Leveling questions

[dedou]

Hi Everyone,
I've been checking up on what everyone's been up to off and on - some great remodels going on - and now that Spring has hit the Northeast, we're gearing up to take on some projects that need doing around here. Our trailer is a 1988 Astro "Country Manor" and has the lengthwise-running floor joists. We hope to imitate what DCdiva and her family have done, and pull up our plumbing and seal and insulate the flooring.
First of all, though, we have to block up the frame and level as best we can. I think our frame is bent, but don't know what Mark considered badly bent in his book? Our floors do trail off quite a bit on the outer walls, enclosing a photo of the floor under a window in the living room. The former owners had put down a nice "pergo" type floor, but it is separating. Our plan of action is:

1) get a water level and see how far off we are all around

2) add more blocking to the place - lots more - we have lots of books, a treadle sewing machine(ok two, but one is still in storage), and the previous owner built all-wood kitchen
cabinets with a matching bookcase on the other side towards the living room)

3) tear up and redo the flooring as DCdiva's family did, re-doing the plumbing at the same
time in PEX

So here's my first questions:
1) Which version of the water level have folks here used, and why? I'd like to get away with the cheaper version if we can and save our money for the next book out by Mark
(hint, hint)

2) Since it's our outer walls that are bowing, and there is no steel there, will perimeter
blocking really help?

3) And just how bad is too badly bent? We can't afford another trailer, and if this one is really off, can we just block it as best we
can and sort of keep it from getting worse?

You can sort of see how the natural pine bookcase on the left of the white bookcase photo is leaning towards the wall (I've since moved it, but it's still leaning backwards about a good inch or so)
Also, those of you with good observation skills will note what looks to be blocking under the kitchen drawers - it's not. It's foam board that I put under both sets of drawers this winter in a desperate attempt to keep the mice out of there. I have to replace the foam with a nice piece of wood - it's on The List of To-Do's.
Thanks!

[Greg]

You can make your own water level, all you need is a GOOD non kinking garden hose a few adapters,a gallon jug and some clear vinyl hose. I'm sure you can google it and find out how to make one.

Perimeter blocking can never hurt, I would add it if you have any doubts. It may not bring things back to flat, but it should stop it from getting worse.

How bad is too bad? I guess that's your call, I have seen some that had a 6" drop from the middle to the side (had a shingle roof added to it) and over a foot front to rear.

Greg

[dedou]

Thanks Gregg - wow, ok I don't think we're going to find the drop is "that" bad (knock on wood)! I didn't know whether or not there was a cut-off point where you were too bent
to bother or the like. We just got a professional quality hose at Costco, so have that. I was under the impression I needed some little connector part.
I just opened another tab and found this info: http://www.factsfacts.com/MyHomeRepair/WaterLevel.htm

I'm printing it out to use, but do any of you who have done this already see anything
to add? It's supposed to be rainy up here in VT this weekend, but we're shooting for
the following weekend and will let you know how it goes!

Devon

[Greg]

The way I do it is with a gallon jug and one hose. I glued a plastic hose fitting in the bottom of the jug & attach the garden hose to the bottom, I use a clear section of hose on the other end of the garden hose. I mount the jug (this is the toughest part) with a bungee cord to the frame at starting point fill the jug & hose and get my zero point. Just move the hose end from pier to pier and record your readings. I use both paper & soap stone on the beam. Once you have all of the readings you can plan the corrections needed.

Greg

[DaleM]

Use a gallon jug of window washer fluid and 50'-60' of 1/4" clear vinyl tubing. Drill 2 holes in the top cap of the washer fluid jug, 1 so the tubing will fit tight through it and the second one about an 3/16" - 1/8" in diameter as a vent hole. Cut a small angle cut on the tubing and jamb in through the big hole in the cap to about 1/2" from the bottom of the jug. Set the jug about 3' high and pull a siphon by sucking only for a moment on the open end of the tubing. Level is now ready to use. Set it to your desired frame height and get leveling!

[JD]

I use 100' of 1/2" hose, with basically no fittings. I have a PEx 1/2" plug that I wrap with bailing wire and then wrap the wire to the working end of the hose for a plug to keep accidental spills from happening. Really helps when crawling around. The other end goes through a hole drilled into the side (near the bottom) of one of those square cat litter buckets. I made a little keeper with bailing wire and sealed the bucket hole joint with good caulk. I just sit it up on blocks, another bucket or anything stable that will get me close to I beam level. I establish the point of the home that will be not be raised or lowered and call that grade. I pull the plug set the hose next to the frame and measure the difference between the water and beam and measure the difference, + or -. I usually mark my tape or ruler. Then as I check all piers, I write down the difference to grade. +1/2" or -3/4" whatever. I write this on a paper with four lines representing the beams, with a circle drawn on each line where the piers are. I write the difference in the circle. Then when you are done, you have a nice topography map of the homes level, which can give you a lot of insight as to what the underlying cause is. Usually the cause is gravity and time but this map can also point to a ground compaction or water runoff problem.

There a lot of ways to make a water level and there are good ones with level alarms that you can buy. I have been using this last one I made for about 8 years and it is showing no signs of failing in the immediate future. I keep the hose, rulers and such in the bucket for storage.

[dedou]

Thanks for all the help everyone, we definitely have a water runoff problem that we knew ahead of time about when we bought this place this past October. There is a huge hill behind us, and mountains behind it. We didn't have any runoff to speak of this Spring because we didn't really have winter snow to speak of!
But, I'm not planning on that being a repeat this winter, and want to level as best we can and block up to help the frame steady out. We've got Mark's book and I'll print off all your suggestions and we'll try this thing! We're supposed to have rain all week, but we'll see about what next weekend brings us.

[newmobileFL]

Hi,
I'm new in the mobile home world (bought a single width, 700 sqft about a month ago), but was able to make huge and expensive mistakes in this short time.
We bought this 1983 home as investment. It had tenant in place who had lived there over 5 years,
expressed a desire to rent to own and days after signing the contract disappiared.
The home was in need of extensive repairs, so we hired workers to replace the water heater, bath tub and do plumbing repairs and never saw that there were serious leveling problems in the home. This was brought to our attention by the people hired to replace the flooring. Starting from about the middle, the home is going down toward the side about 3 inches.The home also has alluminum siding.
Not recognizeing how serious this problem was, we went ahead with replacing the flooring without releveling. Reading about all the potential problems that eventually will occur if we do the releveling now, we are considering cutting our losses here and trying to get rid of the home.
We have made all kinds of wrong steps in this area, so I would appreciate your help before making the final decision to dispose of the home. One of the big advantages in this mobile park is the low lot rent, which looked attractive when we did buy the home, but we do not expect anybody to want to buy the home before releveling, even if we offer it at a loss for us. So far we have close to $7000 invested in the home.
In short: is it worth it to try to relevel this home (another $350 starting price...) when it slops about 3 inches from the middle to one side, after we just put new flooring (3/4" ply covered with linoleum) or it would be loosing more money for no good reason?
Is it a good idea to look for a tenant for the home in this shape (need of releveling)? Where, ouside of Craigs list is a good place to look for tenant for mobile home, if we go this route?
Please, help with your opinion!

[jakehobby1]

Is it a good idea to look for a tenant for the home in this shape (need of releveling)? Where, ouside of Craigs list is a good place to look for tenant for mobile home, if we go this route?
Please, help with your opinion!

________________________________________________________________________
Links removed by moderator

[Greg S]

Re Leveling will depend mostly on the resale value of the home, you need to ask yourself if it will increase the price or make the sale easier. Probably not in that the home is not perfect and the buyer, as in your case, will likely not notice.
However, if it is sloping to one side only it should cause minimal damage if leveled properly. Your new flooring will likely not be effected.

[newmobileFL]

No, I just could not find the proper way to submit my own post, so I did put it as a "reply" to Dedou's.
How can I submit my own posting?

[Greg S]

Go to the appropriate forum section, "off topic discussion", as an example in your case and you will find at the top of the list of topics "Newtopic*".

[newmobileFL]

Thank you, Greg,
I reposted my message as a new topic.
I contacted a person from a company doing releveling and he stated that
he could do it without any structural damage, but my short experience so far is that
after we start any repairs, many more problems occur that need additional repairs.
Your remark in another posting concerning single width mobile homes and your statement here
make me feel a bit better about going ahead with the releveling.
Thank you again.