Vented vinyl skirting in NE Missouri???

[momom]

I was a victim of the flooding this summer. When I finally got back, my landlord instisted I not replace my solid metal skirting because it is "too old", and required vinyl. This week the contractor bought and installed vinyl skirting with vents in every piece. I am not happy. It is, as I type, 13 degrees below zero, actual air temperature; (the wind chill is -30) and needless to say, I'm losing the water lines in spite of letting them drip. I cannot believe that this material is recommended for this area and for this application. How can I plug the vents in all this skirting without taking it all loose? I am disabled, and on a fixed income, and I'm going broke paying the extra gas for the water heater and for the extra water itself . (We have the highest water rates in Missouri). Thank you for your time and attention, Momom

[SchemeFighter]

I don’t hardly live in as cold climate as you do. However I am also disabled and financially challenged (poor). I don’t have the type of skirting that has deliberate vents; but I have used white ( gray tape)/duct tape to try to seal up any gaps or holes from stones thrown by lawnmowers. I used alcohol to clean around the area to remove dirt so that the duct tape would stick. I don’t know if you can get the duct tape to apply in such cold weather.

Perhaps you can keep the duct tape nice and warm in the house, and then when you go outside stick it inside your jacket by your chest until you’re ready to use it than rip off a piece and stick the roll back by your chest and zip up your jacket until you’re ready for the next piece.

I don’t know if it would work but it’s worth a shot in my opinion.

The only reason I use white is because it blends in with my skirt and I leave the tape on all year long since I can’t afford to replace the skirting.

I like to try to keep my skirt sealed up pretty tight because I don’t want wasps, bees, cats, raccoons, skunks , groundhogs and such from using the underside of my trailer as a den or toilet. I also don’t want the heat loss in the winter time or the pipes to freeze up. My neighbor has a few pieces missing on his skirt; and last night he had a water pipe freeze at minus five Fahrenheit.

The management has been trying to con me into raising the trailer. I wouldn’t mind raising it more if I didn’t have to pay for it and to buy new skirting.

I figured the elevation of the trailer was fine when he owned the trailer and put in the skirting so it should be fine now. I think he’s just trying to get me to invest in improvements to raise the value of the neighborhood, and I think he hopes that he can force me into selling the trailer to him dirt cheap and that the more improvements I do to the trailer the more he can sell it for. From what I understand the management has a history of playing that game.

[Greg]

Momom, Hi & welcome. I would talk to the installer and see if he can get you solid skirting. You should have vents for the summer, but you do want to close them for cold weather. Mark has automatic vents avalable in the parts section of this site.

I personally prefer steel skirting over vinyl, Perhaps the landloard has not seen the new style steel , It looks the same as vinyl, just made of steel. Mark did an artical "A better skirting idea" in the articals section, you may want to take a look. Greg

[JD]

Hi momom,

I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy with your new skirting. But if that product is allowed to be installed in your area and he showed you a sample or listed the product by name, he actually did fulfill his contract.

There are skirting products like the image below (I installed this LifeStyles skirting for a customer last month) that have the vents in every panel. There are also solid vinyl skirting panels. A popular brand is T-Loc. They sell solid panels and vented panels. The vented panels are vented across the entire panel and not just a strip. The T-Loc might have been a better product for you. They will usually install 1 vented panel for 8 solid panels to provide adequate ventilation. The contractor could cut and supply solid replacement panels that could be installed for the cold weather season and changed back to vented panels for the rest of the year. It would only take about 4 extra full panels sheets to make 16 replacement panels, enough for a 24x60 at 27" to 34" tall (total skirting height). I know it is hindsight, but the info could help others thinking about getting this skirting in cold weather areas.

As to how you could easily and inexpensively block the vent holes in cold weather, you could buy 4 full length skirting panels (for a 24x60, 168LF of skirting) and cut out the solid sections as in the second image below. If you remove the front part of the top trim, these solid pieces could be slid in behind the vented strips to close them off. The solid strips could be easily cut with a table saw (blade installed backwards). Maybe the contractor would be willing to help do this for you or at least cut the panels if you do not have access to a table saw. This would be a fairly easy fix and not very expensive in material cost. You would get 4 full length strips per panel, which should make 4 pieces each (30" skirting). Cut them the same size as the finished skirting panels. I have never tried this, but it seems like it would work to me. All the work could be done while standing next to the skirting. No crawling. This probably wouldn't be a 100% seal, but I would think it would help a lot.

I am curious how much this would change your chilly situation. With cold air circulating under your home, it is bound to be colder down there. But I wonder how much of this temperature would actually enter your home. I know it would have to have some effect. But if you have any openings in your underbelly and insulation, this would have the most effect by far.

Just an idea.
JD