Joining Wall to Floor....Yet Another Dumb Question!

[jopasm]

I've been pondering the same question. I'm planning on building "sandwich" walls with 1/4" ply on the outside, 1x1 or 1x2 framing, foam insulation, then either 1/8" or 1/4" ply on the inside. Maybe 1/4", I need need a minimum 1-1/4" wall thickness. I want to minimize the amount of interior space I lose but still build a fairly strong body. I'm currently thinking of something like this:



Forgive my lack of computer drafting skills, the last time I used a CAD program it ran on MS-DOS 5.0. Anyway, the studs in the tear wall would be glued and nailed to the floor beam. The outer 1/4" ply comes down and covers the outside edge of the floor but still sits on the trailer frame. I like the idea of adding edge molding to help seal the gap and provide a more finished look. The camper shell bolts to the trailer with bolts inside the walls - I'd probably use a piece of steel on top of the floor assembly to spread the load - just a piece of sheet steel 3/4" wide by 2-3 inches long.

Basically, instead of building a floor platform then constructing the walls on top of this (as you would in house construction) the wooden frame of the body is a single unit more like what you'd see in a model airplane (or a home-built, actually) - it should give a strong structure and trim some weight. I'm still trying work out the dimensions for the floor.
That's the current idea. I'm trying to keep the wall loads in compression, maximize interior storage, and keep things relatively simple. It won't be as simple as solid ply walls, admittedly, but it should cut weight and provide space which can be easily insulated.

[kennyrayandersen]

You can do it that way; however, if you let the outside ¼ inch plywood drop down a bit (couple of inches), then the frame is hidden. Maybe you don’t care, but its one advantage of dropping the side down. Also, it virtually guarantees that the body cannot separate from the floor as it is anchored to the frame (although if you join the two together well it’s probably not a big concern).

[Mikedaub]

I'm glad I keep coming back to this forum because of all of the help.

Finally my summer is starting to calm down a bit and I am able to start back on building this guy. Rain all season in New England has me building everything in my basement, and piecing it together. Well, the rain has stopped, and its time.

When I thought about putting the walls on, I never thought about load weight of the build and after reading some of this post, I am concerned. Here is the way I was planning on doing it, Sorry for the bad photoshop skills.



So, I have the floor down, then was going to put the wall even with the bottom of the frame so it covered it and secured them together with the 1x2 strapping that is glued and screwed. For extra measures, I was also going to bolt the walls to the frame in about 3-4 different spots. Hopefully that makes sense.

With the strapping and bolts, think that will be strong enough?? For the most part, I used 15/32 pine ply and 1x2 pine straps.


Thanks in advance..

Why don't you just biscuit or dowel the floor (biscuits would be blind) to the sides and forget the strip. You could put biscuits or dowels every foot or so, and it would be very strong. Additionally, if you put bolts from side to frame, as you said you were going to do, it removes any loads that would want to separate the wall from the floor in the side-to-side direction. You could liquid shim the floor to the trailer with liquid nails or something (just to make sure the load from the flour goes into the frame). That way, you wouldn't have the strapping protruding into the cabin.

Actually my drawing is a bit off. Instead of of the strapping laying "on its side", it is actually laying "on its edge". So, just rotate that white box on my drawing 90 degrees.

OK, the reason that it was done that way was because the majority of my woodworking skills come from the framing of houses. So, just like a house, I built a frame that has a bottom plate, which is that strapping in the picture, a top plate, which will help attach the roof, and studs. I made it so the bottom plate sits on the floor just like in a house. Since that framing is already glued and screwed onto the the plywood, there really isn't changing it. Once it is up, it wouldn't be protruding into the cabin because of the insulation and skinning being done to finish it off.

[kennyrayandersen]

so your strapping is the center of the floor panel? if so, that's pretty much it. Didn't realize it without the rest of the floor being shown.