The Manufactured Housing Forums

I am typing this out for peopple to read so anyone owning or thinking about byeing a mobile home with hardboard siding it, can see that they are not alone, and or what will happen if you bue a home with this siding on it.
My husband and I own a 1994 Champion Mobile home, On September 20, 2002 we noticed our siding/trim growing orange mold, so we started taking the trim and shutters which are the same material as our siding off of our home, only to find out that the rotting had gone through the trim through the shutters into the siding on the house and is now in my insulation. we also took the trim off at the bottom of our mobile above the skirting, only to find that our sill plate is also rotted.
When you build a regular house on a concrete fundation a sill plate is put on the top of the concrete wall so the floor trusses and sub floor and walls and so on can be built, on a mobile home we have steal beams, the sill plate is put on the steal beam, and then the floor trusses, the sub floor, the walls and roof.
we called the insurance company and were told that it wasnt covered because it was something that happened over time and was not sudden, and to get estimates from siding companies to find out how much it would cost to fix our house, after having many many mnay siding companies and mobile home maintance compies come out we have found out that our 1994 mobile home that we still owe 24,000.00 on is NOT fixable, in order to fix the sill plate the house has to be gutted and taken down to the steal beam, and rebuilt. I went online and found out that there was a recall in 1997 for hardboard siding and a class action law suit filed, we were never sent a letter by the manufacturer or the dealer that sold us the mobile home. We are currently waiting for our city building inspector to come and tell us if he is going to condemn our mobile home becasue there is not enough structural support because the sill plate is rotted, if they condemn our home we have 48 hours to pack everything we own put it in storage and find a hotel to live in until we can find someplace to live.
the siding is called Masonite omniwood siding, it is a panelized or lap siding, part of the law suit reads as follows.......Plaintiffs seek releif based on theories of negligence, breach of express warranties, and fraud. Plaintiffs allege that omniwood siding manufactured by masonite corporation on or after January 1, 1992 and installed and incorporated into commercial, and/or rental property and residences, will rot, buckle, discolor, deteriorate, and cause damages to other structural parts of the buildinginto which it is incorporated, causing class members to suffer and continue to suffer damages.
This can be found at...http://www.kinsella.com/masonite/fullnoteomni.shtml
My husband and I have had to get an attorney on our own to go after the manufacturer of our home and the dealer of our home for not sending us a letter or notifying us 5 almost 6 years ago that we have recalled siding on our mobile home, had we known then we would not owe $24,000.00 on a Mobile home that is going to be condemned because of the siding, because it is not structurally safe to live in. I called the 800 number to request a claim form for this recall (it open until the year 2019) and the lady asked me how bad my siding was and when i got to the sill plate i was told that i would have to get ahold of our sub contrctor that built my house, I told her this isnt a house its a mobile home, she then told me that they had no clue that this sidng was ever put on mobile homes.
I'm living in hell because a mobile home manufacturer and dealer never notified us that we have recalled siding!!!!!

I TO HAVE HARDBOARD SIDING ON MY MOBILE HOME A 1986 MELODY AND I ALSO CONTACTED THE COMPANY FOR A CLAIM AND WAS TOLD TO REMOVE THE INSIDE WALL TO VERIFY IT WAS THEIR SIDING AND IT WAS THEIR WOOD (CHAMPION) AFTER TAKING THE INSIDE WALL OFF SIX TIMES AND TAKING PICTURES AND GOING BACK AND FORTH WITH THEM I WAS TOLD I DIDN'T QUALIFY FOR REPLACEMENT OR REFUND FOR THE SIDING.

Hardboard Siding was not the invention of the manufactured housing industry. This siding type was a favorite of architects, builders and carpenters for several years. The material was easy to handle and install and looked great... At first.... After several years many problems with the products became apparent, but not before thousands of new residential and commercial structures of all types were built with it.

I had Hardboard on a MH we own and on a small commercial building. In both cases we were able to recover enough from class action suites to reside the buildings with vinyl lap. Some of the Hardboard manufacturers have already settled their class actions suites and others are still trying to hammer out deals. Get the latest info at www.badsiding.com/

What most people don't understand about this problem is that they are not alone. There are thousands of problems out there were this materials was use not exclusively on manufactured homes but on Office buildings, residential communities and custom homes as well. The manufacture "Masonite" is the responsable party here. Just as "Firestone" was responsable for the recall on their tires. There is a point were consumer protection has to draw a line. Number one. The manufacture of a home installed with a hardboard siding from years ago, cannot possibly know if there is a problem with "your home" unless you tell them. Then they will help YOU contact the proper manufacture of that product so you can take it up with them. (And I say YOU because your home is out of warranty / for instance if you purchase a Mercedes and drive it for 9 years hard and start to have problems with everything from electrical to water pumps, do you think Mercedes will step in and fix it -no) In your owners manual you will see that it calls for you to clean and recaulk your siding yearly. If you do this on a regular basis like the owners manual says to, you will have ample opportunity to check the siding for deterioration. Now I'm not saying that you were not wronged. However some responsiblity falls on the home owner to keep his or her home in good shape. Therefore watching for these things to begin happening. I have hardbaord (From Masonite) on a sitebuilt home I built 10 years ago and have had no problems. I paint it with a good paint when it needs it and it is pressure washed once a year. I have replaced rotten wood around windows but never had a problem with the siding.
Also, the dealer you bought your home from is not prevy to information about recalls as they should be. I have been a dealer for 20 years and the recall you speak of I have never heard of. So, you have a problem but please don't just run around pointing your finger at everyone. It was not the manufacture or the dealers fault this happened to you.

How do you find out if you have this siding ? I have a 1990 Champion Huntington 16 by 18 Mobil Home the siding is falling aprt. Thanks for the info.