Mobile Home Inspections in Central Arkansas

What a mobile home inspection covers

A manufactured home usually doesn't sit on a continuous poured foundation. It rests on a steel chassis carried by piers, so the weight lands on points. Let a pier settle or a shim work loose and you'll see it inside first: a door that won't latch, a sloping floor, a seam opening at the ceiling.

Most of the rest is underneath, where nobody looks until the floor feels wrong. Age counts too. A home built before the federal HUD Code took effect in June of 1976 was built to a different standard, and only newer ones carry the data plate that proves the date.

The inspection is visual. If the skirting has no access panel, or the crawl area is too tight to get into, David reports the underside as not inspected instead of guessing.

• Piers, shims, and footings

  Piers plumb and stacked right, footings sunk into soft dirt, shims worked loose.

• Tie-downs and anchors

  Straps tight and not badly rusted, and anchors still seated in clay that swells and shrinks all year. A cut strap nobody put back is common.

• Skirting and ground cover

  Vents that let the underside dry, an access panel that opens, and grade draining away.

• Belly wrap

  A torn bottom board drops the insulation and holds water against the floor decking.

• Marriage line

  On a multi-section home, support under the centerline first, then the ceiling and floor seam and the gasket.

• Crossovers

  The duct and lines crossing between halves. A crushed duct heats the ground, and a leak up there stays hidden.

• Roof and roof-overs

  On older homes the low-slope metal lives on its seams, and a roof-over hides what's under it.

• Panel, feeder, and bonding

  The feed usually comes from a meter pole outside, so the pole, the feeder, and its grounding get looked at. Inside, grounds and neutrals often turn up tied together where they belong apart.