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Mobile, Manufactured and Modular Home Inspections                                               

When looking to purchase a mobile, manufactured or modular home, it is in your best interest to have a whole house inspection. A whole house inspection can on a manufactured or modular home will cost slightly less than a regular home but the few hundred dollars you spend up front could literally save you thousands of dollars!

Make it a priority to find a company like Pacific Crest Inspections who specializes in home inspections for manufactured or modular homes. Our inspector will have more knowledge with respect to the nuances such as going under the mobile home to inspect the belly, the piers, or even drainage. These are things that a regular home inspector would not have to deal with so these important items might get overlooked, or important details simply missed.

First a brief explanations of terms: What is the difference between a Modular and Manufactured home?

What Are Site Built Homes?

Site built home are built from the ground up on the site where they will be permanently. This is referred to as stick or site built. The home is assembled from individual lumber pieces by carpenters with the roofers, electricians and plumbers adding their components throughout each phase.

What Are Modular Homes?

Modular homes are like the hybrid car of the house-building industry. They save money, they make sense, but they haven't caught on yet. General misconceptions keep many from considering going modular, and the confusion between modular homes and manufactured (mobile) homes has led to regulations and restrictions being placed by towns that have new home builders scared into going the traditional route. Modular homes are built in sections in a factory setting, indoors, where they are never subjected to adverse weather conditions. The sections move through the factory, with the company's quality control department checking them after every step. Finished modules are covered for protection, then transported to your home site. They are placed on a pre-made foundation, joined, and completed by your local builder. Local building inspectors check to make sure a modular home's structure meets requirements and that all finish work is done properly.  Many buyers prefer modular homes because they can be assembled quicker onsite and in many cases less expensive per square foot than site built houses.  It turns out modular homes are in many ways superior to stick-built homes, and, once assembled, cannot be distinguished from their traditionally built counterpart.
 

What Are Manufactured Homes?

Manufactured homes, formerly called mobile homes, are built in a factory. Each home conforms to the US government's Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (HUD code), rather than to building codes enforced at the home's destination. Each home or segment of a home is labeled with a red tag that is the manufacturer's guarantee the home was built to conform to the HUD code. Manufactured homes are built on a non-removable steel chassis and transported to the building site on their own wheels. Although the terms single wide and double are common many builders are making triple and multi-story manufactured homes. Multi-part manufactured units are joined at their destination. Unfortunately even with advances in quality and styles manufactured homes generally decrease in value over time. Segments are not always placed on a permanent foundation, making them more difficult to re-finance over time. Manufactured housing is generally less expensive than site built and modular homes.
 

Common issues in Manufactured and Modular Homes.

Just as with the purchase of a car, manufactured/ modular homes are built at different price points and quality levels. This has a direct impact on how the home wears over time. The second factor is how the home is maintained over time. We have seen well maintain home and homes where the repairs are all duct tape and baling wire.

STRUCTURAL & SAFETY DEFECTS in Mobile Homes

• Movement (impacts electrical & flues)
• Storm Damage
• Floor Collapse (particle board, exterior & plumbing leaks)

Defects

• 31% of homes had roof problems; (C.R. survey)
• flat or near-flat, may be covered with conventional shingles (slope too low)

• chimneys or plumbing vents "patched-over" so as to be blocked

• dents and ponding and leaks at seams (patching with roof cement fixes leaks but corrodes metal)

• roofs with no overhang: frequent leaks in walls at windows or wall tops;
• Shingled roofs usually have overhang (added?); flat roofs don't. Metal roof seams leak;
• older units, bad leaky windows - beware: leaks into walls invite rot and insect damage. Check the floor below windows and doors, and inspect this area carefully from the crawl space.
• skirt condition, missing, avenue for insect attack and rodent entry. In cold climates a missing skirt can lead to frozen burst pipes and related damage. find opening (s)
• site concerns: open septics; inadequate. frost protection for supply or DWV; shared wells, shared septics, possibly not tested nor maintained;
• Siding: vinyl preferred over metal or hardboard (C.R.)
• Site debris: may be unsafe, a sanitary or other Building code violation, source of rodents, or otherwise a cost to a buyer to have removed.
• • slab preferred; assure good drainage away (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, removed chassis, water-undermined piers; footings/piers often not below frost line; reinforced floating slab may work ok;
  • 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: properly-stacked blocks, hardwood or treated wood or concrete cap, shims; piers sit on 16"x16"x4" concrete pad, precast 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 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;
  • 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; Steel piers should be on concrete soil pads/footings;
  • settlement: may show up in hard-to-operate windows/doors;

  Crawl Space Concerns

  • openings, damaged insulation, leaking pipes, improper plumbing and wiring
  • violations of proper clearance to ground:
  • 12" minimum beneath lowest frame member and ground in area of utility connections;
  • no more than 25% of main frame can be less than 12" above grade;
  • If over basement or habitable lower level or more than 1/4 of home is more than 3' above grade a professional must design the foundation;
  • belly wrap (plastic or other) to seal out moisture and hold in insulation:
  • often damaged or pulled out for repair; rodents, water, leaks; air leaks;

  Mobile Home Supply Piping Defects

  • PB (polybutylene with mechanical fittings) Piping leaks: especially in South e.g. FL per M Cramer
  • New units: 3/4" supply piping, min 6" off ground; shutoff valve required;
  • freeze protection?
  • open drains or leaky connections (crawl)
  • leaky supply main (crawl)

  LINKS

  HUD Report on Moisture Problems

  Pacific Crest Inspections is a locally owned home inspection company providing home inspections, commercial inspection and pest inspections in the Bellingham, Wa. area. Pacific Crest inspections is licensed by Washington State and carries the highest certification “Certified Real Estate Inspection” offered by the National Association of Home Inspectors (NAHI)  Pacific Crest Inspections conducts their Washington State home inspections according to the National Association of Home Inspectors Standards of Practice & Code of Ethics. These professional home inspection standards provide a minimum guideline for conducting a Bellingham, Washington home inspection. Our home inspection standards are available for viewing under the "Consumer Information" section of our website or ask your Arizona home inspector for a copy of the NAHI Standards of Practice & Code of Ethics prior to your Bellingham home inspection.