offers you the day to day necessities is one of the the biggest comforts you should expect. You could be walking around the most luxurious gold paved roads a park can offer but if the nearest supermarket is 20 miles away and only offers goat milk, you might be in the wrong place! Then you have to consider the location of the plot you like. Does the sun rotate over the decking the right way to maximise your tan potential? There are many questions to explore and the best way to find out more about the park is to visit it either independently or with Carefree Lifestyle and we will show you what the area has to offer, the facilities the mobile home park has and hopefully you will get to meet the residents of the park and have a chat with them about the lifestyle. This is one of the best ways to find out if this lifestyle in the sun is for you. Also you will find that certain parks will identify which home is right for it. FOr example, La Posada (arguably the best dedicated residential mobile home park in Spain) offers a generous 200sqm plot that will take single units only, the largest of these being the Cambrian Millbrook. whereas Sant Jordi further up the country as a new mobile home park offers plots larger for twin unit mobile homes such as the popular Willerby Boston already sited there.
2. Size of home
Consider what you'll be using the home for. It is for holiday use, longer stays or permanent use?. As a general rule of thumb, the mobile homes built by UK manufacturers offer more comfort than your standard holiday home mobile home especially if you compare European mobile home manufacturers such as Sun Roller or IRM. Those mobile homes are built as a functional place to sleep and spend most of your time outdoors on holiday parks or at the beach knowing the comfort you return to at the end of your holiday is back home. The UK manufacturers offer a similar type of holiday home built with more comfort. Lower end homes such as the Willerby Magnum is a typical holiday mobile home with a upscaled level of comfort for longer usage on holiday / residential parks in the UK and abroad. Homes such as the Willerby Winchester or the Pemberton Park Lane are high level comfort homes built more towards residential usage. In the UK on mobile home parks that offer a mix of good and bad weather, the homes are ideal because they offer a high level of comfort if the rain is pouring or the wind is howling such as your own home would provide. When you live on a holiday or residential park in Spain and Portugal, the better climate means you will probably spend more time outside your home on the decking entertaining or relaxing, your mobile home a comfortable backdrop to your lifestyle and ready on an evening when Corrie starts, welcoming you into your plush surroundings.
A smaller budget home may be fine for occasional stays, but a home with more comforts will be needed for longer stays.
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3. Floorplans
Unless you need three bedrooms, choose a 2-bedroom version. Three bed variations of the same home have the same floor area as the two-bed, so you'll lose useful space to the third bedroom.
Some homes have a centre lounge area with bedrooms to each side and some have an end lounge. Generally the lower cost homes have a centre lounge as they are designed primarily for holiday use on smaller pitches where an end lounge would have no view. An advantage of this layout is greater privacy when sleeping, especially if your guest is a heavy snorer!
End lounge homes have a better view and generally more light and air.
Consider if you'll really use two bathrooms. Many smaller homes make better use of space by having just one shower room and an en-suite toilet.
When viewing a home, think about day-to-day living. Where will you put a wet coat or a vacuum cleaner and broom? Is the kitchen worktop big enough to put four plates out on to serve food? Will you get a stiff neck trying to watch a badly positioned TV? Is there enough wardrobe space for your clothes?
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4. Facilities
Most homes above the very budget range now come equipped with a cooker, fridge and freezer. Some also have washing machines, although we suggest this is moved outside into a plumbed-in shed if possible. The space can always be used for a dishwasher. Appliances such as a TV, microwave and stereo are often cheaper abroad, easier to take back if there's a problem and usually come with a 2-year warranty as standard.
Air conditioning is rarely included in a mobile home. Again it is much cheaper to have a unit installed locally and also helps ensure availability of spare parts and servicing.
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5. Insulation
Remember insulation helps keep things cool as well as warm. A good layer of insulation will help keep your home cooler in the heat (and make an air-conditioning unit more economical to run) as well as warmer in the cooler months.
Look for a fibre-type insulation in the roof and in the walls - the more the better (budget models may use polystyrene block). Floors are often insulated with a dense foam. Make sure your home has some sort of floor insulation.
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6. Cladding
There are a number of materials used on the outside of mobile homes. Some of these work much better than others abroad.
'Stucco' finish resembles textured plaster and is applied directly to the outside wooden board walls. It is a very low cost method of weatherproofing, and in the heat of southern Europe it is prone to cracking and needs filling and re-painting to maintain it's qualities.
Metal Cladding is steel or aluminium sheet traditionally used in many smaller mobile homes. Whilst it does not wear as well as PVC, vinyl or Canexel, it is found working perfectly well in many homes in Europe.
Vinyl cladding is plastic panels. It feels quite thin to the touch, but is fairly sturdy and resistant to knocks and weatherproof. It requires virtually no maintenance and is available in a range of colours.
PVC cladding is thicker and much more rigid than vinyl. It is very tough and low maintenance. It is often used on higher-end homes.
Canexel is the brand name given to a material supplied in planks made of compressed wood fibres and five finishing coats individually baked on at high temperature. Canexel is resistant to cracking, splitting, warping, splintering, buckling and bad weather, year after year. It is a standard finish on many larger twin units and some single units. It is available in a number of shades in a quite realistic wood effect texture. Due to it's increased cost it is sometimes an optional extra, but one which, in our opinion, is well worth the extra.
Natural wood has a beautiful finish, but is very susceptible to cracking and warping in hot weather. It also needs re-treating periodically. Because of this we do not recommend it as a cladding material for European homes unless the aesthetic appeal makes it worth the extra effort for the individual customer.
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7. Chassis
Budget chassis are generally square section painted steel. Higher up the range, the chassis may be galvanized (a steel/zinc alloy) to prevent rusting and use larger beams, with an 'H' section running the length of the home. Some larger twin units used painted steel, with very thick steel. None of these are particularly bad, but the stronger the chassis, the less the home will move once sited and the more sturdy it will feel when walking inside.
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8. Heating
All homes are supplied with some sort of heating. What you need will depend on personal preferences and the location of the home. Even in southern Spain, the nights can get cool so bedroom heaters are a good idea. Most air-conditioning units are switchable to provide warm air if needed. In France, where the winters can be colder, central heating is probably a good idea. Higher-end homes usually have central heating as standard, on cheaper homes is it sometimes an option.
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9. Windows
Check that enough windows actually open! In hot weather a good airflow through a home is essential, but not easy if many windows are fixed. Some homes have skylights (Velux) which do help keep homes cool more than you might think.
Double glazing is standard on many homes and an option on most others.
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10. Standards
Mobile homes are built to one of three main standards:
BS EN 1647 - This is a British Standard European Norm specification for holiday homes and holiday lodges with less insulation.
BS 3632 - This is a full residential specification, which means you can use your lodge throughout the year, but you may not live in it permanently on a park licensed for holiday use.
Building Regulation standard - This is a full residential specification to the same standard as the home you live in.
Or of course.... Some parks buy flat pack lodges, often from abroad and then erect them on site. You are always wise to ask for the manufacturer's name and the specification a lodge is built to. If the park owner is unable to give you this information, you have no guarantee that the home has been built to even basic specifications. Carefree Lifestyle deals only with reputable manufacturers who build to recognised standards.
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