what is a good economical siding?

[scaramoche]

I'm begining my 3rd TD build. The 2 i built before had the "woody" sides and top, but I really want to give a go to building one with siding. I'm on a fixed income, so aluminium or any metal is out of the question, so what other material have people used, that is cheap, and durable? My basic design is made 4x8, so ideally it would come in sheets of this size. also do you laminate/glue to plywood? or is it durrable enough to mount to spars(on roof for example;without support of wood, other than spars)?

thanks all

[caseydog]

Take a look at FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic). It comes in several colors, and is reasonably priced. You can get it in stock in white at Home Depot, or they can special order it in other colors.

I used it to skin my roof.

CD

[rxc463]

I've actually been considering just plastering dollar bills on the side of my camper. Don't seem to be worth much more than that any more.

[kennyrayandersen]

I've actually been considering just plastering dollar bills on the side of my camper. Don't seem to be worth much more than that any more.

You made me think that there is probably some currency even cheaper than the dollar that you COULD actually use to do some wallpapering. Perhaps southeast Asia for instance…

[Greg M]

How about Pesos? You could probably do the whole tear for under 50 bucks

-Greg

[scaramoche]

Take a look at FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic). It comes in several colors, and is reasonably priced. You can get it in stock in white at Home Depot, or they can special order it in other colors.

I used it to skin my roof.

CD

did you have plywood underneath, or did you just apply it to spars? and how.

thanks, that stuff looks like what i need

frank

[caseydog]

Take a look at FRP (Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic). It comes in several colors, and is reasonably priced. You can get it in stock in white at Home Depot, or they can special order it in other colors.

I used it to skin my roof.

CD

did you have plywood underneath, or did you just apply it to spars? and how.

thanks, that stuff looks like what i need

frank

I went direct to the spars for my roof. If you do that, you need to glue and use mechanical fasteners -- in my case, screws with grommets.

CD

[dh]

CD,

I've heard that the FRP sold at the big box stores is not UV stable, any problems with yours?

[deceiver]

I've been thinking about this. When I put on my steel roof a few years ago I ordered a sheet of the same material to trim the chimney with, but flat. It came in a big roll about 5ft wide. I could get it any length. This stuff will last 40 years on a roof and has several layers of special prep chemicals and paint on it. You can get it in a variety of colors too. It's tough stuff. I'm not building a trailer, I have one, but I often think about such stuff.
Then there are polycarbonate sheets sold at home depot. they are thin but lifetime tiough. Same stuff jet windshields are made of. Not too expensive either.

[glassice]

dh said

I've heard that the FRP sold at the big box stores is not UV stable

he is right it IS not fiberglass it plastic look at the box a unit come in it state inter only
YOU HAVE to look at the #of what tip of plastic it is
flou ton ? that come in roils is UV stable but get brittle after 5 are so years you can tell after a fey years if it had backing .you will get sea sick look at all the waves

[steve smoot]

we have been through this conversation three times in the past 6 months.

There are folks on this forum that have used Lowes FRP outside and on their campers for years and the stuff has held up just fine.

You can buy white or almond in stock at Lowes for $32 a sheet. that's $1 per square foot. That's about as cheap as your are going to find it. Like CD said, you can special order other colors and finishes from Lowes.

Plastic laminate is another option that is waterproof, but not UV protected. It ranges from $1.50 $3.00 per square foot. Solid colors are cheaper than woodgrains, etc. Here again, we have several members that have used Plastic laminate on their campers and it works just fine.

Just my 2 cents.

Steve

[scaramoche]

while at Homedepot, i found right next to the frp, some stuff called polywall, it was a bit thinner but i was about half the cost. anyone have any feedback?

if possible i would to the whole TD in this stuff(i like the look), but as an option would like to try the polly on the sides, and frp on the roof