Mobile homes become unlevel for many reasons. They can settle into the ground due to excessive moisture, experience ground heave, or can have damaged shims, or wedges. Loose and broken wedges are common, especially if non-treated or softwood was used. Re-leveling a mobile home does exactly what it says, it re-levels the mobile home so the weight is distributed evenly and properly. A level home is a healthy home.
Unfortunately, many mobile and manufactured homeowners don’t know that they need to check their mobile home leveling on a regular basis.
Can Average Homeowners Re-level a Mobile Home?
If the mobile home has a few loose or missing wedges or other minor adjustments a homeowner with moderate construction experience should be able to re-leveling a mobile home. Of course, the right tools would be needed.
If the piers are leaning or the home is extremely unlevel a professional must be called.
When Should I Check to See if My Mobile Home is Level?
Most installers recommend that mobile and manufactured homeowners check their home to ensure it is still level 90 days after installation and then every year after, preferably at the beginning of summer.
What are the Signs that a Mobile Home may Need Re-Leveled?
There are a ton of things that can throw a mobile home out of level. One of the most common reasons is the wood used on the pier stacks can shrink and expand. If the wedges were installed across the grain they can get crushed.
- Buckled siding or roofing
- Doors and windows that are difficult to open and close
- Cabinet doors that won’t close
- Loose tie-downs
- After extreme storms (hurricanes, windstorms, earthquake)
- After building a porch or addition onto the home
- Erosion under the home
- Loose wedges
Tools and Materials Needed for Mobile Home Leveling
The most important tools a mobile homeowner needs to check level is a water level and hydraulic bottle jacks.
Two 10-30 ton hydraulic bottle jacks are also needed to re-level a mobile home. You’ll want to place the jacks at crossbeams, at the hitch, or the axles. Steel jacking plates are good ideas as well.
Wedges made of pressure-treated lumber or hardwoods like cedar are also needed along with basic tools such as a hammer and hand saw. Having a few 2X8s and 1x8s handy isn’t a terrible idea.
Tools and Materials to Re-Level a Mobile Home
– A water level (you can make one)
– At least 2 10-30 ton Hydraulic Bottle Jacks
-Pressure-treated or hardwood wedges
What is a Water Level?
In its simplest form, a water level is just a long tube with water in it. They can be called Egyptian levels or a Bunyip level. You stretch the tube from one side of the home to the other and make sure the home is at the same height as the water is level with each other. It doesn’t have to be perfect but it does need to be close.
There is a video at the bottom of this article that shows you how to make a water level. Otherwise, you can buy one at Amazon. They have a cheapo tube for $10 or a better one that can be used by one person for $58 (but you can make your own for a lot less). Laser levels may work but I can’t find any info about using them for mobile home releveling (affiliate links).
How to Build Your Own Water Level
This video shows how you can build your own water level. You probably don’t need to go as tall as he did unless your home is that high.
Understanding the Cambered I-Beam
I mentioned the mobile home didn’t need to be perfectly level in the section above. In fact, it probably can’t be perfect. Mobile homes sit on a steel I-beam that is slightly curved before the home is attached to it. This is called pre-cambering and it is done so when the home is attached to the beam its weight distributes and makes the beam level (there’s a lot more to this but this is the quick version). The camber will be different for each model or floor plan.
This curvature will affect the level of the home so you will probably not be able to get it perfectly level.
Pier Stack, Pier Plans, and Footers
All manufactured homes are installed based on instructions in the mobile home’s manual.
Piers or pier stacks transmit the home’s vertical load and transfer it top the footers. Piers are vital to your home and they should all be in good condition.
HUD code requires different piers based on the height between the ground and your home. If the home is over 36″ high the pier stack must be double interlocked concrete blocks. If it’s over 80-inches, the pier stack must have concrete and rebar in it.
What are Wedges?
Wedges are the 3.5″ by 5.5″ and used to adjust the height of the home just a bit at a time. Two opposed wedges will sit atop a 2″ wood board. The wood board sits on the concrete stack. The wedges can be hammered in or out to manipulate the height of that area ever so slightly. Like all wood, these boards and wedges can suffer rot and termite damage. They can also split and break.
HUD requires that wedges be installed across the grain on a manufactured home pier stack. Oak is a popular wedge wood for mobile home leveling. Cedar is too. Some installers like to use softer woods so they get crush just a bit so they can’t shift or slide. This isn’t a great idea so homeowners need to check on these regularly.
While you’re under your home be sure to check on the mobile home’s insulation and belly board.
How to Re-Level a Mobile Home Step-By-Step
First, let’s look at a healthy foundation pier. In the image below you’ll see 2″ block of wood and 2 wedges which are perfectly within HUD code. Also, notice the mobile home’s underbelly is intact and the tie-downs are taut.
Re-leveling a mobile home isn’t difficult per se but it is a lot of work and very physical because you’re crawling all under the home. Once you have the water level you’ll need to determine the highest point on all of your steel beams or chassis.
This video show a single wide that is over 6″ off from high point to low point:
After finding the high point on the water level you’ll use a heavy-duty hydraulic jack to lift the home up to the highest level and even with the water level. This video shows that process:
If you have doors or windows that are hard to open, It’s recommended that you have someone in the home checking to see if windows and doors are easier to open and close as you re-level the home.
If you have doors or windows that are hard to open, It’s recommended that you have someone in the home checking to see if windows and doors are easier to open and close as you re-level the home.
(Note: I do not know anything about the company in the videos – I just found their videos and thought they would be a good resource to share).
How to Repair Loose or Missing Wedges
Use the bottle jacks to raise the home just enough to be able to remove the damaged or loosened wedges. Check your level to ensure you add just enough new wedges to get that side of the home level with others. Ideally, you’ll start with the lowest piers and work up to the highest but that’s not always possible.
Follow HUD Guidelines
HUD guidelines state manufactured homes cannot have more then 2″ of wood on top of concrete excluding the 2 wedges. It also requires that only pressure-treated wood be used within 18″ of the ground. C-90 or C-145 concrete blocks are the standards.
This company out of Colorado recently posted several great videos showing the process of re-leveling a mobile home. You’ll see them using the water level and the hydraulic jacks to position the home and then adding supports.
Should you Hire a Contractor to Re-Level Your Mobile Home?
If your home has more than loose or damaged wedges you will need to hire a professional to re-level your home.
To find a qualified company, ask the dealership that sold you the home. Manufactured dealers either have an in-house installation crew or they hire an outside company. Next, call your local mobile home supply company. You can also research on Facebook or the web. Regardless of where you find them, make sure their license, insurance, and bond are valid.
Getting recommendations from other homeowners who have had their homes re-leveled is also a good idea.
Be sure and ask the prospective company questions. Find out who is actually doing the re-leveling, what their experience is, and what their qualifications are. Ask for contact information of previous mobile homeowners they’ve worked for.
How Much Does it Cost to Have a Professional Re-Level you Mobile Home?1
If you plan on hiring a professional to re-level you mobile home look for someone that has the tools and the experience.
In large metropolitan areas you can expect to pay around $500 to have a single wide re-leveled. a double wide will be twice the amount of a single wide.
In the southern states and in less commercialized areas, you can probably find a professional for around $250-300 for a single wide.
Lonnie from Rocky Mountain Mobile Home Transport gave us lots of tips about re-leveling a mobile home. He says that experienced professionals can usually relevel an average 16’X80′ single wide that is out-of-level in about 2-3 hours. That includes checking and readjusting each and every block set.
If there are broken concrete blocks that can add to the total time depending on how accessible your single wide is.
Lonnie continues, “Don’t fall victim to re-leveling companies that crawl under your home and pound the blocks a few times and then expect you to pay them. They are ripping you off and should be fired without pay.”
Lonnie, Rocky Mountain Mobile Home Transport
Ideally, a professional should open up 3-4 skirting panels on each side to access the entire length of the frame rails. This gives them the ability to check and adjust each block set. Make sure whoever is doing your relevel is using a water level, hydraulic bottle jacks and have plenty of 2×6s, 1×4s, matching wedges, and extra concrete blocking (both full blocks and flat solid blocks) on hand.
In Conclusion
Ensuring that your factory-built home is level is imperative to a healthy Long Lasting, and safe home. An unlevel manufactured home wreaks havoc on every stud, floor joist, door, and window. Do yourself and your home a huge favor and make sure your home is level.
As always, thank you for reading Mobile Home Living!
I’m looking for someone that knows how to relevel a manufactured home I live in Eugen Oregon I’ve been looking but I’m unable to find anyone.
You would need to contact a mobile home transport company. If you can’t find one, contact a dealer where you live and see if they have any listings for movers. Good luck!
hi there,
we have a manufactured home Sacramento county, the house is too close to road. I have very hard trying to find someone to locate the house back in the property . any help will be grateful
Hello, I was bought a 2004 new mobile home. Few years later then feel start vibrant like midearthquaker repeat daily day. Strange. The train was far away make connected vibrant on my mobile home just bother me so tired. I think just need releveling and floor have hump and carpet under bot I can feel it. I was pay bill insurance home stop. I just should keep pay bill insurance. Well. Do u think should get called to construction for relevel or beam little hump from compress on a deck stairs? I need have a professional person. I don t want get wrong person like give me cheap fix relevel or beam support. Cuz of I am a hearing impaired, don t want wrong communication. Any construction sharp get pay attention careful. Pls let me know. I lived in chesapeake va (south norfolk). If u want email as into touch with me. So welcome. Ok thkful u. Smile.
One contractor wants to install 3 marriage locks when he is re-leveling our home. He says the home will settle more evenly. The other contractor says 10 of the piers need to be replaced as well as poly-vulc pads. Both estimates are about the same but two very different resolutions to our leveling dilemma. What do you think?
I know my mobile home needs to be leveled, I had plywood put in my kitchen in March of 2020, now the nails are coming up after I hammered them down. I think the trailer is 27years old. a lot of the wood around the windows is dry rotten. so we are trying to do what we can to repair our home, little steps at a time. not to mention we have an electrical problem. if you can lead me in the right direction I would be thankful.
Hi John,
You may be able to get by with just installing new pads and having each pier redone. It would be a pain to do but you may be able to find a company that’s willing to take on the job. Best of luck!
What do you do when you have a permanent foundation with stucco outside, I had a very hard time finding someone to do it at all. And I hope they did it right. It cost me $1700. I used the same person for their repairs and soon learned I got screwed those times as well, one even before Christmas last year and still did not fix the problem. He would not return text nor accept calls. I do not know where he lives. HMMMM but he does work for a mobile home set up place. I will have to find that number to be able to hold him responsible if it turns out he did not do it right. I have some many repairs I need to have done and I can not trust whom I hire anymore. This young man made me feel he cared about how he performed his job, he took pride in his work, he fooled me. I am having a hard time finding anyone to help, besides nobody wants to help a disabled Veteran anymore.
Hello you seem very knowledgeable and i enjoyed your article.
However i have a question
What do i do about a doublewide with sloppy cinderblocks for piers sitting on damp soil. I own it. Is it possible to levels and pour or build a foundation
Hi Lilly,
The home should be releveled before any kind of repairs or modifications is made. Try to stop them before they sink too much time or money into it. They can easily relevel the home in a single morning.
My friends are replacing walls with sturdy wood ____before____ they relevel doublewide. Is this smart? They are claying the ground underneath. Is this a good idea for a better foundation?
Thank you
I totally forgot that I placed this message on here. I finally went on HomeAdvisor and there is a company that they say does this type of work. They are in Forest Grove which is not too far from me. My appt is this coming Monday. I will also contact them first and make sure this is something they do. HomeAdvisor doesn’t specifically show my type of project in their listing – it comes up with the category “Major Home Repair”. I hope this company can do it. Their website says they transport and install manuf homes. If it pans out, I will try and remember to let you know, Vicki.
Thank you, Arlene!
I know you meant for this one to be on the Awning article so I’ll add a link to the article here. Thank you so much for sharing your tips!
Hi Arlene,
Thank you for sharing! Unfortunately, a lot of plumbers or homeowners don’t understand the importance of the belly wrap. They simply don’t know that an opening can create havoc. This is a good time to point out for others that any time a plumber or HVAC or anyone works under the home make sure that part of their estimate includes patching the belly wrap after they are finished with the job.
Thanks again! We learn from other homeowners experiences. I appreciate you sharing your experience!
I posted a previous comment about awnings, and realized this particular page on the web was dealing with re-leveling the home. I found a contractor by using the local free newspaper dedicated to RV News here in town. The company came out, took photos of underneath to show where the belly had come loose, and checked for leveling. The home is a 1983 Kaufman Broadmoor. It wasn’t too far off level, but there was belly damage from when another contractor had cut the plastic to work on the front bathroom plumbing. It made me very mad (at the plumber who did the previous work) but the leveling company also resealed the belly while they were down there. I also want to say that in Arizona, many of the older homes are ground set, as is mine, which makes it pretty awkward for (a senior citizen as myself) to get underneath, which is why I appreciated that they took photos to show me the before and the after. For all that, the charge was about $1200.
We live in Tucson, AZ and locally there is a newspaper for RV News and Mobile Home Parks which is delivered to all mobile home parks free. There are ads and usually a company that offers services for mobile homes may be found in one of these publications. Another good source is to look up on the Yellow Pages for mobile home supplies and home improvement places; a good bet there will be someone they may recommend to install their products. We had an awning replaced and updated buy purchasing the product at one of our local suppliers, who recommended a guy to us who does installs. The guy was a retired guy from another mobile senior park. The cost for the double awning that is about 40′ long was $6300.
Cindy,
Have you had any luck finding a contractor? I live in Vancouver, WA and haven’t found anyone qualified to do it.
Hi Ramon, C-90 and C-145 are industry standard but I know where the issue lies – we call them cinderblocks where I’m from but the right word is concrete. I will get that changed. Thanks for pointing it out!
Crystal, I normally agree wholeheartedly with the advice you give, but in this one instance I cannot. You cite cinder blocks as being appropriate for leveling a home. Cinder blocks may be fine for low, decorative walls, but should never be used to support a mobile home. They simply do not have the strength to support a structure. Concrete blocks are used to build foundations for homes and have been accepted in building commercial buildings for decades. They are much stronger than the light weight cinder blocks and are the only blocks that should be used in mobile home blocking. Over the years I have seen many split and crumbling cinder blocks under homes I have inspected and appraised.
Hi Cindy,
Sounds like your home needs to be releveled as the outer perimeter piers have sunk. You’ll need to find a licensed installer with extensive experience in re-leveling. They will use a water level, jacks, and concrete blocks to jack the home up. Brand won’t matter.
Best of luck!
We have lived in our manufactured home for 3 years now. It’s an older home, 1992. We have noticed several squeaky floors and a “hump” down the middle most likely where the 2 halves are put together (we have a double wide).
Trying to find information on who to call. We are in North Plains, Oregon and since the home is older, I don’t know where the home was bought originally. Just not sure where to start our search. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
There are two schools of thought from 2 different resources so bare with me on this one. A manufacturer’s manual I’ve read stated that newly installed homes should be checked for level after 18-24 months and then every 24-36 months from there if the installation wasn’t ideal and if there are signs that the home is unlevel. The ‘Your Mobile Home Guide’ by John Krigger only has a 3 paragraph section on leveling and states, “Mobile homes are leveled during installation and should need no further leveling unless their footings move.”
He further goes on to state a ‘savvy homeowner can tackle minor leveling’ and then describes how to raise the home’s low piers.’
If your home is on a pad and there are no signs you may be fine. I would buy a water line or have an installer come out for a free estimate and see what his water line shows.
Any tips on how often this needs to be done? If a packed dirt pad vs. concrete pad has any effect on how often? I’m at 8.6 years right now and wondering if I should start saving up to do it in the next 18 months.
Hi William,
Fort Meyers is a gorgeous area and has a ton of mobile homes so you should be able to find a reputable leveler. I would call your local manufactured home dealers or mobile home supply companies and ask for recommendations.
Best of luck!
Is there someone good and reasonable at mobile home leveling in the Fort Myers area?
That would really depend on whether they know what they’re doing and have the proper tools (water levels, jacks, blocks).I’d set aside a day for a single wide (though I haven’t been around many re-levels by themselves). It seemed to me that communication and teamwork were the most important aspects of installations and re-levels. If the two work well together it will go a lot smoother.
Hi Pattie,
Most home leveling issues can be repaired but please do it as soon as possible. The longer stress remains on the structure the bigger the chances of permanent damage.
I have an issue with the level of my single wide .After hurricane Irma we noticed that the house it off level at top .it seems the top portion of the house is about 2 inches off leaning eastward but floor comes in level.Can this been repaired it is almost as if it twisted.
How long would it take 2 people to level a single wide trailer