Patriot Dblwide: tile backsplash over orig kitchen wall?

[erinsbee]

Hi, The questions will pertain to a Patriot Doublewide home.
We spent 2 weeks pulling out the original walls in the house before we moved in and put in sheet rock. However in kitchen we did not, and now I want to tile a backsplash. I was wondering, can I tile over that kind of material? I know it does not hold wallpaper very well, as my bathroom attests to that.
Also, how can you tell if a wall in a dblewide is load bearing. I have a center wall that separates the kitchen and living room, with stairs leading to basement right in the middle. I want to take the bottom of the wall , up about 7 ft out. Keep the top 2 feet or so. I could open up the staircase, so it doesnt look like stairs down to the dungeon. Maybe put some wood spindles . Than ks

 

[Square Eye]

The original walls in a doublewide are made to flex with the home. That's why you can't buy a new one with conventional drywall. The trim strips at the joints allow the movement needed. Unfortunately, this also means that a hard, rigid surface like tile usually won't work.

As far as removing or modifying walls? Well, by replacing what you had on the walls with heavier drywall, you may have already compromised the integrity of the home. These homes are not built to handle the loads of 1/2" or 5/8" drywall.

The same rule applies here when looking at walls in any other home, Assume all exterior walls are load bearing, assume all walls that run parallel to the ridge are load bearing and then get an engineer, a factory rep or a qualified contractor to look at your home and determine which walls are load bearing. Someone with a license and liability insurance.

I certainly understand why you didn't want to drywall your kitchen, The cabinets installed in these homes are near impossible to re-install after changing the wallboard. The cabinets are made as soon as the factory wallboard goes up and they're made to fit where they are. Often there are no backs in the cabinets and when you open the doors, you can see the wall. Anyway, when you take them down, sometimes they come down in pieces.

I wish I could be more helpful but without actually being there, there's no way Anyone can say which walls are load bearing.