East Coast Vapor Barrier installs and replaces the mobile home vapor barrier under homes in Cocoa, Florida. Mobile and manufactured homes are the only thing the company works on. All of that work happens under the floor. It covers the barrier over the soil, the barrier under the home, the insulation between them, and the piers, tie-downs and skirting around them.
The work is owner-led. Shawn Callahan does the inspection and the installation himself, so there are no salespeople and no hand-offs. Florida license IH/1143670. The number is (561) 909-7759.
These two lead the list because around Cocoa the water sits closest to the soil layer.
Barrier material goes down over the exposed soil and is secured, stopping soil moisture evaporating upward into the space under the floor. At Cedar Lakes on Maplewood Boulevard, in unincorporated Brevard County, the USDA soil survey maps Delray sand with the seasonal high water table at the ground surface. On ground that wet, this layer does nearly all of the work.
Older ground barriers tear, slide out of position or break down underfoot. The failing material comes out and new barrier goes down across the footprint. Along North Burnett Road, in the Cocoa West census designated place, the survey maps Anclote sand. Water there sits about 3 inches below the surface, the shallowest it rises in a normal year.
Where the moisture load is heavy, both layers go in: a ground barrier over the soil and a vapor barrier under the home. That is the pairing this ground argues for on the Delray and Anclote sands west of Cocoa, where the annual minimum depth to water is measured in inches, not feet. See what a ground moisture barrier does over Cocoa area soil.
A new barrier goes in under the home, forming a protective layer between the floor and the ground moisture below it. That cuts the humidity building up under the floor and the damage it does over time.
Myakka sand runs under Central on Peachtree Street, King Street and Lost Lakes on SR 524. There the water reaches about 12 inches below the surface at its shallowest. That is the top of the wet zone in a normal year. Ground left uncovered under any part of the floor keeps sending that moisture upward.
Homes built between the 1970s and the 1990s are often still running on factory material that has torn, sagged or gone missing in patches.
Myakka is Florida’s state soil. Its USDA description is specific: “The water table is at depths of less than 18 inches for 1 to 4 months duration in most years and recedes to depths of more than 40 inches during very dry seasons.” Old material has to survive that cycle every year. Eventually it does not.
Where only sections have failed, those can be repaired or reinforced rather than replacing the whole run. That is a real option on the drier ground around Cocoa.
Take the Quartzipsamments at Maplewood Village on Cape Avenue. Water there sits about 42 inches down, well below the floor. Here is what a full vapor barrier job under a Cocoa area home covers.
Cocoa’s soils sit beside each other and hold water very differently. That settles one end of a home differently from the other, which is why it comes third.
Pier alignment, settling, spacing and load distribution are checked to find what is causing the movement.
Half a mile apart the survey maps two different soils. At Cedar Lakes on Maplewood Boulevard it maps Delray sand, with the water table at the ground surface. At Maplewood Village on Cape Avenue it maps Quartzipsamments, water about 42 inches down. Soils that differ that much do not carry a load the same way.
Settled or uneven piers are corrected so the support comes back to level and the stress comes off the frame. A soft spot in a hallway, or a door that catches, is what a homeowner notices first. On the Malabar sand at Forest Village on Meadowlark Street, water sits about 12 inches down at its shallowest. One pier can stand on damp ground there while another has drained.
Where several support points have moved, they are corrected together so the home sits evenly again.
Inside Cocoa city limits, measured relief runs from about 6 feet above sea level at Cocoa Village. On Crestview Road it is about 35 feet. That is a spread of 28.9 feet within one small city. Read more about pier work under Cocoa area homes.
Insulation that has sagged out of the belly, taken on ground moisture or been opened up by animals comes out first. Nothing new goes in over wet material.
ZIP 32926, west of the city, holds 2,099 of the 3,672 mobile homes counted across the three Cocoa ZIPs. About 71 percent of the 1,949 occupied ones there were built before 2000. Belly material of that vintage is usually why the insulation came down.
Insulation made for the under-home environment goes back up against the underside of the floor. It goes in after the ground below has been dealt with, because insulation replaced over a wet footprint is on a clock.
New insulation is then secured and covered with barrier, so the same failure does not run again. About 23 percent of those occupied mobile homes in ZIP 32926 date from 1979 or earlier. That is a long time to hang over sand that wets up for months of a normal year. Here are the signs under-home insulation has reached the end of its life, and here is what insulation replacement involves.
The check looks for loose or missing straps, rust, spacing or installation that is off, and signs the home has already moved. Homeowners usually ask before a sale or ahead of storm season.
Cocoa carries two water exposures. The Indian River Lagoon sits on the east side. The St. Johns River basin runs along the west, where ZIP 32926 and most of the area’s mobile homes sit.
Straps get tightened, worn components swapped out and bad installations corrected, without pulling a system that is mostly sound. During Tropical Storm Fay in August 2008, the National Weather Service recorded the St. Johns River near Cocoa peaking at 17.09 feet, the third highest crest on record. Sand saturated for weeks does not grip an anchor the way drained ground does.
Homes with no tie-downs, or running an outdated system, get anchors and straps put in to hold against movement, wind and shifting soil. On the Delray and Anclote sands west of Cocoa the ground is part of the problem, because water there sits 3 inches down or less at its shallowest. More on tie-downs and anchors on soft Cocoa area ground.
Skirting closes the space under the home, with access panels left in so someone can get back underneath later. Each run is planned around the barrier already in place rather than fitted over the top of it.
In Sharpes, north of the city on a Cocoa mailing address, mobile homes are 46.53 percent of all housing. Tradewinds off North US 1 sits on well drained Cocoa sand. Even where the ground drains, open skirting is how rain, debris and animals get in and tear a barrier open.
Missing, broken or badly fitted panels are repaired or replaced so the run closes properly again. The Delray sand mapped at Cedar Lakes on Maplewood Boulevard carries an occasional flooding rating. A gap at ground level there is also where the next high water gets underneath. See skirting work planned around a Cocoa area barrier.
The USDA Soil Data Access service was queried at the mapped addresses of mobile home communities around Cocoa. The depth column is the annual minimum for the seasonal high water table, the shallowest it rises in a normal year.
| Community or street | Where it sits | Soil map unit | Water table | In plain English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cedar Lakes, Maplewood Blvd | Unincorporated | Delray sand, occasionally flooded | At the surface | Wet soil throughout |
| North Burnett Rd | Cocoa West CDP | Anclote sand | About 3 in | Water just below |
| Forest Village, Meadowlark St | Unincorporated | Malabar sand | About 12 in | Damp for months |
| Central, Peachtree St | Cocoa city | Myakka sand | About 12 in | Damp for months |
| King Street | Cocoa West CDP | Myakka sand | About 12 in | Damp for months |
| Lost Lakes, SR 524 | Cocoa city | Myakka sand | About 12 in | Damp for months |
| Sun Lake Estates, Lake Ontario Dr | Unincorporated | Pomello sand | About 30 in | Drier, not dry |
| Maplewood Village, Cape Ave | Unincorporated | Quartzipsamments, smoothed | About 42 in | Well below floor |
| Oak MH and RV Park, Allison Dr | Cocoa city | Paola-Urban land complex | Not rated | Sheds water fast |
| Tradewinds, N US 1 | Sharpes CDP | Cocoa sand | Not rated | Drains freely |
All ten take Cocoa mail. Three sit inside Cocoa city limits, two in the Cocoa West census designated place, one in Sharpes and four in unincorporated Brevard County. Postal city and municipal city are not the same thing here.
Melbourne International Airport is the station behind the Brevard County forecast. NOAA’s 1991 to 2020 normals there show 50.79 inches of rain a year. June through October bring 32.76 inches of that, about 64.5 percent of the annual total. That rain lands on ground where water is already 3 to 12 inches down at most of the addresses above, which is the argument for checking underneath before storm season.
Where the homes are is the other half. Inside the city limits, the Census Bureau’s 2020 to 2024 American Community Survey counts 499 mobile homes among 10,230 housing units, 4.88 percent. In the Cocoa West census designated place it is 730 of 3,024, or 24.14 percent.
There is also a USDA soil series named Cocoa, type location in Brevard County, rated well drained. Being in Cocoa does not put a home on Cocoa sand.
5.0 ★★★★★ from 35 Google reviews
The person who inspects the home does the work and answers the phone.
Florida license IH/1143670. The Google rating is 5.0 from 35 reviews, and it is company-wide rather than a Cocoa figure.
The roughly 1.5 hour radius from Melbourne covers Cocoa city, the Cocoa West census designated place, Canaveral Groves, Sharpes and Port St. John. For a home north of the Cocoa ZIPs, start on the Titusville mobile home vapor barrier page. South of Melbourne, use the Palm Bay mobile home vapor barrier page.
A ground moisture barrier is laid over the exposed soil under the home to stop soil moisture evaporating upward. Encapsulation is the fuller system. On a manufactured home that means barrier sealed to the beams and piers, tight skirting, and sometimes conditioned air.
Manufactured homes sit on piers inside skirting. A factory belly holds insulation under the floor, and a separate barrier goes over the ground. On the Delray sand at Cedar Lakes, where the water table reaches the ground surface, that ground layer carries the load. Here is how the two differ.
Longer on dry ground than on wet, which around Cocoa is a real difference rather than a technicality. At Maplewood Village on Cape Avenue the water table sits about 42 inches down, well below the floor.
On the Myakka sand under Central, King Street and Lost Lakes, the shallowest the water table reaches in a normal year is about 12 inches. The USDA series description puts it inside the top 18 inches for one to four months of most years, then receding past 40 inches in a very dry season. Vapor barrier replacement is driven by that cycle, and by tears from animals and foot traffic, not by a date.
It comes out. Insulation that has taken on ground moisture does not dry itself, and covering it traps the water against the floor. Under-home insulation replacement means the wet material is removed, new insulation goes up against the floor, and barrier is secured over it so the failure does not repeat. About 71 percent of the 1,949 occupied mobile homes in ZIP 32926 were built before 2000, which is most of the reason the belly material is where the trouble starts.
Before a sale and ahead of storm season are the two usual moments. A tie-down inspection looks for loose or missing straps, rust, spacing that is off, and signs the home has moved.
Ground matters here. On the Anclote sand off North Burnett Road, water sits about 3 inches down at its shallowest. Saturated sand does not grip an anchor the way drained ground does. Here is when anchors need re-anchoring.
It does, because skirting is what keeps the barrier closed. Broken or missing panels let rain, blown debris and animals straight in to tear open work that was fine the week before.
Skirting installation is planned around the barrier already under the home rather than fitted over it. Access panels are left so someone can get back underneath. At Cedar Lakes the Delray map unit carries an occasional flooding rating, so a gap at ground level is also a route for high water. Here are skirting materials compared.
Often not. ZIP 32926 covers Cocoa West and Canaveral Groves. ZIP 32927 covers Port St. John and Sharpes. Both are largely unincorporated Brevard County.
Inside the actual city limits, mobile homes are 4.88 percent of housing. In the Cocoa West census designated place they are 24.14 percent and in Sharpes 46.53 percent. It changes nothing about coverage, since all of it sits inside the service radius, but it changes which soil figures describe your ground.
A musty smell through the floor, a soft spot underfoot, insulation hanging below the frame: all three point to the same place. Cocoa, Cocoa West, Canaveral Groves, Sharpes and Port St. John all sit inside the radius.
Call (561) 909-7759, email info@eastcoastvaporbarrier.com or send a message through the contact page. Shawn goes under the home, photographs what is there, and shows you the pictures before saying anything about what it needs.
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