Wall construction and interior finish.

[Chef_Stan]

Hi all,
Sorry to keep posting low level questions but I am trying to work my plans out in my mind before I get to far into things.

Recently I asked about insulating the walls and I feel that the consensous is that without insulation you get condensation on the inside during the colder weather and clammy conditions (damp bedding) with higher levels of humidity at lower temps, like tent camping. Likely air conditioning will have the same effect behind the aluminum siding.

I also have read that the trailers can be echo chambers.

I was thinking what if I made 3/4 inch ply walls, then on the inside put a layer or two of the foil bubble wrap stuff (used to insulate duct work) then on top of that put some kind of headliner or carpet material, I am thinking maybe an indoor out door carpet maybe. Between the buble wrap stuff and the carpet you would build up some R Value. The bubble wrap stuff is about $25.00 for 4'X25". I would then panel the headliner (I am thinking of using white wainscoting). I would like to do a trolly top. I would build a double wall with foam for the roof.

My thought is that this would be less expensive and less time consuming to construct over the stick walls and foam. I am a Chef and I used to do off site catering and I recall being in a very high end home and there was this technique of wall covering where they used a printed fabric with some kind of batting behind the fabric. The walls were soft to the touch and had a quilted look to them around door openings, windows, wall switches and outlets where the fabric pinched down to the wall around those penetrations. I am thinking about going with a similar look.

Give me your opinions.

Stan

[doug hodder]

It all sort of depends on your camping conditions. Do you plan on a lot of winter type camping where you will really need the insulation? I've built 4 tears, 2 of them with trolley tops and only insulated the ceilings on them, just ply 3/4" walls, the trolley tops only have 3/4" insulation on the ceiling. I've camped down into the mid 20's and have had my share of snow "events" and up to 5" of rain with no condensation issues. The big key is...a ceiling vent to crack to allow the damp moisture to escape along with a cracked window. That's how to avoid the "clammy" bedding.

Without double insulated windows, there's no way around some condensation on them and my trolley portholes will get moisture regularly in colder temps, but they've never dripped.

As for an echo chamber effect....wont' happen with bedding in it. These are just my opinions, others may vary.... Doug