How to insulate underneath coach?

Scott & Heather · September 30, 2012, 05:51:21 AM

We are gritting our teeth and spending our first winter in the midwest in the coach. What are your best ideas for insulating underneath the coach? Some have said to set the coach down on a solid straw bale surface, but mold and mice are not my friends, so foam board wedged vertically all around the perimeter is my next plan. What sayest thou? I did use the search function and didn't find anything specific.

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Ed Brenner · September 30, 2012, 06:02:20 AM

Scott, I don't think I would use straw !! Think Cigarette Butt or anything that could ignite it. Use the foam board or the stuff they put around a mobile home. Stopping the air flow from under will greatly help.
ED

Scott & Heather · September 30, 2012, 06:57:21 AM

Another great argument against straw. Thanks Ed. Foam board seems to be the item of choice here.

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saddleup · September 30, 2012, 07:26:30 AM

Not that i am going to spend the winter in ND, but have been watching people build all kinds of elaborate insulation skirting type deals, on rvs, but what i been thinking if i got greedy enough to try and winter up here, is regular house type insulation roll it up like a log wrap in plastic and wedge under the bus, think it will work better than what i seen them building, and easy er to take out when you freeze up, get loaded on a landall and hauled south till you start thawing out. lol
Matt

gus · September 30, 2012, 02:25:03 PM

Home type Fiberglas batts get wet too easily if exposed to the weather and then they are worse than useless.

Be sure to put some rat/mouse poison inside the bottom enclosure before you close it off, they sure like dark warm places.

sledhead · September 30, 2012, 02:49:59 PM

I would use typar,tuck tape.You only want to stop the wind from getting in.The foam would be hard to use and the heat loss from the ground is large-----huge. Hear in muskoka we call it siding .( typar or tyvek ) dave

Scott & Heather · September 30, 2012, 09:34:04 PM

Nice...like the idea of Tyvek. I assume I have to attach it to the underneath of the bus and then stake it to the ground? The fiberglass batting is an idea, but I'd have to be 100% sure it was encased in waterproof plastic...otherwise it's a mess. Seen it get wet before...yuck.

saddleup · October 01, 2012, 02:34:19 AM

Plastic sheeting and ducktape, you be able to keep it dry

John316 · October 01, 2012, 07:19:13 AM

Where are you at, Scott?

John

Scott & Heather · October 01, 2012, 07:49:45 AM

Mt. Vernon, Ohio. We are originally from Michigan so we're used to below zero temps and lots of snow. But, again, we've never wintered in the coach. Ohio doesn't usually get as severe of a winter as Michigan...but the locals around here have shared some stories of some pretty wicked winters fairly recently within the last 6 years.

buswarrior · October 01, 2012, 08:05:04 AM

When it comes, the snow is your friend. If it doesn't pile up around your bottom enclosure, help it do so.

Insulates and seals.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

Seangie · October 01, 2012, 06:50:34 PM

Scott,

How about turn the key and drive south.

That'll keep the cold from sneaking in

Plus we may get a chance to catch up with you. No way the Wifey would drive to Ohio in January.

-Sean

Scott & Heather · October 01, 2012, 07:39:11 PM

Sean, I wish we could. Wintering in Florida last year was amazing! And another chance to hang with the herd would be most welcome!!

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Eagle Andy · October 02, 2012, 05:50:36 AM

Scott we spent the winter in Montana, I went to home depot and bought sheet of silver backed insulation 1inch thick stuff. and the silver tape. Cut to fit all around the Bus and the wheel wells. Bought a heat tape fore the water hose and wrapped it in pipe insulation. bought a couple of those small heaters and put one in the water bay. and one in the two other bays. had one heater in the bedroom and one in the living room. It got down to 20 below that year and we did fine. At the time i did not have unsulation under the driver and passanger seat so that part of the bus was cold, so i just put a blanket up. it worked ok , we just used it at night. anyway it worked for us.

Scott & Heather · October 02, 2012, 11:15:50 AM

Andy,

This is great info...was your water connection below ground? As in the spigot? The place we're at wants me to disconnect my hose and only connect it and turn the spigot on when filling my 100 gal tank, then disconnect and turn the spigot off. Apparently it has a below ground bladder that the water drains into to prevent freezing. Going to be a pain doing this but oh well. Also, what size electric heaters did you use for the luggage bays? Would love to hear more from you on this since you've done it all electrical.