Chert Under Home

[Jackie]

In alabama they say you have to put chert down before the home is put in. It is supposed to be slightly higher in the middle to allow drainage if water does get under the home. My question is how will the setteling of the home be on the chert?

[Les]

Jackie,

If you can afford it you should have concrete footings or a concrete slab put in to avoid settling. My home was put in on a chert "pad" and it has settled some. I wish now that I would have had a least had concrete footings put in for the home to sit on. I have heard that chert will work well if you have it slightly crowned and if you have it packed down and it is given time to dry out well. I think the reason my home has settled some is that the chert was not crowned enough so during some of the heavier rains water has blown in under the home.

My two cents worth,

Les

[Eugene]

Les, is right, go with concrete!

[David Oxhandler]

What is chert ?

[Les]

David,

Chert is basically dirt with a lot of clay mixed in. When you put down chert, add a little water and pack it down, it will dry to be almost as hard as concrete. The chert on the road to my house can only be box bladed after it has rained because when dry the box blade can't dig in to it. Even when it has rained it is still difficult to work the road because the chert is so hard.
The problem with using chert for a "pad" for a MH is that if it gets wet before the home is set it may not dry out sufficently and the home may settle. This is what happened with my single wide (although it is not to bad since it is a single wide). A friend of mine had his double wide set on a chert pad and it has not settled at all that you can tell. He made sure the chert had time to bake in the beautiful Alabama sunshine for 3 weeks before his home was set though.

Les

[Jackie]

Thanks for the reply's. It will be about 3 weeks before they move my home so maybe it will have time to bask in the beautiful sun in alabama.