Last year I installed polyisocyanurate (foam board) insulation into my 2002 Silver Star horse trailer in an effort to make things a bit more pleasant inside while camping at endurance horseback races. During the past year, I've started to try to live in a cleaner environment. I am not an asthmatic, but am a big-time fan of cleaning the house reguarly, using air purifiers, etc. to improve overall health. My desire to improve living conditions has moved over to my living quarters installation plans as well. SO... I'm starting this post to share my findings on healthful building materials for use in my LQ project (and possibly yours, too!) Suffice it to say, the polyisocyanurate foamboard will come out of my trailer soon. I've noticed interesting respiratory symptoms in the morning after sleeping in the trailer overnight... don't care to expose myself to this stuff anymore. My plans for the immediate future (starting in a couple weeks): remove foamboard insulation (and possibly the factory trailer ceiling and related insulation if I can figure out a way to do so without messing up the trailer), removing the trailer carpet, adding healthful insulation alternative to the walls, ceiling, and floor, and covering all insulation with some sort of healthful plywood substitute. Have found the insulation I'll probably use. Here's the manufacturer's site: http://www.bondedlogic.com; I have not yet determined which type of their insulation I'll use. The insulation is made from "waste" cotton fibers from blue jean manufacturers. The poly insulation I'm currently using has all sorts of nasty stuff in it, especially dangerous in dust form: http://www.glass-cell.com/sheets/isocyanurate/msds/trymer_200xp.pdf I'm also tired of the odor of the stuff in the horse trailer on hot days. Know that can't be healthy, either. SO... it will be interesting to see how this goes, and just how much of the construction materials will be truly healthful alternatives to the man-made, chemical-laden stuff readily available at hardware stores... More to come... Mike
Posted 2007-09-18 8:27 AM (#68051 - in reply to #67982) Subject: RE: Mike's Healthful LQ Project
Veteran
Posts: 150 Location: Farmville, VA
Mike, first let me start by saying that my son and I are both asthmatic, and I am even allergic to horses, yes, allergic to horses. I have found many ways to overcome this huge obstical. My barn is solid block & concrete so it can be pressure washed on a regular basis. I use hay cubes to cut down on dust. My show horse stays in a lot (he's black, so he couldn't spend much time in the sun anyway) and my Sundowner trailer is set up for daytime comfort and has a "horse stuff free" 8 foot dressing room with rear tack, if it touches the horse, it must go in the back, regardless. My recommendation would be before you pull out your current foam board, you may want to sit back and ponder a moment. A living Qt. is a very small space, do you have horse items (saddle pads, leather goods, etc.) in that space that you normally don't sleep around? Do you camp with the windows open? (Makes me very sick). Have you checked your trailer shell for moisture problems? Did you us glue for your installation? Does your mattress have a proper sealled cover? Do you have carpet (holds dust) or vinyl? Anyway, like I said, just a few thoughts to consider that it might not be just your foam board. I'm all about beeing "green", so I'll keep looking back to check on your progress and maybe pick up a few ideas along the way!
Posted 2007-09-19 10:03 AM (#68093 - in reply to #67982) Subject: RE: Mike's Healthful LQ Project
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 350 Location: Newton, NJ
This origial post is interesting to me because I am in the process of finishing the LQ in my Silverstar trailer as well. I have been working over the past several days cutting and installing the insulation in the walls and floor surfaces of the trailer and I am using the Dow product that you reference with the link in your post. I did not notice any dust or odor when working with the insulation boards either during cutting or fitting. I read the hazard information on the website (link provided) and could find no indication that the product poses a danger through respiration unless it burns/melts. Any potential hazards seem to be "mechanical" which would appear to me to occur if particles of the material come in contact with the eyes, etc. Even ingestion of the material is not considered dangerous.
When I spend the night in my trailer, I always leave a window open slightly. I have found the most offensive odors to be generated by the rubber liner/flooring in the horse area. I also keep anything horse related - tack, saddle pads, blankets and even personal outerwear in the horse and tack areas and not in the LQ.
Just an observation, but let us know if your respiratory distress improves with the use of the cotton fiber "waste".
Posted 2007-09-19 12:37 PM (#68103 - in reply to #67982) Subject: RE: Mike's Healthful LQ Project
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 489 Location: CA
Look at www.realgoodscatalog.com. It has something called KeepCool radiant barrier that looks/sounds good. I'm afflicted with lots of allergies also. I have no carpet in my trailer, so I can hose it out, and I have no insulation yet. I can hose or wipe down whenever necessary. Good luck on your project! Keep us posted. This will be really interesting to those of us with allergies.
Posted 2007-09-20 5:29 PM (#68191 - in reply to #68051) Subject: RE: Mike's Healthful LQ Project
Veteran
Posts: 254 Location: Dickinson, TX
Thank you for your thoughts. I'm interested in keeping things healthful in the ways you've mentioned, too. Just for healthfulness' sake! Also want to get the chemicals out of my environment, though, and believe the amount of formaldehydes and other chemicals (when combined together) used in trailer construction materials are substantial. Surely can't be good for the body. Some folks run their A/C year-round to keep their trailer mold/mildew free and to vent out these outgassed chemicals. That's a good idea, but I say take care of the root of the problem. Mike
Mike's Healthful LQ Project
