Doublewide seems to be shifting

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countrygirl4513
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2012 9:09 am

We have recently had our floors start buckling inside the house. Theres hills and valleys throughout. We can't figure why all of a sudden it's doing this,maybe the pressboard is beginning to break down. We just don't know. We have had a very unseasonably wet summer and a lot of runoff around and under the house. We know there is moisture from what we see on the blocks underneath. We do have a vapor barrier and bellyboard. But it just seems like the house is shifting. Could it be the piers are sinking do to the moisture? The structure seems to be like its in a bind. Also it does have a block foundation but the house has never really sat on the block just on the piers. We have a front porch and we see the house has really started pressing against it around the front door. There is an obvious bow on the vinyl siding where it meets the porch. It seems like the porch is keeping the house from going any further.It's getting to the point that we can't even open the doors due to the sub floor bowing. I can't find anyone who works on doublewides to give me an idea of what is going on. I'm in TN anyone got a reference for this?
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Greg
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Posts: 5696
Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2007 8:01 pm
Location: Weedsport, NY

Since the vinyl is buckling, something is shifting somewhere. You need to get under the home and take a look around. I would check everything to make sure it is level. You may want to contact a dealer or installer in your area to find out who can check & relevel the home if necessary. Make sure they use a water level to do the job.

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
HouseMedic
Posts: 342
Joined: Fri Apr 06, 2007 9:14 am
Location: Delaware
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I would call in a professional as soon as you can. It could be your house is settling to uneven or even could be termite damage, both could be caused by too much moister. It would only take one pier sinking to much and it could throw the whole house off kilter.

Ron
Markfothebeast
Posts: 22
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2016 4:38 pm

I live in a valley with underground springs where water seems to accumulate easily and cause wet basements and cracking concrete floors/foundations. I spent days attempting to solve the water issue in our mobile home that sits on a basement. You had mentioned that there was visible water flowing around and underneath the home. If you have very sandy soil, water and sand don't mix well and will cause movement. Also, limestone rock breaks down when wet. You may want to find a solution to route the water away from the perimeter of the home. It's actually much more simple than it sounds unless you live in an area that has mud slides.

I dug a 40" deep drainage trench (with a shovel) 2' wide around the exterior of my house. I had two dump truck loads of rock dropped off for the drainage trench. I installed a flexible drain tube and sock near the bottom and covered it with rock. This is known as a french drain. It helps collect and drain accumulating water to keep the perimeter of the foundation dry. But the largest improvement was simply installing gutters and draining the water through flexible tubing about 20' away from the home. The gutters have worked flawlessly to keep water out of our basement.

The same theory applies to homes without basements. The difference is that the water problem is not as noticeable when you don't have a basement.
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