Managing Risk With Mobile and Manufactured Home Inspections

One of our insureds was accused of misidentifying polybutylene—a dysfunctional, cheap pipe used in many manufactured homes between 1976 and 1996, according to Courtesy Manufactured Home Plumbing. Upon reviewing his report and photos, the inspector realized he had overly relied on finding the telltale stamp of “PB” on the pipes and, when he hadn’t found it, incorrectly reported the plumbing as something else.

Despite the client’s demand of $4,200 to re-pipe and repair the home, our claims team was able to work with the claimant to reduce the settlement to just $1,500.

Despite this resolution, there are many things the inspector could have known. And with mobile homes (currently known as manufactured homes) becoming a popular option for affordable homeownership, it’s a great time to learn about the nuances and quirks of inspecting manufactured homes.

Let’s explore some of the facts about inspecting manufactured homes and how to prevent claims from arising.

Mobile and Manufactured
Home Inspections

Workers build manufactured homes completely in factories. Afterward, they transport them to the homeowner’s property. That is why many people refer to them as prefabricated homes, or prefabs.
While single-wide manufactured units are most common, some housing and construction companies may combine more than one manufactured home to create a larger structure. These are often known as a double-wide or triple-wide home.

Damage or stress can occur while moving manufactured homes. Additionally, their unique creation and transportation necessitate some changes with various systems and areas of the home to make them more mobile. These changes include:

Foundations

Manufactured homes rest on top of permanent metal chassis or frames for transportation, not a concrete foundation. Once it arrives at the site, builders place the prefab on top of piers, jacks, or other supporting materials.

While the homes themselves may be subject to strict codes, the foundations may not match their level of quality. If contractors place piers poorly or use a material that is inadequate for the weight, issues may arise as time goes on.

As such, Kenneth Rodriguez of Loyalty Home Inspections in Delaware checks manufactured homes’ foundations first. He says if a home has been on the lot for awhile, the foundation is often not something anyone’s paid attention to. “But whether it’s a year or 10 years on the lot, one of the first things I do is check underneath the mobile home to see if it’s level,” Rodriguez said.

Anchoring is another common issue. Because they aren’t attached to their foundation, manufactured homes should have tie-downs (sometimes called wind straps) that secure them to the ground in high winds. Whether they are over-the-top tie-downs or frame anchors, dedicate time during manufactured home inspections to ensure they are taut and not corroded or damaged.

“If you have a wet crawl space, that can create rust on the tie-down straps,” said Calvin Bolt of Calvin Bolt Inspections & Testing in Indiana. “I’ve seen some of those straps completely rusted in two along one whole side of the house and the house isn’t being held down anymore. Other times I see the straps are loose, or they’re severely rusted and they haven’t broken yet.”

Crawl Spaces

Usually, a simple skirt surrounds the small crawl space underneath a manufactured home. This skirt may occasionally prevent entrance. On the other hand, many skirts are thin or rotted through, allowing the elements and pests to enter easily.
Beware of running into a pest while in this confined space. Rodriguez also warns that critters can nest in and cause damage to the bottom board (often called a belly wrap) that separates and insulates the bottom of a manufactured home.

“You have to worry about pests burrowing and nesting in there. That can break down the insulation, and it allows for moisture and direct contact with the wood framing,” Rodriguez said.

On a newer manufactured home, the belly wrap should be fairly seamless with no holes or rips—except for utilities, like plumbing and electrical. This presents two problems while inspecting manufactured homes:

It can obscure your view of the plumbing, including leaks and other issues.

If there are any holes from repairs, they may open the home up to damage from moisture and frozen pipes.

“The majority of the area under a mobile home is pre-wrapped in a waterproof membrane, and that prevents you from being able to inspect a majority of the plumbing, HVAC, ductwork, and subfloor,” said Jon Hamilton of East Alabama Inspections.
Hamilton’s workaround: gently nudging the membrane to check for resistance.

“If there’s a puddle of water that the membrane is holding, you’re going to feel the resistance from that when you go to lift it up.”
Double checking for leaks during manufactured home inspections can save your clients (and you) from experiencing significant issues in the future.

Plumbing and Materials
<p>Watch out for lower quality building materials, like polybutylene pipes.
“One of the unique aspects of a mobile home and particularly older mobile homes is that it’s one of the only places where you may run into polybutylene water supply lines,” said Tony Escamilla of Villa

Home Inspections in California.
Plumbing is not the only area that can suffer from poor materials. Hamilton recommends studying the characteristics of mobile homes from different decades, which can help you identify possible issues during mobile home inspections. He says mobile homes were largely made with fiberboard up until the ’70s, and fiberboard is easily flammable and has no insulation.

To find out when a specific manufactured home was built, look for the data plate.

What does a mobile home HUD plate look like? Look for a paper label found near the kitchen sink, a cupboard, the electrical panel, or closet. It will have information about the manufacturer and the serial number, which will help your research when writing your report.

Major Systems

Because of the compact size of prefabs, many of their major systems, like the HVAC and the water heater, are inconspicuous. Shaun Pizani of the Louisiana Inspection Firm had a difficult time finding many of them on his first manufactured home inspection.

“Sometimes that stuff’s hard to locate or easy to overlook. The first time I inspected a mobile home, I had to backtrack a little bit and think about it to figure out where the water heater was,” Pizani said. “The water heater and the HVAC are usually out of sight. They are usually behind a hidden wall panel.”

If you are having difficulty locating the major systems, turn to the data plate. A quick internet search on your phone will then help you find their location.

Attics

Attics are traditionally a target-rich area for home inspections. But manufactured homes have small attics. In many cases, the attic hatch is also difficult to access. And even if you can find the hatch during a manufactured home inspection, the attic likely isn’t large enough to move around in.

Despite these limitations, attics are still an important area to inspect. Because of the size of prefab attics in particular, they may suffer insulation issues that lead to freezing pipes.

If you are unable to check the attic, be sure to say so in your manufactured home inspection report. If you are only able to perform a limited inspection from the hatch, note that, too.

Roofs

Manufactured home roofs may not be safe to walk on.
“Newer models of mobile homes are being built with asphalt shingle roofs, so I’ll walk on those. Older model homes from the ’60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s still have the thin tin roofs, and those I would not recommend walking on,” Hamilton said. “I would recommend you use a drone, or you can always just ladder up to the eave and look at it from the ladder.”

If inspecting from the eaves, Yaakov Fisgus of Inspect It Rite in New Jersey recommends touching the roof with your hand to get a sense of the roof’s wear and durability.
“If it’s a metal roof or a flat roof, you can put your hand on it to see how it actually feels,” Fisgus said. “A metal roof will, over time, get very thin where you can almost put your hand through it.”
If you decide not to walk on the roof (or you inspect from the eaves), explain why in the report.

Transportation Stress

While they design manufactured homes to be sturdy enough to survive transportation, cracks and fractures are still common.
“At one point, the home was mobile. It was transferred from either a manufacturing facility or a different lot. Anything that’s on the road like that is not always like it’s supposed to be,” Pizani said.
Be sure to check stress points, like windows and doors, for cracks that may lead to future water damage. Make sure the plumbing and other utilities connect properly, too.

Managing Risk with Prefab Home Inspections

There are many other ways to protect yourself from manufactured home claims and complaints. Below are some steps we suggest:

Learn the nuances of a manufactured home.

Want to avoid missing defects? Attend a class, get certified, or shadow an inspector who is familiar with manufactured home inspections. Prepare even if you aren’t actively soliciting these inspections.

“Inspecting a single-family home is very different from inspecting a mobile home. So, if you have some training available that’s specifically for mobile homes, you should definitely take it,” Escamilla said.

Fisgus said many times clients who schedule will not even tell him it’s a manufactured or mobile home. It’s something he finds out during the inspection.

Be thorough with prefab home inspections.

Don’t rush.

As many inspectors know, even a small home can be rich in deficiencies. In fact, Fisgus recommends expecting certain areas of a manufactured home, like the foundations, to take longer than comparable areas of a standard residential home.
Report inaccessible or concealed areas.
Whether it’s an inaccessible attic or hidden plumbing in the belly wrap, always report concealed or inaccessible defects and areas during your manufactured home inspection.
Explaining why you couldn’t access a space and taking photos of inaccessible areas can deter false accusations and resolve claims.

Protect yourself.

Manufactured home inspections can be tricky. With the right precautions, you can mitigate your risk and help your clients make informed purchases.

Here’s another important precaution: carrying errors and omissions (E&O) and general liability (GL) insurance.
Today, InspectorPro Insurance is the leading home inspection insurance provider in the nation. With a reputation built on superior claims handling and quality customer service, we give clients peace of mind. Insuring with anyone else simply isn’t worth the risk.