During the set up process of my new manufactured home, the four sections are being bolted together by the set up crew with the walls out of alignment. They have stopped work for the weekend and have not bolted any ceilings or walls together yet, only floors. Where the home sits on the foundation, the walls are level, but not plumb. As you look up, there is a one to two inch difference between the bottom of the wall and the top (when comparing different sections of the home). Certain sections of the home appear to tilt slightly. How can I get the walls to straighten and align with each other? I tried pushing on the wall with a backhoe to get it to move with no luck. Any ideas?
rather than try radical methods yourself and risk voiding a warranty, why not talk to the manufacturer, and insist that the framing be level and plumb before the erectors leave the site, or else NO MONEY WILL CHANGE HANDS. That will probably get their attention.
Architect (NY) and Home Designer (PA)
Posts: 2479 | Location: Tobyhanna, PA | Registered: 24 October 2005
If I were your architect, I would immediatly take plenty of digital photographs and measurements. I would quickly call the manufacturer and discuss the situation to determine exactly what is their "standard practice" to determine if this is within their specified limits.
Armed with this information I would contact the owner/project manager (not the erection crew) of the erection company and advise them of the problem (they may not even know). Depending on their reaction, I may request a site meeting to review the problem.
I would email them copies of the digital photographs to back up your concerns and build evidence. I would NOT discuss the issue with the crew at the site since their main interest will probably be towards defending their work.
If you don't get satisfactory or cooporative answers from the parties involved, I would stop the work until creditible answers can be found. Possibly this would involve an independent report from an architect or structural engineer.
Very likely, if not corrected at this early stage, the misalignment will affect future construction. This is particularly true since this is a modular system, which is less flexible than conventional framing.
As you know, your home is guaranteed, and waranteed for the first full year.
Manufactured homes are built, in some cases, better than a lot of the homes you see in residential areas. We've owned ours for over 15 years and are very pleased.
To get to your question: go to the manufacturer first-the boss, or whoever is in charge of putting your home together. Tell him, very sternly, that if this isn't resolved quickly, that you will contact the Office of Manufactured Housing, and/or the Office of the Attorney General, and it WILL be taken care of!
