Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Within the next 2 weeks I should be starting to gluing my walls to my plywood floor base. When I built my floor , I put a 2x2 inner wall support around the edge of the floor/ it's inward 2" from the outer edge of the plywood. I found that design on wall attachment option here. That way I will have a 2" floor surface to glue to/ and a 2" vertical (2x2) surface to glue to.
I've been using two glues PL Premium & Gorilla glue on my build. My foam is 2" XPS.
I have a question about gluing my walls to the plywood floor. Since GG pushes &expands while drying. What is the best way to attach the wall so they do not move (in and out' & up and down) ? How do I keep them from been pushed out of place ?
Or would I be better off using the PL P glue, since it does not create shifting material ???
Also is there a good way to add some weight to the top edge of the wall (while gluing) to help push the wall down. To aid in the gluing process ?
Any pictures , advise, links, or secrets (or secret prayers) you would like to share... would be welcome

You could get some 3” drywall screws , and run them partially into the foam/wood to hold the panel in place while the glue dries ... then remove them later ... Gorilla Glue doesn’t expand very much ( depending on the local humidity) when you Don’t add water ... Maybe some other ( non expanding) glue might be better for your purposes ... As we found out long ago , the glue is not as critical an element as all the strength of the body comes from the outer skin ( sock ) holding everything together ... You could go even further by adding thin plywood ( or even chipboard ) extending up the wall for more gluing area ( see drawing) .... All how far you want to take it .

I found some Gorilla Glue that is in a caulking gun tube. It is a bit expensive, but I have found it to work quite well and it does not expand, at least what I have observed. It is very tacky though and holds well in the initial glue up. I have not used it in wall to floor construction yet, but I would not hesitate to use it. I have been using regular latex caulking for some of my gluing. It works well too. I think the Gorilla Glue is better for more structural areas though.

ghcoe wrote:I found some Gorilla Glue that is in a caulking gun tube. It is a bit expensive, but I have found it to work quite well and it does not expand, at least what I have observed. It is very tacky though and holds well in the initial glue up. I have not used it in wall to floor construction yet, but I would not hesitate to use it. I have been using regular latex caulking for some of my gluing. It works well too. I think the Gorilla Glue is better for more structural areas though.

I was just looking over your build info. Did you use GG for your floor to wall attachment ? Did you have any/much problems with the GG pushing the foam around ? I see that you have an inner 2x2 as a wall glue point also. I do like your wall guides , that you use to help keep things square, at the top to support the walls. I'll be making some of those.

rustytoolss wrote: I was just looking over your build info. Did you use GG for your floor to wall attachment ? Did you have any/much problems with the GG pushing the foam around ? I see that you have an inner 2x2 as a wall glue point also. I do like your wall guides , that you use to help keep things square, at the top to support the walls. I'll be making some of those.

The second time around I used GG. The fist attempt was with GS which was way too foamy. Had to cut the walls free and glue a second time with GG. I think I would use the caulking gun type of GG for my next build.

Since I was channeling the walls for the bulkhead and shelves I found the wall guides to work great. They were intended to keep the walls the proper width from each other. The channels were cut a bit deeper than bulkhead/shelves so I needed a way to hold the walls in the proper position during the glue up. They came in handy for other thinks too.

I use PL premium for gluing foam to plywood lately and have good results. You still need to clamp or put screws through foam to hold the glueup in place. When I use screws to hold foam to wood, I place 1/4 plywood approx. 2"x3" piece or other scrap like a "washer" on top of foam, drive the screw(s) and that keeps the glue-up in place. Good luck with your work.
I actually prefer PL to TB2 due to (1)lower temps I can work with it and (2)much longer working time than Tb2 and (3)it's more economical than Tb2, which is important when it comes to large surfaces glueup like foam sandwich+ply panels. PL also may expand if I use a notch trowel (for panels assembly) or if there is some moisture around, so again, good clamping is required. Your own testing is recommended, as always.

Hi,
Packing tape works pretty well, or maybe initially until you can get some screws in. I used drywall screws with a washer. Fender washers are bigger diameter, and pull more. Once the glue is set then I back out the screws. Minor dents from the washers generally self heal unless you really crush the foam.

An idea might be to glue a 12" +/- strip of canvas along the bottom of the wall with enough left hanging that you can slip it under the 2x2, which would cinch it down real nice. (if the 2x2 is removable since you already have it down)

Gluing wood to wood. Try TB2 or TB3.

Mike...

And if you live in a rainy area ( or an area that wasn’t rainy, but is now ) then do please consider adding a drip edge of some sort ...

just one suggestion .. ( yes, another drawing)

Thanks , I was planning to add a drip edge. Some kind of thing used for houses.

There's this stuff in the tile dept. for a drip edge, at Lowe's or HD,forget, but it is aluminum and a buck or 2 for 4' of it. I attach it with screws and adhesive caulk. I'll try to get a picture of it, and it's pretty low profile.

Don , we’d sure like to see that ...need some for the FoamStream nose .

I'm not sure what it is called, but it was in the racks in the tile/flooring dept. It does not come pre-drilled for screws but a screw will go through it pretty easy.

Found a link; https://www.lowes.com/pd/M-D-Z-Bar-Alum ... AtL58P8HAQ

Here it is on Bluebird-

good to know