Skirting Vents
Posted: Wed May 29, 2013 8:23 am
We bought our mini home and moved it to our lot last year (New Brunswick, Canada - close to state of Maine). We put OSB around it for skirting (cheapest option due to necessity), and because it was late fall didn't put vents in it as we didn't feel it was needed for winter. Of course, now it's summer almost and we need to put them in very soon.
So, the question is, are the plastic vents you can simply open and close manually worth it? They look like furnace register vents, sort of. They are around $16 each. The alternative are the steel vents backed by mesh, around $6 each for about the same size (around 8" x 14" or so). The down side is you can't close them, of course, but I wonder if it would really make that much difference in the winter. The skirting is not insulated now, and just closing a plastic vent isn't going to keep that much cold out I wouldn't think.
Most other mini's I see around here have vinyl skirting, some of which is permanently vented (some panels are perforated). The whole underneath of the home is well insulated and sealed below the joists, and the water pipe has heat tape, fibreglass pipe insulation, then a sleeve of pink R12 over that, and foam over that. We had no problems last winter. I'm considering the cheaper metal vents because a) I really don't have much money at the moment but know I need to get this done ASAP, b) the metal vents seem much sturdier than the plastic ones anyway, and c) they look better to be honest.
So does it really matter if you can close the vents, if the skirting isn't insulated anyway?
So, the question is, are the plastic vents you can simply open and close manually worth it? They look like furnace register vents, sort of. They are around $16 each. The alternative are the steel vents backed by mesh, around $6 each for about the same size (around 8" x 14" or so). The down side is you can't close them, of course, but I wonder if it would really make that much difference in the winter. The skirting is not insulated now, and just closing a plastic vent isn't going to keep that much cold out I wouldn't think.
Most other mini's I see around here have vinyl skirting, some of which is permanently vented (some panels are perforated). The whole underneath of the home is well insulated and sealed below the joists, and the water pipe has heat tape, fibreglass pipe insulation, then a sleeve of pink R12 over that, and foam over that. We had no problems last winter. I'm considering the cheaper metal vents because a) I really don't have much money at the moment but know I need to get this done ASAP, b) the metal vents seem much sturdier than the plastic ones anyway, and c) they look better to be honest.
So does it really matter if you can close the vents, if the skirting isn't insulated anyway?