Number of Vents along my skirting?

[Brian1981]

I am in the process of purchasing a new Champion Manufactured home in Oklahoma. The dealership is putting a land and home package together for my loan approval. After about five months of this ongoing process, they have finally completed the home, now just waiting on the loan to go through. I chose to upgrade my skirting to HardiePanel as skirting. The home is approximately 2200 sq ft (76 by 32). They installed seven vents on the front side, seven on the back side and four on each end with a total of 22 vents around the home. This looks like overkill when it comes to vents (air circulation). The vents are just standard vents, not able to close them. Is this normal to have this many vents and aren't you suppose to close most vents during the winter (here in Oklahoma, we get freezing temps in the winter season).

[David Oxhandler]

The number of sq inches of vent per sqft of skirting is set by local building code. You almost cant have too much. The vents prevent moisture from gathering and condensation under the home. If you close them... even in winter you will make you home more susceptible to mold and wood destroying organisms ... like termites.

[fredcdobbs]

Talk to your Authority Having Jurisdiction inspector and look at your set up manual.The set up manual will give you the manufacturers requirement which is most likely 1 sq ft per 150 sq ft of under floor area or 1 sq ft per 1,500 sq ft if a ground moisture retarder is installed. My experience has been that most AHJ's will follow the manufacturer's installation manual.

Some manufacturers of late have adopted the HUD 3285 Model Manufacturerd Home Installation Standards as the backbone for the set up manual. There is at least one AHJ that is enforcing the statement in at least one manufacturers set up manual that is directly from the 3285 " in areas subject to freezing, the coverings for the ventilation openings must have an operable damper, permitting them to be in the open or closed position depending on the weather"

[trmimo]

Keep in mind that the numbers above are net free area. That is to say the vent area after you subtract the area used by the screen material and or louvers.