Insulating Question??

[freeriders98]

So I just bought a 7x16 vnose enclosed trailer and will be converting it to a toy hauler. my plan was to put it into action before insulating it. But I now see that will double my work.

So a couple of questions, are you guys able to reuse all the wood paneling and trim pieces?

I have seen a fair amount of posts were the "screws" holding the main paneling on are more nail like, is this the norm? Any tricks or tips for getting them out?

Any other tips or tricks in general from people who have done this?

Thanks

[onehoser]

they used real screws in my trailer and all of them came with no issues so i was able to reuse all of the sheathing and trim.
i have no experience with the 'nail' type screws but i came up with a neat trick when resheathing the floors in my house:
i took a hole saw about 5/8" or 3/4", removed the center drill bit and used that to cut all of the way around the nails through to the joists, then just lifted the sheathing leaving the plug and nail. to keep the hole saw from walking all over the place i cut a hole into a piece of 1/2" plywood, centered it over a nail,stood on it and used it as a guide.
it's much easier to deal with nail screw/plugs once the sheathing's out of the way or you can leave them and they will act as dowels to reinstall the sheathing.

tony

[Iconfabul8]

all of my screws were actual screw and came out easy and i reused all of the wood panels and trim.
i have no experience with the 'nail' type screws but i came up with a neat trick when resheathing the floors in my house:
i took a hole saw about 5/8" or 3/4", removed the center drill bit and used that to cut all of the way around the nails through to the joists, then just lifted the sheathing leaving the plug and nail. to keep the hole saw from walking all over the place i cut a hole into a piece of 1/2" plywood, centered it over a nail,stood on it and used it as a guide.
it's much easier to deal with nail screw/plugs once the sheathing's out of the way or you can leave them and they will act as dowels to reinstall the sheathing.

tony

This is definitely the way to attack those nasty nail things. While mine were screwed, I have always thought this would be the way to go. Great idea!

[Rainier70]

I had the nasty ring nails that look like screws. I found that using 2 or 3 pry bars on the full edge of the plywood, spread the force out enough so that it popped the nails instead of damaging the wood. I reinstalled my plywood using screws with small washers on them. You can see some pictures on the first page of my build. The nails are part way down on the page and the reinstalled plywood pictures are close to the bottom. viewtopic.php?f=42&t=55219

[FlyBye]

This won't be able to help you since you have already purchased your trailer, fortunately for me, I read all about the horror stories several of the fellas went through to try and remove the wood with minimal damage in order to reuse it before I got my trailer...

1) I made sure that the company that built my trailer knew ahead of time what I was attempting to do and made it a "line item" on the contract build that they use removable screws. Fortunately, that was all the company used regardless, but it was spelled out ahead of time.
2) Long term you will want to insulate the trailer to the best of your abilities. A few pre-insulated camp sessions should confirm this for you.
3) I don't remember who made to post with photos, but there was someone not too long ago who used a make-shift tool to drill out the problem area in order not to do further damage. I believe he used some wood putty/spackle to smooth over the holes and reused the original wood. Maybe he will chime in or somebody will remember who posted the post.

I wish you well. I am insulating now, and it is a slow process for me even under ideal conditions.

[phoenixbound]

I am not quite to this step yet, but it does make me want to go ahead take one of the screws out to see if it is actually a screw. I had no idea they used such things. Thanks for the info.

[McDave]

Iconfabulate made a tool to handle his staple issue.

Go to his build log for info.

Something like this could work on the ring nails,

5/16" Blaircutter (13202)
from Blair Equipment Company

Or this.

Morse DGM05C Diamond Grit Hole saw,5/16 in. Dia.
from Zoro

McDave

[phoenixbound]

Just checked. Mine are self-tapping metal screws, which is what I would expect fastening plywood to the metal beam. Strange that they would use something else. Faster and cheaper I guess. Bad thing is the buyer would look at those and assume it's a regular (removable) screw. Learning more all the time.

[freeriders98]

Just checked. Mine are self-tapping metal screws, which is what I would expect fastening plywood to the metal beam. Strange that they would use something else. Faster and cheaper I guess. Bad thing is the buyer would look at those and assume it's a regular (removable) screw. Learning more all the time.

I checked mine last night as well and it is screws!!

I think we are going to tackle it this weekend.

Another question is what are you guys using to attach the trim pieces? Mine are all stapled on now. Its going to be so much fun to remove all those staples before putting it back up..

[onehoser]

i used very tiny finishing nails, about a 1/2" long. i didn't need to use anywhere near as many nails as there were original staples since i will likely be removing them again for mods to wiring etc. hope this helps

[freeriders98]

So what kind of bit does the exterior and some interior screws take? Its 8 points and not a torx...can get all my paneling off without taking some metal trim off around the doors.

[onehoser]

So what kind of bit does the exterior and some interior screws take? Its 8 points and not a torx...can get all my paneling off without taking some metal trim off around the doors.

i use a red robinson screwdriver, works great
not sure about your door but i have to remove the aluminum trim/seal to get the inner panel off. which is on my to do list so that i can insulate and install an rv latch

[Rainier70]

Number 2 square bit. The screws are a double square

[freeriders98]

Number 2 square bit. The screws are a double square

Well that makes sense! I'll give that a try. Pretty sure I have square bits.

Got eveytging insulated that I could without being able to take those screws out...so close to half of it.

[onehoser]

Number 2 square bit. The screws are a double square

sorry, in canada the #2 square driver is called a red robertson, after it's canadian inventor