# Basements on Single/Doublewides



## WillowWisp (Aug 22, 2004)

Is it possible to put a basement on a single or doublewide. Eventually, we plan on getting a mobile home in the next few years and maybe even a cheap piece of land if we are able too. But right now I am looking around...
If you can put a basement on a mobile home, how is it done. We would have someone do it...but is the door left on the outside of the mobile home, or do you have to attach a building to it for an entrance? Is it safe for them to cut an entrance into the mobile home somehow? I have no idea how this would be done, but it would be great for extra space.

God bless
Willow Wisp


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## Oilpatch197 (Apr 18, 2004)

The problem is how are you going to put the trailer over the basement, I guess you can cut a hole in the floor and use that as the entrance, I was thinking like you have the basement, and perpendicular to the Trailer "I" beams you have three Large I beams equally spread out over the lenth of the trailer


..........I............I.................I
===========================
..........I............I..................I

"I" represents the perpendicular I beams that the weight of the house is one(were talking HUGE I beams from another trailer)

"=" represents the trailers I beams, and you would put shims between adjacent I beams to level trailer out.

However I forgot one major problem, Exactly how do you MOVE a trailer onto a basement! I don't Know!

Perhaps fill the basement with dirt and move the trailer on, then remove dirt??


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## pointer_hunter (May 8, 2004)

Most times they just slide them on from the side. I have only seen a few basements under single wides, mostly they are either skirting or just block foundation. Most of the double-wides these days come with a basement option. It's about 1000 extra I think because they have to put more beam support around the whole.

If you're looking to save some money and plan on putting in a basement, just make a larger basement and live there. They are well insulated and cheaper to maintain.


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## Ken Scharabok (May 11, 2002)

I have only seen two methods. The first is to position the trailer and then jack it up, building the foundation walls and then lowering onto them. Second was to set it on the foundation via large crane, much like they do with manufactured homes. Once a double-wide is on the foundation it is joined and finished as if it were free-standing. Stairs should allow access to any entry doors. An inside stairway from the basement to the unit may be more difficult.

Perhaps someone can give the link to the MO Trailer Trash site. I believe one of them was two double-stacked single-wides.

Ken Scharabok


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## DrippingSprings (Sep 22, 2004)

I am assuming this is for protection from the storms?

If so then I would build the basement and have a slab roof on it and simply drive the trailor on top. Have a hole big enough for one of the small spiral staircases to allow access. Because of a mobile homes propensity to blow away it would afford you not much protection to be in the basement under it if you then had no roof after it left lol. 

Those trailor tie downs that are required are such a crock, if you are really really lucky it will keep the frame in place while the rest heads to the wild blue yonder


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## almostthere (Nov 9, 2003)

They have basements on double wides out here all the time. Im not sure how they are constructed, I would venture a guess that its a sealed basement, except for the stairs inside. The fleetwood guy told us that we would just "pick a spot" for the stairs and they would make sure the bracing is appropriate all the way around. They would also construct and install the stairs. I guess it would be just as simple (maybe easier) to build a sealed basement and give it an outside only entrance.



I forgot to add...when my aunt got her land, way before I was born, they built the foundation and stuck a single wide on it. Then a few years and 3 little boys later finances were cleared up enough to build the house. If this is a place you think you might be for a while, and if it were worth the effort, you could build your house in stages as finances permit. Does the basement have to be under the house or would a storm shelter/root celler work?


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

http://www.missouritrailertrash.com/

There you are, Ken. ;=)


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## Bruce in NE (Dec 12, 2002)

I had a partial concrete basement about 30' long made under a double wide. Used bridge girders under the mobile for support and had cement blocks up to the bottom of the mobile. Had an access hole and steep stairs built in a bedroom closet, made elaborate storage bins in the basement -- then never used it. Sold the place later. You would be much better off moneywise to build an outside root-storm cellar IMHO.


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## DayBird (Jul 26, 2004)

I grew up in a doublewide with a basement. It didn't always have a basement though. It was on a very steep hill. Everyone said that a mobile home could not be placed where my dad wanted it. He was a visionary and would not accept no as an answer. He found a dealer that said he could place a mobile home on what my dad proposed. At the bottom of the hill, my dad concreted into the ground four vertical I-beams. At the top of the hill, he dug great big huge holes (I was 3, everything is big in my memory) that were filled with concrete. There were four of these piers in the ground. He had bolts sticking up from the concrete. He sat I-beams across from the piers at the top of the hill to the vertical beams at the bottom. He then welded the beams together and bolted the horizontal beams to the concrete piers. Then he welded some flat iron from one end all the way to the other to the bottom side of the horizontal beams. 

When the trailer was delivered, they slid it out on the beams. Everyone was expecting disaster. Buckets of axle grease and many come-alongs were used to winch the back side of the trailer out to the edge that was 18 feet from the ground. The front side went together smoothly and the two halves were pulled together. He then welded the metal frame that the trailer was built on to the metal framework he had built underneath it. We then moved in. He spent the rest of his life digging and building. He never did complete it, but all the walls and the floor was finished before he died.


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## jacksun (May 16, 2004)

i have a double wide on a full basement its built as a bank house so you can drive up to the top floor or the walk out basement my parents are moving into the basement as it gets done the walls are 10" poured concrete 40x60 we had this done for 12 grand the double wide was built as a basement model they moved it on the basement with what looks like scaffold with rails and roller scates 8 men moved each half no power tools or winches am pleased with the house,


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## Beeman (Dec 29, 2002)

I've seen it work and I've also seen it fail. I have seen singlewides and doublewides on basements. Just understand how the house must be supported and build accordingly. Most that I've seen have been placed with a crane. The failures are not pretty and when it fails all is lost.


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## wingnut206 (Aug 21, 2020)

DayBird said:


> I grew up in a doublewide with a basement. It didn't always have a basement though. It was on a very steep hill. Everyone said that a mobile home could not be placed where my dad wanted it. He was a visionary and would not accept no as an answer. He found a dealer that said he could place a mobile home on what my dad proposed. At the bottom of the hill, my dad concreted into the ground four vertical I-beams. At the top of the hill, he dug great big huge holes (I was 3, everything is big in my memory) that were filled with concrete. There were four of these piers in the ground. He had bolts sticking up from the concrete. He sat I-beams across from the piers at the top of the hill to the vertical beams at the bottom. He then welded the beams together and bolted the horizontal beams to the concrete piers. Then he welded some flat iron from one end all the way to the other to the bottom side of the horizontal beams.
> 
> When the trailer was delivered, they slid it out on the beams. Everyone was expecting disaster. Buckets of axle grease and many come-alongs were used to winch the back side of the trailer out to the edge that was 18 feet from the ground. The front side went together smoothly and the two halves were pulled together. He then welded the metal frame that the trailer was built on to the metal framework he had built underneath it. We then moved in. He spent the rest of his life digging and building. He never did complete it, but all the walls and the floor was finished before he died.


What an AWESOME story. Can you please continue with what he built into the bottom 18 feet of "basement" ? Don't suppose you have any pics ?


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

The short answer is YES you can put a mobile home in a basement. However, there are differences in single wides, double wides and mobile homes. 

If you buy a true mobile home where the steel frame stays with the unit, wheels are simply removed and skirting is put on it will be considerably more difficult to put over a basement as these require a whole bunch of support points. Pull the skirting and look at one and you will see a whole bunch of concrete block piers every few feet under the frame.

A true single wide (or double) manufactured home would work much better. They transport on a steel trailer frame, they are set on foundation then the trailer frame goes home with the truck. These type of homes just rest on the perimeter walls. This would make much more sense if you want a basement. And getting a home set on a basement is no big deal for the folks that do this stuff every day.

If all you want the basement for is storm shelter, you could save yourself a bunch of money by forgetting the basement and purchasing a precast buried storm shelter unit. They are concrete, made in a factory much like septic tanks and come delivered to your place, set in hole excavated by you, with the access door, steps, etc. included.


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## muleskinner2 (Oct 7, 2007)

I grew up in a double wide with a basement. They slid the two halves on to the walls from the sides. Then put four posts down the center, where the two halves joined. It had a door for the basement, and my dad built a set of stairs into the basement. The outside doors were about four feet above the ground, so we built up a foundation with cinder blocks, filled it in with rocks and gravel, and poured a slab on top of it. 

We built the basement ourselves. I spent two months mixing cement in a wheel barrow with a shovel and a garden hoe. I remember the truck driver telling my dad that our basement was the most level and square one he had ever set a house on. We built it without a transit. Used string, a line level, and a garden hose filled with water to keep the top level.


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## Wolf mom (Mar 8, 2005)

wingnut206 said:


> What an AWESOME story. Can you please continue with what he built into the bottom 18 feet of "basement" ? Don't suppose you have any pics ?


Sorry to say here's another "recommended" old thread that DayBird posted on from Jan 2005, wingnut206. So I'm not sure DayBird will reply as her posts end in 2005.


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## SpentPenny (Jun 11, 2020)

You need to look at "manufactured housing" which is NOT a mobile home. Manufactured housing needs to be set on a permanent foundation is is not meant to move after the initial setup. Many come with nice entrances for basements just like a stick built. Oh - also I would put the basement UNDER the home, not ON it...


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