Installing mobile home skirting

[Jarrett]

My wife and I are in the process of buying a mobile home. The dealer wants $650 for the skirting installed. I'm a pretty handy guy. I used to work in my Dad's cabinet shop, I've done alot of carpenter work, and I've done a good bit of vinyl siding work. I don't think I'd have a problem doing it myself and saving some money. What I don't know is how is it done? How does it attach to the home? I've never looked at any up close. What would you say is the average height of the skirting (3' or 4' or so?) so I can get a rough estimate on what I need?

 

[Harleymsn]

I don't really know a whole lot about mobile homes, but we have a lot of them around here. The one's that I have seen have a track under the trailer and another track along the ground that they fit the vinyl into. We have a local company that makes steel insulated doors, (excel) after the doors are together the cut out for the windows and scarp the cutouts. I have seen a lot of folks pick this up at the plant (Free) and use them for skirting. They use the cutout's for the 9 lite size windows

 

[Bird]

Jarrett, in my opinion, it's actually quite simple. You attach an "inner" top rail to the lower edge of the mobile home with nails or screws (screws much preferred, in my opinion). The "outer" top rail will then just snap into the inner rail after you install the vertical panels. In most cases, you simply measure the height from the ground after the mobile home is completely set up (installed). Of course you have to cut the vertical panels to the proper length, but you have a considerable margin for error; i.e., they don't have to be exact. The bottom rail is frequently just laid on the ground and held in place with big nails or spikes into the ground. Another way to do it is to lay landscaping timbers all the way around with them anchored to the ground, then nail or screw the bottom rail onto the landscaping timbers. In my opinion, the worst thing about vinyl mobile home skirting is the fact that a string trimmer will chew it up very badly and very easily. Using the landscape timbers is one way around that problem. Another way around it is to use another outer top rail, turned upside down and snapped into the bottom rail. String trimmers won't hurt the rails. Some installers put one screw in both the top and the bottom of each vertical panel. IF the mobile home should settle, the panels will buckle, and of course, you have to remove screws if you ever need to get under the mobile home, so I prefer not using the screws unless strong winds make it necessary.

Cutting the vinyl can be done with scissors, tin snips, or a variety of saws. The fastest, easiest, neatest cutting I ever did was with a radial arm saw, although a regular hand held circle saw works very well. A little sabre saw will work, too, but it's much slower.

 

[Inspector507]

Jarrett,
Bird gave good advice on how it's attached. I installed mine when I lived in a mobile and it's really simple to do.
The easiest tool to use is a jig setup like siding crews use to cut vinyl siding. Make sure you figure on bottom rail, complete top rail (both inner and outer pieces) and enough skirting to do it all. The height will depend on how high they set the mobile. You'll have 2-3" of fudge room to cut the pieces.
I used a plywood blade in a circular saw that was set on the sliding jig. Make sure to cut it backwards....pull the saw back toward you, slowly. Standard carbide saw blades will destroy vinyl siding or skirting.

Also, do not try to use overhang vinyl. It is not the same as skirting material. They are made differently. Overhang vinyl just locks together with a little push. Skirting vinyl needs to be slid down into a groove on the previous piece. Once you get 10 feet or so connected together then lock on a top rail piece to keep it in place.

 

[Glenn9643]

A neighbor nearby is in process of setting up a mobile home for one of his daughters, and skirting was one of his concerns recently. I had just completed a metal roofing job and had bought some 6' X 3'wide pieces from the metal supplier for next to nothing, and had several pieces left over. We found that the metal (painted galvalume) roofing panels when cut to the proper length will fit snugly in the top and bottom rails designed for vinyl skirting, and with the overlap at each side it doesn't move around. The local metal dealer often has odd length pieces for some reason and my neighbor was able to buy 4' lengths for about $2, which worked out to be a lot cheaper than the vinyl skirting and should be much more durable. He had to wait a few weeks to accumulate what he needed for a 16X80 mobile home because he wanted a particular color. Just thought I'd throw this out as another option.

 

[ToadHill]

I looked at several ways to put skirting on my home 2 years ago. I ended up using metal roofing cutting it to size with a plywood sawblade installed backwards in my skill saw. I attached it below the top skirt rail with the screws used to attach the material to the roof. The metal is stiff enough that you don't need a botton rail for it to slide into.
ps. the cutting process requires ear plugs.

 

[Jarrett]

Thanks guys. I can't use metal. The park restrictions say it must be vinyl. After looking at what Lowe's had I figured up how much it would cost. It was almost as much as letting the dealer install it so I was just going to let them do it. Then I checked with Home Depot. Their stuff is half the cost of Lowes. They sell it in 12' lengths like regular vinyl siding. So I think I'm going to go that route. I'm also going to get a price for just buying the skirting from the mobile home dealer. After doing more searching on the internet I found this brochure (see attachment) showing how it all goes together so now I have a much better understanding. I like the idea of using the landscape timbers at the bottom and I thought I'd use treated 2x4's instead. When I told my wife about it she wasn't too happy about the idea because you'd be able to see the edge of the 2x4. She'd rather see the skirting go all the way to the ground. I'm trying to convince her that the 1 1/2" edge of the 2x will hardly be noticeable. I'm still not winning that battle . I just don't like the idea of that vinyl channel sitting directly on the ground held in place with spikes. It doesn't seem sturdy to me.

 

[Bird]

The last time I bought any vinyl skirting was just enough to skirt a new porch and the local Lowe's had the skirting in stock while the two closest Home Depot stores didn't even stock any.

 

[KubotaSteve]

I wouldn't use the lanscape timbers or treated 2X4's. Even staked down they twist too bad. On my parents summer place we dug a trench on the upper side and put drain pipe and larger stone to keep under the trailer dry then used the track on the trailer and let the skirting go to the ground, but then again dad needed something strong on the bottom and used pan decking and you needed a grinder to cut it.
Don't get the real cheap vinyl stuff as a weed eater will make it look awful in no time. I prefer lanscaping around the bottom of the skirting with the colored stones of some sort that way the vinyl still has room to expand and contract but it is down under the stone.

 

[wilso]

Sorry for bumping. I'm thinking about installing the skirting in our mobile home and I wonder whether it is worth doing by myself. Or is it better to hire a professional?