FHA Foundation Requirements of NC, including Charlotte and
surrounding areas
On VA and FHA-insured loans, the foundation
on all mobile and manufactured homes must meet an acceptable
standard of structural stability and immobility as
determined by a structural or professional engineer
(PE). The engineering inspection or FHA
certification must be conducted by a licensed
professional engineer in North Carolina, typically a structural engineer
who practices in the Charlotte and surrounding areas,
and a letter of approval must be supplied to the lender.
The FHA foundation certification letter must bear the
seal of the professional engineer and be signed and
dated.
The HUD foundation engineering inspection ensures that the
mobile or manufactured home foundation is structurally adequate based
upon the provisions of the HUD Handbook (The Permanent
Foundation Guide for Manufactured Homes, 1996). At
Structural Design Solutions of Charlotte, we provide our clients with the
most commonly required foundation upgrades required to be
certified by HUD and FHA engineering inspection. The information listed below is provided as
a courtesy to help summarize some of the HUD Permanent
Foundation Requirements that apply in Charlotte, North
Carolina and the surrounding areas. This list does not
purport to be a complete manual of accepted good practice.
Other local NC building codes and engineering considerations may apply
to various situations.
The following improvements beyond the
minimum requirements of the manufactured home regulations
are necessary to meet the more stringent requirements of the
HUD Handbooks 4930.3 and 007487, entitled Permanent
Foundations Guide to Manufactured Housing.
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Concrete footings shall be provided
below the frost line for the concrete block piers that
support the chassis of the mobile or manufactured home.
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Concrete block piers supporting the
chassis of the manufactured home shall be laid using
Portland cement mortar. (As an alternative, block may be
laid dry (dry stacked) and secured with fiber reinforced
surface bonding cement such as Surewall or Quickwall.)
Not required for Freddie Mac.
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Manufactured home chassis shall be anchored to
the
footings by appropriate engineered foundation
stabilization system. (Screw-in earth anchors cannot be
substituted for anchoring to the footing!) The
Vector Dynamics brand stabilization systems are
acceptable and must be installed per the manufacturer's
specifications.
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Manufactured or mobile home foundation shall be enclosed with a
durable material, such as masonry (brick).
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Adequate number of foundation vents
shall be provided (1 square foot of net free area per
150 square feet of crawl space floor area) around the
entire foundation perimeter of the building.
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Entire dirt floor of the crawl space
shall be covered with 6-mil polyethylene plastic
sheeting.
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Tongue, axles, and wheels shall be
removed from the manufactured home and the site.
-
Utilities shall be permanently
installed where the manufactured home is located.
If the foundation does not meet these
requirements, contact us for our preferred Charlotte installation
contractor, with whom we work closely to provide our clients
with a foundation upgrade that is installed properly and
ensures that the foundation passes the certification
inspection the first time, thus no re-inspection fees.
Estimates by our preferred contractor are listed below.
Estimates for FHA Upgrades from our Charlotte General Contractor
Structural FHA Foundation Inspection |
Your Charlotte Manufactured Home
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Typically, the earlier the homeowner
contacts a structural engineer to perform a FHA
inspection on your manufactured home, the better.
This eliminates any unnecessary foundation upgrades that
may not be required to pass the FHA Foundation
Certification inspection.
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Always consult with a structural
engineer that is knowledgeable about FHA manufactured
home inspections. This is a specialized area of
foundation inspection that requires specific
understanding and options for mobile home foundation
upgrades.
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It is always a good idea to consult a
structural engineer that actively performs inspections
in your area. If your manufactured home is located
in Charlotte, ask the engineer if he commonly performs
FHA inspections in that location.
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At Structural Design Solutions of
Charlotte, we provide our clients with exceptional
service in and surrounding the Charlotte, NC areas.
Ask us about our free on-site FHA pre-evaluation of your
manufactured home foundation. Our firm is the only
one in Charlotte, that offers this free FHA foundation
evaluation.
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