We’ve had a lot of rain over the last summer and a couple of my homes have some “erosion” type issues where the water splatter from the roof runoff has created these valleys near the skirting. If left alone eventually water will pool there and could cause some of the piers to fail given they’re on built up pads.
I have several options in mind and was hoping the group could provide some feedback, among them (in order from most expensive to cheapest):
Traditional roof gutters
Some “french drains” which are basically ground gutters with river rocks in them to completely divert the water from the pad
A six inch wide layer of some small river rocks without anything else
Putting starter shingles under the bottom skirting channel and have them stick out as a barrier that will shield the ground
For those of you that have had to deal with this, what solutions have worked well for you? I’d like to test that last one to see how well it works, but haven’t heard about success stories or failures on it.
the solutions you have outlined are really only a band aid. you are not solving the real problem, which is the inability of the soil in your MHC to absorb that water.
Here is a quote from The Non-toxic Farming Handbook"A one inch rain supplies 28,000 gallons of water per acre. If a field with a 1% humus receives a one inch rain, it can easily become super saturated and erode. Soils with 6% humus levels will hold an excess of two inches of water… Thus a two inch rain on a 6% humus field will readily be absorbed and held with a minimum of erosion"
Lesson; fix the soil in your MHC with better practices of cutting grass, shrubs, putting in flower beds, etc- which will make your MHC more appealing and save you money.
I think you’re right about grass @bhennen123, thanks.
These homes were moved onto the build up pads of select fill recently, which is why grass has not yet grown up to the skirting. Between some grass plugs near the skirting and the shingles I should be able to get this handled.
i’d do what i do around my house where i don’t have gutters… just dig down 4-6 inches, and lay and compact a layer of 1/2-2" stone. makes it look really nice and makes it so you’re not trimming grass around the skirting and potentially damaging it.
you can also install those irrigation pipes with the holes in the french drains and divert the water flow. With that, the landscaping will optimize all of it for beauty and function. Be careful not to plant too close to the homes however, it can damage underground infrastructure like wires and water lines. If the park is old, the lines may be direct buried and not in conduit, so be careful where you dig.
Conventional rain gutters is the best long term solution to prevent water from splashing against the skirt and allows direction or water away from the home.
Conventional stick built homes all have gutters for that very purpose. Mobiles do not only to save build costs and for highway transport purposes.
All homes should have conventional gutters.
In this particular case the home does have those little vinyl mobile home gutters already, but the main issue was water drainage coming down from an elevated area towards the home.
We ended up doing two things - 1) putting in perforated pipe on the affected side with a sock cover and then backfilling with river rock; and 2) grass plugs in the dirt areas next to them where the pad was built up. There have been a couple frog strangler rains (including Hurricane Harvey) and we have not had any issues.
Materials and labor was $400 per home to address this issue, mostly for the pipe and trenching labor.