floors in permanent houses

[DCON]

what type or thickness rigid foam are you guys using for your sandwich style floors, and what thickness plywood top and bottom?

Remember to: CROSS THEIR EYES!

[Guest]

DCON,

I'll be picking up my frame this weekend and my plan is to do 1/2" treated on both sides with 1/2" rigid insulation in the middle. I'll be watching this thread to see what others do as I have not yet purchased materials for it.

[MNice]

On my buddie's 8 x 16 with hydrolic lift, we used 1/2" treated with 2" blue styrofoam in between. works great!

[End of the Line]

1/2" should work for most any floor unless the structure is dependant on the floor to help stregthen it, in that case 3/4" will probably be needed. As for insulation I would reccommend using the same thickness as the walls. Heat will transfer through the least path of resistance; if all being equal, then heat will rise! Therefore walls and floors should be near equal, & celing more! In my house I used 1 1/2" rigid on the floor (with carpet) 2" spray foam (ureathane)in the walls, and 3" sprayed in the ceiling.

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End of the Line Charters
Lake Superior
1-888-U-HOOK-EM
www.fishontheline.com

[This message has been edited by End of the Line (edited 10-30-2003).]

[This message has been edited by End of the Line (edited 10-30-2003).]

[Ole1855]

1/2 inch treated both sides and 1 inch ridged foan in between followed by short looped carpet.

Ole

[Guest]

Picked up the frame this weekend. It's a solid frame, made of 2x4 steel tubing at least 1/8" thick, maybe 3/16" thick. My plan was to bolt the floor all the way through the frame but now I think the frame is a bit too deep to sink bolts all the way though (would require at least 6" bolts). I've seen some shacks built with some sort of self tapping lag bolts. How thick of steel can these self tapping bolts go through? What methods are others using to mount the floor to the frame?

[iffwalleyes]

Are you planning to attach the plywood directly the frame? Is there any cross members on your frame or is it just open underneath? Because if it is open make sure to get some 2X4 running across it for support. As far as self tapping screws they can drill through some pretty thick metal so I think that you are on the right track with that. In my house we have 1/2 foam between 1/2 green treated top and bottom and then some carpet. I would suggest thicker foam though because on the coldest day it gets cool in mine.

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Grip it and Rip it

IFFWalleyes
I Fish For Walleyes

[wishing for walleyes]

On my 8x16 i welded angel irons on the inside of my skids,on both sides of my 2x4`s i used for my floor support.Then i ran a bolt through the angel irons and 2x4.

[wishing for walleyes]

Also on the outside of my skids i welded a peice of flat steel and ran a big lag bolt through my floor plate and into my floor studs.

[Aqua Eye]

Tanseys/ others-
The self tappers is what I use on my houses. The trick is in finding screws long enough to fasten the wall studs thru an insulated floor and into the steel frame along its perimeter. It also helps to drill pilot holes because sometimes the self tappers snap off at the point of the screw.
If you want to use something other than plywood with styrene sandwiched between you could try using a sheet of 1/4"HDPE/ -1"styrene foam/ -3/4" treated on top. (the HDPE is the same stuff cutting boards are made out of.) It's real easy to work with also, but a tad bit more expensive and not for everybody. Just thought I'd throw out another option because there are always improvements that can be made -right?-TROY