Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I was hoping one of you could help me out. I have checked a bunch of galleries, however, have come up empty.

Does anyone have a photo of the floor insulation installation or underside of the tear/cubby? I know some have sandwich style floors, and some don't, just wondering how the exposed insulation has handled the exposure.

Still debating the need to insulate the floor (I have been reading some other threads)

thanks

Earl
"Loader"

Mine ain't pretty--hence no photos. It's just wedged in there, a few screws to hold it to the underside of the floor and frame, and I didn't kill myself with perfectly clean cuts.

I did mine foil side out, to reflect ground heat AWAY from the floor (hot South Florida), but if you're insulating more for the cold, I think you do it the other way.

I haven't put any mileage on mine yet, but I haven't heard of anyone here having major problems, even if it's exposed like this.

If you're going to insulate the rest of the TD, you might as well do the floor. It's no big deal to do.

Good idea Ira. I was thinking of using regular 2" foam, but two layers of 3/4" or 1" foil faced would be better and comparing 3/4" sheets, it has about a 30% higher R value than regular foam. Or did you find 2" foil faced? If I used two thinner sheets, I'd put one face up against the floor, and the other face down to the road.

earl, in my photo album page 4 you will see how i did mine. i have the sandwich style 1/2" plywood on bottom and top and 3/4" 1"x6" framming with insulation. on the bottom side i put a tar base coating.

Thanks guys!

Randy, thanks for the photos! Fine looking tear you have!

Dale, I just went one panel of 3/4" insulation all around. Floor, sides and roof.

The Cubby plans only call for 3/4" for the floor and sides--because structurally, you don't need to frame the walls with sticks any bigger than 3/4" deep. The Cubby sides are fairly thin (don't remember, 3/8?), but if it's 3/4" for this, you certainly don't need thicker framing if you're using a thicker ply side.

But they also tell you to use TWO panels of this insulation thickness for the roof, for a 1 1/2" total thickness, because that's your spar depth/thickness/width.

BUT AGAIN...

I am 100% NOT concerned with insulating for any cold down here. (I insulated for the body moisture/mildew factor ONLY.) I guess because heat rises, the Kuffel plans call for doubling up the roof insulation to keep heat from escaping, to help you in cold weaher. And since you have that 1 1/2" to work with, thermodynamically speaking (who, me?), you're supposed to fill it completely to eliminate voids between the exterior and interior roof skins.

But when it comes to our hot weather here, and my 5200 btu air conditioner, I really don't think you don't need ANY insulation to keep that thing DAMN cool.

I show how I did it on my web site... click on link below my name

Just for the record, the insulation in the roof of the Cubby (per the plans) is one layer of 3/4" and one layer of 1/2" for a total of 1 and 1/4". Of course anyone can do it however they want.

toypusher wrote:Just for the record, the insulation in the roof of the Cubby (per the plans) is one layer of 3/4" and one layer of 1/2" for a total of 1 and 1/4".

No wonder I couldn't get it to fit anyway when i first tried--I tried two at 3/4.

Earl, Insulating the floor in cold climates is very important. Also, note that foil backing is meant to act as a vapor barrier, keeping interior moisture from invading and damaging the insulation. On my teardrops I skin the bottom, carefully fit 2" Dow blue board between the frame members. seal the top side with vapor barrier tape, lay a 1/8" foam flooring underlayment and then install the flooring. Happy trails, Fred - the worlds' farthest North teardrop builder.

Hi Ira

Insulation is to help you stay cool too.

Heat doesnt rise, air that is heated rises, it may not seem an important point, but it can be.

Fred, I think a lot of us did it foil side out.

Unless you're using it like 150 days out of the year, do you think body moisture is going to hurt the foam?

The foil is to reflect radiated heat, I used double sided foil.

GeorgeTelford wrote:The foil is to reflect radiated heat, I used double sided foil.

That's why I put the foil on the outside. And regarding your other post, yep, I get that. It's just so damn hot down here most of the time, with an AC for such a small space, it's not like that insulation is really necessary to help FURTHER cool the space.

Mine is like an icebox.

Thanks Tony and Fred! Not too cold here in Texas, although if I do any winter camping, it can get into the 20-30s at night.

Floor construction to start this weekend, if all goes well, I'll at least buy the materials.