Spray Foam Insulation
After weighing a bunch of options for insulation (wool vs thinsulate vs foam board vs spray foam) I decided to go with spray foam insulation. I know this is definitely not the cheapest and some other people have reported issues with it, but I went with it for a few reasons:
-Having windows reduced the space needed to insulate and made foam board harder to fit
-Reinforcement of body panels and reduction of rattle (making rattletrap redundant)
-Higher R-Value
-Wiring was done already
My van is black, so insulation was very important. It gets very hot in the summer and I am constantly working on ways to keep it cooler.
Equipment Needed:
-
Spray Foam Tanks (
Amazon Version -
Home Depot Version, I went with the Home Depot Version because I was on a time crunch, but both are pretty similar)
-Protective Clothing/Equipment
-Garbage Bags/Grocery Bags
-Heater (if not hot out)
-Painters Tape/
Plastic Painters Tarp
Advice I received after talking with contractors and others doing spray foam:
-PREP WORK!!! Tape up everything, this stuff gets on everything
-Temperature is very important, the warmer the better. The foam is expanding and it expands better in warmer temperature (I learned this the hard way when I had to go back and buy more)
-Cover up wire-ends, I used grocery bags to keep the spray foam off
-Wear protective equipment! (you need to be completely covered and have some sort of respirator)
-Have a garbage bag to shoot the foam into, sometimes its watery when not mixed right so use a garbage bag to "prime it"
-Change the tip of the gun if you stop for more than a minute or so
Because it was borderline temperature when I spray foamed my van I used a space heater on the tanks (recommended by my contractor).
I would also recommend spraying foam in all the small gaps before you start coating the bigger gaps.
Also keep in mind it does expand a lot, I know people have ran into issues when it has been sprayed in an area where there is no space to expand, that can cause damage. So make sure you apply it in a manor in which it can expand freely without pushing out metal or parts.
Notice how the electronics are held within grocery bags to keep the spray foam off
Because of the temp the spray foam didn't go as far as I wanted it to. I had to purchase a second set of tanks and apply a second coat the next day. They are not cheap, so make sure you do it when it is really warm out.
This is what it looks like when the spray foam is cured a few weeks later
I really like the spray foam. It was a mess, but so far its performed well. I used a drywall saw to trim up the foam when we installed the base floor (seen above). It seems to quiet the rattle down a lot. I had some prior roof rattle and that has stopped. I am pretty happy with it so far and it has been on for a year or so now with no issues.