Sometime after moving into your double-wide mobile home, you see signs of an unlevelled home.
The creaks and moans in your flooring and walls increases. Doors are difficult to shut. There are numerous cracks in the sheetrock around the joints in the mobile home. The home is clearly off-kilter. But things weren’t always that way. What happened?
Your blood rises. It’s possible that the mobile home installation professionals did you wrong. It’s time to call people out on their poor work quality.
But hold it right there. While there is a possibility that people did shoddy work, it is highly unlikely. The likely culprit here is that your home settled.
The after effects
After construction (or in this case, after installation) it is normal for a home to settle. The dirt underneath the home will shift into place, and this will be evident in the home. Moreover, unequal leveling takes place which requires the need for special attention to set things to right.
If settling is not the culprit, there may very well be a structural weakness coming into play. Maybe the lumber used to make wedges were untreated and now they’re rotting. It’s time they get replaced.
Under the circumstances, you need to know how to relevel a double-wide mobile home. If not dealt with, a mobile home may no longer be HUD compliant due to its unlevelled state. The repercussions of having a mobile home that is not HUD compliant are costly. You may not be allowed to sell your home, ever.
How to relevel a double wide mobile home
In this article, we will be discussing the most pertinent mobile home foundation. Mobile homes on pier foundations are the most likely to require releveling.
These homes come in two separate parts, Therefore, they must be leveled one side at a time.
Also, sheer enormity and danger come with this type of work. We highly encourage you to relevel your home through hiring a professional.
A professional contractor will understand what is required of them by the HUD code. They should be familiar with the official HUD foundations guide. Call around and until you find a contractor that is familiar with the demands of such a task. Your contractor must know how to relevel a double-wide mobile home.
Once your contractor crawls underneath your home, he will be able to better assess the situation. He will have to decide if the piers should be replaced, adjusted, or if wedges are in order.
The cost of bringing in a professional that knows how to relevel a double wide home varies.
In estimation, you are looking at spending anywhere between six hundred to eight hundred dollars. You should expect the contractor to use a water or laser level for optimal leveling. Don’t hesitate to ask if this is what he is intending to use.
Relevel a double wide DIY style
There are some who know how to relevel a double-wide mobile home on their own. We don’t recommend it due to the risks involved. It is dangerous for you to risk having a whole house falling on you. And it could be a waste of precious time. Especially if you don’t really know what you are doing.
But if you are still intent on pressing forward, here is a quick rundown of what it looks like.
First, you will need the following:
- A five to twenty-ton hydraulic jack
- Protective goggles
- A water or laser level
- Hammer
- Flashlights
- Wooden wedges
- Work gloves
- Piers (if you intend to replace any)
Next, crawl underneath the crawl space. Check the level from pier to pier. Place the jack under the beam between two piers and lift the home until the water level reads properly.
If the pier is adjustable then make the necessary adjustment to bring it up to the correct height. If the pier needs to be replaced, then go ahead and take care of that now. However, if adding wedges are all you need to do, then go ahead and get them in place. You can use a hammer if needed.
Finally, lower the jack but only remove it once you have verified that everything looks good. Check that all your pipes are positioned well, they may have moved in the process of fixing the piers.
There you have it – a quick rundown of the leveling process.
Moving forward …
So now that you know how to relevel a double-wide mobile home, we wish you the best in implementing the guide we have provided. Again, we strongly urge you to invest in having a contractor deal with the releveling of your home. Now you will know what their work will entail.
If you’re looking to set up a mobile home on land, we have a helpful article that explains what to expect.
About Dan Leighton
