Since I have actually built and shipped modular homes I can safely say that you maybe an architect but you are way wrong. The bare minumum weight for a home stripped for moving is 40 lbs square foot. That is with part of the roof removed, plumbing HVAC ect.

As an aritect a guy would think that you know the difference between a modular and manufactered home but apparently you do not. A modular is stick built and nearly identical to a stick built home by spec to local residential building code.

Then how do they haul those 260,000-450,000 lb excavators?

Then how do they haul those 260,000-450,000 lb excavators?

Q: "How much does a house weigh?"

A: According to our professional house lifter/mover, normal old houses weigh 60 to 80 tons. Since we still have the Time magazines from the Carter Administration and way too much furniture, he estimated that ours weighed in at about 85 tons. (He had to use a little different strategy to get everything lifted correctly.) See the next question, too. Of course, our house is full of heavy plaster walls and ceilings and has a two chamber brick chimney, too. New houses would weigh much less. (This is almost a daily question on the Google searches that hit our site. Why do people really need to know how much a house weighs? If you hit our site as a Googler for this question, send us an email.)

fine. i claim no special expertise about either modular or manufactured homes. i have not built or had anything to do with either. 40# per sf sounds about right to me for a trailer delivered modular double wide?? and 40 x 1300 is what, 52k pounds, right? not 80 to 120k.

of course a modular will weigh more than a house less the foundation. it has a frame to support it as it is towed down the highway. a house just has to sit there and resist wind.

the orignial question was what did a frame house weigh of a specific size. i gave an estimate of about 21k #. actually i gave a range of 25 to 35 #/ SF. i stand by that estimate. with more information i might be able to get closer.

now i dont know about excavators weighing 425,000# but i am sure that it requires a very special trailer and a very special permit to move one. not a normal semi by any means.

one day i saw a triple articulated (i made that name up so i dont know if it is correct at all) trailer with about 16 axles and a tractor in front and a drone tractor on the back pushing. it was most impressive.

hey, lets be friends.

tom w

A modular is a stick built home; in fact it is more rigid than a site built home in almost all circumstances due to the reinforcement needed to handle the shipping load I have seen them on the scales with my own two eyes and know what they weigh. A manufactured home is much like your travel trailer with a light steel or aluminum frame and what we commonly refer to as double wides.

Off-topic but interesting:

In Australia, in the "outback" (the barren, VERY sparsely-populated center of the continent), one can sometimes see semi-trucks towing a series of 4, 5 8, even 10 trailers at once!!! :eek: A pretty amazing thing to witness, especially when you see one for the first time.

Out in that no-man's-land, there's no traffic or congestion or sharp turns to deal with, so.... the towing ability of the truck itself is really the only limit to the number of trailers. :)


Mike

Speaking of weight Mike I am doing the final removal of stuff from my old house so the speakers will be ready to ship, all 5 ft tall of them.

thanks for the clarification. so does a modular have a permanent frame and wheels or does it sit on a separate trailer?

tom w

Stick houses scare me...mobile homes even more.

Of course...that goes along with the geography.


There are some builders in the area that have a block first story, and a stick second story. That, would scare me too....since I think that the second story would me more exposed to high winds and blow away sooner than if it were block.

I'd rather be paranoid than sorry. :D

In pieces on several trailers, and that's one biga## excavator!

A true modular is no different than a site built home it is loaded onto a trailer and unloaded after it is set it can take a trained eye to tell the difference after it is set. The main beam is usually two laminate beams bolted together and the marriage wall is covered. The legal definition is that a modular conforms to the state residential building code while a manufactured home complies with HUD code and has a steel frame and is really much more like a trailer. You would have problems financing a manufactured home vs a modular which is considered the same and appraises the same as standard site built homes.

Manufactured = Doublewide
Modular = Conforming home

Excellent! :D Lemme' know when, and I'll work out the details. :D

Mike

A Komatsu PC400 weighs 105,000 lbs and that is middle of the road, you see those on the road every day.

Here is a good example of a true modular http://www.discoverycustomhomes.com/our_homes/floor_plans/rosemont/index.asp

Each section of that home weights about 10 ton maybe a tad over.

so you are saying that each 500sf section weighs 20k. and that then is about 40#/ SF. and then how are they constructed so that they can be lifted by a crane? the walls for the first floor arent just free standing there, right?

tom w