What Is The Best Way To Prepare A Site for DURASKIRT™?

The reason for choosing a product such as DURASKIRT™ is when you want your manufactured home pit set. Thus, we’re frequently we’re asked by contractors what is the best way to prepare a site for DURASKIRT™ mobile home skirting. Ideally, for mobile home skirting installation, the home should be set up level on a gravel pad that extends outside the homes’ perimeter by a couple of inches.

Gravel Pad & Access

The home pad should be excavated allowing 18” to 24” around the perimeter to allow for workers. One more thing to consider is accessibility. Since the panels weigh approximately 68 lbs., it makes it easier to have clean, level access from the crates to the home.

Excavating for Blocking Height

Soils preparation.

There are a few things to consider when preparing a gravel pad. In fact, there are three main considerations before cutting for the pad. One consideration is the soil and its ability to support the home. The soil needs to be dug into native supportive soil and free of vegetation.

Next, once the site is excavated, the manufactured homes’ waste lines need to be measured so that they have plenty of fall towards the city sewers or septic tank. This can be obtained from the factory prior to shipment. The factory will supply an exact location on the plan and a dimension from floor or beam height.

Bottom of The Homes’ Joists to Gravel Pad Should Be 31”

Lastly, now that the sewer height is established with the necessary fall, you can adjust the level by bringing in gravel. The finished height from gravel to the bottom of the home’s joists should be 31”. This provides the optimum height for DURASKIRT™ mobile home skirting panels so that there will be no need to cut panels to height.

A Word on Factory Installed Belly Band

Factory-installed belly band that leaves a 2” distance from the bottom of the rim joist to the bottom of the belly band is optimal. Some of the brands that do this are Marlette and Fleetwood. This saves time and material when installing DURASKIRT™.

Although these are the optimal conditions for DURASKIRT™, they certainly do not stop us from being able to prepare all sites. We’ve installed DURASKIRT™ on slopes and extreme height variations where we extend the framework under the home. This style is called a stepped foundation look and we will be covering this in another article with photos.

You can also find more information about how to install DURASKIRT™ on our Mobile Home Skirting Installation video page.

For more information about DURASKIRT™ mobile home skirting, call us, today, at 360-419-9909. You can also request information by completing the form at the bottom of this page (in the footer).