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Skirting is a cosmetic application placed on the outside of the home, covering the insulation system. There are NO municipal codes addressing skirting.
Your skirting system costs you money every three to five years if it is made out of T1-11, and if it is metal, just like T1-11, the damage to your home every winter is sucking your home equity right out of your bank account.
Both T1-11 and metal skirting are “fixed” skirting systems that do not adjust with changes like frost heave. They are pushed into your siding creating stress and potential water passageways that rot and destroy your home. See a picture here. Metal skirting looks worse than T1-11, because it wrinkles and folds and like T1-11 pushes your siding up, destroying your home. Both systems destroy your home and in the case of T1-11, you replace rotten wood and repaint every three to five years just to maintain a system that is destroying your equity!
Think about it. Remove the T1-11 or metal skirting from the frame and what do you see? A frame to attach the skirting to and looky there, it's hanging two inches above the ground! That is to prevent frost heave from pushing the side of your home up. Why would you attach something that goes to the ground? That defeats the purpose of the frame being two inches above the ground. This just turns your skirting system into a jack. It's really easy to see the external damage, but the real damage is even worse. T1-11 touching the ground also wicks water destroying the wood. Wood or metal skirting should NEVER touch the ground.
Vinyl skirting systems have been the choice of homeowners in the lower 48 for decades. It comes with a twenty-five year warranty, moves with the frost heave, comes in four colors, never needs painting, takes less time to install than a T1-11 system, (it doesn't require a frame to support it like T1-11), and costs less. No! Vinyl does NOT crack in cold weather. Click here to learn about stupid things you can do to destroy your vinyl skirting.
You may now be thinking that T1-11 is better because of the weed-eater damage, but take note: The very same damage that happens to Vinyl happens to T1-11. The only difference is that the damage to vinyl is immediately visible, whereas the T1-11 damage takes a little longer to become obvious. The weed-eater is removing paint and primer exposing un-protected wood. This un-protected wood rots. Click here to see an example. Why would anyone want to spend more money and replace and paint every three to five years? Most of the time I hear “Because we already have most of the T1-11 and all we have to do is replace a few pieces.”
That’s right! Every three to five years! Contractors would rather sell you a system that requires more labor and they get to come back and fix it in three years! Not me. I’m too old to look forward to replacing and re-painting skirting. It took a day and a half to install a vinyl skirting system on my home. I'll be dust in a box before I have to bother with skirting again. I can get under my home in just minutes. See a picture here. And it's just as easy to close it up!
To see a description of the vinyl skirting system and a formula to help estimate the amount of product required to skirt the whole home, including add-ons, click here. We do not sell center-vent skirting, that is a product required by lower 48 laws.
Have a suggestion we can share with other mobile/manufactured home owners? Please call or email us postmaster@reallyneatstuffalaska.com