floor thickness 1/2 or 3/4

[rwelp]

What's the general consensus here about how thick the plywood floor should be. I finally finished my wife's Morris chair and ottoman and am going to start my build. I am going to pick up my trailer today from my brother in laws house and then go to H.D to get ply for the floor and get started.
Rob :

[toypusher]

I used 1/2" on an HF trailer. Just think about how you will be using the space on top of the plywood. When inside the tear your weight will be distributed quite a bit and in my opinion 1/2" is plenty. My floor does not flex at all.

[doctor phreak]

i used 3/4" to do my floor just because i went with no insulation...plus i also wanted the sturdiness of it.....

[afreegreek]

you'd do well to consider how many cross members there are on your frame, how far they are apart, what else there is, if anything between the frame and the ply, how you are going to attach the walls and to what, and how far the floor will overhang the frame if at all. lets say you're going to use carriage bolts to bolt the 1/2" ply to the frame. once you counter bore for the heads that leaves 1/4" of meat holding the two together. with 3/4" you have 1/2" left. IMO all you save using 1/2" ply is 20 lbs and $20..

[rwelp]

The trailer frame is 5x9 and ther are 4 inner cross braces made of steel. There will be 1x or possibly 2x wooden framing under the plywood floor. There will be no overhang past the steel frame, but there will be a drop down in the floor. I am thinking 1/2 will be enough except for possibly the drop down floor. Iv'e been looking forward to my build for a long time. Can't wait to actually start.
Rob

[synaps3]

Mine is 3/4" with 1x3" subframe. It's got 18" of overlap, and is rock solid.

If I had no overhang, and wasn't towing a motorcycle, I would have gone with 3/8" ply with no subframe. Anything past that is overbuilding.

[eamarquardt]

I plan on using 1/2 on top 1" insulation with a few wood stringers, and 1/4 on the bottom. Almost the same weight of 3/4 but insulated and much stronger!

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

Gus

[GreatPumpkin]

Sandwich floor, bottom to top:

1/16" Plam
1/2" Baltic Birch
3/4" (1x3 white wood framing with insulation in between)
3/4" solid hardwood flooring, glued and nailed.

[wannabefree]

My floor, which I now consider overbuilt, is (top to bottom):

3/8 baltic birch
1x4 frame with cross brace every 1-1/2 feet
1/4 baltic birch
with a couple 3/8 steel tension rods to make sure nothing rattles apart over the wheel wells.

The 1x4 frame was needed to build out over the wheels, but on the ply I would reduce to 1/4 and 1/8 respectively.

Weight matters

[Kens]

1/2 ply and 1x4s for the frame. I am not standing on it.

[AZSpyder]

My Puck uses 7/16 hardwood ply and there's probably not more then 2 1/2 foot between cross members. I replaced it with the same and it seems plenty solid.

Jerry

[Gage]

3/4 ply and no sub frame (not needed when using 3/4 for a teardrop build). Keep it simple and don't over engineer.



There is nothing hidden in the above post.

[Sam I am]

I had planned to use 3/4" ply on my floor, but the plywood supplier had some 5/8" fir plywood in a 5'x8' size. My trailer frame is also 5'x8', so I used the 5/8" wood for a one-piece floor. It seems plenty strong!

[aggie79]

With all of the crossmembers you have on your trailer, 1/2" will be fine. Something to consider, though, is how your walls will fasten to the floor. 1/2" material doesn't give much thickness for fasteners.

[NathanL]

With all of the crossmembers you have on your trailer, 1/2" will be fine. Something to consider, though, is how your walls will fasten to the floor. 1/2" material doesn't give much thickness for fasteners.

Is anyone really attaching a wall to the floor directly by screwing into the end grain of plywood?