Post build Insulation Ideas?

[kirkman]

After testing out my uninsulated tear in -10 weather this winter I had the idea to insulate it using something like the cheep blue foam camping mats you can get at walmart by gluing them to the walls. It would be both cheep and easy. I thought it would be fun to see what every one else could come up with for insulating our tears after they are built that would be easily installed. With out any deconstruction. Something like maybe foam backed carpet!

[pete42]

I have owned two scamp travel trailers they use an insulation that looks like bubble wrap between aluminum foil that along with carpet we called "rat fur" worked very well. I forget the R value but it is high

another one is reflex (spelling) insulation can be bought at the big box stores it is costly again it has great R value and looks like what scamp uses.

pete

[SonofT@B]

Even though the ceiling is insulated between the spars with the solid foam sheeting from Home Depot I have solid (plywood and fiberglass laminate) 1 1/8" walls and 3/4 ply floors in my little myPOD. I made window insulators from Reflectix (foil and bubble) insulation and added the interlocking foam squares on the linoleum floors then covered with an indoor/outdoor carpet.

The window coverings are held to the two windows with small strips of velcro and I can still crack the windows for ventilation and peel back the corner of the piece of foil if necessary. The window coverings also give an added layer of privacy.

The Reflectix could be cut in pieces big enough to cover your walls and attached with velcro. Then they could be removed in the warmer weather. You might even want to make them where they cover only the bottom half of your walls where you have the most condensation. I have toyed with the canned foam as insulation under the floor on the Harbor Freight frame and then maybe some kind of thin covering below it.




Blue dot for orientation to make sure velcro lines up



Velcro strips



Foam squares...these are 1/2" thick some of the newer ones are thinner.


I actually used a piece of Reflectix under the throw rugs on our T@B floor this winter and camped ten days...the coldest night was about 20 degrees. We heated our T@B with only a small Pelonis heater and a tiny fan to circulate air and relieve hot spots. Of course the T@B walls, floor and ceiling are already insulated during construction.

[kirkman]

Good ideas guys! I was also thinking about the interlocking foam squares and reflex.

[Weirdnerd]

If you have a " sandwich construction" ( two pieces of plywood over a frame) you could make holes on the empty spaces ( at the top) and fill them with non expanding polyurethane foam....

Do not use the double or triple expanding, as the foam will buckle and bulge your walls out, and maybe deform your teardrop.

[Dan & Julie CO]

Automotive carpet can be purchased at auto store, that would be a good addition to your sidewalls some have thin foam backing.

[Engineer Guy]

Pete42 & SonofT@b [nice write-up!] are onto something I've used; likely much better than any Carpet or Foam you'll assess:

Astrofoil

Besides reflecting Infrared [IR] back at cha 'Space Blanket'-style, it has critical dead Air insulating space in the Bubble Pack 'middle'. In the 'Astrofoil' Product Line - consider it identical to 'Reflectix' - there's a 'single' Bubble Pack type and a thicker 'double' Bubble Pack type that yields even higher insulating R value on top of the IR bounce effect. That IR effect is a little tough to quantify vis-a-vis Fiberglass, for example, but plod through their Website info to get a feel for all that, and equivalent R Value. Much [but not all] new Trailer construction is 1" of Styro - an R-4 - in the middle of the Wall 'Sandwich. So, Astrofoil CAN perform much better than that, yielding the greater comfort and easier heating/cooling that S@T attests to.

I used the single Bubble Pack type under our House Drywall to pump up total Wall Insulation and - when taped off with special Tape - act as the Vapor Barrier. You staple it on, and it really goes fast with a 'Hammer'-type or Air Stapler.

Astrofoil also makes a Product w/o any Bubble Pack. It's ~like Aluminized Tyvek. I used it in our Attic, but it bounces IR when laid/stapled on the Floor under any Covering there. Like Tyvek, it's indestructible. You might as well try to tear a Phone Book in half as tear that stuff. It can even be used under Concrete to insulate Radiant Floors from Earth temps.

With some care, these material layers can be doubled up, too, for greater Insulation.

Telescope-hauling 'Astrotrailer' [sp] on this Forum did a bang-up job of insulating his Trailer from underneath. Top notch job and write-up...

DAP makes a low expansion Foam I used throughout our new House. However, you'd likely need to go with the large Container-based Application to get the volume of something like Isocyene needed in a Floor. You'll see Isocyene on about any Home Remo TV Show.

DAP Sealants

Isocyene

[txturbo]

There is also the spray on thermal insulation made by mascoat and sold under the trade name "Lizard Skin". I'm using it on the inside and outside of mine. Its not cheap....but it is easy.