Bedroom Suite Floor Insulation???

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
I'm wondering how the R value is measured in the floors of the Bighorn. It seems I don't have any insulation under the floor of the Bedroom area. We've had some cool temperatures (26 degrees) the last couple nights and the bedroom floor is cold. I will probably end up cutting styrofoam strips and glue them between the aluminum joists that are exposed in the storage bay area. I must add, we have been using a small electric heater in the main area of the coach and it is pretty easy to heat. Just that **** bedroom floor.
 

Paul & Nan

Well-known member
I think you have answered your own question with the info of heating with an electric heater in the living room area. The furnace is not running so the heat ducts running under the entire floor area are not being heated, hence the floor is cold. Just run your furnace, that keeps the floors, bays, and tanks heated. Nan
 

Tom of Ypsi

Well-known member
I have read on http://www.rv.net about using styrofoam strips for insulation for both heating and cooling and it does make a difference. I know in my coach with the air conditioner running the basement is cool, so I am thinking that cool air is escaping through the bedroom floor. I am with Paul & Nan, run your furnance for warmer floors in the bedroom but for the little cost I am going to put the styrofoam insulation in my basement.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Paul & Nan said:
I think you have answered your own question with the info of heating with an electric heater in the living room area. The furnace is not running so the heat ducts running under the entire floor area are not being heated, hence the floor is cold. Just run your furnace, that keeps the floors, bays, and tanks heated. Nan

Even with the furnace running, there is no warmth in the bedroom floor. I can't detect any airflow from the vent in the storage bay underneath either. I'm not even sure if that's supposed to be an air supply or heat vent??? The crapper room gets nice and warm though. We leave the door open so some of that heat gets to the bedroom instead of being wasted in a closed crapper.Or should I say "water closet"
 

tinytim

Member
Ray,

When your heater is running (furnace), can you feel a lot of forced air coming from the registers in the floor--what I mean to say, is does it feel like normal volume is being expelled from all registers?

The reason I ask is that I had an experience with a coach that would produce heat from some of the vents and virtually nothing from others--the issue was the duct work was cut under the floor (had to take the stairs out to find it).

If you do notice a difference, I would have the dealer check it out and don't fall for the "It's normal" excuse.

Just my 2-cents

Tim
 

ct0218

Well-known member
Just wondering, has anyone determined if the bedroom floor/basement ceiling is insulated? I'm 500 miles from my Landmark, and if its not I will take a day or two extra on my next trip to Tallahassee to insulate it. Ray, did you investigate and find out, and have you insulated?
 

nhunter

Well-known member
Don't know about the Landmark but the Bighorn is not insulated. Would be very easy to do though
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
I'm confident that the bedroom floor has no insulation. Once we get to our final destination I plan on putting in some 1" Styrofoam sheets between the aluminum joists using construction adhesive. Will it help? I don't know but it's a cheap fix either way. Our furnace vents all seem to have decent air flow. The water closet has more than needed so when we use the furnace we leave the door open to benefit from that extra heat. Same with the A/C, the stool room would make a good extra refrigerator with the door closed. There is a vent on the rear wall in the basement that I don't know what it's purpose is. Again, once we get to San Marcos, I will remove that wall and see what ticks back there.
 

jpmorgan37

Well-known member
Clark & Ray;
My A/C duct and furnace duct both have shut off dampers in the stool room. I keep them almost completely shut off, which makes the room comfortable. I've never torn it apart, but I'm sure that there is some type of insulation in my bedroom floor. In temps in the 20's, I didn't feel that the basement floor was abnormally cold. It wouldn't be a big deal to add some more insulation to the basement overhead.

John
 

ct0218

Well-known member
Gail said it hasn't been cold in Tallahasse yet, but it will be soon. Just trying to make it as efficient as possible. The in/out temperature differential is minimal in the summer, but is twice that in the winter. I would think there would be insulation of some type there, but you never know. If the aluminum extrusions on the basement ceiling are the floor supports (joists) for the bedroom floor, then most likely there is just the decking, pad and carpet on top. I guess that by taking the boot off the duct cover just inside the door-side basement door I would have access to a cross-section of the bedroom floor. After thinking about this, I doubt that it is insulated.
 

Scott

Well-known member
The Landmark uses a flexfoil insulation between the floor decking and the aluminum studs that form the bathroom platform.

ST
 

ct0218

Well-known member
Thanks Scott, good to know something is there. I knew there was no room for a batt-type insulation. We use a product similar to the Flexfoil in log home construction and it works great. Ours have an R10 value, and both would work as a radiant barrier. Just checked the construction manual and found that Flexfoil has an R17 rating. Styroam and polyisocyanurate foam is around R6+ per inch (6 in=R/38+/-), so I don't think do the foam.
 
I'm wondering how the R value is measured in the floors of the Bighorn. It seems I don't have any insulation under the floor of the Bedroom area. We've had some cool temperatures (26 degrees) the last couple nights and the bedroom floor is cold. I will probably end up cutting styrofoam strips and glue them between the aluminum joists that are exposed in the storage bay area. I must add, we have been using a small electric heater in the main area of the coach and it is pretty easy to heat. Just that *censored word* bedroom floor.

I realize this is an old thread, but as I stumbled across your post, my curiosity went through the roof as I'm a new owner of a 2010 Bighorn 3670RL. I have not winter camped, of course, as I just purchased the unit a month back, but was determined to find out as I don't won't COLD feet, either! ;)

So, I took the duct work running to the register in the basement off, then went inside and removed the two screws and removed the entire vent register and housing exposing the contents of the bedroom floor.

What I discovered under the carpet:
-Padding
-Plywood
-2 1/2" of styrofoam!!
-another layer of plywood which is the top of the basement floor that is seen from outside.

This is a 2010 model, so I'm not sure about previous models, but the new ones appear to be insulated.
 
I too am wondering about insulation in the bedroom floors as I have a 2007 Sundance 2900MK model. My husband & I camped last weekend & when we got up one morning the outside temp. was 27 degrees. Our bedroom felt like there was no heat in it at all. The closest register was in the bathroom where it seemed just as cold on the flloors. I looked in the basement area under the bedroom & the compartment is one big open area. Any ideas on how to put insulation to keep the upper part of the fifth wheel warmer?
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
Welcome to the forum Beckygoeltz. There is a lot of good information here.
I have heard of some people that have cut foam insulation to fit under the bedroom floor. I think they used the thickest that would fit between the floor joists. I am not sure how your 07 Sundance is designed, but you get the idea.
The foam can be glued in place with the correct adhesive, or screwed in place using large fender washers.
You may even be able to add a heat register.

Peace
Dave
 

danemayer

Well-known member
I looked in the basement area under the bedroom & the compartment is one big open area. Any ideas on how to put insulation to keep the upper part of the fifth wheel warmer?

Get a roll or 2 of R30 attic insulation and a sheet or two of 1/2" foam board from Home Depot. Cut the foam board to the inside distance inside the frame member - probably 68". Tape the insulation to the foam board and position it inside the frame members. You'll have to flex the foam board slightly to get it inside the frame, but after that the frame will hold it in place pretty well. Close up the coroplast and you're done.

I just replaced the insulation under the bedroom of my Landmark using this method. I would expect it should work on yours.

If you have wires hanging loose in that area, you might want to bring some wire ties to position them.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Dan...why did you have to replace the insulation???

The insulation in the front was soaking wet from a leak in the gray #1 tank. I tried airing out the underbelly, but since it took a while to find the source of the leak, the insulation kept getting wet and it didn't seem like a good idea to leave soaking wet insulation in place for an extended period.

To fill in the rest of the story, the leak was hidden by the tank heating pad, which had burned a couple of holes in the tank from running the heaters with empty tanks. I patched the tank and Annod Industries very generously sent me a replacement heating pad for cost of UPS shipping.

This happened because I was running the gray tanks with open valves the last 2 winters to avoid having to deal with frozen gate valves. This year I've added gate valve heaters so I can thaw the gate valves when ready to dump.

For those with Tank Heating Pads (Yeti option on newer models), I've posted UltraHeat FAQs in the Tools/Manuals section.
 

kakampers

Past Heartland Ambassador
Oh...thought you were referring to the foam directly beneath the bedroom, which is the "ceiling" of the cargo bay...makes more sense now...
 

JohnDar

Prolifically Gabby Member
If you can see the aluminum "beams," it would be my guess that you don't have any insulation in the floor. In my rig, I cannot see the beams in the basement area and am fairly certain that it's the same laminated floor construction as the main floor. Even so, there is nothing to actually direct any heated air to the floor, only the floor register next to the bed that blows it upwards. I did have to remove considerable excess from the duct to eliminate the bends that almost folded it onto itself behind the basement walls. Adding an adjustable elbow to the bottom of the register helped keep it from drooping in the basement area.
 
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