Mobile home piers inspection red-flags. Here we describe how to inspect r mobile home piers, support systems, pads.

Special attention should be given to mobile home, double-wide or trailer to tie-downs, hurricane and storm damage prevention, and special connections are required between sections of double-wide and multi-wide mobile homes.

Mobile Home Pier / Foundation Inspection Procedure

Here, after answering the four most-frequent reader questions about mobile home piers & support height, clearance and spacing, we provide the complete U.S. federal / HUD code specifications for support systems, piers, pads, etc. for manufactured or mobile homes, singlewides and doublewides.

Inspection Points for a manufactured home or mobile home pier foundation

• Dry-stacked concrete blocks on soil or on a scrap of wood won't meet HUD/FHA standards though if the dry-stacked concrete blocks are set on a below-frost-line footing you may be able to qualify these piers by bonding the blocks using a coating of fiber-reinforced cement/fiberglass or equivalent.
• A slab is preferred but not required. A reinforced floating slab may be acceptable. Pier foundations are discussed below.
• Assure good drainage away from the piers(risk undermined piers); (Floating or on frost footings ok)
• Missing or improper tie-downs against storm damage (Northridge disaster & in FL); tie-downs may be driven or screwed into ground; cables must be taut.
• Improper masonry piers-blocks on sides, stacked debris, failure to remove the tongue, axle and wheels, but on the other hand a completely-removed chassis is improper.
• Water-undermined piers;
• Footings/piers not below the frost line
• Piers at excessive intervals (more than 6-8 feet and/or closer than 3 ft. to the ends of the home)
• Piers missing at large sidewall openings (sliders) or at tip-outs or expanded units or under fireplaces.
• Masonry piers require properly-stacked blocks, hardwood or treated wood or concrete cap, shims; piers sit on 16"x16"x4" concrete pad, pre cast or poured in place, or 12" x 20" treated wood;
• Piers less than 36" high can be single-stacked 8x8x16" block with the long 16" dimension perpendicular to the frame;
• Piers 36" to 48" (or in some special cases up to 80" high) and all corner piers of more than 3 blocks high shall be double-blocked with interlocking alternating courses and capped with 5x16x16 solid concrete block or equivalent; we give pier construction details vs pier height later in this article.
• Piers more than 80" high must be double blocked, alternating courses, laid in mortar and steel reinforcing rods set in block cells and cells filled with concrete.

• NO more than 4" of wood in space between pier and frame; No more than 1" thick shims and must be tight;
• Metal stands (jacks) on soil surface likely to shift/tip/settle are not permitted; Steel piers should be on concrete soil pads/footings;
• Settlement: may show up as hard-to-operate windows/doors;

Our photo above shows sloppy pier and shim installation, set on soft soil, tipping. It is important to take a look under a mobile home or trailer you're thinking of buying. Those hard-to-get-in spots often contain costly surprises.

Red flag when inspecting the piers below a manufactured or mobile home

• Floors out of level more than an inch across the width or length of the home
• Open cracks that you can stick your finger into between wall and floor or wall and ceiling
• Piers that have tipped over, collapsed or crushed
• Piers sinking or settling into the ground
• Piers made of home-made stuff like stacked up boards, bricks, or other stuff
• Pipes or electrical wires that have been disturbed, torn, or broken by movement
  
  Watch out: a broken gas line is an immediate explosion hazard: if there are gas leaks leave the building without turning on or off anything electrical (a spark can cause an explosion).
  
  Watch out: broken sewer lines are unsanitary and risk making someone sick
• Sagging ceilings or floors
• Water running below the home that can undermine a pier, causing it to collapse

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Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

On 2021-11-09 by Inspectapedia Com Moderator (mod) - mobile home owner is responsible for its support piers

@Luann Watson,

A reliable, "legal" answer to your question would need to come from a local lawyer familiar with your property rental contract.

But in general, if you own the home you own and are responsible for the piers that support it. I make that guess in part because the number, placement, size, and construction of mobile home support piers are usually made at the time that the home is set on a site and have to be located at the specific support points peculiar to that home.

On 2021-11-09 by Luann Watson - tree root growing under my mobile home cracked a footer

Tracked a tree root going under the mobile. At the same position of the tree was a cracked footer.I took pictures reported to park finding inside of trailer of signs of mobile being not level They are saying the footers are mine but I don’t own the lot . My kitchen is where it starts to become not level

. This is in direct alignment with the tree. Park notified. They finally cut tree down do to tree breaking about ten feet long. cut down. My kitchen floor you can see impressions of the piers. My island is now visibly uneven . What is anyone’s suggestion since four park managers have been notified.

Am I responsible for this problem since I only own the mobile out right? Mobile bought new in 1998. I can not get approved for insurance because of this. If I would move my mobile off that lot I don’t take the footers with me, so then how can they be mine anymore than my resposiable for this damage that advances on.a

On 2021-03-01 - by (mod) - how can I show who damaged the piers under my mobile home & when the damage occurred

@Lindsey, you asked an interesting question but not one that can be answered from the information given. There are various factors that we don't know including the weight of the truck, the distance, the speed, and the details of construction of the mobile home supports.

Instead what makes perhaps a more useful approach is to actually inspect mobile home support system and Piers for damaged.

Watch out: Fist priority: SAFETY!

You need assurance from an experienced mason or repair contractor or mobile home installer that your home is properly supported and is safe against a sudden collapse or damage from storms. (For example, does your location or state or provincial code require tie-downs? Are those properly-installed?)


Now DIY Mobile Home Pier Damage vs Vehicle Impact Assessment:

Take a look at FOUNDATION MOVEMENT ACTIVE vs. STATIC

where you'll see that often we can look closely at cracks in masonry block piers or foundation walls to notice debris, dirt, evidence of prior repairs, evidence of ongoing movement, all of which can tell us whether damage is recent or old.

Then compare that with the date on which your truck rolled into the mobile home.

Next:
Look very closely at the damage to the home - the location of external scratches, dents in skirting, dislocation of wall or skirting materials, vis-a-vis where your truck hit the home.

Next look very closely at the location of damage to the home's support piers. See if you can see a physical or mechanical path through which the force that caused damage at the external dents or scratches could possibly have been transmitted to the damaged piers.

Next look at the construction of the support piers themselves and their footings to see if there is evidence of other sources of movement, such as missing or shallow or cracked support piers - that damage would be due to construction, not due to an external impact.

Photo-document everything you see.

All of this is amateur engineering and not as clever or smart as what might be observed by an experienced forensic engineer or even by an experienced mason, but you might discover and be able to document sufficiently unambiguous evidence as to convince yourself of what responsibility you bear for the damage to the home.

Post photos of the home's damage, of the driveway showing the path of impact, of the location of the damaged piers, and of the pier damage itself - you can post one image per comment but as many comments as you need - they'll appear once the images are approved by the moderator.

That might let us make additional useful observations.

Finally: if there is damage, let's get an experienced mason or installer to give an estimate for the actual cost of necessary repairs.

On 2021-03-01 by Lindsey

But how would I know if the damage is because of me how would I know if it’s not old and there was no speed we share a drive way it’s all level no hills my car was not running it was parked but I guess when I got out and got my kids out I didn’t put it all the way in park.

This man is trying to say I damaged the brick under the mobile home and is trying to charge me $1000 I just ne answers. He didn’t want to file a police report or anything that’s why I think I’m about to pay for old damages the mobile home has been there since before I was born and never been remodeled

On 2021-02-28 - by (mod) - how hard would a mobile home have to be hit to break its support piers?

@Lindsey, you asked an interesting question but not one that can be answered from the information given. There are various factors that we don't know including the weight of the truck, the distance, the speed, and the details of construction of the mobile home supports.

Instead what makes perhaps a more useful approach is to actually inspect mobile home support system and Piers for damaged.

On 2021-02-28 by Lindsey

Can someone tell me if my trucked rolled back into a mobile home how hard would it have had to hit it to break one of the bricks supporting the underneath?

It was on level ground there was no force I just forgot to put emergency break up? It only dented The skirting

On 2021-02-10 - by (mod) - mobile home out of level, signs of movement, may be unsafe & could increase fire risk

Sherry

It sounds to me as if we need to get someone out there to inspect the support under your home, someone who cares about you and does not simply ducking doing the necessary work.

Watch out: The first and most important question is whether or not there is continuing movement and whether or not the piers supporting your home are safe.

For example movement in a home can break a gas line leading to an explosion, or tear electrical wiring leading to shock or fire hazards, or break a sewer line leading to bacterial and pathogen and infection or other health hazards.

See more at MOBILE HOME FIRE SAFETY

If all those concerns are okay then what remains is a little bit of careful jacking and leveling to get stable and in the proper level condition.

On 2021-02-09 by Sherry young

We purchased a mobile home 6 months ago! and it's been unlevel every since we have lines in our ceiling where they are seemed together, our doors throughout the home. have a gaps around them not shutting our entryway doors are not shutting correctly either they want to pop open have cracks in the floor you can put your finger under the flooring @ bottom of walls, and floors has multiple unlevel place has some places you can feel the Footers pushing threw.

And our heat & air unit keeps on blowing trash like particle board debris spoke with manufacturer they don't seem to think anything's wrong.

...

Continue reading at MOBILE HOME PIERS or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see MOBILE HOME PIER FAQs - questions & answers about piers under trailers & doublewides, posted originally at this page.

Or see these

Mobile Home Structure Articles

• MOBILE HOME CODES, STANDARDS & MANUALS
• MOBILE HOME STABILIZING SYSTEMS
• MOBILE HOME STRUCTURAL DEFECTS
• MOBILE HOME CONNECTIONS, MULTI-WIDE
• MOBILE HOME CRAWL SPACES
• MOBILE HOME ENERGY ZONES
• MOBILE HOME FOUNDATIONS
• MOBILE HOME PIERS
• MOBILE HOME PIER INSPECTION
• MOBILE HOME ROOF ZONES
• MOBILE HOME STABILIZING SYSTEMS
• MOBILE HOME WALL DEFECTS
• MOBILE HOME WIND RATINGS


• MOBILE HOME WALL DEFECTS
• MOBILE HOME WIND RATINGS

Suggested citation for this web page

MOBILE HOME PIER INSPECTION at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

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INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to MANUFACTURED & MOBILE HOMES

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