How to Build a Foundation for a Trailer

Mobile homes can be used as you travel from campground to campground, or they can be installed on a foundation and used as a secondary or primary residence. Rather than just using four or six stilts to raise your mobile home off the ground, you can build a foundation using concrete blocks. When completed you will have a solid foundation for your mobile home with solid sides that prevent animals from nesting underneath your mobile home.

Things You'll Need

  • Wooden stakes
  • Wheelbarrow or portable cement mixer
  • Mortar and water
  • Trowel
  • String
  • Concrete blocks
  • Gravel
  • Tamper
  • Tape measure
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Instructions

    • 1

      Measure the bottom of your trailer and mark the area you want to use for the foundation with wooden stakes at all four corners. Run a line of string to create the boundary that outlines the base of the mobile home. Lay 1 inch to 2 inches of gravel on the ground, making sure there is 1 foot of gravel on the outside of the boundary line. Use a motorized tamper and tamp the gravel until you have a level surface. Let the gravel settle for 24 hours.

    • 2

      Mix mortar and water in a large wheelbarrow or a portable cement mixer. Using a trowel, apply 1 inch to 2 inches of mortar on top of the gravel starting in one corner of the boundary line. Position a concrete block on top of the mortar so the smooth side of the block is lined up with the string.

    • 3

      Apply 1 inch to 2 inches of mortar on the gravel next to the first block and position the second block on the mortar. Repeat the process until the first row of the foundation is laid.

    • 4

      Apply 1 inch of mortar on top of the first block you laid, then position half a concrete block into the corner. Apply 1 inch of mortar to the second block on the first row and place a block so half of it is on the first and half of it is on the second block. Repeat this process, overlapping the concrete blocks to create a more stable foundation, until the entire second row is laid. Complete the foundation to the desired height.