Pier Repair and Replacement for Manufactured Homes

How a pier system is supposed to work

Each pier is a short stack that transfers load from the steel chassis beam down to a bearing pad. Typical construction is a concrete or masonry block stack, a cap, and shims at the top. The pad below spreads the point load across enough soil area that the ground can carry it. Pier spacing and pad size come from the load at that point, not from a uniform rule of thumb, which is why the piers near the marriage line or under heavy interior features are often larger.

What goes wrong with piers on Blackland clay

Sinking and tipping

When clay dries out in an August drought it loses volume, and a pad can lose part of its bearing surface. Load then concentrates on a smaller area, which lets the pier settle unevenly and tip. The blocks stay intact, but the stack is no longer plumb, so it is carrying its load off center.

Cracked and spalling blocks

Blocks crack when they are loaded off center, when a stack was built too tall for its footprint, or when moisture and freeze cycles work on the material over years. A cracked block in a stack is a warning that the load path is not straight.

Dry stacked without mortar, out of pattern

Many manufactured home piers are dry stacked. That is normal, but the blocks have to be oriented correctly and the stack has to be within height limits. Blocks turned the wrong way, or a stack built taller than its base can support, are common findings.

Shim failure

Hardwood shims crush over time, especially under a pier that is carrying more than its share. Rot from standing water or from a plumbing leak overhead accelerates this. Crushed shims show up as a gap between the pier cap and the beam.

Washout and open cracks

Deep shrinkage cracks can open next to a pier. Water running into that crack goes straight to pad depth, which softens the bearing soil right where it needs to stay consistent. A pier next to an open crack deserves closer attention than one sitting in intact ground.

What repair usually involves

A contractor will take elevation readings across the frame first so the problem pier is identified in the context of the whole grid. Repair typically means supporting the beam temporarily, removing the failed stack, checking or replacing the pad, rebuilding the stack plumb and to the correct height, reshimming to the beam, then confirming the readings.

Where the soil around a pad has lost volume, the fix is not only a new stack. Pad size, pad seating and the drainage feeding that spot all get looked at, because putting a new stack on the same compromised bearing repeats the failure on the next dry cycle.

Adding piers is sometimes appropriate. If the original spacing was marginal for the load, or if the home has had additions or heavy interior changes, spreading the load over more points reduces the pressure at each pad.

Signs pier work may be needed

• A visible lean in any pier stack seen from the crawlspace access.
• Daylight between a pier cap and the steel beam above it.
• Cracked, chipped or crumbling blocks.
• Pads that have tilted, sunk below grade, or sit partly over an open soil crack.
• Shims that are split, crushed, dark with rot, or that have fallen out entirely.
• A floor area that has gone soft or bouncy above a specific point.

Why pier work and releveling go together

Releveling that only adds shims to a compromised stack hides the problem for a season. Conversely, replacing a pier without taking readings across the frame risks setting the new stack to a height that fits the current sag rather than the correct plane. Contractors who do this work regularly in Navarro County treat the two as one job: read the frame, repair the failures, reset the heights, read it again.

Getting an inspection

This site connects homeowners in Corsicana, Kerens, Blooming Grove, Frost, Dawson, Rice and Mexia with independent contractors who work on manufactured home support systems. Photos of the crawlspace, if they can be taken safely, help a contractor understand the situation before arriving.