Deck Skirting

[StanD]

Any better set ups for deck skirting?
I store gear under mine and it's difficult to get to. It's got a track on the top and bottom and the previous owner cut the skirting to slide it in the track. I't difficult to slide and allows animals to slip in.

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TIA

[Greg]

About the only idea I have is to frame in an access door that you could open to get under it.

Greg

[JD]

Depending on how often you need to get in, installing this skirting properly and knowing how to open it up may be your best bet. First, all panels need to be connected. It looks like the installer tried to just overlap the skirting at the corner, which would allow animals access. There are different things you can do to end the panel at the house. Usually it is just cut to fit but you want either some receiving trim or reinforce that cut edge of the panel so that it stays in place and is rigid.

To gain access, lift the very top of the trim that laps over the 4" top trim piece and pull the 4" piee out of the back trim. This is sometimes easier with a screwdriver. To put it back, just jam one end in and pull it up till it clicks in. Sometimes easier if you use your knee for leverage. Just work with it for a while and it gets easy to do. Just separate the amount of top track you need to be able to lift up 2-3 panels to give you the access you need.

[StanD]

Thanks for the input.
Installing doors would be problematic as I like the wide open space pulling the skirting out goves me.

[Steve S.]

Like JD says, it is much easier to remove the panels vertically rather than horizontally. My outer upper trim hinges on the inner upper trim, so I just flip it up and slide two panels (16" width) up and out of the way. I try to slide the panels back in place ASAP to avoid any critters running under the house while there is an opening. The manufacturer of my vinyl skirting does not have any vertical trim pieces for 90 deg. corners as JD alluded to, so I simply have to bend the panels around the corner and into the corresponding trim pieces on the other side. Not easy with panels being only 16" in width...luckily all of mine fit OK. IMHO the skirting would look much better with some sort of corner vertical trim...I'm still working on that project. On my deck, I use 1X3 wood frames with that vinyl lattice in between...not the best solution either, so I'm still thinking of alternative solutions myself. Everything is a work in progress at my mobile home

[JD]

I don't know of an end trim for standard vinyl skirting. I will use the bottom track (GC - Ground Channel) attached to the bottom of the home and to the pressure treated wood bottom plate (mud seal) of the home's skirting. If there is no mud seal, a pressure treated or redwood type stake will work just fine. Then I will take the TTF, the back part of the top trim that is screwed to the home, and screw it to sit inside the ground channel. I will cut the last panel of the deck skirting, that ends at the home, in a flat part so it can slip into that clip part of the TTF. If you look at the instructions for vinyl skirting, they will show a notch tool that cuts notches in the edge of skirting so it will stay clipped into the trim. If you are just using this notch tool to secure this panel to the trim I described above, you can just put a 3/4" cut with a safety knife into the edge of the panel and then from the back of the panel, punch the side of the cut with a screwdriver and hammer. This will make the same notch and the notch tool. Force these notches into that TTF vertical trim and it will be very hard to remove. When removing panels for access, leave that last notched panel in place and remove other panels as needed.

To go even one more step further, this combination of ground channel and TTF could be screwed into a rot resistant 2x4 mounted to the side of the home, where the skirting ends.

I don't know that I explained the above well enough to understand. If anyone wants a better description, just ask and I will make a video or pictures of the process.

[JD]

Here is another tip for vinyl skirting. The top trim is made with two parts, the one in back attached to the home and the front part that clips into the back part. They are usually call TTF & TTM, top trim female, top trim male. If you look at the TTM and the skirting panel at the corner, they are rounded and the TTM has lost it's shape because of it. Ideally when installing this skirting, the panel will be "plumb" (level) at the corner, but this is not always perfect. Ifyou put a pencil mark right at the corner at both the top and bottom of the corner panel, remove the panel and then bend the panel at the marks, really creasing that bend good, use pliers if needed, you will end up with a very sharp corner. The sharper the better. You can do the same thing with the TTM but I always cut a small miter corner into that bottom curve of the TTM, so it creases nice and stays that way.

[gtpvette]

The previous owner of our place used accordian window shutters to give us access in three places. They work great,,, as I'm in under the trailer every weekend. Don't know where you are but in Florida they're pretty easy to find used and cheap on Craigs List.

http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/for/4802946953.html

http://miami.craigslist.org/mdc/for/4794292834.html

[1987Commodore]

I just had my skirting replaced, and they used vertical pieces of j channel for the access panel to slide in.