Trailer Insulation

[durhamcutter]

Has anyone insulated the bottom of there RV and if you have what type of insulation did you use, was it block foam or roll sheet and flexible or what have you. Also did you tape it off to prevent air or what did you do ?

[dhn]

Here is a link to a sticky that one of our members put together. Hope this helps.
http://www.keystonerv.org/forums/showthread.php?t=19807

[glenalt]

subscribed

[Steve S]

I used rigid foam and it's the best thing that I've ever done to kill the cold
My LP costs in the cold are 1/2 of what they were before I did this and the floors are really nice and warm

[geo]

Though I did use some rigid foam, I did not really want to use it. RVs are enough of a fire hazard, and I didn't want to contribute to any possible flame spread under the flooring. Most all rigid insulation board is highly flammable. What I didn't mention in my original postings - I also installed a fire/smoke/heat detector in the utility basement that had a remote alarm.

Ron

[Steve S]

Originally Posted by geo

Though I did use some rigid foam, I did not really want to use it. RVs are enough of a fire hazard, and I didn't want to contribute to any possible flame spread under the flooring. Most all rigid insulation board is highly flammable. What I didn't mention in my original postings - I also installed a fire/smoke/heat detector in the utility basement that had a remote alarm.

Ron

I honestly can't see rigid foam being a fire hazard as I haven't seen too many squirrels under my trailer with lighters in their paws
The coroplast will go up faster then the rigid foam.
When I was getting my ticket to become a certified home inspector I was amazed at how fast spray insulation and other types of insulation went up in flames.

[geo]

It really wasn't the squirrels with roaches I was concerned about. There are several other items within the utility basement and underbelly that are of concern. Such as:

1) The Iota Automatic Transfer Switch which was recalled in 2012. (Do you believe Keystone has recovered all of them?) The Iota was responsible for several fires and many near-fires.

2) Improperly placed space heaters in the basement area.

3) Furnaces that malfunction and/or are not properly maintained.

4) Dometic and Norcold gas/electric refrigerators that malfunction and/or are not properly maintained. I know I guy who recently lost his 2008 Mobile Suites from a refrigerator fire.

5) Shore power connections that are not properly torqued that oxidize and overheat.

6) Gas/electric hot water tanks that malfunction and/or are not properly maintained.

And those are just things that come to mind immediately.

I would argue that the foam insulation, as clearly marked, would probably be more flammable than the coroplast, but you are correct in that the harder plastic of the coroplast would be flammable. That's not even mentioning the the toxic gases emitted by combustion. However, the coroplast would hold the flame in the underbelly and probably direct it from the openings front and back along the length of the RV in a type of flammable blast furnace fashion as the foam burned. I saw the unfaced Fiberglass or rock wool as being a non-flammable insulation which also would reduce the amount of oxygen by volume in the underbelly. Besides, the Fiberglass would make a very uncomfortable nest for those smoking squirrels!

Ron

[Steve S]

Yes space heaters are the most common causes of fires from what I've read and seen in house fires as well. People need to understand that these things throw off constant heat and will catch things on fire that are close by.
Also another thing about the newer heaters they have filters on them and they must be cleaned. If they're clogged the heater will get extremely hot and that's a major fire hazard. The one that I just bought has a safety that shuts it off if the filter is starting to clog up.
Btw, great thread