Which is better?

[bill]

Have noticed that only Golden West homes uses the longitudinal flooring system. Why haven't they changed to transverse? Sales rep spouts that longitude system is stronger...... are they stronger??

If I were choosing a home today I would probably go with 2x8 @ 16" o/c in a 3-wide. Would like to hear some opinions.

[rmurray]

If "longitudinal flooring system" was better and stronger...Since it is cheaper (basically a longitudinal flooring system has less lumber in it) to build...all manufacturers would use it...

Although the floor system is cheaper to build..it cost more to block because it will require substantial perimeter blocking that the other floors do not..

Golden West as a company is in flux right now...They have been owned by Oakwood for a number of years...Clayton Homes has just offered to buy all Oakwood assets from the bankruptcy court..The sale will culminate in a few months..I would expect many possible changes then...Who knows..this might be one of them..

[lacey]

karsten also uses a longitudinal floor system.

[jgn]

For a premium priced home and one that is the nicest looking and well built homes in the business Karstan cuts corners by going longitudinal and Novadeck on the flooring. You can upgrade the Novadeck but can't change the runner. The more I look the more I come back to PH.

[bill]

I tend to agree with you on the PH homes. They do make a quality product but I have had sales rep problems.

Will probably NOT consider homes with long. systems because I believe transverse is way to go. Am going to look more closely at Marlette. There ducting system seems well thought out and I like the 2 x 4 int. structure and knock-down walls. Only problem is seeing one up close and personal. The plant is in Hermiston, OR and only one other dealer in Oregon, but they don't carry a good selection of 3-wide. Will have to wait for MH show in Salem in a few weeks.

Thanx for the responses and advice.

[Peter]

I've just spent the day looking at Karstan and Marlette homes. The difference in fit and feel was striking. We looked at Marlette homes a month ago. Today we visited a Karstan dealer in Spokane. Spent a few hours walking the homes. Afterwards we immediately went to the Marlette dealer to walk through their homes. The feeling of quality was much greater in the Karstan homes. I was paying attention to the details like the electrical outlets and the HVAC features. The minor errors in alignment in the Marlette homes compared to the flawless work I found in the Karstan homes really turned me off to the Marlette line. Even the price difference was significant. We compared two triple wide homes of around 2000 sq. ft. The Marlette was around $131,000 and the Karstan was $88,000. Just about all of the spes were identical. The only major structural difference was the design of the floor. The Karstan uses the longitudinal flooring system vs. the transverse found in the Marlette. Both homes included shipping and installation. Can that simple difference in the flooring mean $43,000 difference?? I find that hard to believe. Can anyone shed some light on the differences between these two manufacturors that means such a huge difference in price?

Thanks,

[martha]

We just (yesterday) visited the Inter-city housing dealer in Albany, OR. They had several triple wides.