Manufactured Home Foundation / Addition Certifications

The purpose of a HUD engineering foundation inspection is to conduct a structural inspection for determining:

• If the MFD home is permanently tied down, and
• That the home would not float off the piers or foundation,
• That the drainage of the house will not flood the crawlspace or basement.
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This inspection is to certify that any additions added to the home (that did not come with the home) are built to local, state and national code and standards. If the property has an addition attached after the home was sited, the attachment is not regulated by HUD Standards or Regulations. If an addition has been added to a manufactured home, it may take the home out of conformance with the Standards.

This is an inspection to determine, if possible, whether the home has ever been moved or has only been in its current location.

Think of a modular home as a hand-framed stick built home constructed in a controlled factory environment.  It is built off site and trucked to your lot. Modular homes can be one or multiple stories.  They are built to modern building codes and are placed frequently on permeate foundations such as slabs or basements.

Mobile homes are pre-1976 homes that are built with no federal or state standard, are on a frame with wheels, and are frequently only tied down to the earth without a permanent foundation.

Manufactured Homes are homes built to HUD Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards (HUD Code) and built after 1976. They are also called mobile homes but are built far better, have a certification stamp or plate and are built with a permanent chassis.  Manufactured homes have exterior certification labels and an interior data plate where Mobile and Modular homes do not. The HUD permanent foundation guides for manufactured housing can be found here.

Homes built prior to June 15, 1976, even with modifications, do not meet the HUD standards and cannot be accepted as compliant with the HUD Code. FHA does not insure mortgages on manufactured homes built prior to June 15, 1976. Most other mortgage insurance firms follow FHA’s policy.