While a few units are available as one-offs, and are attracting bids of around $1,500, most of the trailers and prefabricated buildings are being sold in lots of between 200 and 400 units. Bids for these have gone as high as $1 million, despite government warnings that "formaldehyde is used in the manufacture of travel trailers, park models and manufactured housing and may still be present in these units."
Since bidder identities aren't disclosed, there's no way to know who these would-be housing magnates are. But if any of these show up in a trailer park near you, follow CDC advice and see a doctor if you find yourself suffering from unexplained eye, nose and throat irritation, skin rashes or shortness of breath. Or just find a new place to live. You'd be amazed at how many homes out there aren't contaminated with formaldehyde.
]]>@mrearly2: Yep. It's all about ventilation. If they're properly ventilated they're totally safe.
]]>@Firethorn: get a bunch of spider plants and put them in there first, formaldehyde problem gone
]]>@GitEmSteveDave_IsWaving: Good job man. When I weas reading the article, I could only think of the Bee Mobile.
]]>@Ghede: just, awesome. I heart you.
]]>@Ghede: That is terrible and disgusting, that only one person commented on this comment.
You win this post.
]]>These are travel trailers... Not trailer park trailers. They are not designed to be lived in permenantly. 3 or 4 days with a little formaldehyde in the air wouldn't be too bad... I'd buy one, but personally think that towing these things around is ridiculous.
]]>@Smashville_not taking it seriously: I vote for the "COMPLETELY BURNED" scrap military truck with its dual axle on its flatbed... a very even coating of rust...
]]>Google maps for Hope Arkansas for the satellite pics of the trailers in storage:
[maps.google.com]
another:
[virtualglobetrotting.com]
Yes. Absolutely. People keep forgetting that these thing were no designed or intended to be lived in for years.
]]>@Orv: Minus, of course, the outgassing resulting from campfire cooked beans...
]]>@SagarikaLumos: As above, these trailers were fresh off the production line in the bulk of the cases...
]]>@u1itn0w2day: "I think part of the problem with these trailers is that they probably sat around for several years unopened on hot sunny lots making a chemical stew that had no where to go."
A bunch may have sat around but after the FEMA trailer money spigot turned on factories were pumping them out and shipping them south as quickly as they could. So the fact that they ~didn't~ sit around outgassing on a dealer lot for 1 month to 1 year probably compounded the problem. The trailers full of super fresh sealants, glues, paints, particle boards, etc immediately going to an ultra humid and warm part of the country that pretty much requires a/c to be run...
You would not have believed all of the trailers in transport we saw on I-65 South from Indiana (a trailer manufacturing center) towards LA during the 6 to 9 months after Katrina in 2005
]]>@mbz32190: Even if they were taken care of, I doubt they were manufactured to stand up to the constant use they were put through.
]]>@u1itn0w2day: Very true. Another problem is that homes and trailers like this just aren't deisgned to take advantage of things like cross-breezes so to even control the temperature you are forced to use the A/C or heat. There's a reason that low and no VOC products are becoming more readily available.
]]>Being from Louisiana, and knowing some people who lived in those things, $1500 is not a bargain.
]]>@Firethorn: If you click on the site, you can't buy just one...although there is a pretty cool junked helicopter.
]]>Probably to go camping in. You know, what they were designed for.
They weren't really designed as long-term housing, which is why formaldehyde is a bigger problem if you are living in it for several years than if you go camping in it once in a while.
]]>@YOXIM: What's wrong with a trailer at the shore or mountains for weekend use? Sounds like a bargain to me
]]>@webster44: Yep,especially if they are man made .
Alot of manufactured products period are constantly off gasing . What do you think that new car smell is . It's off gasing vinyls and plastics .
I think it's France or Germany they don't even allow new construction to be occuppied for a few months to allow time for the carpets,paints,sealers etc to fully dry and stop/slow down the off gasing of stuff .
I think part of the problem with these trailers is that they probably sat around for several years unopened on hot sunny lots making a chemical stew that had no where to go . Then they were used . Most people prefer artificial enviorments rather than open windows thus keeping the contaminants in the trailers .
Hate to admit it but when the government said just open the windows to help lower the levels of contaminanta or formaldehyde they were right . I would bet half those trailers the minute they were occuppied the AC was turned on with the window rarely opened especially in the Katrina hit areas .
You should open the windows when possible in your land house as well . There are chemicals all over a home wethers it's personal hygenc products , household cleaners , paper , plastics , rugs , paints , pesticides , candles , scents etc . Move and change out that air .
]]>@Firethorn: Why would you want to live in one at all?
]]>Am I an odd one for thinking of buying one? After all, formaldehyde levels should drop with time and proper airing out, in cooler temperatures, etc...
Plus, as I wouldn't be living in it all the time I would get less exposure than people who spent months on end in them.
]]>@GitEmSteveDave_@Gmail.comNeedsAWaveInvite: You bring up a valid point; pre-bug bombed trailers for all!
]]>Wow, that was a little dark, even for me. Eh.
]]>