Inspection of Manufactured Homes

[Stephen Root, CMI]

Originally Posted by dedwards

In the State of Florida the foundation; tie-downs, piers, LSD's, etc. has to signed off by a licensed engineer. It's the law! You need to inform your client of this. The home inspector can not do this unless he/she is an engineer. Florida has some very strict guidelines for MH foundations. We have to, things blow away here.

Just for the record, I have performed hundreds and hundreds of inspections on manufactured homes here in the state of Florida and only once (to my knowledge) was an engineer needed to "verify" an unsatisfactory condition that I had listed on my report. The engineer was hired by the realtor...he showed up...verified my report...never to be heard from again.

Manufactured homes do have more things that you must look at, so in my opinion you should charge more, but I do so many of them that I charge the same as a single family home.

[Doug Edwards]

Stephen,
You may be confusing the regular inspection with the "foundation" inspection. You can inspect all the other elements just like you normally would but the foundation portion of the inspection has a separate inspection process that only a licensed engineer can sign off. The wind resistant tie downs, LSDs, etc. have very specific criteria such as maximum spacing, type of anchors, position of anchors, types of frame clamps, clips, strapping connections. These are not items the average HI will even know about unless they have been through the installers' school or had the training. Basically, the law does not prohibit you from inspecting the house just like any other home but when it comes to the foundation and all its related components, you have to be an engineer, Period. The process is just like code in that it occasionally changes and typically upgrades have to be made whenever a home changes hands or is refinanced. It then has to meet the current standards.

[William Warner]

Some pics from a 7 year old mfg home I did recently...









This last pic is the belly wrap holding a nice pocket of water (nice and cold against my back when I crawled past)

[William Warner]

and more...

[Stephen Root, CMI]

Originally Posted by dedwards

Stephen,
You may be confusing the regular inspection with the "foundation" inspection. You can inspect all the other elements just like you normally would but the foundation portion of the inspection has a separate inspection process that only a licensed engineer can sign off. The wind resistant tie downs, LSDs, etc. have very specific criteria such as maximum spacing, type of anchors, position of anchors, types of frame clamps, clips, strapping connections. These are not items the average HI will even know about unless they have been through the installers' school or had the training. Basically, the law does not prohibit you from inspecting the house just like any other home but when it comes to the foundation and all its related components, you have to be an engineer, Period. The process is just like code in that it occasionally changes and typically upgrades have to be made whenever a home changes hands or is refinanced. It then has to meet the current standards.

Agreed...The inspections that I perform are basically the same as a regular single family home, with the exception that you must enter the crawl space and inspect tie-downs, piers, electrical and plumbing connections between the two half's of the home, etc, etc, etc. (not to mention Termites...yes I am licensed to do W.D.O.'s also). But, also as a regular single family home inspection, these are visual inspections, "not code inspections". That's not what a home inspector is hired for. Now, for the record, if a blatant code violation is observed, naturally it will be noted on the report, but to inspect (for example) a 1984 manufactured, or site built regular home, and expect it to be up to par (code wise) with a 2007 home would not be fair.As I stated earlier in the previous post, I have only been aware of one instance when an engineer was hired, and he was only hired to verify my report, which he did. It kind of follows the same path as a W.D.O. report, There are only necessary if the lender requires it.

We're all in this together, so the last thing I want to do is upset or confuse a fellow inspector, but these manufactured homes are money makers just like site built homes. If unfortunately you live in an area where the lenders are more strict than they are here, and require an engineer for every inspection, that is very unfair to you as an inspector and to the buyers and sellers. With the multiple hurricanes that we had go through here a few years back, other than the homes that were destroyed, the MAJORITY of the home never moved a centimeter off their piers. The main damage was carports and screen rooms, the homes held up VERY well, excluding the older homes from the '70's. And I'm very sorry for those folks that lost those older homes in those storms, but those storms did act as, I guess you could call it a cleansing action - out with the old, in with the new. Don't be afraid to inspect a manufactured home, just do a little home work first, or if you live anywhere near me, I would be more than happy to let you go through a manufactured home inspection with me. The market seems to be getting a little stronger lately, and I'm inspecting at least 2 or 3 manufactured homes a week, not to mention the more frequent single family site built homes.

I hope I've helped more than confused...please let me know if you have any other comments or questions.

Steve

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

Guess what type of home this is? Hint: it can be yours for $55K.

[Terry L. Scroggin]

Do modular homes have tie down straps?

[Larry D. Kage]

Originally Posted by tscroggin

Do modular homes have tie down straps?

Foundation anchors...

[Terry L. Scroggin]

Thanks for the input. I went to the home today and found it to be a manufactured home complete with 4/12 roof pitch, metal framework (w/o axles or tongue), the entrance door is 6'3" x 32" instead of 6'8" x 36", 3 HUD tags, tie downs, block piers, and black plastic sheeting on the underside of the floor joists. The home has an "energy saver package" which includes 2x6 walls. Does anyone think that this home (removing the metal undercarriage and complying with local codes) could be reclassified as a modular? Thanks, Terry

[Larry D. Kage]

Originally Posted by tscroggin

Thanks for the input. I went to the home today and found it to be a manufactured home complete with 4/12 roof pitch, metal framework (w/o axles or tongue), the entrance door is 6'3" x 32" instead of 6'8" x 36", 3 HUD tags, tie downs, block piers, and black plastic sheeting on the underside of the floor joists. The home has an "energy saver package" which includes 2x6 walls. Does anyone think that this home (removing the metal undercarriage and complying with local codes) could be reclassified as a modular? Thanks, Terry

No...

[dharris]

Does anyone think that this home (removing the metal undercarriage and complying with local codes) could be reclassified as a modular? Thanks, Terry

[/QUOTE]

If you removed the metal undercarrage you would have a sunken living room, kitchen, family, laundry room, bedrooms and sunken baths..

[Terry L. Scroggin]

Thanks for the input. I told them no, but they wanted me to ask anyway. I think they were mislead by the salesperson who told them it could be made into a modular. I told them according to my interpretation of the definitions of the two the manufactured home is still a manufactured home and not a modular. Getting a good hands on education just starting out!
Terry

[Larry D. Kage]

If you removed the metal undercarrage you would have a sunken living room, kitchen, family, laundry room, bedrooms and sunken baths.. [/quote]




Well, there is that too, Dan...sounds kinda' stylish.

[Joe Funderburk, CMI]

Originally Posted by tscroggin

Do modular homes have tie down straps?

"On-frame" modular homes should. You can barely distinguish an on-frame modular home from a double-wide mobile home. See a copy of an mail below:

=====================================

From: Gary Wiggins
Sent: October 30, 2003
Subject: Modular Home Codes

The only difference between modular houses and manufactured houses is the building code under which they are built. Manufactured housing is constructed under the Federal Manufactured Housing Code, whereas modular housing is constructed under the International Residential Code (IRC), which is the same code used for site built houses.

Modular buildings may have a transportation frame (on-frame modulars) or no transportation frame (off-frame modulars). South Carolina law does not differentiate between on-frame and off-frame modular houses and considers both equivalent to site built houses when they are placed on a foundation constructed in accordance with the IRC.

All manufactured houses have a frame for transportation.

For identification purposes, manufactured houses are required by federal law to have a HUD label attached to them and modular houses are required by state law to have a Building Codes Council label attached to them. If a BCC label is attached to the unit, it must, by state law, be accepted as a modular house.

Gary F. Wiggins
Administrator
SC Building Codes Council

[gbeaumont]

Hi to all

Joe, thats a good explaination, the differences between modular and manufactured homes has been getting very blured over the last few years with traditional manufactured (HUD code) factories churning out modular homes and visa-versa, it is interesting to see the way SC is defining the issue along the lines of perminent foundations.

I can't help but wonder how long it will take for ICC to integrate HUD codes (or build methods) into the IRC, as this would address one of the major problems within HUD, that being that the HUD codes are typicaly 5-10 years behind the regular code.

Regards

Gerry