# mobile home blocking?



## kendallt

My house is a 1960s mobile home, put in late 60s or early 70s. 
When placed it was simply pulled in and blocked level right on the ground. No slab, no piers etc, just the blocks on the ground nothing else.

needless to say it has racked and sagged over the years. I've jacked t up and re-blocked it to straighten it out, but it's an annual exorcize.

I'd love to move it out and build a slab, piers or even a new house, but it's in an area where no new construction is allowed (national forest and wetlands), so if I move it even an inch I'd never be allowed to put it back. 

I love where I live, nearest house s 1/4 mile away, and I can walk for miles without seeing a house or person, so would really hate moving!

And technically, even re-leveling it is considered 'moving' and supposed to require a permit .... 

Any ideas on how to place a suitable foundation under it without moving it? 

The ground here is a soft black dirt up to to 1ft deep, on top of a reddish clay layer (good for pottery actually) up to 6ft thick, then glacial sand and silt. 
If I dug for concrete piers, would I have to get through the clay layer? 
would a concrete slab poured in sections work?
Or should I plan on midsummer excursions under the trailer to level it until get too old to care?

Edit, should add that this is a 'wet' area, dig 2 ft and hit water.


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## MPR

In your situation, I'd probably use two railroad ties laid side by side as a base with cement blocks laid crosswise on them two across in a stack as high as needed. The ties will have several times the surface area of blocks alone and be much less inclined to sink into soft, damp soil.

Of course, the best way to create a stable base in wet soil would be to dig down about six feet and pour some pier footings to set your blocks on. This would have been easy with a rented augur before the trailer was moved in but it's darn hard to dig the proper hole with a shovel while crawling underneath a trailer. Someone that's really good with a backhoe could fix you up quickly, though it sounds like you would require permits to even do this. I really like living a town and county that's not yet permit crazy.










Concrete pier footing forms save time, save money on renovations, decks, new construction


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## MPR

In between the two above options both in work required and permanence would be to use blocks like those shown below as footings.


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## SABL

RR ties sound good.....kinda heavy but side x side would work.

How many blocks high?? Single stack or double block wide with an alternating pattern??


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## MPR

You can put a chain on railroad ties pull them under a trailer without too much trouble. If you put two or three ties side-by side then cross-stack concrete blocks on top of them you will have a support that's going to hold a trailer no problem and is not going to settle much, even on wet ground. 

Essentially do this, but with railroad ties to give the stack more surface area at the base.


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## kendallt

Right now it's actually 3 blocks high all around, but the first is pressed into the ground, never knew it was there until the first time leveled it. I went to double blocks on the first course, second course is one crosswise with hardwood between the first time I straightened it out. Which is when I found the third block, But I thought it would serve as a fair base.

I'm gonna try to find a source for ties, that sounds like it will work, and find out how long they are, the frame rails are about 8ft apart.
Cutting them to say 3' and laying side by side, should work as well If I can't get long ones shouldn't it?

One thing I had considered was blocking it every 3-4 feet, railroad ties would work a lot easier I think!


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## SABL

Any mulch companies in the area?? Last time I bought mulch they were moving a stack of 'em. Home improvement stores want to sell you the landscaping timbers which aren't the same. 

I just checked the length on the RR ties......as I thought and are 8'6". May have to cut 'em in two and use for the main starting course......no need to stack a consistant full size pier. Maybe go 3-4 wide on the bottom and cut 2-3 (whatever it takes to spread the load on all ties in the base) to get the blocks started. Just keep everything inside the skirting......:grin:


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## kendallt

No mulch companies, nearest town with more than 1500 people is 40 miles away. 
I do have several dozen cedar trees on my property, 10-12 inch in diameter, that I may sacrifice for it.

I like MPR's suggestion of the bigfoot footings, I've been toying with the idea of building another small barn, but the current crop of treated wood has scared me away from it. If those things will work here, I'll have more storage next year!


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## MPR

kendallt said:


> nearest town with more than 1500 people is 40 miles away.


You must live next door to me. :grin: My entire county has 3,169 people, and that's spread out amongst four burgeoning metropolises.

The last place I picked up railroad ties was at Wal-Mart (41.3 miles away). They don't always have ties but for some reason they had a couple of truckloads come in a couple of years ago and were selling them for $6 each. These were creosoted railroad ties too, not landscaping timbers. They were used (all have track marks) but in good shape and still full of "juice."


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## kendallt

Update:
Was at a friends, and he has a large stack of 24"x24"x 3 inch thick concrete 'patio blocks'. Sure they aren't actually patio blocks, but I'm gonna use them as bases to block up the trailer, with extra piers thrown in between the existing ones. Figure that would help spread the load enough to stop sinking. 

MPR, my county isn't that small! It is mostly farms and forest, but a few fair sized towns in it, summer population almost doubles because of all the summer residents and campers.


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