DIY door trim and seals?

[Number 42]

I am in the design phase of a 5x10 front slope roof "squaredrop". The walls will be 1 1/2" thick with 1" pink foam with 1/4" Prefinished birch ply on the interior and 1/4" acx ply skinned with painted sheet aluminum on the outside. I will plane down fir 2x4s down to 1" and frame the walls with that. I am having a hard time finding the right combination of aluminum trim or extrusion profiles and hinges to trim out and seal 1 1/2" thick doors. I dont like the look of leaving the core of the wall exposed, so I want to cover the edges of the opening and the door covered with metal. I looked on the Vintage Tech website and it looks like his material is designed for 3/4" walls. Any ideas?

[tony.latham]

I am in the design phase of a 5x10 front slope roof "squaredrop". The walls will be 1 1/2" thick with 1" pink foam with 1/4" Prefinished birch ply on the interior and 1/4" acx ply skinned with painted sheet aluminum on the outside. I will plane down fir 2x4s down to 1" and frame the walls with that. I am having a hard time finding the right combination of aluminum trim or extrusion profiles and hinges to trim out and seal 1 1/2" thick doors. I dont like the look of leaving the core of the wall exposed, so I want to cover the edges of the opening and the door covered with metal. I looked on the Vintage Tech website and it looks like his material is designed for 3/4" walls. Any ideas?

Your life will be easier if you go with 3/4” insulation and you’ll never notice the difference.

Tony


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[Pmullen503]

You always use polyisocyanurate foam for more R factor per inch.

The other thing to consider is that because of the limited volume inside the camper, you are venting air at a pretty high rate compared to a house. You get diminishing returns on more insulation pretty quickly.

[mountainminded]

Another option is to use two pieces of 3/4” leg trim— one wrapping the inside wall and the other wrapping the outside wall. It’s twice as many sticks of trim (and screws!) but the finished appearance is nice with no raw plywood edges visible inside or out. My 1947 Kit reproduction has 1” composite walls and I use two pieces of 1/2” leg trim. Inevitably there will be small gaps in places and to disguise these visually I first run a strip of black Gorilla tape along the plywood edge before applying the trim. This method can be seen in the bottom of the image attached.

[bdosborn]

Tony has got a book that is really helpful if you're new to building Teardrops. It will probably answer most of your questions:

Building a Teardrop Trailer: Plans and Methods for Crafting an Heirloom Camper

Bruce