Stopping frost heave

[Mark]

Hi,

The last few months I've been following a column written by George Porter in a leading industry magazine. George Porter is an expert on manufactured home set-up. Lately he's been writing about frost heave, and I thought I'd share with you the highlights of his writings.

Frost heave is a concern to mobile home owners because it causes the home to shift with the seasons. In the passed we've talked about 2 ways to prevent frost heave. First, set your home on frostline footings. Second, use heavily insulated skirting and don't let it freeze underneath your home. Now there's a third way.

According to George Porter, if you keep your home dry underneath, you will not get frost heave, even if the ground freezes. For frost heave to happen, your soil has to be 80% saturated with water when it freezes. If water does not get underneath your home every time it rains (ie proper slope away from the home), you'll probably stay dry and won't experience frost heave. Of course this is assuming you don't have a high water table or some other issue that causes your ground to be wet.

This info could be huge when it comes to the cost of setting up a home. Proper site prep and landscaping may be the key to not needing expensive footings. Definitely info worth chewing on.

Mark

[WildIrish]

Does this apply if your MH is set on a permanent foundation? Or is frost heave only a problem with skirted MH's?