Vinyl crawlspace skirting serves a variety of purposes for your mobile home. In colder areas, it helps protect pipes from freezing winds that may cause ruptures. This skirting also greatly reduces the amount of wind that passes under the structure and up into the home. Vinyl crawlspace skirting also keeps unwanted animals from taking up residence under your mobile home. The installation process is straightforward and can be completed in a single afternoon. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Mark the location for the back rail. Hold one of the back rail sections up to the back side of the mobile home. Align it with one of the corners. The bottom edge of the back rail should extend slightly beyond the bottom edge of the mobile home. Use a level to verify that the panel is straight. Insert a galvanized screw into the center slot. Tighten the screw with a power screwdriver until the head has a 1/16-inch clearance from the back piece.
2. Hold one end of the chalk line just above the top edge of the back rail, at the corner of the mobile home. Extend the chalk line to the other corner. Snap the chalk line to mark the guide for the top edges of the future back rail panels. Use the chalk line to mark this guide all the way around the mobile home.
3. Use the guide line and screws to install the back rail panels all the way around the mobile home. Leave a 1/16-inch clearance between the heads of the screws and the paneling. Leave a 1/2-inch gap between each panel.
4. Clear away all debris, vegetation and other obstacles from the ground underneath the perimeter walls of the mobile home.
5. Hold a plumb bob line against one of the corners of the mobile home. Allow the weight on the line to hang down. Mark the area directly below the weight with a ground spike hammered into the ground. Repeat this process for each of the remaining corners. Run a nylon string between the spikes to mark the line directly beneath the building perimeter.
6. Install the bottom rail. Hold the bottom rail support up to the bottom of one of the mobile home's corners. Align the rail with the support leg parallel to the mobile home perimeter. The rail must be aligned to the nylon string. Use the screws to secure the rail support. Repeat this process with each support. Drive the ground spikes into the bottom rail to secure it in place. Use the spikes every 19 inches for maximum stability. Check the alignment with the plumb bob as you work your way around the perimeter.
7. Find the lowest corner of the mobile home. Use the tape measure to gauge the distance from the ground to each corner. Start 24 inches in from the lowest corner and measure the distance from the ground to 1-1/2 inches above the bottom edge of the back rail. Make a note of the measurement. Repeat this process every 16 inches all the way around the structure. The differences represent the amount that must be trimmed from each vinyl panel.
8. Use aviation snips to trim the vinyl panels to correspond to the slope of the ground around the mobile home as determined by the measurements you took in Step 7. For example, assume the first measurement resulted in 3 feet, and the second measurement 16 inches away resulted in a measurement of 2 feet, 11 inches. Trim the vinyl panel so there is a 1-inch difference between the left corner and the 16-inch mark on the panel. In other words, the cut angles up slightly.
9. Insert the first panel into the bottom rail at one of the corners of the mobile home. Insert the next panel into the bottom rail and interlock it with the first panel, using the prepunched tabs and holes. Continue the process to install the rest of the panels on the first side of the mobile home.
10. Insert one corner of the vinyl panels into the tabs of the back rail to interlock the two pieces. Push up on each panel until it interlocks with the back rail.
11. Repeat Steps 9 and 10 to install the remainder of the vinyl panels around the rest of the mobile home.
Tags: mobile home, back rail, bottom rail, chalk line, around mobile