ICC and HUD meet to discuss manufactured home installation requirements

 
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The International Code Council met with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) on May 3 to discuss differences between HUD's Model Manufactured Home Installation Standards and Appendix E of the International Residential Code (IRC).

The Housing and Urban Development's Model Manufactured Home Installation Standards, which went into effect in October 2008, outline the federal standards for the installation of new manufactured homes. Appendix E of the IRC, introduced initially in the 1986 Council of American Building Officials One and Two-Family Dwelling Code, includes installation requirements for manufactured homes that are adoptable by states and local jurisdictions. During the recent discussion, the Code Council and HUD identified potential conflicts, inconsistencies and confusion resulting from differences between the standards and the model code.

Appendix E of the IRC establishes certain requirements that are inconsistent with HUD's Model Installation Standards. Because code officials inspect the installation of new manufactured homes, these code differences, if followed, could result in the acceptance of new home installations that do not meet all minimum requirements of HUD's Installation Standards.

Code Council staff advised HUD that the next opportunity for submitting a code change to the IRC will occur during the next code cycle in 2019, and if approved, would be effective in the 2021 IRC. During the interim, ICC and HUD are offering training for code officials at the upcoming ICC Annual Conference & Expo in Columbus, Ohio, from September 10-13. This training will fully explain the differences between the model code and HUD inspection requirements for new manufactured home installations on privately owned lots. Stay tuned for further details.

Questions? Contact ICC Senior Vice President of Technical Services Mike Pfeiffer or U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Rick Mendlen and Angelo Wallace.