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Window Insulation
What I think started this whole insulation thing was when we were looking to darken the bedroom windows, to make it easier to sleep in (that’s part of camping, right?!).
My first attempt was using common (Elmer’s) project foam board – 3/16″ thick (which we already had at home), cut to fit.
This photo was taken with the foam in place, the shade down, and in full daylight – MUCH better than without the foam, but still not quite was I was looking for.
Ahhh, that’s better!
The photo to the right is taken in the same lighting conditions (full daylight) but with the new insulation panels in place.
The panel itself can be seen in the next picture, below.
This is the insulation panels we now use. The reason we chose these was two-fold:
- To increase the blackout ability for the bedroom windows, as outlined above.
- For actual insulation purposes: I put my hand about 6″ from the window in the garage and felt a ridiculous amount of heat coming through that blackout window shade that snaps into place over the window.
The product is Dupont Super TUFF-0R Insulation board (1/2″, with an R-value of 3.3) and cut it to fit, snugging it into the window frame. The outside-facing side of this insulation is a semi-reflective silver and I think reasonably attractive (vs some obnoxious color or branding). Now with a hand nearly touching the blackout shade I can barely feel warmth at all. I used an exacto knife to do the cutting and a medium grit sandpaper to smooth and round where needed. I held a white posterboard up to the window where I could somewhat see through it to trace the rounded corner. I then used that as a template to make corner cuts on the insulation.
This year I may add small tabs to aid in removing the panels, as they really do fit snugly. Without that, I usually use a butter knife or slim screwdriver to pop them out. We now have coverage for all our windows, though I may re-do the largest living room windows to fit better (I was using scraps to make those, being too cheap to go buy more).
We keep the panels in place through the winter, while on the road, and permanently in the garage (because the blackout panels are always in place so why not? When not in use, we generally stack them against the wall behind the couch.
This is the insulation panels we now use. The reason we chose these was two-fold:
- To increase the blackout ability for the bedroom windows, as outlined above.
- For actual insulation purposes: I put my hand about 6″ from the window in the garage and felt a ridiculous amount of heat coming through that blackout window shade that snaps into place over the window.
The product is Dupont Super TUFF-0R Insulation board (1/2″, with an R-value of 3.3) and cut it to fit, snugging it into the window frame. The outside-facing side of this insulation is a semi-reflective silver and I think reasonably attractive (vs some obnoxious color or branding). Now with a hand nearly touching the blackout shade I can barely feel warmth at all. I used an exacto knife to do the cutting and a medium grit sandpaper to smooth and round where needed. I held a white posterboard up to the window where I could somewhat see through it to trace the rounded corner. I then used that as a template to make corner cuts on the insulation.
This year I may add small tabs to aid in removing the panels, as they really do fit snugly. Without that, I usually use a butter knife or slim screwdriver to pop them out. We now have coverage for all our windows, though I may re-do the largest living room windows to fit better (I was using scraps to make those, being too cheap to go buy more).
We keep the panels in place through the winter, while on the road, and permanently in the garage (because the blackout panels are always in place so why not? When not in use, we generally stack them against the wall behind the couch.
Floor Vents
The original floor vents work fine, but I wanted to be able to close off (or reduce heat to) specific rooms. For example, the bathroom can get really hot because it is such a small space. If one of us wants to sleep in, we can turn on the heat elsewhere, but close off the bedroom vent so it’s still cool enough for sleeping in there.
I bought the JR Products dampered vents as replacements. You can mount them in either direction – so that the dampers open towards or away from the heat source. In this way, the damper fins can act as “ramps” to direct more air flow upwards if you want to push more up. These are deeper mounting than stock vents, so be aware of that and how it may impact your air flow!
Temperature Controls
This is a photo of the original thermostat, and a digital thermometer we bought. With this we can see max/min temperatures recorded, humidity, and of course temperature.
Turns out the original Dometic thermostat is consistently off by about 2 degrees — collaborated with other thermometers to be sure it wasn’t the new one that was off =)
We had issues with the AC reaching set temperature and kicking off but never coming back on again, regardless of room temperature. Even turning it down further wouldn’t bring it back to life — only powering the unit off and back on again did the trick. After multiple experiments and a number of nights waking up very hot we found that it was because we had the fan speed set to “auto”. Setting it to “low” or “high” runs the fan constantly, but prevents the issue we were seeing.
Well, one of those experiments was replacing the thermostat. This is the bluetooth model, which sounded great in principle — I could turn on the heat from my phone in the bedroom before getting up, for example. Unfortunately, the app (or the unit?) doesn’t work well and I keep having to pair it again, which is nightmarish. The app keeps trying to pair but fails over and over and it’s a real exercise in patience. If you desire to become the most patient person on Earth, get this thermostat and download the app for your phone, it will be great practice for you!
Bedroom Fan
One of the things I have been most reluctant to do is mess with the walls. With as thin as they are, the strips of wallpaper they use to hide seams, the staples holding them to the studs, I just feel like anything I do will never look right after I put it back.
Opting for a fan in the bedroom sort of forced my hand this week. I had no confidence in the “TV backer board” in the corner, couldn’t sure I would hit it, and wasn’t crazy about the fan there anyway.
Instead I decided to put it between bedroom door and bathroom door. We rarely walk through there because we are using a residential queen mattress that really limits our space.
To hang this 6 lb fan I need solid wood behind it.
I found that prying off the plastic door jamb covers was very easy – they are only glued on. Taking those off (and removing the bedroom door) exposed the edge of the wall. I was able to slip a flat blade screwdriver in to carefully(!) pry the wall material off the studs (stapled).
I didn’t mess with the bottom of the wall as it was held on more solidly. The left side had a seam above the door I didn’t want to rip so I stopped prying the wall sheet off at that point too. This gave me just enough flex/bow to slip a 2×4 into the middle of the wall just above the light switch. I cut it so that it fit snugly between the two studs so it would hold itself in place. I then went from one side to the other, lifting it up a few inches at a time with a screwdriver. When it was a few inches shy of the top of the door frame I was unable to move it any more. I marked the location and put the wall back together, replacing staples with wire nails wherever needed, and re-gluing the plastic back in place.
The nondescript photo on the left is the mounting bracket that comes with the fan. On the right is the fan mounted. I used these plastic hooks near the ceiling to hold the cord up. I didn’t want to use my usual wire channels because this needs to be easy to take down before traveling. Perhaps if I had gotten a fan with a more solid/permanent mount…
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