The Manufactured Housing Forums

Hello Readers,

I've been searching for resources regarding "defective" or faulty manufactured homes. My mom-in-law purchased a brand new deluxe-model double from Suburban Home Sales, Inc., built by Schult Homes in May, 2002. The home is beautiful, however since moving in, she has experienced problems with:

Roof installed in poor workmanship with courses of shingles with staple holes running the length of the home (caused by packaging during shipping). Improperly installed pipe-flashing and skylight (crooked). The shingle edge was also 1" short of the roof edge (my husband has years of experience with residential roofs).

Her siding had to be removed and reinstalled on the west side of the house due to excessive settling of the house.

Interior issues range from cracked linoleum in her bathroom to the drain for her washing machine not being hooked up (caused subfloor, tile, drywall damage ... not to mention a nasty odor).

She requested the extra insulation (at an extra cost) at the time of purchase. Though the house is very cold (cold floors, drafty windows, and the exterior walls of home are cold to touch).

Draft around the water heater, causing the pilot light to continuously extinguish.

Her furnace had to be replaced within a year, and is now having problems with the replacement.

She's also been anxious to paint her walls, but due to the settling, she's been instructed to wait. It has been over two years and she still can't wait (the walls are still shifting).

I'm sure I've failed to mention everything ... there's just too many to remember. It just seems crazy to me that all of these defects would exist on a brand new home (and not a cheap one, at that!).

On several occasions, servicemen from Schult Homes have come and addressed most of these issues, but hardly corrected any of them. Her house is no longer under warranty, so they are no longer accepting her complaints.

She has just recently filed a formal complaint with the State of Michigan, and is just waiting to hear back.

FYI, one of the times she called her sales rep. at Suburban Home Sales, he mentioned part of the house falling off the truck(?) on the way to Michigan. Is this common? Could that be part of the reason things are going wrong?

If anyone who had read this far has any advice or comments regarding her situation, it would be greatly appreciated. I think she deserves either a refund or a replacement home (atleast!).

Thanks for reading, I hope I didn't ramble too much! Looking forward to some responses.

Sincerely,
Maya B.
Michigan

I will keep my mouth shut

jason why don't you do everybody a big favor and take a loaded gun put it in your mouth and pull the trigger. And by the way nobody willl miss you ...

have a nice day!!!!!

sounds like she didnt do the required maintenance

Required maintenance? Perhaps you could clue me in. I don't know sh*t about manufactured homes ... and until my mother-in-law purchased one, I had never even stepped foot inside of one.

Did they take advantage of her? She had just lost her husband 2 months prior and bought the home with some of the insurance money.

Is there anything she can do at this point or not?

Thanks for reading.

Maya

Two pieces here - from the consumer's perspective, not as an expert.

1. Holes in the shingles from staples should be filled by the setup crew. I went over my house and found a few. Houses are assembled by human beings, usually under some time pressure, see below for examples. I used a GE silicone product made for roofing material.
2. Is it windy when the pilot light goes out? Wind likely is blowing down the flue pipe. I had this problem in my stick-built house. The strong east wind we get would do this. Solution: I made a small shield and attached it to the top of the flue. Most pilot lights I've seen aren't adjustable, so one can't simply turn it up.
3. If her house is settling, the persons responsible would be those who sold her home, in my opinion. It sounds like the footings may not have been deep enough for the conditions. You can save a bit of money and set a home directly on blocks, but avoid that if at all possible, as the home will need to be releveled periodically, at a couple hundred bucks a shot. If the home is drywall - taped and textured, it MUST be set on a solid foundation.
4. As to maintenance, that's no different than a stick-built home. Mr. Jason here appears to be bitter about being beaten out of a deal some time - ?
5. A good home depends on three things: An educated buyer, a well-made home, and a good setup crew. I've been very happy with mine so far, with a couple exceptions. When anyone is spending $25-100K, it pays to do research about it. It's a bummer to have to do it under duress.

Jason:
In my site-built home, I found these pleasant surprises (I bought the home used, and couldn't nail anyone to the wall - but did beat the price down thousands)
1. Copper pipes capped off with galvanized caps - the dissimilar metals react to each other... a flood waiting to happen.
2. Missing backing for the siding above the bay window. I could put my hand inside the wall. Missed by the county inspector. As it was on the south side, water blew up inside, and exited through my kitchen light fixture. Great, eh?
3. Inadequate drainage, resulting in hydrostatic pressure cracking the foundation, and a continual water leak under the house.
4. Furnace not installed to code; when AC was added, it had to be raised.
5. Wavy sheetrock in the living room - we made it less conspicuous with wallpaper.
6. Kitchen sink drain installed improperly, resulting in clogs from using the garbage disposal.
7. Cheap builder-grade dishwasher needed replacement.
8. Louisiana-Pacific Inner-Seal lap siding used - grows mushrooms over time. Inspector agreed siding needed replacement, but settlement check would only cover about 25% of the cost.

Care to respond?

Yea, you bought a used home were talking about a brand new home here

Indeed it was used - nobody stepped up at the time of first purchase. And it was lower-end, built during a building boom, when anyone with two warm hands was a "carpenter." My new home, though, had a very short punch list, taken care of within a week of calling. It is a higher-end manufactured home, yes, but it's good quality at a price that will allow me to retire some day.

ok good for you

lol, Maybe there is hope for you yet...Thanks for the laugh you really are a bit of a goof ball.
csody