Bent I-Frame

[Pam Carroll]

I wrote the post about 'Leveing a Mobile Home.' My husband found where the back frame is bent. So now we know why the installers were having a hard time leveling the home. I am just curious to know why this was never brought to my attention, and according to my husband they would have known full well about the bend. I really don't even know where to go from here. Is this usually their responsibility to fix or is this something we are going to have to deal with? Any help would be appreciated.

[rmurray]

If I remember your original post this is a used home......The crew should have notified you and offered to correct the problem for an additional fee...Used are usually sold as is..Which means this is on you..This kind of thing is what home inspectors are for....If the seller knew of this problem they should have informed you...In that case you might have a legal case...If you bought from a dealer he might be willing to help...especially if you bought it delivered and set......This fix is possible but takes a skilled crew...Usually a skilled welder will heat the frame and bend it back....

[troy]

A bent frame really isn't hard to fix. But it does require someone that knows what they are doing. Without knowing where and how the frame is bent it is impossible to tell if that is holding the home out of level. It would not keep the home 8" out of level as your first post indicated. Based on your prior post I would say it is possible that the installer bent the frame while leveling the house. Using a 4' level is a sure sign they don't know what they are doing. This should have been disclosed to you by the installer. Even most bad installers will tell you if the frame is damaged before they start so they don't get blamed for it later. The fact they didn't warn you about it makes them appear suspect to me.

[Pam Carroll]

We purchased this home from a very close relative of mine, whom I know and trust. The frame was not bent when they had it on their property. We believe this happened during transporting or possibly while they were trying to level the home. If it had been there, surely they would have told us so they wouldn't be blamed!

Of course the drama continues. While my husband and I were out there this weekend to take a look at the bent I-beam, we decided to do some measuring. First we used a water-level and found that the front is 4.5" out of whack and the back is 3.5", but to top that, whenever my husband got underneath the home to make sure the drainage pipe had enough of a slope and we found that the home is not even high enough for the septic tank! It's a whole 16" too low!

It is reassuring to know that the bent frame can easily be fixed - I hope so. I am also hoping to get the State Inspector out there on Monday. I'm tired of dealing with these incompetent fools.