Building a deck for my trailer

[swimmer_spe]

Yes you are right , your out side wall wants to go up to 80 inches min. as that is the height of the door so you would like a little more than that.

I plan on putting the door on the side, so it will be closer to the higher side of the roof.

 

[bud16415]

I don’t think I would try and get a seal between the trailer and the deck and think about making the deck/porch a heated place. Both the deck and trailer are free floating and not connected when winter comes frost will be lifting and moving them. If you want to seal them together it would have to be a flexible boot. If you do that expect a lot of heat loss from the porch. The floor will also have to be insulated.

 

[swimmer_spe]

I don’t think I would try and get a seal between the trailer and the deck and think about making the deck/porch a heated place. Both the deck and trailer are free floating and not connected when winter comes frost will be lifting and moving them. If you want to seal them together it would have to be a flexible boot. If you do that expect a lot of heat loss from the porch. The floor will also have to be insulated.

I plan on using the expanding foam. I have seen others use it with good results.

I do not plan to have it toasty warm in a deep freeze, but I plan on being able to take my jacket and hat off there.

 

[nealtw]

Just to be clear, I have no experience building these things.

 

[slownsteady]

In the course of this thread, the project went from building a small modular deck to building what is essentially a small house. You may want to rethink the 'foundation' idea, because the weight - and your investment in time and materials is going up, up, up.

 

[nealtw]

Could be a good idea to put footings in even for jacking points of the trailer, easy to add tie downs also. Take frost out of the discussion.

 

[Mastercarpenty]

Even if you build it out of 1x, it will be to heavy to move it in one piece with out machinery. Build it out of 2x and use deck screws to put it together. When it comes time to move it, disassemble it to a manageable size.

I've moved many decks and outbuildings all alone by using a lever at an angle over a fulcrum, then moving the lever sideways once it's off the ground. The same can be done with a jack at an angle- as it lifts, it pushes sideways so the deck or building slides over under control. I prefer an old bumper jack for this as a bottle jack and post doesn't like to stay aligned when it tilts and moves over. Simple machines but not power machinery

Since the OP indicated they may enlarge it someday, I'd use 2X8 doubled bands with 2X6 joists 16"oc and 5/4 decking boards. Strong enough but not overweight and sturdy enough to last through many seasonal moves.

Phil

 

[swimmer_spe]

An update, talking to my local hardware store, they suggest 2x6 for the deck. They will be in 4x8 sections, and the joists will run widthwise.