mobilehomerepair.com

Hello everyone,

I am an avid DIYer and am preparing to re-level my home. I have seen the book and kit on this website and was wondering if anyone had experience with the water level offered and if the information in the book is enough to get me going. I don't have a problem paying for the knowledge as long as it is sufficient I also haven't purchased any jacks yet. I have read around the forum you can do it with 2, are more better?

Any tips for a first timer? I tried searching around the forum a bit but I can't seem to get the advanced search to work right for me.

Re leveling a home is actually pretty basic. The way that I do it is to start in the middle and work your way out. I take paper & pencil and soapstone under with me. make a map of the piers. Start in the center and call that pier height "zero" go to the next pier and check the difference in height and record it on the paper (and I mark the frame with soapstone) as +/- from Zero. work your way out and record the readings.
once you have all the heights recorded on the map you can see what has to go where. If you can get within 1/4" that is great.

Greg

Hello Greg thanks for the reply!

You already lost me a little bit

When you say measure are you talking about on the water level?

Also, as far as center goes, are you talking dead center of the entire house or center of the suspected sagging beam? When you say work your way out, do you mean long ways across the steel beam , or the width, going from center beam to the beams on each side of it?

One last question (for now!), when shimming one pillar do I run the risk of changing the height of another, already level pillar?

Thank you Greg! I can't find anyone around who does this and I've got a window that wont open and the ceiling above it has a hair-line fracture starting.

I only have one problem area, is it ever possible to have 1 or 2 pillars low?

Edit:

I thought this might be a little easier lol, blue or red?

I would pick one of the center 4 piers as your starting point. Set up the water level on that pier and with both ends of the tube at the edge of the frame rail zero it. now leave the one end in place and move from pier to pier. the water in the tube will remain at the same height as the first pier and you measure the difference (+/-) . It really does not make a difference what pattern you use as long as you get all of the heights.

If the home is fairly close you may only have a few that are off that you can just re shim, use hardwood shims or steel. soft wood will crush down over time. I have seen cases where the home was so far off that when you relevel one section 20' of frame moves with it and may or may not settle into place over time.

It is very possible that only one or two are off, the only way to find out is to measure them.

Greg

You're awesome Greg, thank you.

I'll let you know where I'm at when the water level shows up in the mail

You can make your own water level easily.

(1) 5 gal plastic pail
(1) 100' 1/4 " fish tank tubing
(1) 1/4" barbed fitting
(1) 1 ft wooden ruler

Drill a hole into the side at the bottom of the 5 gal bucket.
drill a hole so you can thread the 1/4" barbed fitting into the bucket. Seal the threaded area with silicone.
Slide the 1/4" hose onto the barb and hold the top of the hose to the top of the bucket and fill it 3/4 full with water.
Place the bucket outside the mobile home on a flat stable surface where the surface of the water level is a few inches lower than your beams.
All you have to do now is tape a 1ft ruler to the tubing in 2 places and touch it to the bottom of every beam near each pier.
As long as you don't lower the hose to the point the water comes out of the top you can move around easily and get your readings. Yell them out to your helper!
If you lose a tad of water its not the end of the world and you can always recheck your first measured pier to confirm the water loss was negligible......