What kind of shims for leveling?

[TheCakerator]

Hmm .. so even after you relevel your home, you may need to go back in 6 months and do it again?

[Steve S.]

Leveled my home this morning. Mine was easy...essentially lifting one corner(one I-beam) up about 1.5 inches. I used two 6-ton jacks side-by-side between the first two piers and then added my shims to about 5 different piers slowly hammering them in as I jacked in small increments.
Now I noticed I have to replace some of my skirting panels(too short now) and my back door is sticking (hopefully it settles a bit). I'd rather have a sticky door than an unlevel home. All the interior doors that were hard to close are now free, so I gained a little there. I may have to go back under and tweak it some more and remeasure with the water level.
The other end of my home has a sunken livingroom (essentially two I-beams high) so the crawlspace is only about 14" high and the piers are only 1 block with shims...not sure how to use the water level under there with respect to the standard height I-beams...that's the next adventure down under.

[Greg S]

You don't necessarily have to go back and level if you use a water level and make sure all the tops of the piers are at the same height when done. What happens is the frame may get slightly twisted when the home settles crooked. When you jack it level at some piers the frame does not settle back down on top of the pier. Over time the weight of the home will eventually straighten the frame which is why you level all the pier tops and let the frame float if necessary until it untwists and settles down level.. If it is twisted you will need to check the floating points periodically to insure it settles OK. It won't bounce or feel like you are living in a fun house. It will not be noticeable from the inside but until it settles you should hold off or allow for settling regarding installing new skirting.
I use steel skirting and place it 4" deep in a 8" deep trench of pea gravel with the framing above ground level so it is not a issue for me when it finally settles..

[TheCakerator]

Thanks for all the replies .. This kinda seems over our heads .. we live in a park and we can't leave off siding for a week at a time waiting for the house to settle either unfortunately .. I'm not sure how far off our home is, I'm sure it is to a point .. but don't think we are ready to conquer such a job just yet!

[ponch37300]

The job really isn't that bad, the worst part is just crawling around under there and getting dirty. You won't have to take all your skirting off. When I did mine I just took about 3 pieces of the skirting out to open up a 4 foot or so space for me to crawl in and out of. Then put it back on at night. We have vinyl skirting so it was real easy. Once I got the water level set up things went pretty quickly. Took my measurements and then went back and adjusted as needed.

About the frame twisting and settling, it's also not a huge deal. Like mentioned just make sure your piers are all level. Then if your frame isn't sitting on the piers because it was tweaked a little it will settle on the pier. No real reason to keep checking on it other then just to keep an eye on things.

It's something you can do yourself as long as you are able to crawl around down there. But if you aren't comfortable doing it yourself then by all means get some estimates from contractors.

[TheCakerator]

Thanks you guys .. You make it sound easy and it probably is .. guess we are just slow learners

[ponch37300]

Thanks you guys .. You make it sound easy and it probably is .. guess we are just slow learners

I was the same way before I did mine. I asked a bunch of questions on here and also bought the mobile home repair book this site sells. I'm a perfectionist so I like to have a good understanding of what I'm going to do before I do it. I hate running into problems and not knowing how to fix them. So before I do anything a million things run threw my head and all possible scenarios pass by and the what if's etc. I always overthink everything.

My advice would be to first just get down there and check things out. Bring a broom, flashlight, and camera. The broom to clean cobwebs as you go. The flashlight and camera to see what you are working with and take pictures of things so if you have questions you can post pictures on here so we can see and help better. Check out what you pad and piers and blocking looks like. Then make or buy a water level. This site sells the parts to make one. I bought one from home depot for around 25 bucks. Once you have a water level and practice using it to see how it works then crawl under and take your measurements at each pier. Draw a map of the piers and write the measurements down of how far off the piers are. So for 25 bucks and some dirty work you will know what shape the crawl space of your home is in. Then it's just a matter of making adjustments to make it level. I bought a 20 ton jack from harbor freight tools for 40 bucks or so on sale. Who knows, maybe when you get down there you will find it doesn't even need to be leveled. Also it's good to crawl around down there at least once a year to check for tears in the belly and other problems associated with MHs.

[TheCakerator]

Thanks for all the advice .. My husband tends to be a perfectionist as well .. I guess that is why this seems so out of our ballpark .. kinda like, how in the world can two people and a jack raise and level a doublewide? Maybe with lots of preparation beforehand and it won't seem so overwhelming!

[ponch37300]

No problem. If you have more questions feel free to ask, lots of knowledge on this site. Take the plunge and crawl under to check things out to see what you are in for. Then get your measurements with the water level. Nothing to really screw up so far and if you run into any problems or questions you can just ask. Then when comfortable buy a 20ton jack and start lifting. We can walk you threw it.

[JD]

Just some of my thoughts on releveling. First, never leave any part of your body under the frame. If a home falls, it is the frame that will hurt you bad. I personally have never heard of a home falling from a relevel job, but if a person lacks experience, I imagine it is possible. I have seen a home fall during a set-up with a man underneath. Luckily, nothing was under the frame. He had to lay there for a long time while the crew jacked the home up again.

Get lot's of cardboard. I do a lot of skirting jobs. I save the boxes, then cut them longways and use this as a method of travel under the home. You can easily slide around on your belly on top of the cardboard. Without it, it is the military crawl.

Find the locations on the frame where a hydraulic jack is intended to go. This can be a small square welded plate or a "U" looking tab of rebar welded to the frame. This is also why I feel two jacks are a minimum. If you can tell the jack is really working hard to lift an area, use two jacks to spread the load.

I was the one who introduced the $8 masonry tub idea. This is VERY handy as it keeps dirt off the tools and jacks while making them easy to transport. Two twenty ton jacks, 6 or so 4x6 blocks (for height), flashlight and tools are a pain to drag around down there without a bag or something. These tubs are very useful for repairing underbelly as it keeps your poly underbelly clean for using spray adhesive or underbelly tape. I also stick my Ryobi radio and mp3 player in there! When working on a bad plumbing leak, I will use them to catch the water so my work area doesn't get muddier and will keep me dryer in cold weather. They are great for gardening, solvent washing auto or similar parts or small dogs, sans solvent. Some people tell me you can even mix mortar or concrete in them!

The mapping of piers was also introduced by me. This is great info as you can see what is happening under the entire home before starting. When a home is out 3" or so, just lifting an area may cause your skirting to be too short and fall out. With the map, you can plan to lower the high parts and raise the low parts so your lift is maybe 1 1/2". Be sure to plan out any lowering of piers. You do not want to lower the bottom of the outswing entry doors to where they may get stuck of drag on a deck or steps. It is also not good to have a tripping thing as you leave an inswing door either.

East coasters talk about concrete block piers a lot. While some homes in my area are on concrete piers, the vast majority of homes are set with adjustable steel piers. I love that part. No shims, easy to adjust. But with the steel piers, the pier top with the threaded shaft should not be over 2" from bolt to frame. Sometimes you have to add another pad under the piers to keep this right.

One last thing is, the water in your water level clear tubing should be "cured". This is just being sure you remove as much of the air bubbles as possible. You really should not see any bubbles. I like to fill mine the day before the relevel. I will lay the tubing out. Elevate the the working end to waist level and flick the bubbles out with any small hand tool. You could use your finger, but doing 100' of tubing a couple of times can make your finger sore. Then to be sure the water won't spill out, I stuff a PEx plug fitting into the end. I actually tie this plug to the working end of the level so it won't get away from me under the home. A smooth wall yellow wire not will usually work too.

This may seem like a big and dangerous task, but with enough reading and being careful, it is not difficult at all.

[TheCakerator]

The idea of the home falling on either of us kinda freaks us out ..

[ponch37300]

The idea of the home falling on either of us kinda freaks us out ..

The chances of that happening are probably very slim unless it's really in horrible shape. If you think about it there should be a number of piers on each beam, I think mine had 13 on each beam so a total of 26 piers for the trailer. You are only lifting the trailer at one or two piers. And even if the jack was to fail or something the trailer should only be falling an inch or so until it hits the pier. So the chances of a whole trailer or side of trailer coming down are very very slim if not next to impossible. If you walk in your trailer everyday and it doesn't fall over then I would have no problem at least crawling around down there and getting the measurements to see how bad it is. If you find out one side is 6" lower then the other the whole way then you might have something to worry about! But chances are there is a spot or two or three that is off by a little bit to maybe an inch or maybe a little more.

I would just open things up and get your measurements and go from there. But like I said earlier if you aren't comfortable by all means call around to get some estimates.

[TheCakerator]

does anyone live in MI and want a few extra bucks? hahaha