Mobile Home Shimming & Reshimming Millsboro

Shims help create final bearing contact and fine elevation adjustment between certain manufactured-home support points and the frame above them. Piers provide the primary vertical support, pads support the pier below, and shims complete the contact near the top. They are one component of the support system, not a substitute for a failed pier or pad.

Signs include a visible gap above a pier, loose shim material at a support point, a shim that has shifted out of position, or movement and creaking in the floor over that area. A loose shim no longer holds the firm bearing contact it was meant to provide, and an inspection confirms whether the contact actually changed.

Yes. A missing shim leaves a direct gap between the pier cap and the frame, removing bearing at that support point. That can let the frame drop toward the pier or move underfoot, which shows up as movement or slope in the floor above.

Yes. Shim material can compress under load, especially if it was not suited to the bearing it carries. A compressed shim thins out until it no longer holds the intended contact, which slowly changes the elevation above it and can look like gradual settlement.

No. Reshimming corrects support contact at the top of a pier. Re-leveling corrects the elevation the frame is sitting at across the home. Reshimming is often part of a larger re-leveling process, but the two are not the same — a contact problem and an elevation problem can have different causes.

The reason for the gap should be evaluated first. A gap can come from a failed shim, a settled pier, or a dropped pad, and each cause points to a different correction. Forcing more material into a gap over a settling pier or failed pad hides the symptom temporarily instead of fixing the condition beneath it.

When a shim keeps coming loose at the same spot, the cause is usually the support beneath it still moving rather than the shim itself. Recurring shim movement can signal a stabilization or support problem that deserves evaluation rather than another reshim that will not hold.

No, shimming alone generally does not correct the cause of a sinking support. Adding shims over a settling pier simply grows the shim stack while the pier keeps dropping. The pier or the pad beneath it has to be addressed before the contact above it can hold.

Yes, shims are used at selected support points under both single-wide and double-wide manufactured homes, though the number and arrangement of support points vary with the home's configuration. The shim's role — final bearing contact at the top of a pier — is the same regardless of home type.

Yes. Millsboro Mobile Home Leveling performs mobile home shimming and reshimming for homeowners in Millsboro and across Sussex County, DE, including Long Neck, Dagsboro, Georgetown, Frankford, and Harbeson. Call 302-449-7221 to schedule an inspection.