24 C.F.R. Subpart A—General
Title 24 - Housing and Urban Development
This standard covers all equipment and installations in the design, construction, transportation, fire safety, plumbing, heat-producing and electrical systems of manufactured homes which are designed to be used as dwelling units. This standard seeks to the maximum extent possible to establish performance requirements. In certain instances, however, the use of specific requirements is necessary. [58 FR 55002, Oct. 25, 1993] Definitions in this subpart are those common to all subparts of the standard and are in addition to the definitions provided in individual parts. The definitions are as follows: Approved, when used in connection with any material, appliance or construction, means complying with the requirements of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Bay window—a window assembly whose maximum horizontal projection is not more than two feet from the plane of an exterior wall and is elevated above the floor level of the home. Certification label means the approved form of certification by the manufacturer that, under §3280.8, is permanently affixed to each transportable section of each manufactured home manufactured for sale in the United States. Dwelling unit means one or more habitable rooms which are designed to be occupied by one family with facilities for living, sleeping, cooking and eating. Equipment includes materials, appliances, devices, fixtures, fittings or accessories both in the construction of, and in the fire safety, plumbing, heat-producing and electrical systems of manufactured homes. Federal manufactured home construction and safety standard means a reasonable standard for the construction, design, and performance of a manufactured home which meets the needs of the public including the need for quality, durability, and safety. Installations means all arrangements and methods of construction, as well as fire safety, plumbing, heat-producing and electrical systems used in manufactured homes. Labeled means a label, symbol or other identifying mark of a nationally recognized testing laboratory, inspection agency, or other organization concerned with product evaluation that maintains periodic inspection of production of labeled equipment or materials, and by whose labeling is indicated compliance with nationally recognized standards or tests to determine suitable usage in a specified manner. Length of a manufactured home means its largest overall length in the traveling mode, including cabinets and other projections which contain interior space. Length does not include bay windows, roof projections, overhangs, or eaves under which there is no interior space, nor does it include drawbars, couplings or hitches. Listed or certified means included in a list published by a nationally recognized testing laboratory, inspection agency, or other organization concerned with product evaluation that maintains periodic inspection of production of listed equipment or materials, and whose listing states either that the equipment or material meets nationally recognized standards or has been tested and found suitable for use in a specified manner. Manufacturer means any person engaged in manufacturing or assembling manufactured homes, including any person engaged in importing manufactured homes for resale. Manufactured home means a structure, transportable in one or more sections, which in the traveling mode, is eight body feet or more in width or forty body feet or more in length, or, when erected on site, is three hundred twenty or more square feet, and which is built on a permanent chassis and designed to be used as a dwelling with or without a permanent foundation when connected to the required utilities, and includes the plumbing, heating, air-conditioning, and electrical systems contained therein. Calculations used to determine the number of square feet in a structure will be based on the structure's exterior dimensions measured at the largest horizontal projections when erected on site. These dimensions will include all expandable rooms, cabinets, and other projections containing interior space, but do not include bay windows. This term includes all structures which meet the above requirements except the size requirements and with respect to which the manufacturer voluntarily files a certification pursuant to §3282.13 and complies with the standards set forth in part 3280. Nothing in this subsection should be interpreted to mean that a manufactured home necessarily meets the requirements of HUD's Minimum Property Standards (HUD Handbook 4900.1) or that it is automatically eligible for financing under 12 U.S.C. 1709(b). Manufactured home construction means all activities relating to the assembly and manufacture of a manufactured home including, but not limited to, those relating to durability, quality and safety. Manufactured home safety means the performance of a manufactured home in such a manner that the public is protected against any unreasonable risk of the occurrence of accidents due to the design or construction of such manufactured home, or any unreasonable risk of death or injury to the user or to the public if such accidents do occur. Registered Engineer or Architect means a person licensed to practice engineering or architecture in a state and subject to all laws and limitations imposed by the state's Board of Engineering and Architecture Examiners and who is engaged in the professional practice of rendering service or creative work requiring education, training and experience in engineering sciences and the application of special knowledge of the mathematical, physical and engineering sciences in such professional or creative work as consultation, investigation, evaluation, planning or design and supervision of construction for the purpose of securing compliance with specifications and design for any such work. Secretary means the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, or an official of the Department delegated the authority of the Secretary with respect to title VI of Pub. L. 93–383. State includes each of the several States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, the Canal Zone, and American Samoa. Width of a manufactured home means its largest overall width in the traveling mode, including cabinets and other projections which contain interior space. Width does not include bay windows, roof projections, overhangs, or eaves under which there is no interior space. [40 FR 58752, Dec. 18, 1975, as amended at 42 FR 960, Jan. 4, 1977. Redesignated at 44 FR 20679, Apr. 6, 1979, as amended at 47 FR 28092, June 29, 1982; 58 FR 55002, Oct. 25, 1993; 61 FR 5216, Feb. 9, 1996] A manufacturer must comply with the requirements of this part 3280, part 3282 of this chapter, and 42 U.S.C. 5416. [61 FR 18250, Apr. 25, 1996] (a) The specifications, standards and codes of the following organizations are incorporated by reference in 24 CFR part 3280 (this Standard) pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51 as though set forth in full. The incorporation by reference of these standards has been approved by the Director of the Federal Register. Reference standards have the same force and effect as this Standard (24 CFR part 3280) except that whenever reference standards and this Standard are inconsistent, the requirements of this Standard prevail to the extent of the inconsistency. (b) The abbreviations and addresses of organizations issuing the referenced standards appear below. Reference standards which are not available from their producer organizations may be obtained from the Office of Manufactured Housing and Regulatory Functions, Manufactured Housing and Construction Standards Division, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., room B–133, Washington, DC 20410.
AA—Aluminum Association, 900 19th Street NW., suite 300, Washington, DC 20006. AAMA—American Architectural Manufacturers Association, 1540 East Dundee Road, Palatine, Illinois 60067 AFPA [previously (N)FPA]—American Forest and Paper Association, 1250 Connecticut Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20036 [previously named (N)FPA-National Forest Products Association] AGA—American Gas Association, 8501 East Pleasant Valley Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44131 AISC—American Institute of Steel Construction, One East Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL 60601 AISI—American Iron and Steel Institute, 1101 17th Street, NW., Washington, DC 20036 AITC—American Institute of Timber Construction, 11818 SE Mill Plain Blvd., suite 415, Vancouver, Washington 98684 ANSI—American National Standards Institute, 1430 Broadway, New York, New York 10018 APA—American Plywood Association, P.O. Box 11700, Tacoma, Washington 98411 ARI—Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Institute, 1501 Wilson Blvd., 6th Floor, Arlington, VA 22209–2403 ASCE—American Society of Civil Engineers, 345 East 47th Street, New York, New York 10017–2398 ASHRAE—American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers, 1791 Tulle Circle, NE., Atlanta, Georgia 30329 ASME—American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 345 East 47th Street, New York, New York 10017 ASSE—American Society of Sanitary Engineering, P.O. Box 40362, Bay Village, Ohio 44140 ASTM—American Society for Testing and Materials, 1916 Race Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 CISPI—Cast Iron Soil Pipe Institute, 5959 Shallowford Road, suite 419, Chattanooga, TN 37421 DOC—U.S. Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Office of Engineering Standards, room A–166, Technical Building, Washington, DC 20234 FS—Federal Specifications, General Services Administration, Specifications Branch, room 6039, GSA Building, 7th and D Streets, SW., Washington, DC 20407 HPVA (previously HPMA)—Hardwood Plywood and Veneer Association, P.O. Box 2789, Reston, VA 22090 (previously named HPMA Hardwood Plywood Manufacturers Association) HUD-FHA—Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20410 HUD User, 11491 Sunset Hills Road, Reston, VA 20190–5254 IAPMO—International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, 20001 Walnut Drive South, Walnut, CA 91784–2825 IITRI—IIT Research Institute, 10 West 35th Street, Chicago, IL 60616 MIL—Military Specifications and Standards, Naval Publications and Forms Center, 5801 Tabor Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19120 NEMA—National Electrical Manufacturers Association, 1300 North 17th Street, Suite 1847, Rosslyn, VA 22209 NER—International Code Council Evaluation Service [Previously known as National Evaluation Service], 5360 Workman Mill Road, Whittier, CA 90601–0543 NFPA—National Fire Protection Association, Batterymarch Park, Quincy, MA 02269 NPA—National Particleboard Association, 18928 Premiere Court, Gaithersburg, MD 20879 NFRC—National Fenestration Rating Council, 8984 Georgia Avenue, Suite 320, Silver Spring, MD 20910 NSF—National Sanitation Foundation, P.O. Box 1468, Ann Arbor, MI 48105 NWWDA—National Wood Window and Door Association, 1400 E. Toughy Avenue, suite G–54, Des Plaines, IL 60018 SAE—Society of Automotive Engineers, 400 Commonwealth Drive, Warrendale, Pennsylvania 15096 SJI—Steel Joist Institute, 1205 48th Avenue North, suite A, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577 TPI—Truss Plate Institute, 583 D'Onofrio Drive, suite 200, Madison, Wisconsin 53719 UL—Underwriters' Laboratories, Inc., 333 Pfingsten Road, Northbrook, Illinois 60062 WDMA—Window and Door Manufacturers Association [Previously known as the National Wood Window and Door Association, NWWDA], 1400 East Touhy Avenue, Des Plaines, IL 60018 (c) The Department will enforce the listed editions of material incorporated by reference into this standard. If a later edition is to be enforced, the Department will publish a notice of change in the [47 FR 49385, Nov. 1, 1982, as amended at 52 FR 47553, Dec. 15, 1987; 58 FR 55002, Oct. 25, 1993; 59 FR 15113, Mar. 31, 1994; 70 FR 72042, Nov. 30, 2005] Each manufactured home shall bear a data plate affixed in a permanent manner near the main electrical panel or other readily accessible and visible location. Each data plate shall be made of material what will receive typed information as well as preprinted information, and which can be cleaned of ordinary smudges or household dirt without removing information contained on the data plate; or the data plate shall be covered in a permanent manner with materials that will make it possible to clean the data plate of ordinary dirt and smudges without obscuring the information. Each data plate shall contain not less than the following information: (a) The name and address of the manufacturing plant in which the manufactured home was manufactured. (b) The serial number and model designation of the unit, and the date the unit was manufactured. (c) The statement:
This manufactured home is designed to comply with the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards in force at the time of manufacture. (d) A list of the certification label(s) number(s) that are affixed to each transportable manufactured section under §3280.8. (e) A list of major factory-installed equipment, including the manufacturer's name and the model designation of each appliance. (f) Reference to the roof load zone and wind load zone for which the home is designed and duplicates of the maps as set forth in §3280.305(c). This information may be combined with the heating/cooling certificate and insulation zone map required by §§3280.510 and 3280.511. The Wind Zone Map on the Data Plate shall also contain the statement:
This home has not been designed for the higher wind pressures and anchoring provisions required for ocean/coastal areas and should not be located within 1500′ of the coastline in Wind Zones II and III, unless the home and its anchoring and foundation system have been designed for the increased requirements specified for Exposure D in ANSI/ASCE 7–88. (g) The statement:
This home has—has not—(appropriate blank to be checked by manufacturer) been equipped with storm shutters or other protective coverings for windows and exterior door openings. For homes designed to be located in Wind Zones II and III, which have not been provided with shutters or equivalent covering devices, it is strongly recommended that the home be made ready to be equipped with these devices in accordance with the method recommended in the manufacturers printed instructions. (h) The statement: “Design Approval by”, followed by the name of the agency that approved the design. [59 FR 2469, Jan. 14, 1994] (a) A manufactured home serial number which will identify the manufacturer and the state in which the manufactured home is manufactured, must be stamped into the foremost cross member. Letters and numbers must be Certain structures may be excluded from these Standards as modular homes under 24 CFR 3282.12. [52 FR 4581, Feb. 12, 1987] (a) Where any material piece of equipment, or system which does not meet precise requirements or specifications set out in the standard is shown, to the satisfaction of the Secretary, to meet an equivalent level of performance, the Secretary may waive the specifications set out in the Standard for that material, piece of equipment, or system. (b) Where the Secretary is considering issuing a waiver to a Standard, the proposed waiver shall be published in the (c) Each proposed and final waiver shall include: (1) A statement of the nature of the waiver; and (2) Identification of the particular standard affected. (d) All waivers shall be published in the [58 FR 55003, Oct. 25, 1993] Interpretative bulletins may be issued for the following purposes: (a) To clarify the meaning of the Standard; and (b) To assist in the enforcement of the Standard. [58 FR 55003, Oct. 25, 1993] Requests for alternative construction can be made pursuant to 24 CFR 3282.14 of this chapter. [58 FR 55003, Oct. 25, 1993] (a) A permanent label shall be affixed to each transportable section of each manufactured home for sale or lease in the United States. This label shall be separate and distinct from the data plate which the manufacturer is required to provide under §3280.5 of the standards. (b) The label shall be approximately 2 in. by 4 in. in size and shall be permanently attached to the manufactured home by means of 4 blind rivets, drive screws, or other means that render it difficult to remove without defacing it. It shall be etched on 0.32 in. thick aluminum plate. The label number shall be etched or stamped with a 3 letter designation which identifies the production inspection primary inspection agency and which the Secretary shall assign. Each label shall be marked with a 6 digit number which the label supplier shall furnish. The labels shall be stamped with numbers sequentially. (c) The label shall read as follows:
As evidenced by this label No. ABC 000001, the manufacturer certifies to the best of the manufacturer's knowledge and belief that this manufactured home has been inspected in accordance with the requirements of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and is constructed in conformance with the Federal manufactured home construction and safety standards in effect on the date of manufacture. See date plate. (d) The label shall be located at the tail-light end of each transportable section of the manufactured home approximately one foot up from the floor and one foot in from the road side, or as near that location on a permanent part of the exterior of the manufactured home unit as practicable. The road side is the right side of the manufactured home when one views the manufactured home from the tow bar end of the manufactured home. [42 FR 960, Jan. 4, 1977. Redesignated at 44 FR 20679, Apr. 6, 1979, as amended at 52 FR 47553, Dec. 15, 1987. Redesignated and amended at 58 FR 55003, Oct. 25, 1993]
Title 24: Housing and Urban Development
PART 3280—MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS
Subpart A—General
§ 3280.1 Scope.
§ 3280.2 Definitions.
§ 3280.3 Manufactured home procedural and enforcement regulations and consumer manual requirements.
§ 3280.4 Incorporation by reference.
§ 3280.5 Data plate.
§ 3280.6 Serial number.
§ 3280.7 Excluded structures.
§ 3280.8 Waivers.
§ 3280.9 Interpretative bulletins.
§ 3280.10 Use of alternative construction.
§ 3280.11 Certification label.
