The recreational building most households around here actually own is not a log cabin. It is a park model or a hard-sided trailer on a seasonal lot at one of the reservoirs, left in place year round, and the owner wants to use it in May and again in late September instead of only in July. That is a different structure from a house and it fails in different places.
It is a box on blocks, not a building on a foundation
A park model or a trailer sits on piers or blocks with open air underneath it. The floor is a shallow assembly with a thin membrane stretched across the bottom, usually called the underbelly, and whatever insulation is in there was installed at the factory to a thickness measured in centimetres rather than inches.
Below that floor run the water lines, the drain, and frequently the furnace ducting. All of it is in outdoor air, protected by a sheet of plastic that mice, dogs and a season of wind have usually already opened. That is the real reason these buildings are cold at the floor and the real reason the water fails first.
Skirting is not insulation, and most skirting is not even a windbreak
The vinyl or metal skirting around the perimeter is there to look tidy and to keep animals out. It is not sealed at the ground, it is not sealed at the top, and the space behind it is at outdoor temperature with wind moving through it.
The upgrade that changes these buildings most is to make that perimeter a real enclosure: close the skirting properly, seal it at the rim above and at grade below, and treat the space underneath as part of the building rather than as outdoors. Once that is done the underbelly, the lines and the ducts are inside the envelope instead of outside it.
Where closed-cell foam fits
Closed-cell is the right material under there because it adheres to the frame and the underside of the floor, it does not absorb water, and it becomes its own vapour barrier at around two inches, which matters in a space that is damp and not ventilated. Applied to the underside of the floor structure and around the pipework it seals and insulates in one pass, and it does not sag or get pulled out by animals the way a batt does.
The other place it earns its money is the roof. These units have very little depth above the ceiling, so a material with a high R-value per inch is the only way to get a useful number in there.
Intermittent use is the thing to design for
Nobody is at the lot during the week. The building sits cold, gets heated hard for a weekend, and goes cold again. Every one of those cycles drives warm moist air into a cold shell, and in a thin assembly with a torn vapour layer the water ends up in the floor and the walls.
Sealing is what helps that, not depth. A tight shell comes up fast on a Friday evening and dries out rather than storing water, and a sealed, insulated underside keeps the plumbing out of trouble between visits. If the unit is going to be left heated at a low setting all winter, say so, because that changes the specification.
Decide what the building is for first
A unit used from May to September wants a sealed, insulated underside and nothing else. A unit someone intends to use in January is a different project, and on some of these it is honestly not worth it: the windows, the door and the wall depth will limit the result no matter what goes underneath. We will say so.
The crew on your job
Nobody gets handed your cottage spray foam insulation Coaldale job. We quote the job, schedule it and stand behind it, and our crews are the ones who show up.
Cottage Spray Foam Insulation Coaldale: Common Questions
Why is the floor always cold? Because there is almost nothing in it and the underbelly membrane is usually torn. The floor structure is in outdoor air with a sheet of plastic in between.
Is skirting enough to stop the pipes freezing? On its own, no. Unsealed skirting is a visual screen with wind moving behind it. Sealed skirting plus a sprayed underside is what takes the plumbing out of danger.
Can a park model be used in winter? Sometimes, with the underside sealed and the plumbing protected, but the windows and wall depth set a limit. We will tell you where that limit is before you spend.
How much does cottage spray foam insulation cost in Coaldale? It is priced per board foot over the sprayed area, so the underside of a small unit is a small scope. Access is the variable: a unit sitting low to the ground may need lifting or the skirting removed before anybody can work under it.
How do I choose a cottage spray foam contractor in Coaldale? Ask whether they have worked on a unit on blocks rather than on a foundation. The underbelly, the skirting and the plumbing run are the job, and a contractor who only quotes the walls has not understood the building.
Size the assembly with the R-value calculator, then get a free Coaldale quote. More on Cottage Spray Foam Insulation Alberta province-wide.