Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/532854
JULY 2015 8 THE JOURNAL BY GEORGE PORTER SERVICE & SET-UP The Good, the Bad, and the Confused This may be the best title yet for an article about HUD Code housing! The HUD Code is complicated. It is not that it can't be figured out or that it doesn't make sense, it is just that nobody wants to take the trouble. Have you ever heard this before? "Just tell me what you want me to do and I will do it." Pretty sure you have, this is where someone gets fed up with thinking about something and is willing to do anything, right or wrong just to make it all go away. This brings us to a major fault in the whole HUD program across the entire nation. The program is designed to be a thinking program instead of a program of easy to read, straight-forward, written laws. Apparently most people like to be told exactly what to do so they don't have to think about it much. Let me give you an example. Over the last 32 years of teaching installation courses the most commonly and intensely discussed topic is stack- ing blocks. Setup guys all want to know exactly how many blocks can you have in t he stack; ex- actly how much wood and of what dimension; ex- actly how much can the wedges overlap; and in fact do you need any wedges at all. This becomes crucial to every person in the room because if an inspector comes by, he will count the blocks and if there is the wrong number or an extra piece of wood then he will make them come back and reset the home. The block stacking becomes the focus of the whole setup. So let me ask those of you who do this work, "How many homes have you seen destroyed by one too many blocks in the stack"? How many homes have you seen become out of level by using a 2- inch cap block instead of a 4-inch? Have you ac- tually witnessed problems along the marriage line because the supports were single stacked and not double stacked when they were over 54-inches high? I personally know of a case where an in- spector turned down a home because 4 out of 39 block stacks did not have wedges; they just had wood plates on top. It was turned down because it did not look like the picture in the book the in- spector had. (Even if it w as dead level and work- ing) Now let me ask you installers some other ques- tions, "How many homes have you seen destroyed by rot?" How many homes have you seen blown away in storms? Why are these problems con- stantly with us and so apparently hard to check for? The answer is unfortunate and simple; we have to think to get them right. Decisions must be made within the human brain based on cur- rent information and predetermined perform- ance criteria . This last sentence is the greatest fault of the HUD Code; you have to use your mind and people don't all think alike. (Some don't think at all sometimes) Don't get me wrong, I am possibly the greatest fan of the HUD code that ever lived. It is clearly the most innovative and performance oriented building code ever invented. New construction techniques and products are introduced to the world regularly by the HUD code. Seen any cast iron sewer pipes lately? Where in the world did all those pneumatic nail guns come from? They came from people making up new ways to do things. Plastic pipe, both supply and waste, were not in the residential or commercial building code until years after it was in our homes. If you told the average home framer/carpenter that he had to only use his hammer, no nailer, to build a house he would probably quit on the spot. Most people hate change and yet when we are first born we cry like the dickens when we don't get it. I don't understand what happens to this attitude as we age but it seems to get reversed. Modular homes are catching on pretty well. They are also built in a factory, but no one seems to care much. The great myth is that some peo- ple think that the "factory thing" was our HUD problem. In truth I don't think it really ever was. I think it was problems with the homes that caused people to think that the troubles somehow origi- nated in a factory. Look at the foundation of a modular or "stick built" home. The weight on the roof comes down the exterior walls and straight into the solid foundation. You can hang porches or whatever on the wall and it works. The floors don't crown from the weight and it is what people have seen and gotten use to all their life. Then there is us in the HUD world. We have wheels. (Different) Our frame does mos t of the supporting and we don't need outside and center support except in certain cases. (Requires think- ing and is different) We get to chose where we want to support the home under the frame within certain guidelines. (More required thinking plus reading a manual!) Then we have to strap the thing to the ground so it doesn't blow away! (Oh my goodness!!) There are at least 25 decisions available here; a bunch more of that darn think- ing. Screwing your home to the dirt is really dif- ferent! "Just tell me what you want me to do and I will do it, OK?" Sounds good doesn't it? Unfor- tunately nobody ever improved or invented any- thing by just blindly following orders. Maybe this industry never will be the mass pro- duced housing that we wish it could be because thinking is hard and most people would rather not. But some people really enj oy thinking, and that is why we will always be around. This indus- try was started by pioneers who were different from other people; they tried something different and new and made it work. They were thinkers, in- novators and risk takers. Folks like this will never be a majority. They will always have problems from people who are not like them but thank goodness there will always be a few available to show the rest of the population what can and should be done. George Porter is a consultant to the manufactured housing industry. His Company is Manufactured Housing Resources, P.O. Box 863, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971, (302) 645 5552, Web: www.george- porter.com. Some of his services are both in person and On-line training for certification in many states plus expert witness and investigation for the industry. T J