A Great Home Starts With A Great Foundation
On June 15, 1976 the Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards Act - often referred to as the "HUD Code" - came into effect. Homes built after this date are built to this federal code in a controlled environment and are considered "built to HUD standards". Therefore, if your home is newer than June 15, 1976 it is considered HUD compliant or a HUD Code home. If your home was built BEFORE this date, even with modifications, it does not meet the HUD standards and is not considered HUD compliant.
If your manufactured home was built after the above mentioned date you should be able to find a manufacturer's data plate in a couple different spots in your home. First, if your home has the original siding you should be able to find a red or silver data plate on the outside of your home. If there is no visible outside data plate you can often find the paper data plate by the electrical panel, inside one of your kitchen cabinet doors or possibly on the wall of the master bedroom closet.
Of course, if you can't find the data plate in any of those locations you can click below to visit the Institute for Building Technology to request a Letter of Label Verification.
In short, the answer is no. Although, the HUD Code is a national pre-emptive code. That means that state or local code cannot conflict with the HUD Code. All states and local authorities like cities and towns must accept the HUD Code as one of their building codes.
Yes, we install a FHA/HUD, VA and all conventional lending compliant foundation system. It is an ASCE 32.01 Frost Protect Shallow Foundation for manufactured homes. This state of the art technology utilizes vertical and horizontal insulation, radiant heat from the floor of your home and depth of back fill to raise the frost line under your home.
All new manufactured homes must be placed on a HUD compliant permanent foundation. However, if you purchase a used manufactured home it is not always required. Keep in mind that local jurisdiction, lending agencies and even re-selling situations may require you to have your used or existing manufactured home on a permanent foundation. Although it's not always required for a used or existing manufactured home, we always recommend putting your home on a permanent foundation for your safety and to uphold the structural integrity of your home!
Yes we can! We install foundations on new and existing homes alike. There are a couple different options for existing manufactured homes. The great thing about an existing manufactured home is that we can use the existing skirting collectively with an alternative HUD compliant anchoring system to bring your home up to HUD standards. Keep in mind that your existing skirting should not have any holes, tears or signs of rot or decay.
Yes, a licensed professional engineer has designed and certified this foundation system for us. An engineering certification is available with each installation.
Yes! We work closely with realtors, banks, homeowners, etc. in Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota to inspect foundations for manufactured homes. If your home is on a HUD compliant existing foundation we can order an engineer's certification for you. We can also tell you - per an engineer's recommendations - what improvements need to be made to your existing home if your foundation is not quite up to HUD standards.
The type of Frost Protected Shallow Foundation that we install is exclusive only to manufactured homes.
Preparing your home site is one of the most important steps of the process when you buy a home. A properly prepared site will help prevent the home from shifting and settling. Preparing your home site will also help against drywall cracking, doors sticking and windows not opening properly. Furthermore, it greatly optimizes the functionality of your Frost Protected Shallow Foundation. A properly prepared site will protect against air leaking in under the home causing frozen pipes and even frost heaving! So, it's always very important to prepare your home site.
We always recommend that you follow the steps for site prep that are in the installation manual for your home. However, we do have site preparation steps for new and existing homes as well as some pictures of properly prepared home sites! You can click below to see our information on site preparation.
Absolutely! We install engineered alternative permanent foundations, install our Magnum® PermaSteel Skirt Wall, inspect existing homes' foundations for HUD compliance and anchor existing homes all year round.