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Foundation question for a modular home Robertcode 08-30-2006
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Posted by Robertcode on August 30, 2006, 1:28 pm
Hi everyone, I apologize if this is the wrong place but I have a
question I really need help with.

Back in March we had a fire that destroyed our home and ever since then
we've been waiting to have another one built so we can return. They've
got a modular home built for us, and also we're adding another so it'll
be like a giant duplex with the second half being for my sister. This
is what it's supposed to look like.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v349/TrickyNinja/Blueprint.png

Notice how it's all level, also there is supposed to be a basement
under each side that we can stand up and walk around in.

Now, I went down to view the construction of the foundation today and
it seemed very stange to me given the specifications above, this is
what it looked like.

Side

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v349/TrickyNinja/side.png

Top

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v349/TrickyNinja/top.png

Please forgive my crappy artistic ability.

The black parts are the walls and the red parts are these ends of
screws type things, like the end you screw in to something. On the top
view the grey lines are where the sections meet.

Now given this foundation, and the fact that the house is supposed to
be level I can't understand how they're going to do it. The only thing
I can think of is they're going to place some kind of bracket on top of
the foundation and then put the house on it to level it. But if that's
the case which side would it be level to?

There are two streets (one on the left and one on the right sides of
the side view, top and bottom on the top view) and the first one
(right/bottom) is higher up than the 2nd one, so if it was level with
the right on the side view then the left side would have to climb a
ladder to get in the house and if it was level with the left side we'd
have to be 2 feet tall to walk around our basement.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows this type of setup and can explain
what the heck they're doing. My sister who's handling the whole thing
keeps asking but the guy she's dealing with is a real a-hole.

Any help on this issue would be appreciated it's been almost 6 months
now and I just want to freakin go home.


Posted by Bob Morrison on August 30, 2006, 2:03 pm
In a previous post Robertcode wrote...
> I'm just wondering if anyone knows this type of setup and can explain
> what the heck they're doing. My sister who's handling the whole thing
> keeps asking but the guy she's dealing with is a real a-hole.
>
> Any help on this issue would be appreciated it's been almost 6 months
> now and I just want to freakin go home.
>

A rough guess:

The foundation wall is stepping down a sloping site. The builder appears
to be planing some sort of column at the end of each steel beam that runs
the length of each modular home section (2 beams per section, total of 8
beams or 16 columns). I imagine that he will then close in between the
columns to provide the basement.

I don't see anything wrong with the concept. But, the units must be
properly anchored to the concrete in order to meet federal HUD
requirements.

--
Bob Morrison, PE, SE
R L Morrison Engineering Co
Structural & Civil Engineering
Poulsbo WA
bob at rlmorrisonengr dot com

Posted by Robertcode on August 30, 2006, 3:10 pm
I heard something about a "Pony Wall" if that helps.

And I live in Canada so I imagine the requirements are a bit different,
but probably similar.

The site is sloping, If you look at the side picture the right side
street is higher up than the left side street.

> A rough guess:
>
> The foundation wall is stepping down a sloping site. The builder appears
> to be planing some sort of column at the end of each steel beam that runs
> the length of each modular home section (2 beams per section, total of 8
> beams or 16 columns). I imagine that he will then close in between the
> columns to provide the basement.
>
> I don't see anything wrong with the concept. But, the units must be
> properly anchored to the concrete in order to meet federal HUD
> requirements.
>
> --
> Bob Morrison, PE, SE
> R L Morrison Engineering Co
> Structural & Civil Engineering
> Poulsbo WA
> bob at rlmorrisonengr dot com


Posted by Bob Morrison on August 30, 2006, 6:32 pm
In a previous post Robertcode wrote...
> I heard something about a "Pony Wall" if that helps.
>
> And I live in Canada so I imagine the requirements are a bit different,
> but probably similar.
>
> The site is sloping, If you look at the side picture the right side
> street is higher up than the left side street.
>

I'm pretty certain that the Canadian Building Code has requirements for
modular/mobile/manufactured home foundations. They should not be much
different than the requirements in the US, since the building codes are
similar.

--
Bob Morrison, PE, SE
R L Morrison Engineering Co
Structural & Civil Engineering
Poulsbo WA
bob at rlmorrisonengr dot com

Posted by PPS on August 30, 2006, 5:20 pm
Bob, modular housing must meet local & state codes, not HUD (you are
thinking of the "Federal Manufactured Housing and Construction Standards
Program," otherwise known as mobile homes.

I work in this industry and can't answer the question. Most foundations I've
seen are completely level as the home is lifted off the carrier and placed
on the foundation with a crane. My only guess would be that the home is an
"on-frame" modular (similar to a mobile home) and parts of the foundation
have been left out to slide the home over. (Wild guess.) More likely it's as
you suggested as a sloping site - it just doesn't fell right however.
Sloping site foundations are level at the top and vary below.

Dennis

> In a previous post Robertcode wrote...
>> I'm just wondering if anyone knows this type of setup and can explain
>> what the heck they're doing. My sister who's handling the whole thing
>> keeps asking but the guy she's dealing with is a real a-hole.
>>
>> Any help on this issue would be appreciated it's been almost 6 months
>> now and I just want to freakin go home.
>>
>
> A rough guess:
>
> The foundation wall is stepping down a sloping site. The builder appears
> to be planing some sort of column at the end of each steel beam that runs
> the length of each modular home section (2 beams per section, total of 8
> beams or 16 columns). I imagine that he will then close in between the
> columns to provide the basement.
>
> I don't see anything wrong with the concept. But, the units must be
> properly anchored to the concrete in order to meet federal HUD
> requirements.
>
> --
> Bob Morrison, PE, SE
> R L Morrison Engineering Co
> Structural & Civil Engineering
> Poulsbo WA
> bob at rlmorrisonengr dot com



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