releveling dw project
Posted: Fri Feb 07, 2014 9:37 pm
hi guys. thanks for having me.
so tomorrow i will attempt to relevel my double wide.
here's the background
about 6 months ago i bought a used 2001 32x80 double wide and had it moved and set up by a licensed mover. had a bit of a falling out with the mover toward the end of the job as i wasn't pleased with the finishings. so callling him back will be impossible without some type of suit or legal force.
at the end of the installation all the major components seemed fine. all doors opened. nothing felt too crazy. well 3 weeks ago i started to feel a draft coming from between the marriage lines in a bedroom on the side wall of the house. i pulled the trim panel and found that i could see sunlight coming through a 1 inch gap between both halves of the house. luckily the vinyl siding was still providing somewhat of a barrier.
i did a little bit more investigating. loosened the siding on that side of the house. discovered that the floors are tight but moving up the gap opens up to about 2 inches at the top. the gasket is there but the gap is too wide for it to seal. i pulled the first foot of the roof cap and saw that there is a split there as well with the last lag bolt pulled away from the right side. i didn't have much time then to fool with it, so i sealed everything back up and used some sill insulation strips down the split to give it a temporary seal.
this afternoon i used my a 40ft clear tube to do some level measuring. found that compared to the center the right corner near split is about 1/4 inch low. the left corner is even. with only a 40 ft line i wasn't able to get much more of a gauge on it. i did start to go toward the far end of the hosue and found that the entire right side keep dipping lower and lower. with a solid inch low on the middle right edge.
tomorrow i'm going to buy 150 ft of tube and 2 jacks.
although i have never undertaken a project such as this and have just a basic understanding of mobile home, i am mechanically inclined and think i can make an attempt to correct the situation.
tomorrow i plan on measuring the entire structure. figuring out exactly how bad the problem is.
i'm going to pull up some of the roof cap to see if the top seam is sealed
my hope is that the roof is sealed and its only the side wall that has settled enough to split it. like i said everything else seems fine. doors opening etc. the pad is a straight dirt pad so some settling isn't out of the question.
from what i'm understand when they put these things together they seal the floor first then jack up the sides to make the roof meet trying to keep things level enough for the doors. is this correct?
i do understand that this is a 2001 model. so i by no means expect everything to be perfect, but know that i need to have an airtight seal to prevent problems down the line. i am wanting to get about 5 years out of this thing before i build.
i'm considering filling up the split with spray foam if i can't get it to seal up
any thoughts or tips?
if yall want tomorrow i can shoot some pics and draw up some diagrams to bring you all this journey.
thanks
so tomorrow i will attempt to relevel my double wide.
here's the background
about 6 months ago i bought a used 2001 32x80 double wide and had it moved and set up by a licensed mover. had a bit of a falling out with the mover toward the end of the job as i wasn't pleased with the finishings. so callling him back will be impossible without some type of suit or legal force.
at the end of the installation all the major components seemed fine. all doors opened. nothing felt too crazy. well 3 weeks ago i started to feel a draft coming from between the marriage lines in a bedroom on the side wall of the house. i pulled the trim panel and found that i could see sunlight coming through a 1 inch gap between both halves of the house. luckily the vinyl siding was still providing somewhat of a barrier.
i did a little bit more investigating. loosened the siding on that side of the house. discovered that the floors are tight but moving up the gap opens up to about 2 inches at the top. the gasket is there but the gap is too wide for it to seal. i pulled the first foot of the roof cap and saw that there is a split there as well with the last lag bolt pulled away from the right side. i didn't have much time then to fool with it, so i sealed everything back up and used some sill insulation strips down the split to give it a temporary seal.
this afternoon i used my a 40ft clear tube to do some level measuring. found that compared to the center the right corner near split is about 1/4 inch low. the left corner is even. with only a 40 ft line i wasn't able to get much more of a gauge on it. i did start to go toward the far end of the hosue and found that the entire right side keep dipping lower and lower. with a solid inch low on the middle right edge.
tomorrow i'm going to buy 150 ft of tube and 2 jacks.
although i have never undertaken a project such as this and have just a basic understanding of mobile home, i am mechanically inclined and think i can make an attempt to correct the situation.
tomorrow i plan on measuring the entire structure. figuring out exactly how bad the problem is.
i'm going to pull up some of the roof cap to see if the top seam is sealed
my hope is that the roof is sealed and its only the side wall that has settled enough to split it. like i said everything else seems fine. doors opening etc. the pad is a straight dirt pad so some settling isn't out of the question.
from what i'm understand when they put these things together they seal the floor first then jack up the sides to make the roof meet trying to keep things level enough for the doors. is this correct?
i do understand that this is a 2001 model. so i by no means expect everything to be perfect, but know that i need to have an airtight seal to prevent problems down the line. i am wanting to get about 5 years out of this thing before i build.
i'm considering filling up the split with spray foam if i can't get it to seal up
any thoughts or tips?
if yall want tomorrow i can shoot some pics and draw up some diagrams to bring you all this journey.
thanks