Mobile Home Tie-Downs and Anchors in Hot Springs

Tie-downs are the straps that run from the home’s frame to anchors screwed into the ground. They keep the home on its piers when the wind pushes it. Re-tensioning straps during a relevel is usually a small line on the quote. Replacing anchors and straps typically runs $600 to $3,500.

Arkansas puts it plainly: “Anchoring is a mandatory requirement for any manufactured home installed in the State of Arkansas.” Ask whoever works on your anchors for their Arkansas Manufactured Home Commission license number and check it.

Why anchors matter here

Federal storm records for Garland County describe what happens when wind wins. In the Lake Hamilton tornado in the early hours of May 8, 2024, near Thunder Road the storm damaged several mobile homes, overturning one and pushing several off their blocks. On April 25, 2011, an EF2 from Maddox to the Sunshine community destroyed 8 mobile homes and damaged 13 more. Anchors will not hold a home through every tornado, but a home whose straps are slack or rusted through has less holding it in an ordinary storm.

What Arkansas requires

From the Commission’s rules:

• Ground and rock anchors at least 11/16 inch thick, buried at least 3 feet, and longer anchors buried to full depth.
• Diagonal frame ties within 2 feet of each end of the home on both I-beams, and no more than 10 feet apart along each beam.
• Anchors able to withstand a 4,725 pound pull at each tie.
• Straps tensioned to the home manufacturer’s or the anchor manufacturer’s instructions.
• Every anchor, strap and clip new, never re-used.

All of Arkansas is HUD Wind Zone I, and HUD’s standard says vertical straps are not required in Zone I. Arkansas’s own rules still say a single-section home’s built-in vertical tie straps must be used along with the frame anchors. Zone I is the federal design wind zone, not a promise of calm weather: the Garland County tornado record above sits inside it.

What we check

1. Count. Are there enough anchors for the home’s length, spaced within the rule?
2. Condition. Rust, frayed straps, bent heads, and anchors pulled up out of the ground.
3. Depth and soil. On shallow ground over shale or sandstone, an anchor may meet rock before it reaches depth. The rules name “rock anchors” alongside ground anchors, with the same 11/16 inch and 3 foot minimums, and we pick the anchor to suit what we find.
4. Tension. Straps should be snug, not slack, and not cranked so hard they pull the frame.

During a relevel

The straps have to come loose before a home can be lifted. When we relevel, we slacken them first and re-tension them once the frame reads level. If an anchor is past saving, the quote prices a new one.

After a storm

If a storm has moved your home, the straps may have stretched, an anchor may have pulled, or a pier may have kicked out. See storm damage reset. Buying a home? Anchors are part of our pre-purchase foundation check.

The full anchoring text is on the Arkansas rules page, and the ranges are on the pricing page.