[DCGH]

Hey All,
Does anyone have to hand the spacing between the roof spars for a 159" high top? I have the offer of some hardwood flooring that could make a really nice ceiling but it is short pieces, hence the need to know average spacing between the spars..

Any info gratefully received

 

[KilWerBzz]

A Finger Joint Router Bit and glue will make short stock long.

 

[DCGH]

A Finger Joint Router Bit and glue will make short stock long.

Sounds complicated

 

[afox]

precise dimensions between the roof rack attachment points and other useful info is here:
http://www.rambodybuilder.com/iph/iph2014/ph2014/phvan/phdocs/vf/phdrec.pdf

 

[keeponvaning]

Hardwood flooring is already t & g and should be no problem other that a lot of dead weight where you don’t need it! I wouldn’t recommend it!

 

[DCGH]

Hardwood flooring is already t & g and should be no problem other that a lot of dead weight where you don’t need it! I wouldn’t recommend it!

True, but it is free I am torn between the types of material available for roofing though so any advice is good advice. The van will mainly be used as a dirt bike hauler, but will be used for camping/photography (think backcountry wilderness) trips as well, so a compromise is needed (according to my wife anyways)...

 

[MsNomer]

I second the concern about that much unnecessary weight that high. No proof there's anything wrong with it, but I wouldn't.

 

[SteveSS]

precise dimensions between the roof rack attachment points and other useful info is here:
http://www.rambodybuilder.com/iph/iph2014/ph2014/phvan/phdocs/vf/phdrec.pdf

There are a few more interior ceiling ribs than there are exterior roof rack attachment points. But as noted, that shoudn't matter since wood flooring is tongue and groove on all four sides. Just don't try to use cut-offs missing the T&G at one end, except at the ends.

Hardwood flooring is already t & g and should be no problem other that a lot of dead weight where you don’t need it! I wouldn’t recommend it!

Totally agree, if it's traditional solid hardwood flooring. That stuff is thick and heavy. But if it's thin laminate or engineered flooring, it should be OK. That's been done before successfully.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

Why put wood up there at all? Just spray adhesive some headliner fabric to your rigid polyiso insulation. Duh- thats why they call it headliner!

 

[atomicrider]

The rib spacing ranges from 31" to 10". All of them are different spacing. I got some 1/4" finished ply wood from the lumber yard to put up there. It was light weight and also easy to remove for wiring and lights. I attached using 3/4"x3" pine screwed along the ribs with some self tapping screws and then I had a wide base to screw the plywood to.


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[DCGH]

Why put wood up there at all? Just spray adhesive some headliner fabric to your rigid polyiso insulation. Duh- thats why they call it headliner!

The only problem there is I'm not going to use Polysio insulation and I don't think the headliner fabric will stick to the thinsulate stuff from Hein

 

[DCGH]

The rib spacing ranges from 31" to 10". All of them are different spacing. I got some 1/4" finished ply wood from the lumber yard to put up there. It was light weight and also easy to remove for wiring and lights. I attached using 3/4"x3" pine screwed along the ribs with some self tapping screws and then I had a wide base to screw the plywood to.


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Thanks Atom, I was thinking along similar lines just a buddy offered me the free flooring off-cuts..think after all the advice I will stick with plywood.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

The only problem there is I'm not going to use Polysio insulation and I don't think the headliner fabric will stick to the thinsulate stuff from Hein

Oh now I understand.... too bad!

 

[MsNomer]

Actually, the headliner might stick just fine to the Thinsulate.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

In a wavy-gravy sort of way.

We tend to make choices that preclude simple logical solutions. Why those are so much of a commitment I will never know. A friend you some flooring you do know you don’t have to make a ceiling out of it, right? You can do the plywood but you don’t have to, right? If you decided to order Thinsulate for the whole van you do know you don’t have to install it everywhere, right? I’d suggest you rethink this while it is easy to. I truly want to help but I don’t understand why you wouldn’t go pick some nice smooth sheets of 1” polyiso, a can of Great Stuff gaps and cracks, and a progun and do that instead. Problem solved. I have heard about every reason here not to use the flooring in the posts above and I know you are going to use it anyway, or resort to some plywood instead. It will be fine and the Thinsulate above it will be OK too. Just because I wouldn’t do it is no reason not to proceed. Go for it!

 

[MsNomer]

RD, I tried to install the polyiso. Bought enough for the whole van. It was so frustrating, I said life's too short for this crap, tore out what I had done, bought me some Thinsulate and never looked back. I marvel at how some of you folks can handle that stuff, but I wasn't one of them.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

I know you had a frustrating time of it and for a woodworker that's surprising too. It may be that it lends itself to wide tolerances that just seem wrong to one accustomed to fitting parts perfectly. I left 3/8 inch all around as great stuff added later and trimmed worked well to seal it, hold it, and finish it. There is a knack to it. I had used it for years retrofitting in 150 year old post and beam houses where no other insulation really worked as well so it went quickly and smoothly. I did learn a bit about the headliner that I would share but all in all it is the surface in the van I like most. Soft, sooth, quieting, insulating, relatively tough to rip or stain and easily replaced if I did. Compared to fitting ply, or frp or whatever else I see used here it seems to be better. However to my knowledge NO ONE else has done it. Different drummers listen to their own music.

 

[Ziggy Stardog]

I'm seriously considering it. Even ordered a couple sample swatch boards from a headliner company which has taken a token amount of money and seemingly completely ignored the request. I need to email them.

I just have this small nagging concern that I might have rip it out to get to something so I may chicken out and cover panels with the headliner instead. Seems like it might be a PITA for not much gain. The less time spent craning your neck trying to hold and screw something in over your head, the better.

 

[RDinNHandAZ]

Everything I added in the ceiling goes in the ribs except the wires to the roof vent. It took about 10 minutes to pull the solar panel wiring and the wires that transverse the van go easily with a pull wire. The transitions at the ends of the ribs are the hardest to thread wires through. By covering the ribs with strips of wood I can take any down and have access to those wires and add if needed.
Joann's fabric stores have headliner you can look at in a few colors. I wanted tan and it was there. I used their adhesive too. It worked well.
I will say you need to avoid seams in the 1” polyiso which is easy but leaves some waste. I used the waste in the walls but YMMV. Pick nice smooth sheets at H-D or Lowes too. The headliner covers small imperfections but not large ones. If you try this, photograph and post it up please. I think more should go this easy route.

 

[Ziggy Stardog]

It's quite a ways off. I'm cutting holes in the roof for fans and AC near-to-last to maximize my in-driveway work time before my van gets banished to RV storage by my city's draconian code-enforcement division.

As far as the waste goes, I'm thinking thinsulate on the walls, but I already have a bunch of stray 3/4" in the rafters of my garage from art projects and posters. It doesn't weigh much-- so what's a little more?