difference between stick house @ DW

[Johnny]

what is the difference between a stick built
house on a block foundation and a double-
wide?

they both have piers to hold them
up. And crawl spaces under them
no under belly on stick built house.[/b]

[Greg S]

My son owns a manufactured double on a foundation.

Keeping in mind it is a 20 year old home.

The main difference is the quality of the finish. Every thing from drywall to trim to fixtures to windows appears to be the least expensive available at the time.
Drywall is finished with fake vinyl wood, battens to cover joints.

Fit, finish and material are generally of lower quality compared to stick built.

[Greg]

Now I'll throw another curve at you. Modular homes are simalar, but they pick the entire home off of the frame, The I beams are only used to transport the home to the site where the home is placed on a foundation.
Both homes are built on an assembly line and time is money, Quality depends on the manufacturer AND the options/upgrades ordered. Greg

[Dean3]

Using Greg's definition I do work on Modular homes. Wick Homes back in the 80s and nowadays Wisconsin Homes. Have also worked for outfits that build homes on site and condo type single story and up to 3 story.

As to a site built home there's no doubt that with a *good* builder You can end up with a better home,,,and,,make changes as it is being built,,but,,sometimes those changes are *very* costly and added to the already higher cost of a site built You could add years to Your payments.

Some of the downsides have already been mentioned in previous posts above,another downside is that the 80% finished home sections have travel stresses and lifting(crane)stresses too. All that has to be repaired onsite as well as tieing the marraige wall together. All in all,I'd say any home built/treated right can be good and also look very good too. I spose all this amounts to "caveat emptor"(buyer beware).

Dean

[Rod]

There are many differences besides quality of materials. Also sizing, insulation, egress regs, fire rating etc. The site below hits on some of the construction differences.

Rod

http://www.schroederamericanhomes.com/faq.asp

[Jim from Canada]

My parents have a "modular" home. Built in a factory and trailered to thier lot, set on a foundation with a basement. It is very easy to heat and cool as the manufacturing method lets them build it with lots of insulation and make it air tight. It is not perfect, after 20 years they have had to replace a window and have the roof done. Which isn't bad. They brought it over the bridge to Manitoulin Island and had only 6" of clearance on each side with one of the sections (shiped in 2 pieces). Then when the truck pulled up it was facing the wrong way, so they put it up on 3 jack stands ( one on either end on one side, one in the middle on the other) so the driver could pull out from under it and drive around the block to get under it in the proper orientation. Not a problem! They slide the parts over the foundation and that was basically it. The center marrage wall is a bit thick but you don't even notice it. A good house overall.

Jim

[Johnny]

Thanks for the info.

John