The Walden Effect: Farming, simple living, permaculture, and invention.

Adding insulation to the trailer skirting

Roofing metal as skirting

There's a big difference between a still, sunny 16 and a breezy, cloudy 14. Since the weather soon morphed from the former to the latter, the photo above shows the entirety of the skirting we got done this week.

Skirting backsideIn this second photo, you can see the back of the skirted side. We ended up sandwiching the foam insulation between metal and studs rather than attaching the insulation to the back of the boards (as recommended to get optimal R value).

The trouble with the second option is the complication of fully sealing in the air space given the I beams and other complications of the frame. We can always come in and add styrofoam on the backside of the boards for extra insulation at a later date if we so desire. But, for now, I figure we did pretty good given the extreme cold.


Coming up next week --- doors and vents. Stay tuned!



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About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.



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I have followed your blog from Missouri for a few years now and just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy reading the vignettes of your life, all of it. Your willingness to experiment in every area of your life, to find that which is just right, inspires me. Even in “the little things”. Thank you for bringing me along in your life. It makes me smile:)
Comment by Heather Sun Jan 7 08:34:19 2018
The fact that you got anything done in this extreme cold weather is impressive. I've been hiding in the house near the electric oil heater (along with the cat) and refusing to go outside except to feed and water the chickens.
Comment by Nayan Sun Jan 7 10:19:28 2018
Hi,love the idea of the insulation behind the underpinning.We currently live in a 87 giles singlewide with no insulation in the floor at all.Yes,no insulation from end to end.The only thing that "keeps"out the coil is 6mil black plastic draped up to the outer joists.Our light bill will be 300.00 this month.I know freakin awefull.We have furnace heat.Its great heat but 39 amps everytime it comes on.My comment is what trouble did you have "if any"with a wood stove in your other place and do you have plans for one in your new one?My main idea is a outside woodstove boiler ran through pex a radiant heat on the bottom of the floor joist.If you crawlspace is warm,your floors will be.
Comment by Robert Sun Jan 7 15:13:04 2018





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