One service that Bent Nail Home Inspection Services saw more requests for in ’23 was HUD Manufactured Home Foundation Certifications. Despite the increased number of requests, we still run into a few people who do not know we offer this service. Yes, this is a service we can provide to you and your clients. We have partnered with a national engineering firm to provide this service. We do not require a home inspection for us to provide this service. So you know, unlike a home inspection, the HUD Manufactured Home Foundation Certification is a pass or fail inspection.
There are two types of foundation certifications available. The first is just the manufactured home itself. The second type that is available is for the manufactured home and additions. You say we haven’t built any room onto the home, so we don’t need the additions. That might not be exactly true since decks and porches are considered additions. The only way to truly know which of these you need is to ask your loan officer.
The next question we were asked was, how do you know if the home will have issues passing the foundation certification? This is one area in our contracting background that really helps us understand and interpret the HUD requirements. We also have the resources from the engineering firm that we can ask questions. We can generally let you know if there are potential issues with the home before we submit all the information to the engineer. This can save you or the buyer money in that we can let you know what the potential issues are before paying the engineer.
Here are some basic requirements for the foundation certification. The first is for the manufactured home itself. The home needs to be on some type of permanent foundation. Generally, in our area, a manufactured home is placed on dry stack columns of cinder blocks. This is perfectly acceptable. The home can be resting on the block wall of a basement, and there are a few other acceptable foundation types. The big thing is the home cannot rest on the axles and wheels. Some loans have issues if the wheels and axles are still attached to the manufactured home.
The second requirement for the manufactured home is that it must have some sort of tie-down system to help stabilize it during high winds events. There are two common types of these systems we see quite frequently. The first is a metal strapping system. The strap wraps around the main steel understructure and the other end bolts either directly into the ground or a concrete foundation. The other type of system we see is square tubing that is bolted to the understructure and the other end bolted to a concrete foundation.
Now, let’s talk about additions. The biggest requirement for additions is they have to be self-supporting. This means no load from or on the addition can be transferred to the manufactured home. The addition can be attached to the manufactured home, such as a porch roof. In the above example of the porch roof, the roof would need to be supported not only with posts in the front but also in the rear closest to the manufactured home. The supporting posts can either go to the ground or deck surface (that is also self-supported).
I hope this will help clear up some of the confusion around HUD Manufactured Home Foundation Certifications. If you have any questions, please feel free to call us. We are always happy to consult with you. Bent Nail Home Inspection Services covers Knoxville and all the surrounding areas of East Tennessee.
If you would like to review the full HUD guidelines, visit PERMANENT FOUNDATIONS GUIDE FOR MANUFACTURED HOUSING (4930.3G)
Have a great day,
Lee and Kadee