A homeowner in Orlando needed an engineer to certify their double-wide's foundation for a loan. Lenders typically require that certification before they will finance a manufactured home. The inspection came back as a Notice of Manufactured Home Permanent Foundation Non-Compliance, which means no certificate and no loan until the problems are fixed.
We corrected every item on the report, and the home passed.
What the engineer flagged
The report measured the home against HUD's Permanent Foundations Guide for Manufactured Housing (1996) and listed three problems:
Rusted and broken straps. Many of the galvanized tie-down straps had rusted thin or snapped. Straps that lose their cross-section can't hold the home down in high wind.
Anchors not driven to depth. Ground anchor heads are supposed to sit no more than 1 to 2 inches above grade. These were sticking up too high, so they couldn't carry their rated load.
Straps attached the wrong way. The straps were clipped to the bottom flange of the I-beam only. Done right, the strap wraps over the top of the beam before it clips on, so the load pulls on the whole beam instead of the edge of one flange.
The report allowed two ways to fix it: replace the straps and anchors with new 1-1/4 inch galvanized straps installed correctly, or install a manufactured foundation system with longitudinal arms set within the manufacturer's angle limits. Either way, all work has to follow HUD code and the manufacturer's installation instructions, without mixing parts from different manufacturers.
What we did
Installed a steel foundation system bolted to the I-beams, with longitudinal and lateral arms to brace the home side to side and end to end.
Replaced the failed straps and set anchors to the proper depth.
Reset piers on their pads and shimmed them tight to the frame.
Put the skirting back so the home looked finished when we left.
The result
With the deficiencies corrected, the home was re-inspected and passed, so the foundation could be certified and the homeowner could move forward with the loan.
Got a non-compliance notice?
As the report itself says, you are free to choose your own contractor. Send us a photo of your engineer's report and we will go through it item by item and tell you what it will take to pass. We work across Orange, Seminole, Brevard and Volusia counties. See our HUD & foundation inspections, tie-downs & anchoring and Orange County pages for more.
Call (689) 371-4053 for a free estimate, or send us a message.
