Pre-Purchase Foundation Check for Hot Springs Area Mobile Homes

Before you buy a mobile home, someone should crawl under it. A level, pier and anchor inspection with a written report typically runs $150 to $350. We read the frame, look at every pier, footing and anchor, and check the underbelly and skirting, then give you a report you can take back to the seller.

What we check

Level. We take readings at each pier along each I-beam, and on a doublewide along the marriage line. HUD’s federal benchmark is no more than 1/4 inch between adjacent piers, with exterior doors and windows that do not bind. Arkansas rules ask that the home be “reasonably level” lengthwise and side to side.

Piers. Spacing (Arkansas specifications for used homes say no more than 8 feet apart on center, with the first within 2 feet of each end of each beam), height, block condition, caps (no more than 7 inches combined), and shims (no thicker than 1 inch).

Footings. Size, whether they are tipped or sunk, and what they sit on. Around Hot Springs that is often shallow soil over shale or sandstone; in some bottoms, ground that stays wet half the year.

Anchors and straps. Count, spacing, rust, pull-out and tension. Anchoring is mandatory in Arkansas.

Underbelly and skirting. Tears, sagging insulation, water stains, animal damage, and whether the skirting is closed.

Signs from inside. Doors and windows that stick, cracks at panel corners, and soft spots in the floor.

What you get

A written report with what we found, pier by pier where it matters, and a typical-range estimate for anything that needs work. If the home is in good shape, the report says so. You can use it to negotiate or to plan.

Why it matters on these lots

Most mobile homes in this part of Arkansas are outside the city limits. The Census puts about 7,500 in Garland County and only about 830 inside the Hot Springs city limits. NRCS maps much of the ground near town as shallow and stony, on slopes of 3 to 30 percent, with the depth to rock changing from one spot to the next. What the footings sit on is worth knowing before you buy.

Buying in a community

If the home is in an established community, its age is a clue to what you will find underneath. MHVillage lists Timbercrest on Central Avenue, a 55+ community of 124 sites, as built in 1971, and Mill Pond Village, 50 sites, as built in 1982. Piers and anchors under a home that has sat for decades deserve a close look, whatever the paperwork says.

Storm history

If the home is near Lake Hamilton, Fountain Lake, Sunshine or Hot Springs Village, ask the seller whether it was there for the 2011 or 2024 tornadoes, and whether anyone has been under it since. Federal records for the May 2024 Lake Hamilton tornado describe mobile homes pushed off their blocks near Thunder Road. See storm damage reset.

After the check

If the report calls for a relevel, pier and footing repair or tie-downs and anchors, you have the typical cost before you commit. Ask whoever does any work for their Arkansas Manufactured Home Commission license number and check it. Prices are on the pricing page.