Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

just finishing the frame mods and starting the flooring...does anyone insulate the floor..i want this to be an all weather build

Yes, mine is insulated. Helps keep heat out and deadens noise too. It also helps prevent the floor from 'sweating' in colder weather.

I too insulated my floor with the same 1 1/2 inches of blue foam that I did the rest of mt tear. Might keep my noise in as well as other noise out. With the heat and humidity of the coastal plain of NC and surrounding areas I figured I need all the help I could get to stay comfortable.

We winter camp and the floor insulation really seem to help.

During the mid summer campouts we air condition as well. The insulation helps to keep the heat out as well as it helps to keep it in during the winter months.

I laid mine inside over the 3/4 floor to protect it from the elements then covered
with 7/16 osb to protect if from me.

Yes, my floor is insulated.

bobhenry wrote:We winter camp and the floor insulation really seem to help.

During the mid summer campouts we air condition as well. The insulation helps to keep the heat out as well as it helps to keep it in during the winter months.

I laid mine inside over the 3/4 floor to protect it from the elements then covered
with 7/16 osb to protect if from me.

Im going with 1/4 plywood on the bottom 1/2 inch of insulation and a 1/4 osb on top. Gluing them together to make a stressed skin. My Floor is under a mattress so Im not concerned about point load just distributed load. IMHO you way over built your floor. Prob could have gone 7/16 above and below if you had glued it and saved a bit of weight and cost while still maintaining structural integrity. Im buying a shop vac to do a cheap vacuum bag all of the panels. Sides & roof will be same as floor. I think I can bag the roof as well to have a stressed skin curved panel as well. Should be pretty rigid Im thinking. I will try to document this process for everyone.

I think Bob Henry's barn might have standing headroom, if so he would need more support in his floor because he would have point stress.

We insulated with the board also. It will help with sound and heat loss but I also needed to get above the 2" angle iron frame of the trailer. The 2" pink board worked out well for that also.


James & Rhonda

Oldragbaggers wrote:I think Bob Henry's barn might have standing headroom, if so he would need more support in his floor because he would have point stress.

and the front 2 foot is hanging out in mid air !

bobhenry wrote:

Oldragbaggers wrote:I think Bob Henry's barn might have standing headroom, if so he would need more support in his floor because he would have point stress.

and the front 2 foot is hanging out in mid air !

I figured you had your reasons, Bob!!

No insulation in my floor, just a piece of 3/4" ply between my 5" thick foam mattress and the air.

With a five-inch foam mattress, additional insulation is just a waste. But, I have no exposed floor surface.

<Chas>

GuitarPhotog wrote:No insulation in my floor, just a piece of 3/4" ply between my 5" thick foam mattress and the air.

With a five-inch foam mattress, additional insulation is just a waste. But, I have no exposed floor surface.

<Chas>

And probably not a hell of a lot of snow !

I think even in snow, my 5-inch mattress will provide more insulation value than the 1-inch styrofoam I used in the walls and ceiling.

Not that I would ever consider willingly camping in snow. Hell, I don't even like walking in the stuff

<Chas>

Those of you with insulation on the floor, is protected with anything? Would there be any issues with attaching the pink foam type to the bottom of the floor with glue and screws, and then spraying it with the rubberized undercoating?

Campin' Texan wrote:Those of you with insulation on the floor, is protected with anything? Would there be any issues with attaching the pink foam type to the bottom of the floor with glue and screws, and then spraying it with the rubberized undercoating?

I used 1" Dow Blueboard foam insulation on the underside of my TD floor. I applied the 'black sticky goo' for weatherproofing then added the foam using construction adhesive & small strip 'battens' from scrap to help hold the insulation in place. I built the TD in 2006, have since towed it more'n 12K miles in every kind of weather (including up to 12" of standing water in the streets of several SE New Mexico towns) & over every kind of road/terrain that includes lots of dirt/gravel NF/BLM back roads. Was even 'rear ended' Labor Day weekend 2010 causing considerable damage to the rear of my TD but no damage to the insulation under the floor. The blueboard while not pristine, still looks original with little or no evidence of any damage by 'thrown gravel, rocks, or other road objects. See my album or this thread - viewtopic.php?f=2&t=50947&p=943291#p943291- for pix of the insulation installation.

This pic shows some of the blueboard after the rear end collision. As you can see, little evidence of any wear or damage to the 'exposed' insulation -