[Taylor]

After vacillating back in forth on what to do with insulation, I have decided to go ahead and go with the polyisocyanurate board. I plan to use 3/4 inch on the walls, and possibly on the ceiling as well. I need to make sure it will fit alright. I could always use 1/2 inch on the ceiling if need be.

Can anyone tell me how many 4x8 sheets would be needed to cover a 136 high top? I plan to get the gun for the Great Stuff. I see different types of G.S. Should I get the window and door and use it for adhering and for sealing too?

Any tips on what to use to shore up the board while it sets up?

TIA,
Taylor

 

[uNik]

https://youtu.be/Of94JljywNs
https://youtu.be/prnsXci4gnA
this is how I made my

 

[IndyDog]

After vacillating back in forth on what to do with insulation, I have decided to go ahead and go with the polyisocyanurate board. I plan to use 3/4 inch on the walls, and possibly on the ceiling as well. I need to make sure it will fit alright. I could always use 1/2 inch on the ceiling if need be.

Can anyone tell me how many 4x8 sheets would be needed to cover a 136 high top? I plan to get the gun for the Great Stuff. I see different types of G.S. Should I get the window and door and use it for adhering and for sealing too?

Any tips on what to use to shore up the board while it sets up?

TIA,
Taylor

Just curious, why the poly instead of something like Hein's Thinsulate? I put up the Thinsulate and it's been outstanding, easy too. I left it exposed on the ceiling and it acts as a sound absorber as well. Don't mean to hi-jack...sorry.

 

[Taylor]

https://youtu.be/Of94JljywNs
https://youtu.be/prnsXci4gnA
this is how I made my

Thanks for the links. I will look at them today when I get a moment.

 

[Zoomyn]

On my window van I used foil laminate iso foam, covered on both sides. Also took the time to wipe down metal & foam board with sprayed isopropyl alcohol to chase oil/silicone residues leftover from manufacturing.

We placed a 1/2" layer above/below windows and then added an 1" layer on top of below windows lower areas - used 3M 90 spray adhesive AND a thin bead of gunned foam-in-a-can around the face perimeter of each sheet as an air draft gasket, the 3M 90 when applied per directions will grab and hold while the foam cures, just keep massaging the panel to get it following the slight curves so both adhesives set under tension since all the panels have some curve/cup to them.

I did use the window and door gunned foam cans on the walls - thinking on using the true adhesive on the ceiling.

I grouted the panels flush with the window/door foam between layers, that's where the stuff excels, very minimum heave after the initial expansion and leaves a fine grain foam - if it's disturbed at all after applying it will collapse into coarse bubbles & voids so patient beads no double-taps of filling areas in while still wet.


There is a nook inside the stamped framing where the ceiling meets the floor, cutting 1/2" thickness strips just narrow enough to fit through the lightening holes and laying in three in parallel did a nifty job of insulating that section, plus leaves lots of room to stuff in more behind it.

I also bought shredded denim foil faced bats to add in to the top/bottom wall sections, Home Depot ships them, hopefully to total R-14 below and R-8 above for now. Also nabbed a roll of http://www.dupont.com/products-and-...r-barrier-systems/products/Thermawrap-r5.html to use in the doors, stuff all the nooks and crannies with, and generally fill in voids as I piece together the built-ins...

As to quantity required - getcher tape measure out. And the sheet foam is fragile & the stuff ages exposed to weather & sunshine, next time I would not buy it all at once and maybe let the store keep it safe & protected until I needed it....

 

[Taylor]

Just curious, why the poly instead of something like Hein's Thinsulate? I put up the Thinsulate and it's been outstanding, easy too. I left it exposed on the ceiling and it acts as a sound absorber as well. Don't mean to hi-jack...sorry.

Because RDinAZandNH used it, and he is the wind beneath my wings.

In all seriousness, it was the cost vs. Insulating properties. The higher R-value and cheaper price is what sold me. This is a work van. My care factor as far as sound absorption is zero. I will probably put up some wood panels over the insulation, which will give some warm acoustics for when I play my 70's music to irritate my millenial customers.

Am I missing something? I am always willing to second guess my decisions until the end of time!

-t

 

[Bconno]

Don't think you can go wrong using polyiso, hard to get the nooks and crannies with it but it works well.
Sorry I don't remember how many sheets I bought.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

You can use 1 inch and it will fill the ceiling exactly in the middle and sit a bit proud at the edges. As a bonus you can then go to JoAnns fabric, buy 54 inch wide headliner fabric fabric and their spray for headliner adhesive and glue the fabric directly to the foam. Ceiling done! 3 yards I believe. I then covered the ceiling ribs with strips about 4 inches wide and screwed them tight so I could get at my wiring which is inside the ribs anytime in the future! I can't believe how fast,easy and quiet it is. Great insulation properties too.
See: http://www.promasterforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37177&page=7
Post 66

The walls could take 2" but GaryBIS has done an insulation calculator and you don't need it, Trust me. Buy 5 sheets of 1" and you can also fill many of the ribs with pieces cut to fit. I only used polyisocyranuate after planning to buy thinsulate for the ribs. It worked fine even in the doors. DON'T fill the bottom 4inches or so of the rocker panels or doors with any insulation.
Best

 

[MtDave]

Why no insulation there?

I have to ask "why"? DON'T fill the bottom 4inches or so of the rocker panels or doors with any insulation.

 

[Hein]

Am I missing something? I am always willing to second guess my decisions until the end of time!-t

We would be happy to send a sample of the Thinsulate(TM) SM600L so you can at least see the product. PM me if you like.

It's probably easier, quicker and less messy to install and certainly capable of better coverage so that may make up for the lower R-value. The material cost for your van is probably in the $350-400 range.

Thinsulate(TM) is engineered for vehicles and is a well recognized brand that will likely add value when it comes time to sell your van. In the mean time, your seventies music will sound a lot better if it's not bouncing off a hard foam board surface


All the best,
Hein
Impact, Inc.
Hood River, OR
54l 49O 5O98

 

[MsNomer]

"t's probably easier, quicker and less messy to install…”

Ha! Hein is being nice. I started installing foam board. It nearly drove me to cussing. So I switched to Thinsulate and the sun came out again.

That 1" board with R-6 does NOT fit the roof cavities if you want a smooth ceiling. The stuff disintegrates and sprays static junk everywhere. Does not bend and nothing in the PM is straight. I admire the guys who are able to do a satisfactory install of the boards without killing someone, but if your time and/or sanity is worth anything, seriously consider the Thinsulate. It's about 1% of your project cost.

 

[climbing coastie]

You can use 1 inch and it will fill the ceiling exactly in the middle and sit a bit proud at the edges. As a bonus you can then go to JoAnns fabric, buy 54 inch wide headliner fabric fabric and their spray for headliner adhesive and glue the fabric directly to the foam. Ceiling done! 3 yards I believe. I then covered the ceiling ribs with strips about 4 inches wide and screwed them tight so I could get at my wiring which is inside the ribs anytime in the future! I can't believe how fast,easy and quiet it is. Great insulation properties too.
See: http://www.promasterforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37177&page=7
Post 66

Great idea and looks awesome too!

 

[Arch]

Rdinnhplease post a pic of your headliner? I would love to see how you did it!

 

[keeponvaning]

I've seen it in person and I agree - it looks fantastic. It's great looking, easy to install, energy efficient and most importantly an inexpensive way to go. Spending huge amounts of money on insulating is unnecessary and madness in my opinion.

 

[GaryBIS]

We would be happy to send a sample of the Thinsulate(TM) SM600L so you can at least see the product. PM me if you like.

It's probably easier, quicker and less messy to install and certainly capable of better coverage so that may make up for the lower R-value. The material cost for your van is probably in the $350-400 range.

Thinsulate(TM) is engineered for vehicles and is a well recognized brand that will likely add value when it comes time to sell your van. In the mean time, your seventies music will sound a lot better if it's not bouncing off a hard foam board surface


All the best,
Hein
Impact, Inc.
Hood River, OR
54l 49O 5O98

Hi Hein -- good to see you here.

I looked at using Thinsulate, and in the end decided on using spray foam, although after seeing some of the polyiso sheet glued in place with Great Stuff, if I were doing it again I would use this method.

My two questions/issues with the Thinsulate were:

1 - The Thinsulate is highly permeable to water vapor, so it seems like humid air generated inside the van can easily make its way through the Thinsulate and condense as liquid water on the cold van skin (or on the thin layer of stuff that some put on the van skin b4 the Thinsulate). This does not seem like a good thing to me.
The polyiso is non-permeable to water vapor, and its R vlaue is high enough so that the temperature on the inside surface of the polyiso is unlikely to be below the dew point, so no condensation -- even if you do get some condensation on the inside of the polyiso, its not on the van skin and probably does no harm as long as there is a way for it to dry out.

Would be interested in your take on whether this is a valid concern or not?

2- Polyiso and thinsulate both reduce noise inside the van. I was unable to find any actual noise reduction figures for either one of the materials. Do you have any data that would allow a good comparison?

Gary

 

[cmugler]

insulation kits


CLICK PHOTOTO ENLARGE
www.swivelsrus.com - 2012 SwivelsRus all rights reserved - E-mail: [email protected]
SwivelsRus, a promaster aftermarket supplier sells insulation kits precut for the promaster, any thoughts on these kits?

 

[Jmgasior]

Would also be interested in noise readings with the cheaper materials,years ago I used vycor,a building material instead of rattletrap and the others for adding mass,half the price,some of us have limited budgets so interested what others did to save money,thanks

 

[keeponvaning]

People, don't let yourself get carried away with insulation. Just as long as you don't use fiberglass it really boils down to cost. Many expensive factory conversions use fiberglass batts because it's cheap and easy but also a very poor choice for a van conversion. It's a van, not a house. In the real world you could spend two or three times more and get next to nothing in return. Foam board is cheap and does the job, it's easy to install and is problem free. Why make problems for yourself and needlessly spend your hard earned money on anything else????

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

I agree with KOV and I would second the thought for Sound deadening. I looked at mass loaded sheets and decided the Thinsulate or Polyisocyanurate with a layer of soft material over it would do fine and it seems it has. I did a before and after sound decibel measurement on the same road, same speed, same conditions and went from 80dB to 70dB which is a tremendous decrease. Remember decibels are on a logarithmic scale so a decrease of three is about half the volume.
My van with Polyisocyanurate and JoAnn's headliner is about 1/10 as loud as when it was delivered. I expect Thinsulate to be a bit better as the Poly board has hard surfaces which may transmit more sound.

Arch,
Check out the finished ceiling at http://www.promasterforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37177&page=7 Post 66
How I did it? No pictures as I was using all three hands and one foot to spray the poly board and fabric with JoAnn's headliner adhesive (wow! great adhesive) and smoothly applying the foam backed fabric overhead. AttaGirl to the wife too. It is interesting that the fabric comes in a width just right for two sections of roof if you split it and cover the ribs with some other substance.... in my case 3-1/2 inch strips of wood.

 

[GaryBIS]

People, don't let yourself get carried away with insulation. Just as long as you don't use fiberglass it really boils down to cost. Many expensive factory conversions use fiberglass batts because it's cheap and easy but also a very poor choice for a van conversion. It's a van, not a house. In the real world you could spend two or three times more and get next to nothing in return. Foam board is cheap and does the job, it's easy to install and is problem free. Why make problems for yourself and needlessly spend your hard earned money on anything else????

Hi KOV,
I basically agree, but I do think that the polystyrene foam boards (EPS and XPS) have a maximum service temerpature (about 160F) that is marginal for using in a van where temperatures near the skin can be high.

Polyiso foam board has a much higher max service temperature (about 270F), and seems like a safer choice to me.

Gary