How to create lifts for sagging wall edges?

[Braley]

( single mom doing this on her own, laymens terms work best for me with instructions).

I paid to have my home leveled, but the guy noticed that while the center of my home is level, the very outter walls are about 1 - 2" lower. He said my MH was made during the end of when MH companies were just starting to add support all the way out to the walls.

He told me it would be cheapest for me to repair this 'sagging wall' issue myself, and then have him re-level the home. He told me to sink 4x4s into the ground under the walls, starting 2 feet from the end of the home and sinking a 4x4 about every 8 feet. ( 16x80 foot MH).

He said make the 4x4 a T shaped support unit. Put a board across the 4x4 at the top where he can then add the shims to level it. My windows and doors and leak a lot in the rain, he said it's because of the wall sagging. That the roof is coming apart from the walls as the walls drop down.

1. Does he seem legit and right on what he's telling me?

2. How do I dig right under a wall? The trailer would be in my way it seems. Do I dig out a hole at an angle and then place the 4x4 and back fill? Do I add cement to the hole? Won't wood rot out fast?

3. Any ideas on how to make a support that is affordable and will last a while?

[DaleM]

Perimeter blocking may solve your problem. First you would need to attach a 2x4 or 2x6 horizonatally down the length of each side under the mobile home equivalent of the sill plate so that your blocking has something to "push" up against. The width of that board will depend on the length of the outriggers already part of the the frame structure. Install sets of blocks about every 8' down the length. Can also check with whoever did the leveling job. This is labor intense and may easily fall under his realm of repairs, no digging necessary. What do you have for a base? Gravel, runners, pier pads, etc.?

[Greg]

Hi & welcome. Perimeter blocking will add support, but in most cases will not correct the sag at the outer walls. The sagging is usually caused by weight either on the roof (shingle roof added) or the walls (heavy drywall added). This DOES happen when extra weight has been added to the home, so he is legit on that statement.

I do however question his statement about manufacturers adding support at the end of the joists. The frame rails (I beams) support 100% of the home's weight and they are still 3-4' in from the walls as they always have been. Manufactures have added outriggers to the frame in some cases, but that is not total support.

How is your home supported now? blocks on dirt? Cement pad? Full foundation? These are questions we need to know before we can advise you on perimeter blocking. Also is ground freezing an issue where you live?

I would recommend Mark's (site owner) book to you. It is full of basic repair & upgrade information.

Greg

[Braley]

The trailer sits on round circle shaped concrete things that are sunk below a frost line I was told by the maintenance man here. Part of the circles stick out from under my trailer wall on one side, and the maintenance man said it's because the trailer isn't the right size for the area it was placed on.

On the opposite wall the trailer (wall) is partially above an an old sidewalk. Then in front of the trailer (the end of it by the parking lot) there are 2 circles of concrete a few feet away from the trailer in my front yard.

The concrete circles under the trailer are surrounded by raw dirt/earth. No gravel or anything else, I would like to add gravel later on to take away the musty damp dirt smell when you open the skirting. Just seems unhealthy too being on top of damp dirt.

I live in Michigan, we have (or use to have) pretty cold and snowy winters here.

The main support I guess is the concrete (cinder?) blocks under the trailer which are stacked on top of the concrete circles, and then there are wood shims between the cinder blocks and the metal underside of the trailer. Nothing supports the area by the outer walls (no blocks or concrete circles/pillars), no wood base runs along my skirting to make it look nice and neat and stay where it is. Stupid skirting is always bowing in or out or buckling. I have to fix that also.

I can not thank you guys enough for your help and your attention to details. Where I live there is no mobile home help to even hire.

[Braley]

P.S. I bought Mark's book a few years ago when I first bought the trailer helped a lot! Just I lost it when my old pc died and had to be wiped. Plan on buying the paper version this time when I get taxes back. His book is a must have indeed.

[Braley]

P.S.S. !!!

The man we bought this MH from did tell us he added a shingle roof and supposedly better wood to the roof (?) when he shingled it. It's been about 5 - 6 years since we bought it and the old owner added shingles shortly before we bought it. I also don't know if he double layered the new shingles over the old so I better check that also. Thanks for the input!

[JD]

Newer Manufactured (mobile) homes do come with mandatory edge piers and for many years, they were placed under entry doors and large windows.

I am not in a frost area, so this is not a topic I deal with, but I would think edge piers in a frost prone area would need to be sitting on concrete footers (round things) as well. You would not want frost heave to try to lift on the walls of the home.

Instead of cinder blocks, I would use adjustable mobile home steel piers. Pretty inexpensive and very easy to install and adjust. They make steel piers specifically for use on the edge walls. They are welded with offset tops so the base of the pier won't stick out from the skirting.

You can reach in from the sides of the home to dig holes at the edges. In hard to dig dirt, it can be a real chore. A two-man auger with a small bit could drill you a pilot hole, making the hole process (whole process ha ha) easier. If it is still hard to dig, fill the hole with water.

There are a couple of common causes for eave walls drooping down. One is too much weight added to the roof and walls. Hopefully your home was originally built to hold shingles. If it originally had a metal roof, and then some one added wood, plywood and shingles, this will often cause the walls to bow. Another common cause are the homes built with the floor joists running lengthways with the home as opposed to across the home from side to side.

The person you hired for the relevel may not mean you any harm, but if you hired him for a relevel, he should know that what he is asking you to do is much more of an advanced project than what you paid him to do. I would only recommend that you hire a true professional that can access the problem and perform the needed repairs. Repairs may not be the right word, because as Greg said, the 2" droop may not be repairable at a reasonable price. But it can be stopped and stabilized and any other damage can probably be repaired or lived with without further deterioration of the home's frame. It is important that whoever installs your edge piers knows what they are doing, you think will be in business for a long time, and hopefully will do a follow up on your home after the season changes and before the freezes start next year. This may be asking a lot, but you want to be sure that the edge piers are not damaging your home.

JMO

[Braley]

Everything you all have told me I have printed out to show my father in law and to use to help me figure out the best way to handle this issue. I can not thank you enough for your wonderful advice so far, and as always am so happy to have MHR to come to when in need of sound advice from other MH owners. All of you are just the best. Thank you very much.

Teresa

[Braley]

Are these the correct steel pier adjustable supports that I need to lift the edge walls?

http://mobilehomepartsstore.com/Merchan ... ode=503319


Which style would I need ?

[JD]

That is what they look like except two of the uprights go straight up (plumb) to the point and the other two lean more exaggerated to the point. They almost look like they are leaning.

If you were to put the pier in your link under the rim joist under the wall, the bottom of the pier would stick through the skirting. With an edge pier, the straight side would be next to the skirting, but would not stick out on the bottom.

[flcruising]

I can't tell if you mentioned if your home is a single or double wide...

If my understanding is correct, your home's floor joists are bowed up in the middle (between the support beams) and sagging down at the outside walls? If this is the case, the key to a solution is to (as mentioned) support the outside walls separately from the main beam supports. BUT correcting this will require adjust-ability and any corrections done should be in small increments - probably more like 1/4"-1/2" at a time.

And if bowing is the issue, a 1" - 2" difference means that you don't necessarily have to lift up the outside walls but 1/2" - 1". Because as you lift them UP, the middle of the joists will settle down at the same rate. So, up 1" means down 1" as well, as the main beams are acting as a fulcrum.

Suggestion from me is this -



I believe the proper way to use this in your situation would be install them opposite each other on each side of the house, and have a 2x6 joist block spanning the interior of the steel beams to counteract the lateral force.