Weekend Project: Dress Up a Mobile Home Tongue or Tow Hitch

Landscaping around a singlewide mobile home is a little bit different from a conventional home. There is underpinning and size proportions to be taken into account, but the biggest problem that I have run into with landscaping around my mobile home is the tongue on the end.

The tongue - or tow hitch - is a v-shaped steel hitch that is used to transport the mobile home. Mobile homes that are on non-permanent foundations and are financed by a bank usually have the hitch still in place. Landscaping around the mobile home tongue takes a little bit of effort, but it is worth it. The hitch end of my mobile home has been an eyesore and I have wanted to spruce it up and make it look nicer for awhile.

While creating a flower bed might seem like a simple choice for landscaping around the tongue end of a trailer, in my situation that wasn't an option. The terrain of my yard means that when it rains, the part of the yard at the end of my home has water that runs across it. There is also an overabundance of shallow tree roots from the many maple trees in my yard. These two issues make it almost impossible to plant flowers in the ground in that spot. In addition, the ugly steel tongue is just one of those things that I don't like to look at.

I decided to do some decorating, camouflaging and landscaping in that spot in order to dress it up and make it a more attractive space.

I had some old wooden privacy fence panels that were in too bad of shape to be used as an actual freestanding fence. The panels had been stacked at the back edge of our property for at least three years. They were a perfect choice to use for this project.

I started by clearing the area at the end of my trailer. I cleaned up the weeds and debris that was there. The next step was to pick out the fence panels. Because some of the panels were in very poor shape, I had to pick through them all to find two panels that would work. The mobile home is a 14-foot-wide trailer and the fence panels were eight feet in width. I knew that two panels would work and would allow overhang. In addition, I wanted to cover the tow hitch so I knew that I would need at least one more fence panel or parts of fence panels to cut and cover the hitch.

I hauled the panels around to the proper location. I measured then cut (using a jigsaw and a circular saw) a section out of the center on the right side of one panel then slid it into place against the end of the structure. The cut-out section was an allowance for the tow hitch. I repeated the same steps with the other panel except for making the cut-out on the left side of the panel. Once they were in place I was ready to cover the hitch.

I used a piece of exterior wood paneling that was a leftover scrap from an old project to create a platform to go on top of the hitch. I measured and cut it into a triangle shape to sit on top of the hitch.

Next I cut the extra fence panel to length - about 48 inches in height. The shorter panel had to be cut in half to create two pieces that would cover the trailer tongue and would meet at the end. I put them into place then screwed the ends at the end of the hitch to each other.

The final step was landscaping and decorating. I added a flag pole (which was actually an old tension shower rod that was destined for the trash) and bracket with a decorative summer flag. I arranged flower pots on the platform that I had placed on the hitch then attached brackets to the fence panels to hold flower pots. I added large flower pots on the ground, solar lights, a shepherd hook and hanging basket and other elements for decorative effects and in the end, the project turned out great.

This was a great way to improve the appearance of my mobile home while using materials that I already had. The only expense was the cost of a flag bracket and a hanging bracket.

To see more photos of the project, CLICK HERE.