posted 8 years ago
Okay, so I currently live in a ran down junk mobile home and I'm much too cheap to actually get an upgrade. However, the skirting is falling apart on it and animals of all kinds including possums, skunks, and other critters are getting underneath it and keeping me up at night. I'm sick of them and the mice/rats chewing on the structure itself. And the home is seated on a gradient where the skirting would need to be cut at angles and its just all no good. So instead of spending money on overpriced skirting that will just break again, what do you guys think about using eathbags instead of skirting underneath and up to the bottom of the mobile home? And do you think I could use chicken wire and re-mesh with a mortar sprayer spraying concrete/ferro-cement over the bags instead of plastor? Would that be stronger? I'm going to leave a very solid framed out access door on the end so I can do maintenance on the plumbing, wiring, and other things. But other than that framed out door, do you guys think an earthbag skirting system would work? I'm also thinking this way of "skirting" would provide the best wind block and might even provide the underside of the mobile home some insulative value. See, the animals have torn down much of the insulation underneath the mobile home and so I'm hoping creating a well sealed chamber underneath the mobile home will act like insulation in a way via the super-skirting of earthbags. I'd also like to ask if filling the bags with a mixture clay and fly ash from a coal plant would work? Would the fly ash smell repel insects and animals? Would earthbags work to replace the skirting, and do you guys think this systems would be animals and bug proof? Any other tips?
I'm afraid of straw bales because these animals will just tear apart the bales and make bedding of it.
any thoughts or suggestions?
UL-1482 Tested Rocket Heater and Gravity Fed Pellet Burning Rocket Heaters:
http://www.permies.com/t/54288/rocket-stoves/Building-code-compliant-prefabricated-rocket#446840
http://www.rocketheater.com/