Does My Mobile Home Need Releveling?

Twelve things that show up when a manufactured home has settled. Every one is visible from inside the home or on a walk around the outside, and none needs a tool you do not own. Tick what is true and the checker tells you where your home sits, including telling you that nothing is wrong if nothing is wrong.

The two tests worth doing first

The marble test. Set a marble on the floor in three different rooms and watch it. Consistent direction in every room means the frame is low on that side. One room behaving differently points at a soft spot rather than a whole-home tilt.

The door test. Open every interior door halfway and let go. Doors that swing open or closed on their own are telling you the frame has racked, and doors that drag on the jamb are telling you the same thing more emphatically.

Why this matters on Lowcountry ground

The coastal plain here is soft, low, and sitting over a shallow water table, so the soil under a pier footing is saturated for much of the year. Saturated sand under a concentrated pier load compacts and squeezes sideways, and clay-bearing ground swells when it is wet and shrinks when it dries. Nearly half of Charleston’s annual rain falls from June through September, into soil that is already wet, and you have a home whose supports are sitting on something that keeps moving.

That is not a defect in the home. It is the reason releveling here is maintenance on a three-to-five-year cycle rather than a repair you do once.

The damage also lags the cause. A lot stays wet in August, the ground under the piers gives, and the doors start sticking in February. People blame the weather that week rather than the weather five months earlier.

What the checker will not do

It will not tell you to book anything if you do not need to. The lowest band on the scale says exactly that, and a meaningful share of the people who run it land there.

What it also cannot see is the crawl. Crushed pads, a pier carrying nothing, standing water, or a torn belly are all found from underneath, which is what the free level check is for: about half an hour, pier-by-pier readings, and a written price, whether or not you book.

If you score high

Two other free things worth doing:

The cost calculator prices a relevel from the published table so you know the budget before anyone visits.

The tie-down planner works out roughly how many anchors and straps your home should have, which is worth knowing separately because settling and anchoring are different problems that often arrive together.

You can request a level check from us in Charleston, Summerville, Goose Creek, Moncks Corner, North Charleston, St. George, and Walterboro.