Answer first: A widening gap under the skirting, or a panel that has pulled loose from the bottom rail in one spot, is almost always a settling symptom. One or more piers under that section of frame dropped, the home's height at that point changed, and the skirting, which is fixed to the ground, did not move with it. This is not a skirting-install job. It is a level check, followed by a relevel if the readings confirm it. We do not sell or install new skirting.
Why the gap opens there and not somewhere else
Skirting is anchored two ways: the top track fastens to the home's bottom rail, and the bottom edge sits at or near grade. As long as the home stays level, both edges hold their spacing and the panels stay tight. When a pier under that section of frame settles into Marion County's sandy soil, the home drops a fraction of an inch to an inch right there, and the top track drops with it. The skirting panel below did not drop. It is standing on the ground, or fastened to a bottom rail that did not move. So a gap opens, wider at the corner nearest the settled pier and narrower as you move away from it.
This is why you will often find the gap worst near a corner or under a load-bearing wall, not spread evenly around the whole home. The uneven spacing is the tell. A skirting panel that simply came loose from age or a lawnmower strike stays the same size gap all the way along; a settling-related gap tapers, because it is tracking how much that one section of frame dropped.
| What you notice | What is happening under the home | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Gap under skirting wider at one corner, tapering elsewhere | Piers under that corner settled, frame dropped locally | Relevel the low piers; re-read to confirm |
| Panel pulled loose from the top track in one spot | Home moved up or down relative to the fixed skirting track | Relevel first; reset the panel once the frame is true |
| Even gap all the way around, same width everywhere | Usually a skirting install or ground-grading issue, not settling | Not a releveling problem; a skirting contractor's job, not ours |
| Gap plus a musty smell or soft floor nearby | Ground moisture reaching the crawlspace through the open gap | Vapor barrier check, priced separately |
What we check, and what we do not do
We read level along the full frame first, the same as any symptom visit. If the readings show the piers near the gap dropped, releveling is the fix, and the skirting gap closes on its own once the frame comes back to true. What we do not do is sell you new skirting or install skirting as a standalone service. If the gap turns out to be an installation or ground-grading issue unrelated to settling, we tell you that plainly and point you to a skirting contractor instead of quoting work we do not do.
A gap left open matters beyond looks. It is one of the more common ways ground moisture and pests reach the crawlspace, since the skirting is part of what keeps both out from under the home. Filling a settling-caused gap with trim or foam without releveling first just hides the symptom; the gap reopens as the frame keeps moving.
It rarely stops at the skirting
If a pier settled enough to open a visible gap under the skirting, the rest of that section of frame is usually moving too. It is common on the same visit to also find a door that won't latch nearby, or a sloping floor on the same side of the home. See the full picture on the releveling page: how a level home becomes a crooked one, and what a visit looks like step by step. If the inspection under the home finds cracked pier caps or a sunken pad instead of a simple settle, that becomes a pier and blocking repair, quoted separately and shown to you in photos before you decide anything.
Full pricing detail, including what pushes a job over the base range, lives in the cost guide.