Types of skirting for a trailer
With cold weather setting in
with a vengeance and an influx of cash from selling the Kubota, we
decided it was finally time to make a decision on what kind of skirting
to use. There are three main options, ranging in price from moderately
expensive to really expensive --- vinyl, metal, and Reil rock (the last
being plastic panels that are made to look like stone).
Vinyl, while cheap,
comes with serious downsides. Foremost is fragility --- even a good
whack with a weedeater will cut through this thin barrier in no time.
Since I tend to be rough on my surroundings, I regretfully decided to
give vinyl a pass despite the lowest price tag of the bunch --- about
$600 for a kit to enclose a 14x70 singlewide.
Metal is much more
resilient for only a few extra dollars, with the downside that you have
to build a frame out of lumber rather than relying on a kit's built-in
rails. Reil rock is quite a bit more pricey --- $1,300 for 14x70
singlewide, with lumber and any insulation added on top.
What did we choose? We
opted to think outside the box and make our own metal skirting out of
painted roofing metal, 1-inch rigid insulation panels, and treated
lumber. Cost of the basic supplies came to about $1,300 delivered
before Mark's veteran's discount. I suspect the project will be closer
to $1,500 once we add on four vents, screws, plus sufficient hardware
to create a pair of access doors. But hopefully the finished product
will protect our pipes!
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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
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I lived in a trailer growing up. We had the metal skirting, still have the scar on my foot from running a corner of it into my arch. But anyway I don't remember our pipes ever freezing in the winter. So despite the price you've probably gone with the best option and over the years it will more than likely save you in the long run. JenW~