Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

by **Miriam C.** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 3:20 pm

Lowes and Home Depot don't seem to know the weight of their wood.

Anyone know how much a sheet of 1/2 x 4 x 8 and 1/4 x 4 x 8.

Also has anyone tried to use hollow core doors skinned with 5.2. to frame walls.
(I found a cheap source) would save time and money, maybe. :hammer:

Thinking it may work to use a pocket hole screw on the exterior and cover with luan, glue together and epoxy. :twisted:

Get er done
Miriam

by **GregB** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 4:30 pm

Rik Keller notes the density of plywood at 1.5lbs/sq.ft. for 1/2" (actually 15/32") which makes it 48 lbs for a full sheet.

GB

by **madjack** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 5:49 pm

...roughly 50# for 1/2 and 75 for 3/4...these are approximations since wood species and moisture content come into play...Roly Nelson used a hollow core door on his ultralight 1/4 Nelson for the floor, so there are applications....
madjack

by **GPW** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 6:27 pm

M/Jack ... What about the lighter plys , like Birch , or is that not recommended???

by **madjack** » Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:40 pm

GP, birch is fine and is even recommended and used extensively...the numbers I gave are just rule of thumb averages...there will be a few pounds differences either way for diff species and moisture content...somewhere out there are charts for more specific weights
madjack

by **angib** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:16 am

Boulter Plywood has a pretty comprehensive list of plywood weights, which shows the degree of variation.

Andrew

by **Miriam C.** » Thu Feb 23, 2006 9:52 am

Thank you all very much. Those will help to keep some ballance in my build.

I bought the luan doors (9. 8 for walls and 1 to mess up) cause the guy came down to $6. If it doesn't look right I will make the grandkids a playhouse out of them.

The little darlins are hoping it works for me. They are coming over to lend their expertise this weekend. :lol:

I will take pictures (and post them if it works) :lol:

Get "her" done
Miriam

Hey! Is a smily copyrighted?

by **cracker39** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 5:00 pm

I found out the hard way that the yellow pine plywood we get here in Florida for AC/BC grades are heavier. My 3/4" sheets weighed 87 lbs each. My Luan was lighter than specs said...I thinkt he 3 sheets weighed around 67 lbs total.

My sides, with framing, weigh less than than one 3/4" sheet of BC ply. At least, with myplywood carrier, I can pick them up and move them by myself...as long as no wind is blowing anyway... :lol:

by **Miriam C.** » Sat Feb 25, 2006 7:21 pm

Should I take it from the complete lack of :thumbsup:

, that using the doors doesn't sound like a good idea?

Going to start gluing tomorrow if weather doesn't get too cold. I guess I will be the first to find out. (I know, I'm a nut so :worship:

)

2 of these doors weigh about 20#, I can pick both up at a time with no trouble.

Thanks for the response on weights.

Miriam

by **GPW** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:07 am

Couldn't find poplar at the HD (went yesterday and bought materials ...10 sheets 3/4" and 7 1/4" luan ) looked for floor frame material ,nada, instead bought the best 2"x4" pine I could find ... will this work or do I need a really hard wood ...???I got my oak rib for the galley /hinge...but no 12' oak for the frame ...??? I dunno !!! :roll:

by **mikeschn** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:26 am

GPW,

Do you have a picture of your cardboard sides?

Yes, you can cut your 2x4s down to the right size...

Mike...

GPW wrote:Guys , since I'm going with a slightly larger TD like Rob , I'll be using the 3/4" sides , battened/lapped at the joins... I'm thinking now that a T-shaped bow (spar) would be the ticket , say 1"x3" for the vertical glued/screwed perpendicular to a 1"x4" for a flat surface to attach the roof too ... wouldn't be heavy , should be strong ... I'm really trying to get by not cutting "filler blocks between the ribs on the sides... Pia job of custom fitting, probably take more time than the combined rest of the chassis ... I have full size cardboard patterns that I made , but that aspect seems daunting

by **cracker39** » Sun Feb 26, 2006 10:08 am

I am using spruce (and not the best grade) for my framing. I bought 2x8s, so I can rip out the widths I need. I am putting 3" wide on the skin joints, 2 1/2" - 3 1/2" wide making the edge curves, and 2" wide nearly everywhere else. I ended up with some narrow strips that I'll use someday for something. Only my spars were ripped from 2x8s as i'll only have 1 1/2" thick walls in the top, front, and back. These were spruce also, like the good 2x4s HD sells. The only hardwood I have in my TTT is the 1/4" oak plywood I bought on sale because it was cheaper than Luan and I am using it for sides and cabinets. IMHO, hardwood for framing is overrated. I found spruce and other white pine framing to be extremely structurally stable when skinned with 1/4" luan using screws and glue.