Want to learn how to install mobile home skirting that looks like a real stone foundation? Check out this step-by-step tutorial using faux panels.
Your mobile home may be practical and affordable, but the typical aluminum or vinyl skirting doesn’t have much curb appeal. What you need is a nice solid-stone-looking foundation. Faux panels are perfect for this project for all the usual reasons, including reasonable cost, do-it-yourself installation, and lasting good looks.
Faux Stone Mobile Home Skirting Installation
We’ll assume you don’t already have framing underneath your home for attaching the panels. If you do have some framing there already, the job will be that much quicker and easier.
1. Remove any old skirting and clear the area around the perimeter of your home.
2. Install pressure-treated 2x2 studs 24 inches apart between the underside of your home and the ground using Skirting-Mates®. Each Skirting-Mate consists of a top pocket that you attach to the underside of your home and a stake that you drive into the ground. For each stud, repeat these steps:
a. Measure from the underside of your home to the ground, and cut a 2x2 stud 1/2 inch shorter than this measurement.
b. Attach the top pocket with the two included screws. Set it back from the plane of the wall enough to accommodate 1/2-inch sheathing plus the thickness of the stone veneer you’ve chosen.
c. Slide the stake onto the bottom of the stud so its point is above the bottom of the stud, and tighten the thumbscrew on the stake.
d. Insert the stud into the top pocket, and tighten the thumbscrew on the pocket.
e. Carefully plumb the stud with a level. Loosen the thumbscrew on the stake, and pound the stake into the ground, making sure you hold the stud plumb. Leave this thumbscrew loose so the stud can move with the ground during freezing and thawing.
3. For extra strength, install horizontal bracing between the studs as shown in the first photo.
4. Install 1/2-inch exterior sheathing onto the studs using exterior screws. Keep the sheathing about an inch off the ground, so it will have no contact with the ground or water.
5. Install the stone skirting panels over the sheathing following our panel installation instructions, using exterior screws and adhesive. Cut it so it’s tight against the ground or even slightly buried; it won’t rot or absorb moisture.
6. Fill all screw holes and gaps with matching caulk and further conceal with the touch-up paint that was included in your order.
7. Offer to show your envious neighbors how you did it, and give them a hand when they decide they must have a stone foundation too.
