The United States has a broad spectrum of weather patterns and the wind speeds will also change from area to area, so knowing the typical wind patterns of your desired living location is important when it comes to owning a mobile home! Each home is built according to three defined wind zones: There are 3 standard zones to know about, but a good rule of thumb to remember how each zone works is that as the zone number increases, so does the limit of safe maximum sustained wind speeds. In part, Wind Zone Rules! What is a Wind Zone?Ī Wind Zone is the rating of the amount of sustained wind speeds a manufactured home is built to withstand. These days, your new mobile home is built to withstand a great deal more than homes built back in the 60’s, and newer manufactured homes show as little damage after a bad storm as a site-built home does. You bet the one built to modern safety standards is going to be way safer than the old one! On a head-to-head safety comparison, which one do you think is going to come out on top? But – comparing those old homes to today’s is like comparing a Model T with a modern Ford F-150. So, of course, they are going to find mobile homes built before there were any standards that are the most likely to be damaged in storms. What about the mobile homes you see trashed on the news after a tornado? Well, first, the local news station knows the worse it looks, the better the ratings. The standard has been with us since 1994 protecting homeowners in high wind areas of the country. Part of why they are safer is we know a lot more of what causes damage to a home during a storm!įrom that growing knowledge, the HUD labeled some places on the map as areas with a greater likelihood of seeing higher sustained wind speeds (think hurricane prone coastlines). So, what’s a Wind Zone, and why should you care? We’re glad you are asked! You may have heard Mobile Homes are safer than ever before.

Mobile home wind zones