wind code

[jeremy cameron]

I live in Louisiana and i am trying to sell my mobile home. I have the serial number and year and model but not the make. Is it posible to find out the wind rating of the home?
year 2001
make HOML ?????
model HS
Serial HL13042AL
Thanks for any help you can give me.

[David Oxhandler]

The Institute for Building Technology and Safety (IBTS), as the Department of Housing and Urban Development's monitoring contractor under the Federal Manufactured Housing Program, is required to maintain all reported certification label applications, and has been the sole source of this data since 1976. The data IBTS maintains comes from manufacturers' production reports.

IBTS Headquarters
505 Huntmar Park Drive, Suite 250
Herndon, VA 20170
Phone: 703-481-2000
http://www.ibts.org/label_req.shtml
[email protected]

[MobileHomeInspectors.com]

Manufactured homes are built specifically for zones. The zones are different throughout the United States. Requirements for snow load, insulation and other issuses change depending on the zone. You may be able to find out the zone your in from your local manufactured home dealer/retailer. You might find wind specifications for your area there.
Greg Filian
www.MobileHomeInspectors.com

[jtart51]

IS THERE A PLACE ON THE SITE EXPLAINING EXACTLY WHAT THE DIFFERENT WIND ZONE MODIFICATIONS ARE..AND HOW TO MAKE SURE YOU GOT WHAT YOU ASKED AND PAID FOR?

[David Oxhandler]

The HUD Code stipulates, that the home shall be designed and constructed to conform to one of three wind load zones. The appropriate wind zone used in design is dependent on where the home will be initially installed. Homes designed and constructed to a higher Wind Zone can be installed in a lower Wind Zone (a Wind Zone III home can be installed in a Wind Zone I or II location). However, a Wind Zone I home cannot be installed in either a Wind Zone II or III area.

You can not easily see the difference as it is in the structures framing system. Every new HUD code home MUST have a data-plate from the builder on the inside of the home. Most of the time you will find these glued inside the master bedroom closet or on the inside face of one of the kitchen or bathroom cabinet doors.

The data plate indicates the home’s design wind load, heating load, and roof load. Be sure the home you buy is designed for the region where you plan to live.

Your data-plate will look like this

Be sure your home meets government standards for the region where you live.

The government has established manufactured home minimum performance standards for various weather conditions for different regions of the U.S. These standards include:

Wind zones. Wind Zone 3 houses are designed for hurricane-prone areas; Wind Zone 2 houses, for other coastal areas; Wind Zone 1 houses, for most of the rest of the U.S.

Energy zones. Thermal Zone 3 houses (Northern U.S.) have more insulation than houses intended for Thermal Zone 2, which in turn have more insulation than Thermal Zone 1 houses.

Roof-load zones. These standards reflect the amount of snow-fall expected in a given area.

Sources: http://www.consumersunion.org/other/mh/brochure.htm http://www.azchampion.com/windzone.asp

[jtart51]

Thanks David. Interesting that zone 1 only has 70 mph capability. My 95 Fleetwood made it through Fran as did a 1960's ten wide in my park. winds were constant 85 mph here. Only damage in the park...some skirting blown out...including mine. Not even any shingles missing from any of the homes. Is it a good idea to pay extra for zone 3 insulation and hurricane wind zone 3 when ordering a new home? How do you know if the roof is built to the snow standard? You could order it to be such..but with the roof, walls etc covered up how do you KNOW they actually did it?

[David Oxhandler]

In most storms only a small percentage of any type homes sustain major damage. After Andrew we saw steel and concrete buildings that had been twisted and destroyed, yet the manufactured home next door appeared untouched.

You can not order code zone variations unless you live in an area where a factory serves more than one code zone area. Each factory is jigged to build to the code for the area it sells to. So if you live in Indiana you wont be able to get a wind zone 3. It would be prohibitively expensive to transport a home from Florida to Indiana.

On the other hand you can order an upgraded insulation package from about any builders plant.

The data plate in each new home certifies the code zones to which the home was built. For the most part is the only way for you to know the code zone construction. There are consistent inspections by code enforcement agencies at every factory producing HUD certified homes. You can trust the information you see on the data plate

[jtart51]

Thanks again David. I found out I can go to Morehead City...and get a hurrican spec home. It would cost about $2000 more on a singlewide. Maybe it would help it at resale time since a lot of locals want that so they can take it to the beach....but then it has to be moved...maybe no net gain?

[David Oxhandler]

Right!.. no net gain.

If you dont live in zone III you dont need a zone III home. You will not see any advantage when it comes time to sell. Put the extra money into something you will enjoy in your new home...