Does anyone have any creative ideas regarding materials and/or construction techniques to avoid the plain vanilla vinyl skirting? I think I’ll try painted 1"x6" boards with a 1" air gap because I have an adundance of secondhand material for cheap. Our flat topo will also make this easier. Any other homemade ideas or feedback would be really appreciated.
Thanks.
Dan
I’ve used everything – vinyl, metal, wood, fiberglass. The bottom line: as long as you paint it, it all works, but that’s based on your expectations. All the skirting is designed to do is to cosmetically hide the ugly space between the home and ground. That said, it sometimes is also a focal presentation to make your park look better. I would stick to vinyl on the most visible homes, and then retreat to something cheaper and paint it on the homes that are not that visible. If you can afford 100% vinyl, then I’d go with it, because it is the best as far as looks and life (as long as you don’t weedeat holes in it). To guard against doing that, put a row of shingles at the front edge of the skirting, so grass cant grow near the skirting and you won’t have to get a weedeater near it.
The purpose of the skirting is also to deter rodents from getting under the home and in colder climates help to retain heat to prevent freezing the water lines.
In my area due to frost heave I dig a trench about 8" deep and allow the skirting to extend down into it about 4". The trench is about 12" wide and filled with pea gravel.
My personal preference is to use metal siding/roofing material or as a second choice vinyl. Metal is the best choice but very expensive.
Thank you Frank and Greg - I really appreciate it.
We are windy here - and nothing and no one is above hitting vinyl with a weedeater, so we are metal here all the way.
It is about $150 extra (over vinyl - that blows all over the place and gets holes) for a 16x80 - no brainer. We buy Galvalume metal roofing and have Mennonite guys do this. They charge us $250 labor plus $28 ‘extra materials’ - I assume that’s screws. This is a lifetime skirting - without ever having a weedeater hole.
See pics - and you tell me.
http://www.kylandsales.com/MHAdsSmall/Skirting2.jpg][url=http://www.kylandsales.com/MHAdsSmall/Skirting3.jpg]
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I can’t get the links to work - here they are
http://www.kylandsales.com/MHAdsSmall/Skirting1.jpg
http://www.kylandsales.com/MHAdsSmall/Skirting2.jpg
http://www.kylandsales.com/MHAdsSmall/Skirting3.jpg
The big problem we have here in Northern California are feral cats. I’ve seen them completely destroy ductwork. They even crawl in and die. I recommend sturdy metal skirting.
Thank you very much everyone for the feedback.
