code selection

[bud hoekstra]

Hi...I bought a small farm in the foothills, sorroyunded by government land with no immediate neighbors. Besides the barn, stable, wellshed, toolshed, I have a manufactured home, a frame and body with no chassis, taxed as real property. The m/h had been vandalized before we made the purchase, and the m/h and barn were vandalized after our offer was accepted. We took it anyway, and I began to remodel, presuming, because most of the documents about the place were lost, that the m/h was a modular.

I county building department agreed and I county permits. I installed a $3000 fireplace insert into my fireplace and the county inspected and approved. Because the county is rural and the regular inspector got sick, the substitute inspector spurred me to get a state permit before the county inspected and approved. After the county inspected and approved, the state inspector came and red-tagged.

The insert is mobilehome-certified, so that's not the problem. The problem is the liner. Liners are listed, and a listing can be a "blanket" listing or a specific listing. In a blanket listing, a liner tested to UL 1777 fits any masonry chimney but only a masonry chimney and not a metal chimney, such as a zero-clearance fireplace chimney. A $300 insert will have a blanket listing and will not fit a zero-clearance fireplace. My $3000 insert has a specific listing listing and was tested with a masonry-only liner in a zero-clearance fireplace. So it's okay. Only the inspector got mixed up and red-tagged me and then another inspector amended the inspection and another inspector reinspected and another reviewed and ...on the eighth rewrite, the inspection is still wrong and I've gone to court.

I noticed that a California Attorney General Opinion (atty gen op have force of law) 58 CAL Atty Gen Ops 660,663 (1975) concludes that a mobilehome, when put on a building foundation and meeting applicable codes, becomes a building, and the building codes apply as opposed to the HUD code.

I noticed that COUNTRYSIDE magazine touts a trailer home conversion to a ranch house, a code switch has to be involved.

Can you educate me on how the states deal with code-converted mobilehomes and how to go about converting from a HUD code to a state code in a remodel.

In California, modulars are title 24 CCR and manufactured homes and mobilehomes are title 25 CCR. Differences are very minor: I installed copper water pipe and I grounded it to the earth; title 25 requires the ground to be the chassis. Since I no longer have a vehicle, I see no point in an inferior bonding. Or splashboards - title 24 requires them, title 25 doesn't. If I tile my sink counters and add splashboards, I'm in title 24.

Also, please explain: the federal definition of manufactured home is not a home built to the HUD code but a chassised home, one with frame, towbar and running gear. The home I have is just a body and frame, the running gear, tow bar, hitch assembly, tail lights, etc. are removed. The HUD code definition is "with permanent chassis" while a modular includes removable chassis. What home do I have.

Also, the HUD labels are red. I seem to have a brown label on my mine, medium brown, what is it?

[Tom]

I dont see any easy answer here. The people you have to question is the local code authority. Since there are so many difference from area to area, anything said here may not apply to you. Tom