Re-levelling The Mobile Home - Abandoned Mobile Home Project : E094 / BC Renovation Magazine
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2021
- In this video I show you how I get the old mobile home back on level before we start the new work of building the new covered deck and back porch.
Playlist for this project: • Project 98 MCE - 1984 ...
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BC Renovation Magazine 2021 - Jak na to + styl
It's too bad when people have to choose not to level because of the cost. So this is a great video to put out there for so many people. You're really offering great help, Kent.
Becki, thank you! 🙂
I have a double wide that’s in really bad shape. Floors are popping up in the main room, and everything easily rolls to the walls in every room. Due to health issues, we are flat broke, not to mention I have a badly broken back and autoimmune diseases. I’m gonna try and level myself since we just can’t afford to pay someone. Before getting so sick, I could do most everything, so I’m hoping I can do it.
Another amazing video! I hope you appreciate the pride of sharing your knowledge with those of us who want to learn, the same as your pride of your work. Trust me, your time and effort to create these videos, and share your knowledge is not in vain. The amount of money it costs to go to a school to learn what you're teaching us would be a lot of money. I'm sure I share the conception of many on CZcams who are watching your videos; I, for one, am incredibly grateful for your teachings! I am very thankful that someone like yourself will take the time to gratuitously teach those who want to learn from you. I truly feel, that when I learn from you, I am learning from the best of the best. I acknowledge it and I appreciate it. For those of us out here in Internet land who are elated to find your videos, I'm sure you know that we are for whom you created your content. We are grateful and we thank you. Take heart in knowing your knowledge will live on!
Thanks for taking us step by step, great detail ! You couldn’t have done a better job.
Mark, thank you for watching and commenting. 🙂 I fumbled a bit on explaining that water level.
I am grateful and can't thank you enough. Leveling a home on your own is no easy task, and the fact that you went the extra mile to create this video is truly commendable. Your efforts deserve a resounding "BRAVO"!
Great tutorial....I am going to do mine myself rather than pay. Not a big deal. Thx!! From Connecticut..Love the channel BTW Very Informative.
Harry, thank you! 🙂
Finally someone makes a more detailed video of doing this.
Thank you Kent for sharing this video with us dyi-ers
Another great video. Thank you
Thank you sir!
Great Job! In my mind the concrete blocks would be a better choice. I would have thought the wood stacks and shims would have begun to rot... or not be strong enough to hold the weight... but they seem to be fine - even over time. Thanks for sharing!
Hi, J B. Thanks! 🙂 The concrete blocks are a better way to go than the wood cribs, but those old wood cribs and timbers under there have stood the test of time pretty well. If this were a new set up, it would definitely be concrete blocks all the way. Thanks for watching and commenting. 🙂
I like the added safety of the beams though.. the trailer is going to slide I guess rather than just topple over. 🤔 I need to relevel mine so I might put beams on the ends and middle but have the beams on the concrete blocks. 😅
Thank you 🙏 alot
Greetings from CA. I think in CA we have to use piers, not wood blocks to support a mobile home. Awesome video. Thank you.
Hi, Dwight. Requirements differ fom place to place. Also, this home was set up 38 years ago. The requirements back then were different than the requirements now. If we were doing a new setup now it would be done differently.
Thanks for watching and commenting. 🙂
@@BCRenovationMagazine I got a bid for $6K to relevel my 1979 triple wide and install 100 new piers so I am looking at options
@@sunbroker , that's a lot of money to pay. 😮
Sir, I greatly appreciate this particular video. There are very few videos about doing this that I can find. I live in a trailer that needs re-leveled. I plan on re-leveling it as soon as I'm able but there's a deck built around it which I may remove in order to do the work; if I remove the deck, I'll want to have another one built after the trailer is re-leveled.
Thank you sir!❤
George, thanks. 🙂
I don't understand, I you're measuring from the floor, aren't you still dealing with different thickness of flooring? If the flooring in the back room is 1/2" thicker than in the front then your tape measurements will be off by 1/2" too.
Projects Galore, yes, that is correct. In our case, the floors were even. If your floors vary, then you have to compensate for that. It becomes a bit of a math puzzle.
Probably better to measure from the ceiling down, it should be the same throughout.
I wish we had known how to do this when we moved into our double-wide in Dec 2017! We had one month to renovate inside before moving in and couldn’t find anyone to do it on short notice.
Luckily, it was relatively close to level, though I’ve noticed some slight changes on one end where the strips go over the drywall at the centre of the house. At this point, though, I’d be worried about cracking drywall, etc…if we levelled.
Scott, these mobile homes do move around a bit. How much depends on the soil conditions and the kind of weather you have. Here, the soil drains well, being kind of gravelly and we don't get much in the way of frost to push things around.
It is a good idea to not get it too far out of level before it is brought back to prevent problems like that drywall buckle I showed at the end of the video. Around here it is recommended to re-level every 5 years or so.
Thanks for watching and commenting! 🙂
Thank you
I inherited a single mobile home that’s been sitting in the same spot for 27 years and never been re-leveled one side has completely broken down from all the rain that we’ve been having we’ve had floods I don’t know if releveling would be worth keeping the trailer or just tearing it down what do you think
I plan on laying a 4' level to the outer wall and jacking it up until it's level. Because of the added weight my outer walls are starting to sag a little.
When lifting, does any drywall get cracked?
How do you fix sagging outriggers and the bow in the middle of the floor?
Did you ever get an answer to this question? Maybe somewhere else?? I'm having the same issue in my double-wide
@@heatherleemadden5080 No answer. I've read elsewhere there's not much aside of replacing them. I've tried the outrigger bar with the nut & threaded rod. It lifted where I installed it but did nothing for the bow. They say those "can" work but it'll take a year or more. Installed mine about a year ago (3 of them 16" on center on one corner), still nothing. Those will likely work good for stabilizing a floor by a door or where there's weight like a refrigerator "but before outrigger sag."
If you hear of something that works, get back with me if you will, and I'll do the same.
For the outrigger sag, I pulled off the subfloor sheathing and sistered 2x6's to be level and put new subfloor down in addition to adding piers to support the rim joist. I only ran into this in one place in my house (kitchen) where a back porch had been added inappropriately (not self supporting). I didn't have the bowing issue.
So wondering what the “ancients” used for “tubing”…
Awesome videos - I have a double wide manufactured home and it was $750 US to level it a couple years back.
Mark, they just ordered something from Amazon! 😉 They had their ways. Several thousand years later we still don't know for sure how those people built the pyramids. There are a lot of theories, but it still comes down to that even with our computers to do the engineering and all the heavy equipment available it would still be a monumental task.
Thanks for watching and commenting. 🙂
A water level is the easiest way to level mobile homes and houses with crawl space.
Hi, Paul. The water level works well if there are a lot of obstacles in the way. If there is a clear line of sight, I prefer the laser. Dragging that hose around under a mobile home is not great, but the water level does have its place, that's for sure. Thanks for watching and commenting.
I didn’t think I would watch a video on leveling the mobile home but I enjoyed learning about modern vs ancient leveling techniques. Thanks for the lesson! I was wondering if some of the wood (plywood or softer woods) you use for a shimmy would compress over time with the weight of the home and furnishings?
Hi, Linda. Thanks for watching. I'm glad you enjoyed the video.🙂 There is some compression in the shims, but it is very minimal and occurs pretty much as soon as the load goes back on the crib. I usually make the shim a bit thicker than the measurement to compensate.
I'd be interested to see how you fix the ripped belly wrap w/ insulation.
Hi, Kevin. I will be getting into that pretty quick here. I have an area to repair under the kitchen sink area. The wrap was opened up previously to repair some plumbing. Once I get that kitchen sink wall repaired I will be repairing the insulation and underbelly. Stay tuned. 🙂
This might be a silly question and I might have missed it in the video, but does it matter what height you set the laser level to? Or do you just set it roughly midway up the wall?
Hi, Debra. That is a good question! 🙂 Thanks for asking. It doesn't matter where the laser is set. It is just set to a convenient height. But, once you have established that height as the 'benchmark', if you move the laser unit to another location then you want to line it up with that initial set point. Thanks for watching.
I’m curious, have you ever raised a mobile home off the ground , that was down to the I beams. What does that involve, is that worth raising, what’s the possible complications ?
Thank you. Awesome video
D. Collins, I have never raised up a home that was sitting right down on the beams. It would not be that difficult to raise it up, and I would, just to get it up off of the ground a bit.
You would just have to jack it up in increments to get it where you wanted it, placing blocking as you go.
A job like that is more involved than just re-levelling. Unless you are really handy with things like this then you should call in the pros. If not done in the correct procedure there is a chance that you could have it fall down on you.
What are you referencing to for absolute 0, your control point for your level, every time you move your level, it will change
Hi, Darrell. I find the highest point and use that to set my 'benchmark'. I bring everything else that is lower up to that high point, by shimming. It is easier to bring the low parts up than to take the high parts down.
Yes, if you move the level you will have to do a reset, taking a new reading, again from the high point that was established when you started.
Thank you for the information. I live in Northern Ontario & never seen concrete footings under the cage as well as the vapour barrier plastic. I’m looking at levelling my single wide, adding footing, changing rotting railroad tie for newer ones. What is the plastic called and have you ever had to add weeping tiles under or around the trailer? My park is very wet and was recommended that I do so. Love your video, very informative. Merci 😊
Hello, Joelle. Thanks for watching and commenting. 🙂
The plastic is just 6 mil poly that you should be able to find at most building centers. It doesn't have to be black. Clear will work as well. only the thickness (6 mil) is important,
I have never installed weeping tile, or seen it done, around one of these mobile homes. Our soil conditions allow water to drain away very quickly and our climate is semi-arid. Your soil and weather conditions in Northern Ontario will be very different than ours here,
There are many, many different ways that these mobile homes are set up, depending on the soil conditions, weather and the local building jurisdiction where you live. Also, as time goes by codes evolve. This home was set up almost 40 years ago. If it were being set up today it would be done differently.
That been said, this home has been sitting here for almost 40 years with very little ill affect from being set up to the code that was in place then, other than that significant settling in that front corner over the utility lines. Other than that corner the rest of the home was out less than an inch. If the home had been re-levelled a few times along the way there would been minimal impact from settling.
Since it sounds like you are going to replace all of your supports under your home I would recommend that you install all of the new supports to your current code. You are looking at more than just a re-levelling job. Contact your local building inspector and follow their guidelines.
All the best to you. 🙂
Thank you. I will be looking into all this. My mobile is also 42yrs old. Trying to straighten, and fix up. Have you ever spray foamed the underbelly? Our skirtings here are also insulated. Looking forward to future videos. Keep shinning 🌟
@@joelledesroches4766 , I haven't spray foamed any of these. Insulated skirts are not common here.
Can you take 4 guys with 4 jacks at 1/4 the length each apart and jack a side up at the same time?
*Hi i have a single wide mobile home, can you eliminate one bedroom, to addition 2 more bedroom on second floor, to make it look like a 2 story house?*
Hi, Maria. It is possible to add a second floor but it is very rarely done. Most building inspection agencies won't allow it.
What about shims
Do the wedges need to be a specific wood? I would imagine only a very hard wood only?
Charlie, codes vary from place to place. Around here the wood in the original cribs is required to be some kind of hardwood. There is not a specification (that I am aware of) on the shims themselves. Our jobs have been inspected and we have never had any issue with how we are doing this, where we are. We shim with just regular dry 2x4, 1x4 and plywood of various thicknesses to make up the space that we have to fill. We try to avoid disturbing the original crib as much as possible, thinking that if the crib has been sitting there for those many years it has probably settled in, just slipping shims in at the very top of the crib as needed.
Oak or abs. Prefer oak.
What the level you used great video
Hey what do u think adding metal pipe underneath the frame On the corners and middle
TJA210, I'm not sure about that. I have never done that.
@@BCRenovationMagazine yea I was thinking about adding it to the beam
2-3 “ pipe dig about 2 -3 ft deep n concrete
I recently seen a double wide with that
Some ques in mind
If there's already a deck attached and it needs leveling
Will leveling screw up the deck
Also is there any plumbing issues moved or cracked bc of leveling
Charlie, these are good questions. Thanks or asking them. 🙂
Decks and additions to mobile homes can be problematic when re-levelling. Decks are not so much of a problem if they are not covered, but a roof over a deck can make things tricky, to keep everything lined up.
Often, a deck or addition is built onto a mobile home where the mobile home is not level. The deck or addition is usually built level, while the main mobile home is not. At some point in time if the main mobile home is brought back to level then the deck or addition is usually made un-level. It can become a bit of a fight to try to get everything level and keep the roof lines correct. That is why before we start any new work in our remodeling projects we re-level before doing any new work. That way, if anything settles it all kind of settles together. A re-level will bring it all back to level again together.
As far as plumbing goes, I had one project where the drains were slow from one of the bathrooms. We were underneath re-levelling and suddenly we heard water running. What we heard was water draining from that bathroom. Re-levelling corrected the grade on the drain pipe allowing the water to drain freely as it was designed to do. No more slow drain. The plumbing pipes are all flexible enough that I don't think there is any worry about cracking pipes.
10:00 I'm trying to relevel and better support my 14x56 trailer..
Are those 8x8 beams? Just wondering how thick i should go.
ObeyDeFi, those beams that you point out are 6x6. 6x6 or 8x8 will work. Thanks for watching and commenting. 🙂
So at the end of your video, leveling may create a many problems in the interior walls etc
So is there a tolerance level to just live with
I mean to save $12-1800 in saving only to pay later to fix walls doors etc seems like a nightmare
Hi, Charlie. A lot of people don't understand that re-levelling is a maintenance item that should be done at regular intervals. Some parks actually require re-levelling to be done at scheduled intervals. It depends on your weather and soil conditions but generally a re-level should happen every 5 or so years.
There was no indication that this particular home had ever been re-levelled. The problem with that is that when we re-levelled it we had to basically take care of over 30 years of deferred re-levelling maintenance all at once and some damage was caused. It is not a problem for us because we will be refinishing the entire interior and exterior of this home. It would be a significant problem if you weren't re-finishing.
Yes, it is much less costly to re-level every once in a while than to start fixing walls, doors, etc.
It is kind of like owning a septic system. If you have a septic system you should be pumping the tank every 5 or so years to protect your septic field. Around here a septic tank pump out costs about $400. Don't pump that tank out for 30 years and all of a sudden one day everything backs up and you discover that your field is plugged and you need to replace the entire septic system. A friend of mine just replaced their almost 50 year old septic system. The bill was almost $30,000.
Thanks for watching and commenting. 🙂
Definitely check your local regulations the wood cribbing is not allowed in my area anyway and then you’re only allowed 2 to 4 inches of hardwood for shimming
Can you confirm that the high point (from measuring inside) is the point where you start leveling underneath the home? Basically you just go under the house where the high point was measured, and then point a laser at where it sits, and then move down to all the pillars, basing all other adjustments off of that initial measurement?
Hi, Kevin. Yes, that is how I do it. The high point is the 'benchmark'. Everything else is shimmed up to that high point.
@@BCRenovationMagazine Excellent! Thanks so much.
@@Kevin-zl2ek , you're welcome. 🙂
I live in Central Maine. Not sure your weather conditions but curious about after I level, what would you use to insulate inside the skirting? Thanks in advamce
Hi, Sean. I have seen some people use that rigid insulation foam board, around the inside of the skirting.
Best answer the only place that gets insulated is under the floor of the trailer then your liner finishes it it. You do not insulate your skirting you vent it with vent panels you’re asking for massive problems locking moisture underneath if you insulate it. Unless you are on a cement pad then you can get away with insulating your skirting. Most code requires venting in your skirting. A vent every so feet of skirting each state is diff.
Are you sure that door didn't open by a ghost?
Great video
How far deep are the cribs in your area?
aquarium aquarium, thank you! 🙂
In our area, at the time that this home was set up, these just sit on the ground.
Normal practice was to prepare a compacted gravel pad before the home was brought in. In the four homes I have renovated the quality of that pad has varied greatly.
The cribs are 18"x18". They sit on a 24"x24"x3" thick precast concrete pad, which is reinforced with rebar. The pads just sit on the ground.
This works for our soil conditions and climate. The way these are set up would be very different given different soils and climate.
Something that we also do not do here is tie-downs. The home just sits on the cribs, held there by gravity. That may seem astounding to some folks but again, that is because of our local conditions. There are literally thousands of mobile homes like this one in our area that have been happily sitting on cribs like this. None have fallen over. 🙂
@@BCRenovationMagazine ok very interesting thank you
Is it possible for a company to come in and level a mobile home but the floor is still Are not level?
Angelas Green Arts, the floors should be reasonably level after a re-level job. When I re-level I allow plus or minus 1/8" tolerance over the entire floor. The way that mobile homes are made it is practically impossible to get the floors pool table level. But, after the job is done you should be able to take a 4 ft. bubble level and place it anywhere on the floor (hard floors) and the bubble should be very close to being centered in the vial.
@@BCRenovationMagazine thank you for your response.
Does bc stand for British Columbia?
Lamont, yes. There is standing joke here that bc also stands for 'bring cash', because the cost of living is so high compared to most other parts of the country. 🙂
@@BCRenovationMagazine 😆😆 very true. I live next door in Alberta in Calgary.... Unfortunately Calgary is too expensive for a home. I could only imagine what Vancouver house prices are like
You should put a steel plate on top of your jack to prevent bending your main beam. This style of blocking using wood isn't allowed in the USA, HUD standards allow 1 piece of wood blocking no bigger than 2 inches. I like using the water level using attachments to a garden hose because the hose allows the water to flow better.
I'm in the USA also. I will be inheriting a single wide modular/(mobile) home in the not so far future. This information (as far as standards/codes) incredibly valuable that you shared here. Thank you! I have been learning a lot from this fine man and I knew that codes and standards in USA would vary. Heck, I'm sure they vary from state to state knowing our country...LOL Anything I can learn before taking that deep dive into the wonderful world of codes and standardization is appreciated.
Can you Re-relevelling my mobile home, please?