Mobile home skirting provides protection for the bottom of the mobile home and also increases energy efficiency, which will lower your heating and cooling bills. Strong winds can whip beneath a mobile home that has no skirting, causing a shocking amount of heat loss. Applying mobile home skirting is a straightforward process, but you'll need a helper to assist with snapping a chalk line and other tasks. Take the time to do it right. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Examine the ground surrounding the trailer. Remove any rocks and smooth any uneven areas so that the ground rail can be laid out evenly.
2. Mark a chalk line on the mobile home. The top back rail goes below the bottom edge of the home. Stand at one corner holding the chalk line and have your assistant stand at the far corner of the same wall, holding the other end. Pull the line taught, make sure it's level and snap it. Repeat this process around all sides of the home.
3. Attach the top back rail to the mobile home with screws or nails, using the chalk line as a guide to keep the rail level. Allow room for the metal to expand and contract by not overtightening screws and leaving a 1/2-inch gap between each rail.
4. Set out the ground rail. Use a level to create a straight line from one corner of the home to the ground, mark the spot, move to the next corner and repeat. Once you have each corner marked, use your chalk line or stretch a nylon string along the ground to guide the ground rail. Position the ground rail over the line or string and drive ground spikes through the slots in the rail. Place the spikes every 19 inches.
5. Measure from the ground rail to 1 1/2 inches below the bottom rail on the home. Use this measurement to cut the panels before installation.
6. Create lock tabs every 4 inches along the panels, on the top and bottom, using a snap lock punch tool. Position the snap lock tool's jaws on either side of the paneling and squeeze to create the locking tab. Place the panels with the tabs facing outward, so they will catch in the edges of the ground and bottom rail.
7. Connect the panels, interlocking them using the interlock tabs and fitting the edge into the ground rail. Bend corner panels across the edge of a table to create a crisp corner.
8. Add the top front rail. Start at one corner and work your way around the home, fitting the top front rail over the panel and interlocking it with the top back rail to create a finished look.
Tags: ground rail, chalk line, back rail, mobile home, below bottom
