Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Post on the topic of insulating the floor got me thinking so this may be more of a thought exercise than useful information but here it goes.

How much better at heating and cooling is your trailer with 1,2 or even 3 inches of insulation if you do not also rip your man door apart and insulate it also? You basically have a 2'8" by 6' tall space in your wall that in many cases have less than 1r value of insulation. Also, especially those crazy like me that reframe and put big windows in, what is the r value of the windows.

Your rear doors are usually made of 3/4 plywood which has a whole .9 r value so if you are going to put a lot of insulation on your walls shouldn't you also cover those rear doors?

My theroy is going high R value on our walls is actually a waste of money because there is enough space on our trailer walls that null and void our efforts.

Now ceiling would be the exception to my argument because the sun directly overhead bakes the roof even worse than the walls. Heavy insulation on the roof will help trap the hot air rise in cold weather and create a trap between the baking roof and the interior when trying to cool it down.

Ok poke holes in my thought prosess

There's my attitude; you rapidly reach diminishing returns. Partly for reasons you mention but also for the fact that you need pretty high turn over of air in the confined space.

That said, you won't regret 1 to 2" of insulation to reduce condensation inside at night and reduce heat build up during the day. Also, isulated walls and ceiling will feel warmer even if the air temperature is low.

Not sure about everyone else on here,,
But myself, with insulating the ceiling, walls, it just made perfect sense to me to also do the doors.
Side door and the barn doors on the back.. as for the window I'm putting in, I have cut a piece of 1" foam that will
fit in the window tight, (when the window is not open for ventilation).. to help keep the sun out and heat during the day.. or help during the winter time..
Unless you have a ramp on the back, then you have barn doors probably, and mine weren't covered with 3/4" ply..
they used the same cheap flexible 3/8" ply they used in the rest of the trailer..

As Pmullen, mentioned, condensation is a concern... I live in a 33 ft travel trailer full time that is not well insulated and condensation accumulates in a lot of areas.. they insulated this puppy with fiberglass batting.. dumb asses... a dehumidifier helps us a lot..

You also need to consider that foam board adds rigidity and supports both the interior and exterior sheathing.



I add foam board to my hatches primarily for structural reasons but it also keeps the heat off the galley cooler on those smoking hot days.



It adds 3.5 pounds to the hatch, by the way. Waste of money? What are we talking about, $75 towards a $4,000 teardrop?



Tony

If you've ever stayed in a un-insulated cargo trailer , you know you'll freeze or sweat. It's worth every penny insulating.

My other thread was more protecting the insulation underneath than the floor.

Most every newer cargo trailer out there has insulation in the doors already. It helps stiffen the door.

Insulating the underside is necessary especially since wind can suck out any heat in the trailer overnight.
Also driving on roads during a 100° day can lead to more heat inside once ya get to camp.
IMHO. Not overthinking it.

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I guess one thing that stands out to me as a carpenter/scaffold builder is on big jobs in the winter sometimes we get tasked with building warm up sheds. These are 4 steel posts connected with horizontal bars. We then cover with 10 mill reinforced plastic tarp.

We then pump heat in and can get these structures up to 70 or 80 degrees in single digit weather. When the bosses get sick of everyone hiding out in the heat we go back and cut 18 inches of tarp off the bottom so the bosses can see how many people are hiding out. Even with 18 inch cut off the bottom we can keep temps at 60 degrees in single digit.

Yes the foam board makes a difference but I suspect it may be more from acting to seal cracks than the R value and maybe a few tubes of calk would have the same result.

Now again ceiling is a different story IMO.

In this type of construction, it is less about the R value and more about the structural aspect. We're building laminate planes like SIPS panels used for house roofs in place of conventional timber framing. Plus moisture likes hollow spaces and you get some sound dampening so it sounds less like you're in a wooden box.

I may have missed it above, but there is another advantage to insulating too: peace and quiet. Uninsulated trailers amplify the sound of rain, and you can hear the neighbors a whole lot more easily when you are ready to go to sleep. I am glad I have insulation, even in the summer.

lfhoward wrote:I may have missed it above, but there is another advantage to insulating too: peace and quiet. Uninsulated trailers amplify the sound of rain, and you can hear the neighbors a whole lot more easily when you are ready to go to sleep. I am glad I have insulation, even in the summer.

lfhoward wrote:I may have missed it above, but there is another advantage to insulating too: peace and quiet. Uninsulated trailers amplify the sound of rain, and you can hear the neighbors a whole lot more easily when you are ready to go to sleep. I am glad I have insulation, even in the summer.

YES!

lfhoward wrote:I may have missed it above, but there is another advantage to insulating too: peace and quiet. Uninsulated trailers amplify the sound of rain, and you can hear the neighbors a whole lot more easily when you are ready to go to sleep. I am glad I have insulation, even in the summer.

i even added thin, vertical strips of styro between the skin and the insulation to stop the skin from flexing in the wind

Couldn't imagine either of my CTCs without insulation. These pics are from my 6*12 build. Ambient was
90F and the radiant heat of the sun on the sides (not direct) in the afternoon on a partly cloudy day had the skin at 110F.

The 5,000 BTU AC would never be able to keep up up for one. Not to mention all the other fringe benefits already discussed above.







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FL I understand and completely agree that some foam in the walls helps and is needed. My thought/question/concern is does ramping up to say an R15 really do anything greater than say an R5 on the walls when 15 to 20% of your wall space is hovering around an R1 at best?

I am definitely sold on as thick as possible on the ceiling/roof but where do you hit the diminishing returns point on the walls?

My thought/question/concern is does ramping up to say an R15 really do anything greater than say an R5 on the walls when 15 to 20% of your wall space is hovering around an R1 at best?

I firmly believe that 3/4" of foam in a sandwich wall is fine.

Tony

tony.latham wrote:

My thought/question/concern is does ramping up to say an R15 really do anything greater than say an R5 on the walls when 15 to 20% of your wall space is hovering around an R1 at best?

I firmly believe that 3/4" of foam in a sandwich wall is fine.

Tony

Agree.... I think the R5 in the walls does the trick. I did 2 layers of polyiso (~ R10) in the ceiling and a solid 2inces of Styrofoam under the floor however. Floor was for the cold weather camping I may do from time to time. My poor dog lays on the floor.