Mobile home

Mobile homes are housing units built in factories, rather than on site, and then taken to the place where they will be occupied, usually by being carried by tractor-trailers over public highways. They are usually much less expensive than site-built homes, and are often associated with rural areas and high-density developments sometimes referred to as trailer parks.

Related Topics:
Housing - Trailer park

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Although the name "mobile" implies that these houses will move around, they usually are placed in one location — often a rented lot — and left there for the life of the structure. However, they do retain the ability to be moved, and this is in fact required in many areas. Behind the cosmetic foundation-work normally fitted at installation to hide the base, there are strong road-going trailer frames, axles, wheels and tow-hitches.

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The two major forms of mobile homes are single-wides and double-wides. "Single-wides" are sixteen feet or less in width and can be towed to their site as a single unit, whereas "double-wides" are twenty-four feet or more wide and are towed to their site in two separate units, which are then joined together. Triple-wides, although rarer, are also manufactured.

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Mobile homes are not self-propelled vehicles containing housekeeping space inside them: Such vehicles are more properly referred to as motor homes or RVs.

Related Topics:
Motor homes - RVs

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