Got my toy hauler last spring. But the garage will be more of a multi-functionnal room (Working on the road with the fammilly living in the TH).
So the garage will be : Laundry room, baby room with the crib, second fridge & art studio for the wife. When traveling, the strollers, bicyle & dog house will be in the garage, but no plan to haul atv or motorcycle soon.
I want to get a even floor, so this mean eleminating the dove tail for the last 16 in, I want to put more of a ''Residential type'' flooring instead of the rubber floor.
But the main thing is I want to insulate the floor. So now, what do you guys think:
Option #1: Putting foam board over the existing floor, either 1 or 2 in and top it off with plyuwood and flooring. This will somewhat put extra weight in the rv, I will have to cut the door from the living room to the garage as it's only 1/2in from the existing floor.
Option # 2: Taking the rubber floring off, eliminating the dove tail with play wood even to the main garage floor, put new flooring and insulating from underneath. If I go this route, I can consider taking the gas tank off as I don't plan on using it. Not sure on other brand TH, but the last 10 foot of the rv frame (The garage) is open, I can see the frame and the metal joist up the the garage ply wood floor wich is cover with a black tarp.
Option 2-1: So thinking of maybe getting the underneath spray foamed eventually. I can just finish the garage floor and get the spray foamed job done later one when weather will be nicer. Wondering if just the spray foam would hold there with no other protection. Or maybe adding the same kind on plastic material to ''close'' the frame like the where the tank are hidden.
Option 2-2: Gluing so 2in foam board between the joist all over the underneath the garage floor.
What do you guys think, open to any suggestion, experience, other idea......
Note that i want to get the floor insulated, I am from Canada, still in my RV right now in eastern Quebec, and that garage floor is reaaaalllllllyyy cold !! N ot good for a baby room (There home now, because the floor in the garage was too cold)....
GMC Sierra 2006, Dually, 4x4, D/A, LB, CC
Toy Hauler Cross Road / Cross Terrain TF34MK 2006
I own a house, so not a REAL Full Timer but
Living in the RV with the familly 90% of the time, on the road
Building some sort of wood framing as a underfloor, then placing Polyisocyanurate (polyiso for short) foam sheets in it, gives you the highest R-value per inch (R-6.5 to R-6.8) of any rigid insulation. 2 inches would give you near 4 season insulation...and putting it on the walls and ceiling would give you an extremely well insulated "box".
This type of rigid foam usually comes with a reflective foil facing on both sides, so it can also serve as a radiant barrier in some applications. Polyiso board is however more expensive than other types of rigid foam.
The other choices...
Extruded polystyrene (XPS) rigid foam is usually blue or pink in color, with a smooth plastic surface. XPS panels typically aren't faced with other material. The R-value is about 5 per in. This type of rigid foam won't absorb water like polyiso and is stronger and more durable than expanded polystyrene, so it's probably the most versatile type of rigid foam. XPS falls between polyiso and expanded polystyrene in price.
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) is the least-expensive type of rigid foam and has the lowest R-value (around R-3.8 per in.). It's also more easily damaged than the other types of rigid foam, but easy to work with.
My posts shouldn't be taken for factual data. They are purely fictional, for entertainment purposes and should not be constituted as actually related to scientific, technical, engineering, legal, spiritual or practical advice. Amen.
First of all see if you have any insulation in the walls and ceiling area. The garage area, if it wasn't designed for living may not have much to start with. Before you go to a lot of expense there is another option. If you put down some carpet and pad that may do a lot to provide insulation, you could also roll out some Refectix under the carpet to provide some insulation. That stuff works pretty good. If that won't work I'd be my inclined to use spray foam under then adding any structure on top of the floor.
Is the underside of the garage exposed? How well insulated is the rest of the floor? Most just use a plastic cardboard to cover the underside and then allow the heat ducts to leak to provide a heated area.
Iook at some kind of expanding foam that won't absorb water. 10 ot 15 lbs of the stuff should cover the underside of the floor several inches thick.
FWIW I put the "carpet kit" - a piece of gray carpet - down in mine, and it helps alot. The door, and windows are VERY cold, I am looking at putting a heat pump up top for the garage - it was hot in the summer as well. My boys (3 & 5) have the garage, the girl (14) the loft. Works out better then I would have thought.
I would be careful with these mods, because you might kill your resale value. If you remove the fuel tank, document your work and save everything so you can reinstall it later on.
Also, for the beaver tail, I would try to devise something that could be easily undone. Like maybe you could fabricate a wedge shaped box to fill in the gap created by the beaver tail and then put your new flooring over that. Then some day when it's time to sell it you can just remove the wedge floor piece.
Plus there will be times when you really need to get up and down that ramp. You mentioned a washer and dryer. The easiest way to get them in is through the ramp. But you couldn't do that if you removed the beaver tail. So something easily removable would be a big help.
I would build a set in floor for the beavertail part,just let it rest up against the ramp door.Have not been in really cold weather,only down to about 25*,but the carpet we have is good enough for bare feet walking on.I have some pics of the garage mods we did in my link.Look under toy hauler mods for some,others are still scattered in the other folders.
Doesn't the fuel tank also supply gas for the gen? You might need it some time.
"If momma not happy ....Who cares.I have my TH AND my toys .
Insulate from underneath and whatever you use I have two tips for you. First protect it from getting damaged and falling out causing a road hazard. Second, use “closed cell” foam if you go that route or you are creating a sponge that will quickly absorb water and then mold.
After you get that done construct a filler “box” for the “tail” as previously stated. Cover the entire garage with carpet and pad.
Obviously the other posters don’t understand what cold is if they think a piece of carpet will be “good enough.” Chillin’ in Minnesota.
I am too worry about resale value, I paid 27k$ (Taxes included) for the rig last janurary (Wich i think was a sweet deal). I was sure planning on putting everything I would take off in the barn, si if ever I want to put it back, it wouldn't be too far. And i am planning on keeping the rig many years. And once it's old enough to worth 10-15k$, I don't think the mods in the garage will have a big impact....
As far as the breaver tail, once removed, (I guess it's what like dedmiston said) I was planning on having a smaller ramp on a hinges to transit from the higer floor to the ramp door. Cause right now, in this 10 foot garage, the 22 in beaver tail is really a pain for the crib & the foldable work table for my wife craft.
There is no genny build in the rv. I am not planning on adding one like a onan, that would use gas from the tank. I have a champion that I only used 2 times in the past 6 years. (thinking of a semi-permanent installation in the generator box).
I never tought about the carpet idea... it would required a lot less work, just putting it over the rubber floor. And I could still insulate underneath.
Yes, the underside of the garage is exposed. But I don'T see a big issue in covering it with the plastic stuff (Other reason to remove the gas tank, i don't want an enclose gas tank. Not sure of the rest of the frame / tank / floor is insulated. I haven't open it yet to see how the tanks are installed or insulated. But so far, I've had a few 20 farheneiht night lately and nothing have froze so far ( I usually run mostly on propane when under 30 to get some heat in the tank zone, the rig should have heated underbeally & so call radiant heat in the frame). And i am curious to see how cold it can go, but looks like I am demobing from this hjob in 5 days and going home for a month or 2 , so i won't have the ''Chance'' to froze it solid :-), and it's ok.
Just dig this up, for my rig:
side wall: R7
Floor: R14 (Obviously that dosen't include the garage area)
Celling: R14
Fully enclosed, insulated underbelly w/ radiant heat
I know back then there was options for upgrade insullation, but I don't know if this one have it, to bad it dosen't have a thermal windows. But not sure the reason, this rig here like the cold a lot more than my old Keystone Outback %er 2004, witch would have the windows to start sweating at approx 40f, and when under 25, there would be condensation inside on the walls, nothing of that so far in the Cross Terrain
I had to change a window and the garage walls seems insulated the same as any other wall in the rv, ditto in the celling.
Still a lot of thinking to do, but If I can go home for a few weeks, I will have time to think and evaluate all of this. But the good thing about the carpet is having the chance to do it one stpe at the time and evaluate after each step if it's worth going further.
Then.... rumors are that I heading in Oregon in feburary, still debating if I bring the rv or if I fly.... i guess it will depend on the rumors of the lenght of my next assignation....... making plan on rumors, awesome... but at least leaving on a real pay check !!
I cut 2" pink foam sheets and glued and wedged them in place underneath for a total of 4". It went pretty well, but looks like hell if you're under there. I want to place black coroplast on tje bottom next.
Having someone spray it would be far superior and easier. However, I'll caution you that there are elwctrical wire for the rear lights, landing jack, and fuel tank. If you spray over them and have an issue down the road...you'll have alot more work to fix it.
Doughboy12 wrote: ...
Obviously the other posters don’t understand what cold is if they think a piece of carpet will be “good enough.” Chillin’ in Minnesota.
That is the way I feel when people talk about only needing one A/C last summer in OK we had 3 months with daytime temps above 100 and it would fall to 90.
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....Who cares.I have my TH AND my toys 
.
