The Manufactured Housing Forums

Hi. I live in Arizona and I recently purchased a 1980's MH with my boyfriend. The skirting is buried, making the house appear to be at ground level, with a crawl space underneith. The skirting is steel and is completely rusted through in some places. This has caused erosion under the house and we're wondering how extensive the replacement is; as we would prefer to do the work ourselves. Is it possible to put sheets of galvanized steel there? If so, can we access them by digging around the perimeter of the house, or do we need to venture into the crawl space?
There's also a concrete driveway and porch adjacent to each other. If erosion has affected these areas, how would we go about replacing the skirting (and dirt) there?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Celeste

This type of "pit" set is only done in your part of the country. Many of the purchasers are up in age, and the dry climate allows this type of set up. I would suspect you will have to excavate around the perimeter of the home, to facilitate replacement, and not have the soil (gravel) sliding back under the home. I would think galvanized would be a good choice, but probably expensive. You also may be able to patch certain area from beneath the home, if you excavate at that location outside the home. Good Luck.

Thanks for replying to my message. Luckly we already have a roll of galvanized steel.
What concerns me the most is the conrete driveway that runs the entire length of the home, and has a room added at the end. There's a porch the same size on the other side of the home. Both run next to the house, and are about 10' wide. Obviously it's impossible to excavate there, but if there's erosion under these areas, how would we replace and retain the dirt that's missing?

Your best bet, may be to create a false wall in the crawl space. Can you drive new metal behind the old, and then shovel out the left overs? Sounds like what you want to accomplish, is to stop the erosion into the crawl space. Drill point screws could then be utilized to fasten the new material to the old, creating a liner, so to speak on the inside of the original skirt.