To Insulate or not to insulate ?

[ukewarrior]

After lots and lots and lots of reading.... I think my daughter and I have decided on an overall shape and style of tear.

The one item that still vexes me is whether or not to build with insulated floor and walls.
Another way to phrase this question is whether or not to build with a framed wall and floor verses using nothing but one or two sheets of plywood with cutouts.

The insulated option that suits me would be a sandwich with as little framing on the inside as necessary to keep the weight down.
I would also use as thin of panels as possible, again for weight.

So... what has driven folks' decision to build with 1/2" to 3/4" of insulation in the walls?

I'm not so vexed about the floor, since it just makes sense to me to frame the floor.

The ceiling is a non-issue to insulate, because I would build it framed no matter what.

Thanks up front for your shared opinions.

[nevadatear]

We are very happen with our uninsulated walls. We are olenty warm. We have two friends who built skelrtonized walls for insulation and weight and ended up bein heavier than our woody.

[dales133]

I've done a stick frame with 6 mm ply inside and 3.6 mm outside.
Frames 19mm or 3/4" and I found it a cost effective easy way to build.
One consideration for me was the extreme temps here in Australia from very cold to very hot and I'll get far more use with it being insulated

[George Taylor]

At the minimum insulate the floor and roof. I did all 3 in our tear and am happy with it.

[tony.latham]

I've had two teardrops. The first had uninsulated plywood walls. Our current one is insulated skeletonized walls. Both have/had an insulated ceiling. It's hard to compare the two for warmth since the first was a 4-wide and our current 'drop is a 5-wide.

But here's the difference: We don't get condensation on our insulated walls like we did with the old one. (Even well vented, it had condensation problems on chilly nights.)

Floor? The 7" foam mattress is plenty of insualtion.

T

[kayakdlk]

I think the insulated walls have a quieter and less tinny sound when you bump against them. Of course you could use some carpet or hull liner on the inside of non insulated walls and get pretty much the same result. I used 1/8" Baltic birch plywood inside and out with 3/4" foam insulation and 1x2" and 1x3" pine frame sandwiched together with PL premium glue. It had worked great in summer and late fall (snowy) fishing trips.

Dan

[len19070]

I kind of hit the middle ground on insulating sidewalls. (I always do the floor & ceiling)

I cover all my interior walls with a Foam backed rug.











Even though "Rug" has no "R" value it still has insulating qualities. (your winter coat doesn't have an "R" value either, but it works)

Its quiet, a nice interior finish, does an nice job insulating, takes up little or no interior space, I get no condensation and the best part is, it can be added at any time.

Happy Trails

Len