Best option for exterior cladding/insulation?

[bristolmack]

First things first a bit of backstory. About six months ago I hit a tipping point where I had finally had enough with paying an extortionate amount of rent to have a small bedroom in a shared house. I'm a guy in my mid 20s and realised that all I was doing was stopping myself from saving anything at all towards a house deposit. So I bought myself an old static caravan, stuck it on some land owned by a friend of mine (it's got planning permission and everything!) and set about making it nice.

Six months later I've got myself a lovely, modern, comfortable place to live but I still have one big problem to tackle.

That problem is the cold.

All I have right now to generate heat is a pair of dimplex convector heaters, one in the bedroom and one in the lounge. All I've done to try and keep cold out is board around the base of the caravan to stop the wind blowing underneath and sucking quite so much heat out through the floor.

So I imagine there are probably two schools of thought in this area. You can either generate more heat inside or you can keep more of the cold out. I don't really want to go down the route of throwing a load of heaters in because this is where I'm going to be living for the next couple of years and I don't want to be paying out a huge amount on my electricity bill.

That therefore leaves me with keeping the cold out, and at long last to my question!

What would be the best option for external cladding to insulate my caravan? Something that will do a good job of insulating it without costing a fortune. It doesn't have to look particularly good, I care far more about being warm than how my caravan looks from the outside!

What would you guys suggest? I'm sure there must be plenty of experience on here in this area.

Thanks very much.

 

[ProfJohnL]

First things first a bit of backstory. About six months ago I hit a tipping point where I had finally had enough with paying an extortionate amount of rent to have a small bedroom in a shared house. I'm a guy in my mid 20s and realised that all I was doing was stopping myself from saving anything at all towards a house deposit. So I bought myself an old static caravan, stuck it on some land owned by a friend of mine (it's got planning permission and everything!) and set about making it nice.

Six months later I've got myself a lovely, modern, comfortable place to live but I still have one big problem to tackle.

That problem is the cold.

All I have right now to generate heat is a pair of dimplex convector heaters, one in the bedroom and one in the lounge. All I've done to try and keep cold out is board around the base of the caravan to stop the wind blowing underneath and sucking quite so much heat out through the floor.

So I imagine there are probably two schools of thought in this area. You can either generate more heat inside or you can keep more of the cold out. I don't really want to go down the route of throwing a load of heaters in because this is where I'm going to be living for the next couple of years and I don't want to be paying out a huge amount on my electricity bill.

That therefore leaves me with keeping the cold out, and at long last to my question!

What would be the best option for external cladding to insulate my caravan? Something that will do a good job of insulating it without costing a fortune. It doesn't have to look particularly good, I care far more about being warm than how my caravan looks from the outside!

What would you guys suggest? I'm sure there must be plenty of experience on here in this area.

Thanks very much.

Hello BM.

If you look at this forum in a bit more detail you will see we are mainly about touring caravans. That doesn't mean we exclude static caravan owners, but it does mean we are not necessarily the best source of information about them.

The construction of statics is quite different to touring caravans , and in general touring caravans are much smaller and have adequate heating and insulation, so there is little need to add it to our vans Doubt anyone on this forum will be able tell you exactly what you should do, BUT most caravans (and I include static caravans) are supposed to have a certain amount of fixed ventilation some at low level often through teh floor, and some at high level. It is essential for your safety to make sure none of the fixed registers are blocked or prevented from working.

 

[Hutch]

Hi Bristolmack, Weĺl done to get yourself motivated to get on the housing ladder.
Try and get the awning skirts around the bottom of the caravan, this will help a bit with the wind and chill effect, surprising how much this will help, maybe buying an old but "heavy" canvas awning to put on the sides, this will keep a bit of chill away from the van itself. If your caravan has an awning rail on both sides this could help.
Good luck mate. Dont loose hope.
Hutch.

 

[Parksy]

As the Prof mentioned, this website and forum deals mainly with issues surrounding touring caravans, static owners have their own internet forums.
Having said that, maybe the best and least expensive option for you would be insulation, under the floor externally and on wooden battens behind wallboards internally.
Have a look at This Product, I'm sure that there'll be many other similar products at various prices.

 

[Mandarin]

When we had one we glued (with no more nails) 25mm fire proof polystyrene to the underside of the floor which made a huge difference.. not a nice job but well worth it even with a skirt. I guess you could cover the outside with this came but you're likely to create a damp trap.

Make 100% sure it's the fireproof version or it's deadly. (I tried burning a sample first).

 

[emmerson]

BM, is yours a "holiday" static or a "living" static? There is a huge difference in insulation between the two, especially if its an old one.
Also, has it got double or single glazing? It probably has a huge window area, and if it's single glass, then 80% of your expensive heat is going straight through the glass.
I note that you have fitted skirts, but without floor insulation the cold from the ground will strike up through the floor.
Its not going to be easy to insulate, but I've just had a maybe stupid thought, but it might just work; can you drill small holes in the walls, either from inside or outside, and squirt in expanding foam? ( I did say it might be stupid!)