Its been started...
After 2.5 years abandoned and used as storage, The house is getting its rebuild started. On a phone so bear with me here. This is going to be a slow process and not using rv type junk such as dicor or...
Forum Discussion
Cruiseomatic wrote:I pulled most of mine up and replaced a small bit, underneath the water heater location. My Starcraft has the walls attached onto the floor sheathing. In some areas I was able to detach the wall from floor, remove the fasteners that remained, and slide the floor sheathing under the wall. In a couple of areas I cut the floor sheathing 6" back from the wall, installed the foam board insulation, installed a ledger under the cut seam, and used the same piece of flooring to reattach. Of course, it's easier to use the original holes to reattach the floor sheathing but isn't mission critical. Also, my whole trailer used clutch drive screws for fasteners. Those were replaced with conventional philips head screws, whenever I removed a clutch drive screw.
On the sub-floor, What would be the best way to replace it? I mean the entire floor. In one of the pics, You can see where it looks like the wall has pushed the floor down right beside a patch panel. It may not be that bad but still. I was thinking once I get the interior stripped out, One sheet at a time and no patches. I was thinking of a method to re-use the existing screws and holes in the studs. I was also told that the luan panels and aluminum siding plays a part in the structure. Is that true?
Yes, in all travel trailer framing where there is no foam board insulation or, if fiberglass bat insulation is used, the aluminum siding and the interior paneling play a significant role in the structure's integrity. If you replace any fiberglass bat with foam board cut to friction fit or use a spray foam, it will greatly increase the trailer's frame rigidity.
When I restored the Starcraft, I left the exterior siding on. I didn't have any issues with frame movement as I repaired and insulated the frame. If frame "racking" looks like it may happen, you can prevent that by temporarily attaching a 1 x 3 or similar on an angle across a wall frame. Two such supports, one in each corner on an angle will add more than 25% to the wall integrity. Be aware of this frame movement as there have been posts on this Forum of owners removing both exterior siding and the interior paneling, resulting in the frame racking/moving and making new siding or paneling installation a very frustrating experience.
