What should I look for please share your experience

[Terry]

I am looking to purchase a manufactured home and have looked at Skyline & Fleetwood and plan to look at Champion this weekend.All I see is how beautiful they look and have no construction knowledge at all If anyone can please share their own experience with the Quality of those I mentioned or tell me things I should be looking for Thank you so much

[Clarence Yeary]

Terry,

I actually got my knowledge from my business manager. He use to sell mobile homes. Here are (my) two most important points to look for:

1) MOST IMPORTANT - I would make sure the flooring is plywood or OSB. NOT NOVADECK, DURADECK or any of the other partical board floor decking companies. Your flooring is one of the most important factors cause you they can hide it under the carpet. It you get particale board wet the floor is destoryed and it is not covered my their (so called) 10yr warranty.

2) I would look for 2x4 walls. Make sure it has real 2x4 studs and not 2x3 with drywall to make up the difference.

Fleetwood & Champion make beautiful homes. HOWEVER, THEY BOTH USE NOVADECK FLOORING!!! The home may be beautiful but in five years you could be replacing the floor!

Best of Luck
C.Yeary - Kentucky

[rmurray]

Each of these manufacturers you mentioned are large companies..Fleetwood and Champion each have over 30 plants..Skyline has many plants...Each plant builds different homes..even within 1 plant there might very well be more than 1 series of home..all with different specifications and construction materials...

Your best route of info would be to spend a few dollars and download one of the e books available in the bookstore here and find out about the different specs you can get..decide what is important to you..then find a brand in your area that fills the bill...

Then compare dealers..the dealer is really much more important than the manufacturer...a good dealer can make you happy with the most basic home...but the best home can be the worst nightmare if the dealer does not do his job well...

Buying a home is the biggest investment of your life,,,a few dollars and a little time now to get up to speed is well worth the effort...You have started right by coming here and asking...use the search function on these forums to see previous posts here that can help you...then ask..ask..ask..the only dumb question is the one you do not ask..

[Terry]

C Yeary Thanks so much for the info...if you don't mind my asking what kind of home do you have?I will be going out this Sat to do some more looking and this information certainly gives me some questions to ask! Any more things i should think about?thanks! Terry

[Terry]

rmurray thank you for your suggestions! I have looked at so many floor plans and read standards etc my mind is boggled I don't know that the book would help me what I find helpful is things like the other person who responded wrote I really need things spelled out because I tell you when it comes to homes all I know ishow to clean one! Once again thanks so much!

[rmurray]

I am sorry about the suggestion I made...but...comprehensive information about the hundreds of different construction specs available would take at least 100 printed pages to cover...much too much for a forum like this..

The other post does address the flooring issue that can be so important...but there are scores of other things to consider..things like cabinetry, basic structure, windows, doors, trim..all have different sets of specs...

Keep looking..and ask..ask..ask..there are many here who will help..

[Terry]

Thank you so much!! The more I see here the more I realize how uniformed I am! Everyone is contacting me to make a purchase but I think I am going to slow it down this is way tooo important and I don't want to wind up with a dud!
Terry