"Modular" Homes versus "Manufactured" Homes

[Greg Booth]

Can anyone remember modular homes being built in NYS in 1979? I admit, I left NYS in 1975 but my father didn't and he didn't get involved with modulars until the 90's and I can't remember him ever talking about them before the late 80's.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

............sure. Mods were installed in the early 70's. Maybe not all built in NYS, but certainly installed in NY. At that time, Sterling Homex was building mods in Avon NY. Today, there are lots of mods and Hud codes installed in NY but the majority come from PA. That said, Titan, is still being built in Sangerfield NY--a nice new plant having been constructed after a devastating fire a few years back............Greg.

[hausdok]

OK,

Thanks, didn't realize they'd been around that early. Yeah, the mods my father built came out of PA.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

[Bill Kibbel]

OK,

Thanks, didn't realize they'd been around that early. Yeah, the mods my father built came out of PA.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

There's a community that was built in 1951 for workers of the US Steel plant in southeast PA. Prefabricated ranch style homes (2 pieces) were placed on concrete pads.

The manufacturer, "Gunnison Magichomes" began in 1938 and was bought by US Steel in the mid 1940s. No, the homes are not made of steel. They manufactured what we call modular and also prefab panel homes and shipped them to about 3 dozen states.

[kfran128]

Hello, my husband and I recently bought a home on 4 acres and were told it was a stick built home. Does a double wide always have metal chassis? Or will it be wood foundation with cement footers that is what we have underneath the house but no steel anywhere. We have a crawl space and attic, there are no signs of it being mobile on the inside but the outside is what bothers me. I look underneath and it has cedar blocks holding it up. How can I tell the difference between a modular and mobile/ double wide? Will it always have the steel running down the center? We also have 2x6 walls that make my father in law think it is a modular.

[Greg Booth]

.........what you are referring to are all manufactured homes. Industry terminology, "HUD Code Homes", will have two carrier beams for each section. That is to say, a single-section will have 2 beams, double-section 4 beams. Sticking out from each beam, towards the exterior wall, will be steel outriggers - atop this steel subassembly sits the permanently attached wood floor framing system. There are hybrids that have perimeter steel box frames, which the manufacturers call easy-set basement models. They end up working like a mod with the home's weight bearing on the perimeter foundation wall and lally columns supporting the center marriage wall. The underside is covered with a membrane material which protects the in-floor utility systems and insulation.

The other type of manufactured home is a modular (mod) which is similar to stick-built in that the would floor structure contains no permanently affixed steel substructure. It's delivered to the site on a trailer that is returned to the factory. Unless it has been ordered as a crawl-space model, the furnace and plumbing systems will be completed on-site.

Very, very few HUD Codes or Mods are not built with 2X6 walls so that is not a reliable clue. If it's a HUD Code, there should be a manufacturers tag (metal) affixed to the exterior of each half near the rear of the home. Sounds like you could have a mod - if you would post a couple of pictures of the underside, we could answer you query definitively.......Greg

[John Kogel]

Thanks, Greg. Editor's note: would = wood 2nd paragraph. []

A centre of the Addic pichure wood tell the tail. []

[Marc]

Hello, my husband and I recently bought a home on 4 acres and were told it was a stick built home. Does a double wide always have metal chassis? Or will it be wood foundation with cement footers that is what we have underneath the house but no steel anywhere. We have a crawl space and attic, there are no signs of it being mobile on the inside but the outside is what bothers me. I look underneath and it has cedar blocks holding it up.

Your description fits a site-built house but it could be a movable also. There's no difference once onsite and set up.

How can I tell the difference between a modular and mobile/ double wide? Will it always have the steel running down the center? We also have 2x6 walls that make my father in law think it is a modular.

Manufactured homes is a category. I'm aware of three types: HUD-Code, Modular or Movable.

HUD-Code and Modular look identical but the HUD-Code is built to a Federal standard that's very inferior to every other standard I've ever seen. People call these 'mobile homes'. Modular is built to the same standard as a site-built home but cost a lot more because it's built so much better. You can tell HUD-Code from a Modular by the red painted aluminum plate that's stuck near an outside corner of each section of a HUD Code home. Modulars don't have them.

Movable is the same as a site-built but it's built at a facility and made small enough that you can move it to a site with an 18 wheeler truck.

Marc