Frosty sludge in my taps, time for a caravan skirt.

[epsilonGreedy]

This weeks lesson in static caravan living is that the risk of frozen plumbing is not theoretical. I few days ago the night time temperature fell to -5 and I forgot to set the gas central heating to the defensive night time schedule where it kicks in for 15 minutes every 90 minutes.

 

The bathroom cold water tap coughed in the morning, spat out some icy sludge, then trickled before finally returning to normal. No longterm damage but a timely warning. Anyhow after that preamble here is my question.

 

Question:

Would 11mm thick OSB sheet be up to the job for the under static caravan skirt side panels with an average height of 550mm? The max panel size would be 1200mm wide x 600mm high. I expect to use 50mm x 50mm square timber for the skirt framing.

[ProDave]

Anything will help. The main thing is to keep the wind out.

 

Last winter during the "beast from the East"  I spent a wonderful half hour under the 'van at night, in a blizard, with a hairdryer thawing a frozen pipe where mice had stripped a section of the pipe insulation.

 

Make sure you put a few doors in your skirt so you still have access.

[Ed Davies]

OSB2 will curl up and die pretty quickly. OSB3 ought to last a bit longer. I've had bits of both lying around outside and it's quite noticeable how differently they behave.

[ProDave]

I didn't know there was more than one sort. All the builders merchants here only stock OSB3

[Ed Davies]

CBS in Wick supplied OSB2 when I just wanted some expendable cheap stuff. Rembrand in Thurso ask if I forget to specify so presumably do OSB2 though they don't have it on their web site.

[epsilonGreedy]

4 hours ago, Ed Davies said:

OSB2 will curl up and die pretty quickly. OSB3 ought to last a bit longer. I've had bits of both lying around outside and it's quite noticeable how differently they behave.

 

 

OSB3 it is, I hope it only has to survive two winters. The 1200 x 600 osb panels will be screwed to a frame.

 

I have a plan to insert a course of dpc material to throw water away from the skirting as it runs off the caravan walls.

[epsilonGreedy]

5 hours ago, ProDave said:

Make sure you put a few doors in your skirt so you still have access.

 

 

Yes top of the wish list as I am currently short of outside dry storage space.

 

There is also an aesthetic motivation, my two SB neighbours who have been onsite longer skirted their caravans before Christmas and now their sites look neater.