Crash Damage

[Guest]

Hello , My house was hit by a car . The front floor joyce was broken and the metal out rigger bent about 5 inches back.I am wondering if anyone knows if this can be repaired ? The home is a 1980 Hallmark. It has been redone and the walls are all sheetrock , I am redoing the bathroom and putting wood floors now. The furnace and water heater are only 2 years old. I am afraid the resale value will be hurt by the damage and was told insurnace is different then on house. That they may only pay a small amount on the book value because of age. I know I paid alot more becaue they are expensive and hard to get in parks where I Live. My appraised value when I bought it was 60, 000 . I cant find anyone local that can tell how to get the outrigger fixed and I cant think Of a way to bend it back .

[JD]

Hi dherr555,

I have done this repair several times. It is weird how many cars hit mobile homes. If this is the outrigger and not the main I (or C) beam, you should be alright. I don't weld, so I hire a welder to do the metal repairs. The framing can be repaired. Often it can be difficult to match siding though. Mobile home aluminum siding is available. Usually, you would want to paint the home to get a good color match.

If someone else hit your home with a car, then that persons insurance should pay 100% of the repairs as well as any costs incurred in the process of getting the repairs done. You may need to stay at a hotel while the repair is made, you may need an emergency service to safeguard your home until the repairs can be made. You should be able to recoup legitimate time off to get estimates and needed time off during the repairs. You may need to play hardball with the drivers insurance, but they really have no bargaining power for legitimate costs.

You can talk to your insurance company about the damage. A good insurance company will pay your claim and then get their money back from the other insurance company. But if they are not aggressively trying to help you with your claim, go direct to the drivers insurance company.

If the driver did not have insurance, or is someone on your policy hit your home, things could get sticky going through your home owners insurance. Hopefully Sylvia will see this post and give you her comments. She is excellent at insurance questions.

JMO

JD

[Guest]

Hi , thank you .I was thinking same thing .Will need to weld new piece in place. The persons car was insured . I didn't want to file claim through my insurance first but that might be correct way to go. I thought if I was going to repair , I would remove flooring in kitchen , cut off old out rigger and weld new one and replace complete joyce from end to end . Maybe they can weld with floor there . But that scares me.Of course I am not a welder.But boy if you give me torch I could have fun . But it would only end in a fire. Maybe I can have them put a smaller window in the kitchen so I can use the space for cabinets. I have a bay window almost across the entire front.

This site is the best I have found for mobiles .The book is pretty good too. I love the ideas for underbelly repair. I will have pictures soon.

[JD]

The floor joist would not need to be replaced completely unless the whole joist is damaged. You can cut out the damaged area and then "sister" a piece of 2x6 to the section that replaces the part that was cut out. Works like a splint. This is a common method of repairing floor joists.

Before you do anything with a full out claim with your insurance, I would call the driver's insurance company and demand that your home is safe immediately. Any holes need to be closed off and you should have a professional check that the home has not been moved and that the home has not been moved off of the piers. This is the driver's insurance company's responsibility. If you make a lot of noise right from the git go, they will be more likely to take your claim more seriously.

Keep in mind that it is an insurance adjuster's job to be concerned about cost containment. It is up to you to make your claim for damages.

JD

[Mark]

Some insurance adjusters also like to do their own damage appraisals. Play tough, and don't sign-off on anything.

I once was hired to do a major floor repair job for someone who had flooded one end of the home (tub running). The insurance man told the homeowner that they would only pay this rate for repairs. Since I had to travel 3 hours to do the job, my rates were quite a bit higher. Nobody else would do the job, so I got hired.

I think the homeowner had to pay extra out of her pocket, which isn't right. Should only have to pay the deductible. Anyway, point is that insurance companies are ornery these days.

When I first started in the business, I loved insurance jobs as I could pretty much write my own check. Oh how times have changed! Now insurance companies don't even want to pay the going rate. So stick to your guns.

Mark

[Guest]

Hello , Thank You all . It figures I was in middle of redoing half the house when this happened.I thought about sistering the joyce but dont like that idea because it is the first one and broke off at the front corner. The house is 1980 but the floor joyces look brand new threw out the house.The problem parts it had where around original tub and water heater plus the back door. I have replaced all the damaged areas .Mark I love the underbelly part off your book.I am going to replace the whole center section from under the bathroom to kithchen. I had a pipe freeze last winter because of a hole .I temp fixed it in the winter and found it a pain to deal with sealed belly at -20 degrees . I was thinking of building a box , sort of in the section that will hold heat ducting and new pex.Then put the paper and insulation on 1/4" exterior plywood with screws for future access if needed. That way belly paper wont be destryed.The other parts I was going to replace with just new underbeelly paper with the insulation added as you sugjest in your book . Does this sound like a good idea to you .

[Sylvia]

What state do you live in? I'm an licensed insurance agent for about 20 states. Even though the person may be insured, at the state minimum it may or may not cover all the damage. State minimums range from 5k to 25K


http://info.insure.com/home/exclusions.html

[Guest]

Hello , Thank You . The insurance company has been pretty good so far . They finally came. They are actually gonna figure out the claim for repairing the beam and replacing the front joyce and to replace all siding back to the door on that side. I had one person say they can fix it without bending the outrigger back. Not sure if thats a good idea. They told me they would pay for me to get a written estimate also . I am still having a problem finding someone that can do a repair to the out rigger . The trailer is a 1984 Hallmark , they do not make trailers anymore. I live in maine but am closer to new hampshire then to any part of maine that sells mobiles.

[altasnowman]

Good Day, You can probably contact a local Mobile home dealer to see who they use for setups and repairs. If they can not tell you then look in the yellow pages under RV sales and service and contact some of those deales. If you still have no luck look for a welder, i know this sounds like a legnthy process but in the end it will be worth it.