Quote:
Originally Posted by ocean2026
I have around 100 acres on a lake peninsula. The land is a couple of hours for me and I thought maybe I should put a modular house on it and rent it out to someone who likes wildlife and might also be able to watch over the land or landscape it.
Would a modular house be a good idea?
Are they generally better quality than mobile homes?
Any suggestions?
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The second poster was referring to the difference between modular and manufactured housing, not modular and mobile so those thoughts are void.
A mobile home is one built for portability, it is on wheels and can be towed to a permanant location. You blow torch off the hitch receiver, place the modular on blocks and remove the wheels and sometimes the axle. Then you may or may not skirt the perimeter.
A modular home is a real stick built home like any other home except it is built in a factory and flat bedded to your location. Most cases it will be modules of 14' X 28'. Side by side will give you 28' square foot print or you can stack them for a 2 story. These are dropped by crane onto a slab, piers or a full foundation. Once complete there is no one that can tell that it was built in a factory rather then on site. From the inside the only tell tale sign is the center wall will be about 12" thick.
Structurally a modular may be better then a traditional stick built because it is built under controlled climate conditions in a factory. All building codes are exceeded over a site built. The main difference is the add ons are as cheap as free rent. The cabinets will be no better quality then the cardboard boxes sitting behind the grocery stores. Tubs, sinks, toilets, carpeting, flooring etc are as junky as anything found in Walmart or a Dodge dealer. If you were willing to upgrade then you can put in anything as quality as available. This home is not meant to ever move but a mobile can still be rerigged to be moved again and again.
Some of the better and more popular brands are Palm Harbor, Oak Creek and Clayton.
Whatever you choose to put on your land, the cost of a septic and well will be just about the same. Power might vary a tad depending on how far the power company has to run a line and how many utility poles they may have to set just for you. You said you were on a lake. Depending on who the owner of that lake is, most water authorities put restrictions on waste water systems near water. What I mean by that is they make a rule that any waste system within 300' of the lake MUST be closed. That means no leach lines. Just a closed tank that fills and you must empty maybe every month. And man does that suck. Say $400 cost to the honey truck every 30 days to empty the tank?
A septic engineer can design around the rules. You may have to run the leach lines far from the home and water but it's doable. It just adds to the cost. Oh yea, sometimes being close to a fresh water lake you can have an open waste system but you must use what's called an aerobic system. This is a system where air is pumped into the tank to break down solids rather then rely on the tradional system that relys on bacteria to break down solids.
Whatever the case look into this.
Where is this place by the way? Sounds beautiful !!
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