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Engineered Certification & Foundations For Manufactured Homes

By John DL Arendsen

Real Estate Broker/Owner with CREST "BACKYARD' HOMES, ON THE LEVEL General & Manufactured Home Contractor, TAG Real Estate Sales & Investments 521400, 1501015, 01795582

January 23, 2014 01:01 AM

Engineered Certification & Foundations For Manufactured Homes

If you are a Real Estate Professional, Lender, Homeowner or buyer and are involved in a manufactured home loan or real estate transaction you need to know this.

What are Foundation Repairs and Retrofits?

The terminology "foundation repairs" or "Retrofits" is generally used to describe "Proprietary Foundation Systems" for MANUFACTURED HOMES

Yesterday we shared a little lighter and more humorous satire about what goes on under (photo below) a MANUFACTURED HOME during the leveling, retrofit and foundation installation process. But today we wish to share a video on a more serious note.

However, If you're not dealing in MANUFACTURED HOME transactions there's no need for you to take the time to view the video. But if you do and especially if you are a Real Estate Professional, lender, title, escrow company, home inspector, appraiser but most importantly a homeowner or buyer you should set aside some time to watch the following video:

What is MANUFACTURED HOME FOUNDATION?

It is a pre-manufactured, and much "beefier" (Lower left photo) support system designed to provide additional vertical and horizontal resistance in wind, snow, and seismic zones for which the design criteria has been pre-approved and stamped by an engineer. The photo on the right is a STANDARD PIER JACK and does not provide nearly as much vertical resistance and almost no horizontal wind or seismic resistance.

Having been registered as an approved plan with the State, a proprietary system has already demonstrated through testing data that it meets or exceeds certain requirements.

When utilizing a proprietary Standard Plan Approval (SPA), plan check fees at the building department can usually be avoided. However, a proprietary system is not the only solution. An engineer can design a site-specific plan as long as it meets local codes and will be accepted by the building department.

Another important point for

Engineered Certification & Foundations For Manufactured Homes

Adding a retrofit doesn't mean the existing components are removed (above). In fact, the manufactured home's existing supports are still necessary for the load displacement, reduction of floor vibration and for leveling adjust-ability.

A retrofit is generally required to meet loan or insurance specifications for "permanent" attachment, wind resistance, snow loads or seismic resistance.

The individual requirements for the different systems are better detailed in the following links. If you viewed the video above, and we certainly hope you did, Scott made reference to the following acronyms: ETS, PFS & ERBS. The following links will define and delineate these often referred

Engineered tie-down systems. aka (ETS)
Retrofit Foundation System (PERMANENT FOUNDATION GUIDE FOR MANUFACTURED HOMES, dated September 1996) aka (PFS)
Earthquake Resistant Bracing Systems aka (ERBS)

Whether you need an Engineer's Certification on a foundation or a foundation installation or repair (aka retrofit), we have a nationwide network of service professionals that can provide turn-key solutions.