BS: Skirting around prefab houses

Subject: BS: Skirting around prefab houses
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 31 Jul 07 - 01:53 PM

Hi..I have a prefab manufactured house near the beach..on cement foundation..like cement pillars..not total foundation. I have awful styrofoam skirting. I would love to have something like cement blocks or poured cement...but is there a way that the house wouldn't essentially just float on them? If that is the case I probably would just do them out of metal or concrete board..but if there is a way to add something structurally to the foundation by way of cement blocks..and the whole town would be out of cement if it were up to me...seeing as we live in tsunamiville...I would do it. The skirting now mostly tries to keep animals out and doesn't do anything else really..not even that very well I am afraid...I also need a way for entrance into the underneath of the house..we have these little doorlets now that don't really attach right...mg

Subject: RE: BS: Skirting around prefab houses
From: Rapparee
Date: 31 Jul 07 - 01:56 PM

How far is the house from a storm rise? It might be best to let the water of a storm slosh underneath instead of hit a structurally significant wall.

Subject: RE: BS: Skirting around prefab houses
From: pdq
Date: 31 Jul 07 - 02:07 PM

A manufactured home is supported at specified points under the structure. There are usually eight such points under which the piers are placed. The outside egde must not be used for support or the warranty can be voided. The skirting is decorative, for the most part, but it does keep some of the local animal population out.

mg...look up you local manufacturind housing association or check with one of the national organizations. They have literature they will send. You may be surprized at the number of optional skirting designs possible.

Subject: RE: BS: Skirting around prefab houses
From: Amos
Date: 31 Jul 07 - 02:58 PM

If you have support sufficient for the structure, and the outer pilings are near the skirting, no reason not to just run 2x4s along the pilings and use them to support a proper siding with doors cut into it.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Skirting around prefab houses
From: gnu
Date: 31 Jul 07 - 03:38 PM

Whatever you do, allow for sufficient ventilation on all four sides. Otherwise, rot will eventually be your worst problem.

Subject: RE: BS: Skirting around prefab houses
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 01 Aug 07 - 02:33 AM

In my area, skirting on "manufactured housing" - of the kinds usually impled - is definitely NOT JUST FOR DECORATION.

It doesn't require tremendous structural integrity of the skirting to significantly reduce wind penetration beneath the structure, and in a high wind "pumping up" the under-space can flip the structure off the foundation. Even rather crude, and apparently flimsy, skirting can be fairly effective; and skirting that properly closes off the "crawl space" against wind penetration is essential.

The smaller "manufactured houses" here are also required to have "tie-downs" in addition to any attachment to the usual pier/post supports. In the crudest form, seen on some "trailer house" installations, this may be a couple of steel straps draped over the top of the structure, with each strap anchored on both ends to "screwed in" anchors ("dirt augers" that are screwed at least three feet deep into the soil). More sophisticated (and better looking) methods are more commonly used, and the "strap" method is prohibited for "aesthetic reasons" in many places.

Local building codes, sometimes including special requirements for your kind of structure, may be useful. Consulting with a dealer/installer who currently handles new installations of structures like yours is likely to get the most useful information.

In my area, the term "manufactured housing" also includes full-featured structures that use "hurricane clips" at all the structural joints, are placed and anchored on full foundations, and once installed are indistinguishable from "site-built" homes. I presume however that yours is not of this kind.

There's sufficient variation in conditions and codes that you need local advice from people in your specific area.

John