Manufactured home

[joy cooper]

I am considering purchasing a manufactured home and putting it on a permanent basement. Is this a smart thing to do since manufactured homes are not normally placed on permanent foundations. Will this be a safe thing to do over the long term. Could this cause structural damage. Should I instead purchase a modular since I want a basement? Any advise would be helpful. I am looking at purchasing a Schult

[Ron]

Joy,

Putting a manufactured home on a permanent foundation with NO basement is perfectly acceptable (meaning it has only a crawl space under the home.) A permanent foundation with a basement under a mobile home is another ball of wax. (You can review a basement construction under a MH on www.mobilehomerepair.com)

You would have to make significant alterations to the interior of the home in order to provide stairway access to the basement from inside the home. This can be done, but in order to protect your investiment, it needs to be engineered; your financing company be made fully aware of the internal changes to the home; if you do NOT do these things, the warranty on the home is voided when alterations are made to the MH structure; HUD guidelines followed when the home was constructed, are no longer valid; your homeowners insurance may be affected, as well; this can cause inspection problems, potentially, from you local city/county inspectors.

Save yourself the hassle and look to a modular, pre-fab, or stick built, if you have to have a basement.

Ron

[Danny]

Joy,
There are manufactured homes out there that are designed with a stairway opening in them for basements. If memory serves, Fall Creek is one example.

[Ron]

Joy,

I assumed you were talking about a single wide MH when I told you about the basement issues. I am sure a double wide could be ordered at the factory with the necessary stairway structure you would need. Danny suggested Fall Creek homes. Here is there info site for questions. Go to:

http://www.fallcreekhomes.com/info.asp

and ask them about possible basement access in their homes. I did not find a reference to staircasings on the site, but that doesn't mean they don't do it.

Ron