A word of advice

[Dan F]

I haven't been here in a while but thought i'd drop in for a visit. I purchased my home about 18 months ago. its a 2024 sq ft Golden West on a 1/3 of an acre. I bought all the books on the site and listened to what murray had to say. It all paid off, I even bought the videos on setup so I could keep an eye on what my contractor was doing. Do all of the appearance suggestions in the books and on the board. such as lap siding and pit set foundation. the result is a much nicer looking home. I will tell you this you cannot drive down my street and tell the difference between my home and the sitebuilts. But you can notice the other mfd homes that are 3 feet in the air. A cheap solution to a pit set foundation is what I did. they poured an extra tall foundation wall and back filled so it appears to be pit set. The point of this is my home has doubled in value it just appraised for $441,000.00. So anyone on the fence about wether to buy a mfd home do it they are well built. I think better than all the track homes in my area at a fraction of the price. Just do your homework.
Dan F

[Tanya]

Please say more about pit set foundations. I don't think it was mentioned in the book I bought (Randy Eaton's). Is it a lot more expensive? And you don't say what area of the country or climate you are in. Here flooding is a concern, so I would think the higher the better, even if it makes it look less like a stickbuilt.
Thank you for taking the time to come back and post!
Tanya

[janie]

around here they call it ground set if that is what he's talking about. Probably about a 3 foot deep hole in the ground,little bit bigger than the size of the MH, so it sits on the ground, triangular blocks are in the pit. No need for skirting or stairs. I agree, it does look much nicer and appraises higher. That's how our old one sat. They still look like a MH sitting on the ground though, not site built. I bet Dan lives in CA. Could be wrong........

[Janie]

excuse my error, should of said, just a bit smaller than the size of the MH.

[rmurray]

If you are in the 100 year flood plain..you must by law set your home at least 1 foot above the high water mark for the potential 100 year flood..

Check with you local building inspector for information..They will have elevation maps of your property..

[Mark]

I'm curious about the pit set, how is the crawl space vented?

[mac]

The pit sets I've seen have the same foundation vents as a poured concrete perimeter foundation.

[Mark]

If the foundation is above grade, which it would have to be to have vents, where is the benefit of the pit set? Just trying to figure this out.

You can only go as short as the higher corner, in my case, that was 2 blocks high. 1 block for ground level, 1 block for venting (venting can't be ground level or below grade). So that's 16" + another 13" or so to reach actual floor level (sill plate, floor joists, sub flooring). The opposing (low) corner is 4 blocks high.

[Dan F]

Hi I live in northern California, sorry I thout I put that in. I actually live in the Napa Valley to be more exact. The pit set is where someone mentioned it, they dig out under the home and the home sits directly on the stem wall foundation. Yes it is more expensive because they have to excavate alot of dirt. An alternative is to have them pour a tall stem wall foundation and backfill. You need a 2% grade away from the home for dranage anyway and its less expensive to have more concrete than to pay for dumptrucks and trackters. This eliminates skirting and deffinately adds to the value of the home.

[Ben]

Dan
I live up in Lake County. Im thinking about going with a manufactured home. Is there a way I could talk to you and maybe make the drive to see yours.
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