What qualifies as mobile home skirting? Ideas abound on Pinterest, message boards, and (of course) home improvement blogs. Essentially, any material that covers the gap between the bottom perimeter of your home and the ground can be used as mobile home skirting. In other words, you have options. But are they good options?
Let’s take a look at what people use as mobile home skirting to give you an idea.
Vinyl
Vinyl is far and away the most popular mobile home skirting option. Vinyl (aka polyvinyl chloride or PVC) is a common plastic produced from chlorine (from sodium chloride, or common salt) and ethylene (derived from crude oil). It is often sold in a kit that contains all the necessary components for easy DIY mobile home skirting installation.
Positives: Availability, affordability, ease of installation and repair
Negatives: Issues of durability and quality with cheaper recycled brands, vulnerable to damages from weed eaters and other motorized gardening implements
Faux materials
Virtually any material you might have ideas of using as mobile home skirting can be bought in imitation form. Given the expense of the real thing, rock and stone are the most frequently emulated, although faux wood sometimes gets love because real wood presents a number of maintenance issues. Faux stone and rock skirting panels (such as Novik or Masons Rock) are formed from sturdy plastics such as polyurethane, and are usually a bit more resilient (and expensive) than your standard vinyl skirting panels.
Positives: Number of attractive of styles, colors, and patterns; holds up to weather
Negatives: Higher cost, installation may be more involved
Bricks, cinderblock, concrete
If you have the budget, patience, and know-how to use bricks, cinderblock, or concrete as skirting, you’ll be rewarded with a virtually impenetrable barrier around the underside of your mobile home. Obviously, the looks that natural brick, stone, or concrete offer are hard to beat. On the flip side, they can be much more difficult to source, ship, and install — which all adds up in the expense column.
For a more economical mobile home skirting idea, resourceful homeowners might turn to recycled bricks or cinder blocks (available in your standard foundational blocks and decorative “beauty blocks”) for a refined and permanent look. Those who do not want the hassle might purchase precast concrete panels manufactured to fit the space beneath your home.
Positives: Aesthetics, strength and fortitude
Negatives: Expense, more challenging installation
Metal
Metal skirting is gradually making a comeback after falling out of favor as the go-to mobile home skirting material decades ago. Technological advances have improved both its visual appeal and corrosion resistant properties, and it is fairly easy to install with the proper equipment. Some crafty mobile home owners go the opposite direction, purposely seeking a vintage or antiquated look by repurposing corrugated galvanized roofing or anodized tin from old sheds or barns. Either way, metal can prove a cost-effective and attractive mobile home skirting option.
Positives: Economical, paintable, will not easily succumb to the weed eater
Negatives: Install requires a little more in the way of sweat equity (more powerful tools, digging a trench and backfilling with pea rock)
Wood and composite wood materials
As we touched on previously, using wood as mobile home skirting can be a good idea — however, implementation requires special care, because wood is vulnerable to things like moisture and insects, which both live close to the ground where skirting is installed. Sealed and treated lumber is your best bet — keep in mind that some wood specimens (ie., cedar, White oak, and teak) are naturally more moisture-resistant than others. Composite wood materials such as hardiboard and OSB (oriented-strand board) have been processed to achieve a more durable quality.
Positives: Design possibilities (paints and stains; horizontal, vertical, lattice orientations), can be easily sourced and repurposed, durable if care is taken
Negatives: Maintenance/susceptibility to warping, splitting, and rot
Mobile home skirting: ideas to accessorize
There’s more to a pretty perimeter than just the mobile home skirting material. Landscaping features such as decorative gravel and flowerbeds can provide a beautiful finishing touch. The possibilities are truly endless. The easiest refreshes begin with Star Mobile Home Supply’s selection of vinyl mobile home skirting kits, for a clean, neutral look without the fuss.
