The Manufactured Housing Forums

Hi all. First post. Great to find a site with folks who actually know what you're asking about.

First thing. I own a 1987 Keyport Dbl. wide that's about 28' X 44' from overhang to eaves. About 42' X 26'-8" box dimensions. I only owe a few thousand bucks on the thing and have seriously thought about moving it to a basement set on a property. A couple of things I need to figure out before even considering this. The fools who set it took the tongues! Grrr.... I've been told it's nearly impossible to find a tongue that willl come anywhere near bolting up. Also that all mfrs. make frame widths different and that even finding one with the same frame spacing is unlikely. If I could find one that has the right spacing(width)I have been told that it could be welded in place for the move and then cut off. Think I could find a welder or mover willing to buy trip insurance on such contraption?

As to the basement set, my Dad set one up about 12 years ago with the beam pockets and 8" cross beams. The only thing I remember being a little dubious about was the end walls of the basement. The contractor set two pockets at each end that were about 4" deep and the width of the frame spacing plus about 2" so there was pently of room for setting the beast. Is there some alternative to these unsightly(and I think, wall weakening)pockets? Can the end of the frames be cut back a few inches and then have a pilaster cast right into the wall at each frame rail location to support the ends?

Lastly, and sorry to make such a lengthy post, how about ceiling material? I have drywall that is set from eave to center peak on 4' centers. No finishing between seams. Just butted up. After such a move I can't help but think the ceiling will be in abominable condition. I also am having a heat load problem and I think it's due to the settling of the blown insulation in the trusses. I had thought about ripping down the cheesy looking 3/8" drywall(nicely shows a dip beween every truss) and installing 1"X8" tongue & groove pine boards. Stopping every few feet to roll insualtion batts into the truss cavities. Any opinions on this? The major question that came up to me was fire rating of the t&g material.

Welding a hitch is no big deal,they used to all be welded,not bolted.
I am no expert in basement sets as I live in the South where we have no basements.I have seen various websites dealing with the matter so a little searching should give you some ideas.
As for the heat retention you might want to think about installing roof vents.You would have to cut the roof to install them but they do dissapate the heat quite well.On the inside ceiling you might want to consider standard 1/2 drywall and tape and texture the whole deal.Wood would also work,if the thing starts to burn its not going to matter much.
If you have 4 ft centers on the trusses you would probably have to install quite a bit of dead wood before you install anything. 4 ft centers don't offer a lot of fastner support for any type ceiling.

Thanks for the help. I'm glad the welding thing shouldn't be a huge deal. I wondered if it was done enough to make a dealer comfortable recommending somenoe for the procedure. No, the trusses are on 2' centers. Still, I've noticed that even in stick built homes, unless you use 5/8" drywall you'll get sag lines in the ceiling. I don't trust the lightweight trusses in this home with 5/8" rock. That's why I was consdering a t&g decorative board. Again, thanks for the response.

Sorry, I re-read my initial post and it makes it sound as if my trusses are on 4' centers. I meant to word it to indicate that the drywall runs parallel with the trusses in 4' widths instead of horizontally across them. I just don't like the butted seams and slight sags.

Install dead wood between the trusses running the other decoration and tape and texture the joints.Not sag,no visible joints.

That was meant to be direction,not decoration.