Pad for Mobile Home

   / Pad for Mobile Home #1  
CurlyDave

CurlyDave

Elite Member
Joined
Dec 25, 2005
Messages
4,287
Location
Grants Pass, OR
Tractor
JD TLB 110
We bought 40 acres in Oregon last summer and are building a house on it. The house will probably not be ready until March of 2008, about 2 years from now. The timing, based on when we will move, not the builder's ability to build the house. In the mean time we are at the property a lot of weekends and intend to be there for a couple of months this summer.

Anyway, our real estate agent found someone who will give us a single wide mobile home to stay in while we are up there if we pay for moving it off his property. While it is not a thing of beauty, it beats the heck out of the 30' motor home we have been staying in on weekends.

We have a good spot for it, and I have talked to a professional mover.

He claimed that all I needed is a level spot with ~ 8" of 3/4" minus rock on it the length and width of the trailer as a pad for the trailer.

I can hire someone to do this, or I can buy the rock and get some seat time by doing it myself.

Question: Does 8" of 3/4 minus rock sound like the correct pad for a single-wide?

It only has to last for 2 years, but it is a lot easier to do it right before the trailer is on it than to re-do it with the trailer in place.
 
   / Pad for Mobile Home #2  
I moved our mobile onto our land (weekend home for now), 5 years ago without a pad of any kind. The mover inspected the site beforehand, and I asked what I needed to do. He said "nothing". Just a cleared area that I mowed down; I thought it looked pretty level so I didn't even check it. Turns out it wasn't, there's a drop of about 1 foot from one end of the MH to the other. But it worked out OK and we've never had any problems whatsoever. Our soils are primarily sugar sand, that drain well. Your situation might be different.
 
   / Pad for Mobile Home #3  
I took off the axles, then set mine on railroad ties, way back when. Then built the steps to match the height.......I don't know why you need the gravel unless you're setting it right down on the frame, which is going to make the plumbing hookups interesting....
 
   / Pad for Mobile Home #4  
I've never seen a gravel pad used either. If you have ground that will settle or hold water I guess it might be rocomemded, but even then, I'm wondering what the benifit of gravel will be.

The movers will have various sized cement blocks to build up under the mobile to level it off. Then they will screw in anchors to hold it in place.

Since it's free and only temporary, I wouldn't put any money into the gravel. Not much can go wrong in a few years anyway.

Eddie
 
   / Pad for Mobile Home #5  
My wife and I did the same thing as you, purchased a temporary mobile home until our house was ready. We did spend the extra money for the gravel base. Everyone here in western PA recommended it because of the freezing and thawing we get. The trailor did not shift at all for us. In fact, my grandmother now lives in the trailor and she has no problems with it. We used the layer of rock, then a patio stone and then cement blocks and wedges to get the height and levelness we needed. We had the rock dumped and we leveled it with shovels and wheel barrows. This was before I got my tractor. That was a lot of work.

Whether or not we needed the rock, I don't know. But it has been there for about 6 years now with no problems.

Wes
 
   / Pad for Mobile Home #6  
You may want to see if there are any local building codes. In our area you have to dig below the frost line and put in gravel,then cement runners to put the blocks on. You also need tie downs in the cement to attach the trailer to.
 
   / Pad for Mobile Home #7  
   / Pad for Mobile Home
  • Thread Starter
#8  
OK, here is the decision.

We are leaving Wednesday and will be at the property Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

I am having the gravel delivered on Thursday morning and I am getting the trailer mover to come look at the site later Thursday. I will have the gravel placed near, but not on the site.

If he says we need it after looking at the site, I will spread it, otherwise I will save it. We have to put in 700' of driveway soon, so it will not go to waste.

I should add that there will be some site leveling necessary--probably 2-3' of elevation variation in the site and this may mean that the gravel is a good idea in any event. I know I am going to have to get under the fool thing sooner or later and for the $360 worth of gravel, I would much rather crawl around on that than nice wet, muddy, freshly dug earth.

Lets see, $360 spread over 24 months is $15 per month. Cheap enough for rent.
 
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