Home Skirting Options for Your Manufactured Home
What types of underpinning options are there?
- Vinyl
- Concrete or stucco
- Brick and cinder block
- Fiber cement
- Lattice
What are the benefits of skirting for my manufactured home?
Attaching and maintaining the underpinning around your manufactured home offers several important benefits:
- Proper Ventilation: Skirting helps ventilate your home effectively. According to HUD building codes for manufactured homes, skirting must include ventilation openings on all sides to allow for proper airflow. This airflow reduces moisture underneath your home, preventing rust and mildew.
- Animal Prevention: Skirting prevents small animals from getting underneath your home. An animal can become hurt or trapped, and any scratching or chewing may damage wiring or insulation. Additionally, skirting can keep young children from exploring underneath your home, which could lead to injuries.
- Energy Efficiency: Skirting helps insulate your home. It prevents excessive heat loss and protects your pipes during cold months.
- Enhanced Curb Appeal: Skirting improves your home’s appearance and allows you to personalize its look. You can create a rustic feel with stone skirting or achieve a clean look by matching the skirting to the siding. You have many options to make your home unique.
We do not recommend storing items underneath your manufactured home for several reasons. These include possible moisture exposure to your belongings, potential pipe damage, risks from insects and pests, inconvenient access, and the creation of a fire hazard.
Do I need a certain kind of foundation to use skirting?
Vinyl is the most popular material for single-section and multi-section homes and is:
- Easy to install
- Affordable
- Attractive and flexible in style options
- Resistant to mildew and rot
A common style of vinyl underpinning for manufactured homes is made of panels with vertical lines. These can come in an array of colors to complement your home’s exterior. Vinyl skirting can also be made to look like stone, brick and other textures in a wide range of colors and tones.
Concrete or Stucco Skirting
Concrete skirting panels, often called stucco skirting, are a sturdy option that resist rot and pests.
Some concrete skirting panel brands include hidden ventilation panels, so you have a seamless look but still get the proper ventilation you need to reduce gas and moisture buildup under your manufactured home. Concrete skirting is heavy and considered more difficult to install than other types of skirting but can be a smart option because of its durability.
Faux Brick or Stone Skirting
Some people may prefer to use exterior siding material, such as lap vinyl skirting or fiber cement siding, to skirt their manufactured homes. If you choose to use fiber cement siding as skirting, it can match or complement your siding.
Lattice skirting for manufactured homes can be made of either vinyl or wood. With any type of lattice skirting, ventilation is usually not an issue because the spaces in the lattice pattern naturally allow for air flow.
Wood lattice skirting is fairly inexpensive and easy to work with but can be susceptible to rot and mildew if it is not treated. Wood lattice also does not take wear and tear as well as other materials.
Vinyl lattice skirting is available in many colors and can have unique lattice patterns like stars and flowers, so it makes for an affordable, customizable option.
Can you install skirting/underpinning yourself?
Some skirting vendors offer manufactured home underpinning kits. While these kits allow you to put skirting on your home yourself, they can require a lot of work and may be difficult to use if you don’t have the proper construction and installation skills, tools and experience.
If you choose to use an underpinning kit, you’ll need to check local requirements regarding any permits and inspections you may potentially need. Improper skirting installation could void your home warranty, or if skirting is installed without proper permits, it could void an insurance claim. You’ll also want to choose a skirting type and material that is suited for your region’s climate.
Additionally, you’ll have to make sure that your home has proper ventilation underneath, that you have the right amount of skirting paneling for your home and that you accommodate for possible height variations around the perimeter of your home. In this case, vinyl skirting is usually the easiest to install because it is lightweight and affordable.
We recommend carefully considering the type of skirting you want before purchasing your home and having the professional construction team setting up your home on your home site install the underpinning you choose.