HUD Foundation Requirement Examples
Here are a few of the HUD permanent foundation requirements of which you, as the home buyer, need to be aware and to use in making a preliminary evaluation yourself. These are not all-inclusive, but can provide you with a basis for future evaluation.
Examples from the HUD Permanent Foundations Guide for Manufactured Housing include:
- Stacked cinder block piers?
- Home attached to foundation?
- Foundation extend below frost line?
- Tongues and axles removed?
- Proper drainange?
- Edge of slab 8" above grade?
- What frame is used for crawl space walls?
1. Are the piers stacked concrete blocks (cinder blocks) without mortar between them? If so, they don't meet the criteria for a permanent foundation. Here is a picture of a stacked block pier.
2. Is the home attached to the foundation? Look underneath to see if the manufacturer's straps are in place between the framing of the house and the slab. These generally look like this. Long metal straps anchored to the concrete slab and connected to the metal framing of the house.
3. Does the foundation extend below the frost line? In New Hampshire the minimum depth for frost protection is 48 inches. This is in the southern part of the state. As you go further north foundations must be deeper for frost protection. If you probe around the edges of the slab you can make a quick determination if it extends below the frost line as shown below.
In this picture our engineer has used an old ski pole to probe under the concrete slab. This indicates that the edges of the slab are not on foundation walls that extend below the frost line.
A small excavation at the edge of the slab can determine the same thing.
4. Have the tongues and axles been removed from the site? This is a HUD requirement.
Look into the crawl space for the tongues and axles. Normally they are removed and no longer on site. However, sometimes they are just disconnected from the framing of the house and left in the crawl space. If they are still in the crawl space, removal and disposal is normally very easy.
5. Is there proper drainage around the perimeter of the home? HUD requires that there be positive drainage away from all sides of the home. This is to help prevent surface water from entering the crawl space and causing problems.
6. Is the edge of the slab 8 inches above grade? HUD requires that the foundation wall extend at least 8 inches above the finished grade adjacent to the foundation.
7. Are the crawl space walls either masonry or real wood framed? (A vinyl skirt is not compliant.)