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Retrofit Services and Foundation Repairs

OnTheLevel offers foundation repairs, retrofit services and consulting to homeowners, lenders and insurance companies for one or more of the following reasons:

To meet conditions of the lender or underwriter in a loan or sales transaction for a Cal-Vet, VA, or FHA-insured loan (often required after a determination by an engineer).
To meet the requirements of an insurance underwriter for an earthquake policy.
To upgrade the home to meet or exceed the home's wind and seismic safety standards to give the homeowner peace of mind.

What are Foundation Repairs and Retrofits?

The terminology "foundation repairs" or "retrofits" is generally used to describe proprietary systems . What the heck is that?

It is a pre-manufactured, often times "beefier" support system designed to provide additional vertical and horizontal resistance in wind, snow, and seismic zones---and that the design criteria has been pre-approved and stamped by an engineer. Having been registered as an approved plan with the state, a proprietary system has already demonstrated through testing data that it meets or exceeds certain requirements. When utilizing a proprietary Standard Plan Approval (SPA), plan check fees at the building department can usually be avoided. However, a proprietary system is not the only solution. An engineer can design a site-specific plan as long as it meets local codes and will be accepted by the building department. Another important point, adding a retrofit doesn't mean the existing components are removed. In fact, the manufactured home's existing supports are still necessary for the load displacement, reduction of floor vibration and for leveling adjustability. A retrofit is generally required to meet loan or insurance specifications for "permanent" attachment, wind resistance, snow loads or seismic resistance. If you would like to see a video installation of one of the proprietary systems, click here:

The individual requirements for the different systems are better detailed in the following links.

Retrofit services fall in the following 3 categories:

(Fields marked in red* are required.)