Mobile homes, or manufactured homes, typically come with skirting, but it is often vinyl and does not look aesthetically pleasing. Instead of sticking with the vinyl siding that comes from the manufacturer, you can dress up your mobile home skirting.
There are many types of skirting options for mobile homes, but today we will look at upgrading your mobile home skirting with faux stone. With faux stone, you can completely upgrade your mobile home’s exterior.
Why a Mobile Home Needs Skirting
Skirting is the wall that touches the ground at the bottom of the mobile home; it is typically about three feet in height, and skirting is crucial. In the United States, skirting is legally required on any mobile home. Skirting is necessary to help reduce how much the wind disturbs the building, and it helps reduce the moisture that can get under the house.
The images of overturned mobile homes after a tornado, heavy windstorm, or hurricane are fairly common. Still, skirting can help prevent that from happening because it blocks the wind from getting under the home and flipping it over. This is, of course, not a guarantee, but it can help increase your home’s chances of staying put when the wind strikes.
If you live in a colder area, the skirting will help shield the underside of your home from the cold, acting as insulation so that you can have lower heating and cooling costs. It will also help prevent animals from living underneath your home and causing damage to it.
Having high-quality skirting for your mobile home, like faux stone, can help lower your homeowner’s insurance costs in some instances. It varies depending on your area and the age of your home.
Why Faux Stone for Mobile Home Skirting?
While mobile homes are more unique now than they used to be, they are still fairly similar, which is why putting your stamp on it to make it unique to you is important. Adding faux stone skirting to it is one excellent way to upgrade your mobile home and make it look like it was built on a solid foundation. Plus, it will increase your property value and the value in your neighbourhood as a whole.
Since manufactured homes are much cheaper than traditional houses, they are a popular choice for many aspiring homeowners. What tends to hold people back from buying them is they want a brick house or stone wainscoting, which is why faux stone and brick veneer are perfect for a mobile home.
Adding brick or stone to a house gives it an elegant, timeless look, allowing you to make your mobile home look however you want it to. Faux stone is significantly cheaper than real stone, and you can install it yourself, whereas, with real stone, you would have to hire a mason and wait on lengthy construction timelines for your stone to be installed.
Gen Stone’s Stacked Stone and Brick Veneer have been designed to stand up to the harshest climates; we have even had customers say their panels stayed put during hurricanes! Our faux stone and brick are tougher than natural stone; it does not chip nearly as easily as natural stone does, but it looks and feels real. It is also resistant to fading and insects.
Remember Ventilation in Your Skirting
While skirting will help insulate the underside of your home, you will still need to include ventilation and an access door when you install it. You will need approximately one square foot of ventilation for every 150 square feet of living space in the mobile home. The vents also need to be placed within three feet of the corners of the manufactured home to ensure there are not any dead pockets with dead air. If your area has extreme summer or winter temperatures, you can get vents that close automatically if the temperature drops below 40 degrees and will open when it is above 70 degrees.
You should place any access doors near water lines and your dryer vent, so you can get to them easily when you need to.
Final Thoughts
Your mobile home may be legally required to have skirting, but you can make them something completely your own with faux stone or brick veneer. It is easy to install, affordable, and sturdy. Faux stone will also increase your property value, which is excellent on a mobile home since they tend to depreciate in value over the years.
About the Author
Auz Burger is a freelance writer who specializes in faux stone and brick veneer and home DIY projects. She has a BA from Washington State University and has been writing and editing professionally for over a decade.