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Expert
Posts: 2689
   
| Having beaten up on a couple of members about (what I saw as) the futility of heat insulating paint, made suggestions on alternative ways to insulate trailer roofs, procrastinated the decision to do my own for far too long, etc.,,,
Well, the state of Massachusetts had what they euphamistically call a "sales tax holiday" a couple of weeks ago.
I got pressed into hauling a ton and a half of roof shingles from Home Despot to an address where they'll probably rot on the pallet before they go up on the roof.
Then I went back and spent some of MY money.
Despite the fact that I think that "dead air space" is probably the best insulator available, I bought the 1 inch thick tongue and grooved stiff pink foam, about $7.59 per 2ft x 8ft sheet. Part of my reasoning for using this is the DIN that I get even in the truck when hail or heavy rain hits it, I figured some sound deadening would be a good idea and the foil covered bubble wrap was no cheaper. Here's the "unusual" material that I used; aluminum in 2ft by 50ft rolls, $75 per 100 sq ft. This stuff is only 18 thou thick (0.018 inches), which may sound flimsy, and it is, but I didn't want PLATE up there and if it is handled properly it is adequate. It is already painted white on both sides, I think the mill finish is $70 per roll - that would look better in some trailers.
It is used in the building trade for wrapping wooden sills and jambs when installing vinyl siding. You might find it sold as flashing/WIDE.
So far; 75c per sq ft for aluminum, 47.44c per sq ft for insulation.
I bought enough to do the horse area of the head to head trailer and the 2 horse bumperpull trailer. The 2 horse trailer is DONE, if I had done it alone I would have spent $75 on one roll of aluminum and $30.36 on 4 sheets of foam. There would have been aluminum left over, but the foam would have just made it. Add another $4.95 for 100 aluminum pop rivets that are pre-painted white.
Due to the extrusions between the walls and the roof (sort of like crown molding) the roof area to be covered measured 5ft 10 1/2inches across. OK, that would be 3 x 2ft wide strips of sheet with 3/4 inch to either trim or hang over on each side, I decided to hang it over a little and crease it into the edge (looks GOOD).
I didn't do any overlapping, instead I used a white plastic joining strip, another $2.49 per 8ft length. Some of the good features of this; it provides an edge stiffener, it helps with the installation of the next sheet, it looks good, it saves having to waste sheet metal in overlaps, it avoids the difficulty of rivetting THROUGH two sheets and INTO roof ribs at the same time.
First draw a pencil mark on the wall exactly in line with the center of every roof rib.
As a matter of convenience I chose to work from the front of the trailer backwards and I cut my first sheet to finish at the post that holds the divider (straight load 2 horse trailer), about a 4ft long sheet.
SOMEHOW get the first sheet in place, draw lines across it from the pencil marks on the wall to the center of each roof rib, I rivetted every 4 inches on every roof rib, starting 2 inches in from the edge, so 2, 6, 10, 14, 18, 22 leaves 4 inches to the next rivet that will be 2 inches in from the edge of the panel beside it. This is ideal for the plastic joining strips, just snap one over the edge of the first panel and slide the next panel into it, keep GOING, only 3 panels to cross the trailer.
Then I got to the vents. The way that Jamco had put them in was fine and they had even put lower "trays" in for the vent finish molding. I considered trying to somehow just run the sheet metal over these, but decided to take them out, salvage the trim moldings, cut out the same opening in my sheet metal and keep going. This turned out to be easy to do, THIN sheet metal and careful work with tin snips, where CAREFUL means avoid buckling it. This stuff IS THIN, thicker than foil, but you do need to work carefully with it. I worked on a CLEAN rubber trailer floor, took great care to not step or kneel on it, leave any tools under it, etc.
It is similar to wall papering a ceiling (yes, I've done THAT, different story).
There is a realistic limit to how much sheet metal you can handle up in front of you, over your head, draped down your back and trying to re-coil itself on the floor. I don't recommend anything over 8ft and if your layout is such that you can learn on 4ft or so lengths, do so.
TIPS:
This stuff WILL try to uncoil. Keep your roll against a wall, not a ramp that someone might open (SURPRISE !).
Use it concave side (as coiled) down. It is a lot easier to handle and won't try to coil up against what you are trying to do, or later have a sagging look due to it's coiling tension.
Rivet in a "center out" pattern, to keep it straight and tight.
If your roof ribs are curved (most are) do the rivets close to the center of the panel first, e.g. the ones at 10 and 14 in my case, then 6, then 2, etc.
The stiff foam boards make excellent spring boards. If you have to (or choose to) work alone they are GREAT for propping up the sheets while you rivet them.
Cutting, just use a SHARP utility knife to score it a couple of times, slide a yardstick under the score line, lift it, fold on the score line and it will break. Use gloves if the thought of slicing your hands bothers you, better still keep your hands clean so you can grip well.
Roof vent trim. While I had them out of the Jamco I test fitted them into the 4-Star, they fit perfectly so I took one to a fairly local trailer place and bought 4 more at $1.98 each.
THOUGHTS:
I don't think I could have handled anything any wider, not without some special equipment and/or a lot of help. Even if I could have got 3ft wide sheet metal I don't think I would have wanted to handle it. Similar comment on the thickness, this stuff is thin enough to be light enough to handle. The curvature of the ribs adds some stiffness to the installed sheets.
I'll do the head to head trailer as 4 strips across and 3 along.
That trailer's roof area is 7ft wide (after taking out the crown molding type extrusion). I havn't yet decided if it will be 4 strips exactly the same width or 2 x 2ft and 2 x 18 inches, and if the narrower ones should be in the middle or on the outside. I will almost certainly make the across joints at the strong ribs where the divider posts are. I don't think it matters, the horses won't care, but I'd like it to look good and these are natural divisions of the space inside the trailer.
Something I hadn't anticipated was the effect of the actual roof shape.
I think a lot of trailers have slightly arched roofs, but at the back they are FLAT. If I had used metal that was TOO THICK and/or TOO STRONG there might have been problems transitioning from the arched to the flat portion of the roof. Serendipity seems to have been on my side for this one, I think the thin and very flexible sheet accommodated this bit of solid geometry quite well.
Edited by Reg 2006-08-26 6:54 PM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 489
Location: CA | Thanks for all the info Reg. I've seen the tinfoil-type metal before. In fact, a friend of mine did some "decorating" with it in her trailer...stars, boots, horseshoes around the windows, etc. She said it was easy to work with in those small applications. I might go to Home Depot today and I'll check this stuff out further. By the way, HD has some insulating paint also. It's for exterior applications, I guess roofs. Thanks again! | |
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Trailer roof insulation.
