How much insulation material did you use?

[vhord]

Soon I will be replacing the insulation on my 27' Overlander with closed cell foam strips and Reflectix foil bubble type insulation. I made an attempt to estimate how much material that I will need but I think that I am making a mistake somewhere especially with the adhesive. Did anyone keep track with how much material that they used? Below is the list that I came up with.

Closed cell foam strips - 2" x 1600 lft. or approx. 8-9 sheets 4'x8'

Adhesive - The tube states that it will make a 3/8" bead 14 lft. That would take 120 tubes for each application (foam to wall and Reflectix to foam). I am sure that I could use a smaller bead but that would still be a lot of adhesive.

Reflectix insulation - 400 sft.

Anyone care to correct me and share how much they used?

[utee94]

Hey Vernon!

I cannot help you in any way with this request, but I'm glad to see you're at work on your project. Have you seen any relief in temperature lately? I walked outside this morning and it was 73 degrees! I couldn't believe it. I started to shiver!

Anyway I, too, am interested in the answer to this question.

-Marcus

[byamcaravanner]

Originally Posted by vhord

Adhesive - The tube states that it will make a 3/8" bead 14 LF.

A 3/8" bead is way to large... if you use a 3/16" bead you should be able to get 50-60LF. That should get you down to 30 tubes.

1600LF of foam insulation strips seems like a lot. That is nearly 70 strips the length of your trailer. How far apart are you spacing these strips?

[vhord]

Originally Posted by byamcaravanner

1600LF of foam insulation strips seems like a lot. That is nearly 70 strips the length of your trailer. How far apart are you spacing these strips?

I might have overestimated that.


I did a little bit of questimation (sp.). There are approximately 15 ribs x 20 ft. ea. (adding for make believe ribs in front and back). With a strip on each side that would be approx. 600 lft.

You would also need a strip on each side of the horizonal ribs and in between wide areas. The distance from the mid-front to mid-rear around the outside wall is 30 ft.(I had originally estimated that at 36 ft.). I looked again and I should be able to get by with about 26 runs of this or 780 lft. approx. (13 each side to middle of ceiling)

So I guess that a better estimate would be about 12-1400 lft.

A 3/16" bead of adhesive would use up about 1/4 the amount of a 3/8" bead so I could get approx. 56 lft. per tube. That would make the total per application of 20-25 tubes or 40-50 tubes total. Maybe that sounds more realistic but it is still a lot more than I had anticipated.

[byamcaravanner]

Originally Posted by vhord

That would make the total per application of 20-25 tubes or 40-50 tubes total. Maybe that sounds more realistic but it is still a lot more than I had anticipated.

See if you can find a supplier that sells the 28 oz tubes. you can get the big gun at HD and the large tubes are not much more than the small ones. Probably also cheaper if you buy in full case lots.

[AirConditioner]

Would you feel comfortable using a dot of the adhesive every few inches on center instead of a bead? This would use considerably less adhesive. I've found this works well in most instances.

I'd luv to retro my 27' unit's walls and floors and may try a foam or blow -in-place insulation that maintains its form and is low toxic and fire hazard.

[Jim & Susan]

Vernon, here's my list of stuff http://www.airforums.com/forums/show...&postcount=521 from my round of insulating. In addition to the things listed there, we used about three rolls of R13 "Pink Stuff" that we pulled apart and made 1" mats out of. There's a better description latter in the thread about how we did the pink stuff.

Jim

[vhord]

Originally Posted by byamcaravanner

See if you can find a supplier that sells the 28 oz tubes. you can get the big gun at HD and the large tubes are not much more than the small ones. Probably also cheaper if you buy in full case lots.

Steve,

Thanks for the idea of the larger tubes. I own a hardwae store so I will order it wholesale which helps a lot.

Originally Posted by AirConditioner

Would you feel comfortable using a dot of the adhesive every few inches on center instead of a bead? This would use considerably less adhesive. I've found this works well in most instances.

That is a good idea.

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

Vernon, here's my list of stuff http://www.airforums.com/forums/show...&postcount=521 from my round of insulating. In addition to the things listed there, we used about three rolls of R13 "Pink Stuff" that we pulled apart and made 1" mats out of. There's a better description latter in the thread about how we did the pink stuff.

Jim

Jim,

I forgot about your post. I will review it. However I am hoping to avoid the pink stuff totally.

Thanks to everyone for the help.

[Jim & Susan]

Chuck made a good point over in my thread, posting that the pink stuff makes for a good sound deadener. I think he's correct about that. I'm also very pleased with the insulating value of the foil and pink stuff combination.

Also, I forgot to mention that I used 4' X 8' sheets of the foam board and cut it into 3/4" strips on my buddy's table saw. It costs about $10 per sheet and we used either 1 and half or two and a half sheets altogether (can't remember).

Here's news you may enjoy. We have no "real" hardware store in our county, just the "big box" knuckleheads. We are about to get an Ace Hardware just up the corner from our house, not even 1/4 mile away. I really appreciate guys like you and the actual service that you provide to local communities. Just wish that store had been there when I started the Airstream rebuild!

Good luck and keep us posted.

Jim

[vhord]

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

Chuck made a good point over in my thread, posting that the pink stuff makes for a good sound deadener. I think he's correct about that. I'm also very pleased with the insulating value of the foil and pink stuff combination.

Jim

I agree with the sound deadening concept. But after seeing what all lived in that stuff I think I will gamble with the sound effects. I have been putting some thought into putting a solid layer of foam board against the inside skin. Just can't decide if it would deteriorate from vibration or add too much weight. I will probably at least do that in the door.

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

Here's news you may enjoy. We have no "real" hardware store in our county, just the "big box" knuckleheads. We are about to get an Ace Hardware just up the corner from our house, not even 1/4 mile away. I really appreciate guys like you and the actual service that you provide to local communities.

I hope they give you good service. I have had my store for a little over 30 years and have enjoyed working with the folks in our small town.

Originally Posted by Jim & Susan

Just wish that store had been there when I started the Airstream rebuild!

I really feel guilty that my store is only 50 ft. from my Airstream and I don't even have to run a tab. You would think that I could work a little faster. I was closed Monday but worked up here on the TT. I bet I made 30 or more trips back into the store to get something.

[Jim & Susan]

Originally Posted by vhord

..... I have been putting some thought into putting a solid layer of foam board against the inside skin. Just can't decide if it would deteriorate from vibration or add too much weight. I will probably at least do that in the door.

Speaking of foam baord, Chuck also said that a young guy in his WBCCI unit did just what you are talking about throughout his camper. He was very happy with the results, as I recall. It's over there in my Full Monte thread around the insulation posts someplace. Foam board doesn't weigh that much. The closed cell stuff would probably be ok to use from a vibration standpoint. That's what I cut into strips and glued to the walls to attach the foil to. I can get you the name of it if you need it. I think there's still a piece of it out the garage someplace.

Jim

[malconium]

Vernon,

I cut my foam strips to about 1" wide on my table saw but I think that 3/4" would work too. I first used 4x8 sheets. But when I needed a little more I found that Lowes had started carrying 2x4 sheets. Not only were they easier to handle on my table saw but for some reason 4 sheets were less expensive than one 4x8 sheet. I think the sheets could pretty easily be cut with a sharp knife too - saving the saw curf that is lost when cutting on the table saw. Unfortunately I don't remember how many sheets I used. As far as ahesive goes it does not seem to take very much. You might want to experiment but I think that an 1/8" bead would be plenty. I guess that I should have kept a better count of things but again I don't know how many tubes I used but I think it was definitely less than 30 for my 31' Airstream. One thing I did in some of the larger areas was to use small pieces of foam out in the middle rather than strips that went all the way across the gap. I did that in the areas that were mostly flat rather than in the curved areas.

I also decided to add a thermal break between the inner skin and the ribs. What I ended up using was heavy duty felt from the fabric store. It came 6' wide and was something like less than $4 per yard. Some type of adhesive backed foam tape would be great if it could be found in a form that was not too expensive.

There are some tips and tricks that I mention in the follow thread - post #1. Post #22 has some mention of the felt that I used. There are some other suggestions for adhesives and etc. in the thread.

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f46/...s-30196-2.html

On approach that I think might be worth considering as an option to your inner layer of foam and my felt strip would be to use a thin layer of foam or maybe even cork underlayment directly on top of the ribs. This would be way easier to install that cutting foam pieces to fit each cavity. As long as your material is maybe a maximum of 1/8" thick it should work for both isolating the inner skin from the ribs and providing some thermal break from the air gap between the inner skin and the reflective foil.

Malcolm