Skirting insulates the home during summer and winter by creating a nearly dead-air space below the home. It protects your plumbing during freezing weather and prevents animals and pests from entering the space under the home. Available in aluminum and vinyl, the skirting prevents strong updrafts from lifting the home up off its piers. Skirting comes precolored and in several different styles, including imitations of rock and brick, which can add significant aesthetic value to the home. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Prepare the ground under the edges of the home. Remove any grass and weeds from the perimeter of the home. Level off any depressions of humps in the ground with a shovel. Cover the ground under the house with six-mil thick, polyethylene sheeting to prevent a humidity buildup under the home due to the addition of the skirting.
2. Position the baseboards under the edge of the home. Plumb down from the outer edge of the siding with a plumb bob. The plumb bob indicates the center of the base board. Lay the boards out around the perimeter of the home. Cut stakes from the treated baseboard material with a saw. Drive the stakes into the ground at each corner and joint to prevent the bottom of the skirting from being blown out of position. Slide a layer of roofing starter material under the baseboards to prevent vegetation growth and erosion near the baseboards.
3. Line the baseboards with the ground rail material. Dress the front edge of the ground rail to the outer edge of the baseboards. Form the corners in the ground rail according to the skirting manufacturer's directions with tin snips. Fasten the baseboards and ground channel to the ground with ground spikes. Place the spikes in the preformed holes in the ground channel at 16 inch centers, then drive them firmly into the ground.
4. Install the top trim pieces. Locate the desired position of the top of the skirting. Measure from the bottom of the home to the desired location height. Mark this measurement at each corner of the home. Stretch a chalk line between the marks and pop a chalk line down the sides of the home to give an accurate reference line to work to, in order to keep the top of the skirting straight. Screw or nail the top trim to the home according to the skirt manufacturer's instructions.
5. Cut the skirting panels to length with a wood saw that has the fine-tooth blade installed backwards. Use the cold weather or warm weather marks (depending on the temperature) on the top trim piece as a reference and adjust the length according to the ambient temperatures at the time of installation (shorter if it's cold, longer if it's hot) to allow for material expansion and contraction due to temperature changes.
6. Stand the skirting up, starting in one corner, then lace the skirting together using the specially-shaped edges on the skirting panels. Continue cutting and lacing until the entire home is skirted.
7. Install the trim front. Snap the trim front into the top trim piece. Do not butt the ends of the trim front, but overlap them one inch at the joints.
Tags: ground rail, trim front, chalk line, each corner, ground channel, ground under
