Kids building blocks. Dumping them onto the floor, they would evoked thoughts of huge sky scrapers or a medieval castle with a moat and a draw bridge. Whether they were the old fashioned wooden blocks or the more modern plastic LEGO type, building blocks let you build whatever your mind could imagine. Some kids grow up and still get to play with blocks on an adult sized scale.
In the world of residential construction a relatively new method of building houses is modular construction. Modules or blocks if you will, are placed together on a building site after being constructed in a factory. Sears is considered by many to be the first modular home builder, having sold approximately 500,000 pre-fabricated kit houses between 1910 and 1940. The first true modular homes began appearing in the early 1950s in answer to a high housing demand from veterans.
In many ways factory constructed homes have an advantage over site built. For instance, a house built in a factory is constructed by the same work force, not transients. Often there is better quality control and the entire house is built out of the weather. The assembling of the modules however is where things can go awry.
As a home inspector, I have seen many modular houses. Many are fine houses that most people are not aware are factory built. Occasionally I find one with assembly issues. During one week recently, I inspected two modular houses. Both cape cod style, both very close in age. One had some trouble coming together.
Crawling through a scuttle hole into the attic of one of these modular cape houses, I began looking about the space. Squat walking in the direction of the gable end, something caught my attention. A large, vertical gray, blue line smack in the middle of the end wall. As I drew closer, the line it turned out was a large gap in the house framing. What I was seeing was the vinyl siding showing through the opening. This is the point at which the two modules should be joined. The gap extended through the entire seam, meaning the wall, floor and ridge.
At some points, the gap was as wide as three inches. At others it was less than an inch. As I said I have seen many modular homes over the years and I have never seen gaps, at least very large gaps between the modules.
The video below is a tour of the canyon if you will.
My advice to the buyer was to contact the manufacturer of the home for guidance on repairs. This house is an engineered product, therefore I feel any repair plan should come from the company that built the house. For those of you who may not know, in most instances the manufacturing information is below the kitchen sink.
When we are children, a miscalculation with our blocks is no reason for alarm. As adults when the blocks don't fit right, it can mean it's time to get out some of the other big boy toys to fix the problem.
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