driftpin
Well-known member
I read the post from the member seeking info about leveling his 1970 mobile home in CO http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=364232
I started to post a reply which wasn't about leveling a mobile home, and decided it needs to be under its own thread.
I know you're just looking for an answer about getting your trailer leveled, and water-tight. It looks like the responses are doing that for you.
I just want to make an observation about the unsuitability of older manufactured housing in the event of severe weather, from my experience as a first responder and building services professional whose career began over 40 years ago. I still hold current credentials for fire, rescue, and life safety code review, inspection, and instruction.
The environmental issues here in Florida for mobile homes (manufactured homes) are different from where you live. Trailer homes are a different species, as they are made to be on the roads, where the typical 'mobile home' most people consider in their minds when hearing that phrase, are not designed to be on the road, except when being sited upon purchase, and then in pieces when scrapped in-place and removed from the site.
Florida has a long history of use of manufactured homes, and they are still a very viable source of housing when considering a modern product designed to meet the state and federal standards of construction, siting, and use.
Having been through a couple of hurricanes that had a profound effect upon manufactured housing in the state, (Andrew, 1992; Wilma 2007), I dealt with the aftermath of both of these while working as a first responder (paid firefighter/paramedic and fire inspector) or in municipal building services/development management (urban planner and plans examiner/inspector).
Here in Florida, you would not be allowed to move that old of a home to another location, should you choose to try. It could stay in its current location but if the structural issues ever interfered with its usage as housing, it would be condemned and scrapped. Why, because anything that old isn't safe.
Hurricane Wilma hitting south Florida destroyed thousands of trailer houses in Broward County (metro Ft. Lauderdale) alone. It wasn't supposed to be much of a storm, but in its aftermath, it appears there were micro-cells of high-velocity windstorms that clawed through residential neighborhoods like the hand of an avenging god, and utterly destroyed these lightly-manufactured houses. Charting the wind forces according to national evaluation standards of destructive structural evidence (FEMA), this was clearly-seen by the roughly-parallel lines of severe destruction on site plans of residence addresses especially evident in mobile home parks.
After Wilma, I went address to address in Ft. Lauderdale area mobile home parks, looking for trapped residents and cadavers. When we got done searching, we would spray-paint a code for having searched it, on what was left. In many cases, we were spray-painting the pavement in-front of that address, as there was only a floor pan and chassis left. Everything else was vanished: walls, ceiling, screen room, possessions, gone. Thankfully, most people took advantage of the mandatory evacuation and spent the storm at a shelter, and this helped reduce the toll on residents.
Prior to the storm, I had permitted the siting and installation of some new manufactured housing units in the community. Not one of those I checked after the storm suffered significant structural damage! The increases in the construction requirements in the Florida Building Code after Hurricane Andrew, and its subsequent upgrading after that, did what it was supposed to do, make the dwellings safer and stronger.
The older mobile home parks populated with 1960's, 1970's and 1980's homes didn't fare well. I saw whole blocks of homes where no intact mobile homes were left standing. Sometimes it would be a wall left, but much of the time, it would be just the chassis and floorpan. I took one picture where three walls of a mobile home had been destroyed, some debris was around the site, but that could have been from other homes around it, it was hard to tell what went to what address. There was a much-newer home on the windward side of the demolished single-wide, and that served as a windbreak for the one remaining standing end wall of the destroyed mobile home. On that wall, there was a set of built-in cabinets, both cabinets, cupboards, and open shelves. The open shelves were for display of knick-knacks, and they had a groove next-to the back of the wall behind the shelf, for the lip of an ornamental plate collection. That way, you could display your Graceland commemorative plates, or whatever you collected. Mind-you, the rest of the single-wide was gone, destroyed, vanished to god-knows where, downwind. But, on that one remaining wall, was the owner's collection of commemorative plates, still sitting there, untouched, even though the rest of the dwelling had suffered catastrophic structural failure due to hurricane-force winds.
Colorado doesn't get hurricanes, but the Midwest does get tornadoes. I wouldn't be putting my family in something that old. I saw that the exterior walls of many of the destroyed Florida mobile homes were built out of 2 x 2's! No connections (uplift connectors, shear wall connectors, etc) from the roof joists to the chassis or frame, and roofs peeled-back like you're opening up a can of Spam, and then torn-off. That causes the walls to collapse, and like the boat that burns to the waterline, you have a chassis remaining.
Today's manufactured homes are built to a much-stronger standard, and that is the type of shelter I'd want to provide for my family.
One of the issues happening here in south Florida is that while trailer parks serve as inexpensive (relatively) housing, it's a waste of money to try to invest in one (a mobile park home), if it's more than probably 10 years-old.
Since most parks are owned by the property owners, and residents just rent their space, unless you are putting a new manufactured home on a unit space, the money spent by a homeowner to purchase an old mobile home will ultimately be a waste. Most banks won't finance anything that old, so you're driven into the lending practices of the property owners if they will lend at all. Miss a couple of payments, and you're evicted, and the mobile home is re-sold. The median (not brand-new) single-family home price in Broward County FL (Ft. Lauderdale area) was $330,000 in April 2017, which seems like an absolute bargain if you live in CA, NYC, or Chicago. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/real-estate/fl-bz-case-shiller-home-price-index-20170530-story.html However, those residents seeking mobile homes, aren't in that class of buyers. Their affordability is much-more modest. The issues related to low-income buyers being forced out of their homes is a topic of interest here, as during the run-up to the Dec. 2006 housing bubble/burst, mobile home parks were a favorite of investors looking for cheap tracts of land to purchase for re-development. Local governments passed regulations about re-development of old mobile home parks into new site-built homes, a process usually requiring re-zoning and other development considerations. Cash incentives to move for existing homeowners, including relocation cash assistance, and purchases of their mobile homes far-above their market values (which was nil, as they wouldn't be allowed to move it to another location, as it didn't meet current codes) were used to allow mobile home owners to go elsewhere, though at a monthly price far-above what they had been paying. Sometimes a cash contribution by the developer into an affordable housing fund is required.
Because of the restrictions put in-place for developers of old trailer parks/mobile home parks (MHP) possibly being re-developed, no-longer as mobile home parks, but as site-built homes, and the slow, steady climb upwards in south Florida single-family housing values, those old MHP's have fallen from being opportunistic targets of land developers. Economically-failing golf courses are the favorite targets of developers in Florida now. Large tracts of land, plenty of green space for amenities, and typically in desirable areas, golf courses are being re-developed into mixed-use developments. People who purchased condos, for example, because of the 'golf course view,' are out of luck if the developer retained ownership of the golf course.
This has covered a few topics about suitability of older mobile homes being able to withstand severe storms, development of old mobile home parks and the eviction of their residents; land development uses, and associated subjects. I'm sure there are many readers who currently live in mobile homes who may have faced some of these issues along the way. I am interested to hear what responses are.
I started to post a reply which wasn't about leveling a mobile home, and decided it needs to be under its own thread.
I know you're just looking for an answer about getting your trailer leveled, and water-tight. It looks like the responses are doing that for you.
I just want to make an observation about the unsuitability of older manufactured housing in the event of severe weather, from my experience as a first responder and building services professional whose career began over 40 years ago. I still hold current credentials for fire, rescue, and life safety code review, inspection, and instruction.
The environmental issues here in Florida for mobile homes (manufactured homes) are different from where you live. Trailer homes are a different species, as they are made to be on the roads, where the typical 'mobile home' most people consider in their minds when hearing that phrase, are not designed to be on the road, except when being sited upon purchase, and then in pieces when scrapped in-place and removed from the site.
Florida has a long history of use of manufactured homes, and they are still a very viable source of housing when considering a modern product designed to meet the state and federal standards of construction, siting, and use.
Having been through a couple of hurricanes that had a profound effect upon manufactured housing in the state, (Andrew, 1992; Wilma 2007), I dealt with the aftermath of both of these while working as a first responder (paid firefighter/paramedic and fire inspector) or in municipal building services/development management (urban planner and plans examiner/inspector).
Here in Florida, you would not be allowed to move that old of a home to another location, should you choose to try. It could stay in its current location but if the structural issues ever interfered with its usage as housing, it would be condemned and scrapped. Why, because anything that old isn't safe.
Hurricane Wilma hitting south Florida destroyed thousands of trailer houses in Broward County (metro Ft. Lauderdale) alone. It wasn't supposed to be much of a storm, but in its aftermath, it appears there were micro-cells of high-velocity windstorms that clawed through residential neighborhoods like the hand of an avenging god, and utterly destroyed these lightly-manufactured houses. Charting the wind forces according to national evaluation standards of destructive structural evidence (FEMA), this was clearly-seen by the roughly-parallel lines of severe destruction on site plans of residence addresses especially evident in mobile home parks.
After Wilma, I went address to address in Ft. Lauderdale area mobile home parks, looking for trapped residents and cadavers. When we got done searching, we would spray-paint a code for having searched it, on what was left. In many cases, we were spray-painting the pavement in-front of that address, as there was only a floor pan and chassis left. Everything else was vanished: walls, ceiling, screen room, possessions, gone. Thankfully, most people took advantage of the mandatory evacuation and spent the storm at a shelter, and this helped reduce the toll on residents.
Prior to the storm, I had permitted the siting and installation of some new manufactured housing units in the community. Not one of those I checked after the storm suffered significant structural damage! The increases in the construction requirements in the Florida Building Code after Hurricane Andrew, and its subsequent upgrading after that, did what it was supposed to do, make the dwellings safer and stronger.
The older mobile home parks populated with 1960's, 1970's and 1980's homes didn't fare well. I saw whole blocks of homes where no intact mobile homes were left standing. Sometimes it would be a wall left, but much of the time, it would be just the chassis and floorpan. I took one picture where three walls of a mobile home had been destroyed, some debris was around the site, but that could have been from other homes around it, it was hard to tell what went to what address. There was a much-newer home on the windward side of the demolished single-wide, and that served as a windbreak for the one remaining standing end wall of the destroyed mobile home. On that wall, there was a set of built-in cabinets, both cabinets, cupboards, and open shelves. The open shelves were for display of knick-knacks, and they had a groove next-to the back of the wall behind the shelf, for the lip of an ornamental plate collection. That way, you could display your Graceland commemorative plates, or whatever you collected. Mind-you, the rest of the single-wide was gone, destroyed, vanished to god-knows where, downwind. But, on that one remaining wall, was the owner's collection of commemorative plates, still sitting there, untouched, even though the rest of the dwelling had suffered catastrophic structural failure due to hurricane-force winds.
Colorado doesn't get hurricanes, but the Midwest does get tornadoes. I wouldn't be putting my family in something that old. I saw that the exterior walls of many of the destroyed Florida mobile homes were built out of 2 x 2's! No connections (uplift connectors, shear wall connectors, etc) from the roof joists to the chassis or frame, and roofs peeled-back like you're opening up a can of Spam, and then torn-off. That causes the walls to collapse, and like the boat that burns to the waterline, you have a chassis remaining.
Today's manufactured homes are built to a much-stronger standard, and that is the type of shelter I'd want to provide for my family.
One of the issues happening here in south Florida is that while trailer parks serve as inexpensive (relatively) housing, it's a waste of money to try to invest in one (a mobile park home), if it's more than probably 10 years-old.
Since most parks are owned by the property owners, and residents just rent their space, unless you are putting a new manufactured home on a unit space, the money spent by a homeowner to purchase an old mobile home will ultimately be a waste. Most banks won't finance anything that old, so you're driven into the lending practices of the property owners if they will lend at all. Miss a couple of payments, and you're evicted, and the mobile home is re-sold. The median (not brand-new) single-family home price in Broward County FL (Ft. Lauderdale area) was $330,000 in April 2017, which seems like an absolute bargain if you live in CA, NYC, or Chicago. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/real-estate/fl-bz-case-shiller-home-price-index-20170530-story.html However, those residents seeking mobile homes, aren't in that class of buyers. Their affordability is much-more modest. The issues related to low-income buyers being forced out of their homes is a topic of interest here, as during the run-up to the Dec. 2006 housing bubble/burst, mobile home parks were a favorite of investors looking for cheap tracts of land to purchase for re-development. Local governments passed regulations about re-development of old mobile home parks into new site-built homes, a process usually requiring re-zoning and other development considerations. Cash incentives to move for existing homeowners, including relocation cash assistance, and purchases of their mobile homes far-above their market values (which was nil, as they wouldn't be allowed to move it to another location, as it didn't meet current codes) were used to allow mobile home owners to go elsewhere, though at a monthly price far-above what they had been paying. Sometimes a cash contribution by the developer into an affordable housing fund is required.
Because of the restrictions put in-place for developers of old trailer parks/mobile home parks (MHP) possibly being re-developed, no-longer as mobile home parks, but as site-built homes, and the slow, steady climb upwards in south Florida single-family housing values, those old MHP's have fallen from being opportunistic targets of land developers. Economically-failing golf courses are the favorite targets of developers in Florida now. Large tracts of land, plenty of green space for amenities, and typically in desirable areas, golf courses are being re-developed into mixed-use developments. People who purchased condos, for example, because of the 'golf course view,' are out of luck if the developer retained ownership of the golf course.
This has covered a few topics about suitability of older mobile homes being able to withstand severe storms, development of old mobile home parks and the eviction of their residents; land development uses, and associated subjects. I'm sure there are many readers who currently live in mobile homes who may have faced some of these issues along the way. I am interested to hear what responses are.
