What Do you Think ??????

This maybe something 'more experienced hands' could give ya better advice than me but,when i brought home my 2nd gen home,walls were 'stuffed' with R11 or 19.the pink fiberglass stuff.When I pulled paneling off walls,it was wet at the bottom.There are several small places where it came through the outside panel.
I too,want to some sort of insulation,but not sure which way to go either.I gotta consider heat humidity down here,plus if I'm gonna get to keep my van inside.I just got to remember water and moisture will seep anywhere and needs a way out.

I'm also interested in this subject but have no answers. Everything I have heard about seems to draw moisture. Here in Michigan the weather is all over the place. It can be 90 and the next day 60 and in the winter like today it's started out at 3 and by Wedsday it will be 40.

Hey Vanish, What I did was use hard 1" foam insulation and left an air gap at the top and bottom allowing the condensation to evaporate. I did spray the walls woth POR-15 prior to putting it up so there really is nothing to rust but the idea was to help everything keep dry. I used spray foam on the sides to hold the insulation panels in place.

I know it is a tough subject since the weather is different all over the country..... I believe the key is to find a way to keep it ventilated.

Dan

styrofoam can squeak. I had always just used fiberglas ,used spray on contact adhesive to keep it from wanting to settle down. do not over pack it at all, didn't use the paper backed stuff or ripped it off and made the bats very thin. The insulation isa bonus but your really gaining sound deadening. The doors are the sore spot they are not designed to breath very well. I did this on a full sized gmc cargo van and then paneled the walls , never had an issue with moisture.

When I tore out the stock interior panels on my '63 there was no insulation whatsoever. That's exactly the way I plan on leaving it too.

I'm thinking about Line-X the walls and floors of the 64. Might go with one of those do it yourself products if the cost is too $$$

Im open to comments and debate about this but I think ideally it would be best to insulate in a way where theres no contact with the outer panels so theres no contact and/or absorbsion of condensation into the insulation itself which promotes mold,mildew and rust. I like the idea of a linex type product for sound deadening as a first step.
Thats where I get stumped. Short of installing flanges about an inch or so deep inside each rib section to attach flat sheet sections of insulation board to,how could you accomplish the task? It doesnt have paper tabs you can staple to a stud like in house construction. Perhaps using full sheets of that pink or blue stuff they use before putting up vinyl siding might be an idea. Use some spray glue on each rib to hold the sheets to the ribs,then install the wall covering over it with screws but that may cause squeaks. It would make the walls stand out a half minch further also but that shouldnt be too big of a deal.
Just some food for thought. Let's hear some other ideas.

We vanners have always stuffed insulation between the ribs in the walls and then covered with a panel.

In cars, the door is hollow (except anti-rattle foam), but the interior panel is backed with jute and vapor barrier. At least, that's what I saw on my 85 Chevy Cavalier.

Why didn't we copy the car-guys? Wouldn't it make more sense to use an adhesive on our panels to back a heat-insulating material on to? And then if we don't use a line-x for sound deadening on the sheet metal, use the small dynamat pads stuck to the exterior panels. I'm thinking that today's technology gives us the Home Depot furnace wrap stuff that we can use, maybe squeeze against the van's ribs compressing it maybe to an eighth of an inch behind the panel, even use that foil tape to cover any seams on the back of the panel...

You guys in Michigan get more moisture than we do up here, but our temperature extremes, hi and lo, edge you by a nose I think... still, I might try this... furnace wrap is cheap compared to automotive insulation.

Any thoughts?

sasktrini, you have a point. i have taken a lotta cars apart. yes jute under the carpet, also fiberglass under dssh/ firewall. you may have answard this question for me.

I don't know about you guys, but if the temp is lower than 50 my baby is in the garage and not on the road. So that leaves the sound deadening and trying to keep the heat out of ovens on wheels. The last two parts vans have both had pink fiberglass bats and both were wet, mildewed, and rusted out. I'm going to stick to factory bare panels and use a bed liner product on the walls before putting the paneling up.

Winter is so long here that if I only drove it when the temp was over 50, that leaves me basically July and August! I think I would drive mine year-round, using winter tires when applicable and only winter driving when roads have been maintained... would not want to take too many chances. Never did solve the whole insulation issue though... somehow, I'm thinking this may be something to try! The insulating material is not the type to absorb moisture, which has to be a step in the right direction.

Once again I havent done any vans recently but :
years ago when I still owned a van business in Houiston , there were a couple of companies that sprayed a expanding type foam on vans. They also used a type that would not emit poisionous chemicals in the event of a fire too. You had to tape off the sections of the van ribs so you could still attach youe paneling and so forth.
i used to use the hard Silver Duct lining board. The " R " value was around R-25. Never let me down and was easily cut with a box cutter . Scrubba

Just an idea on insulation and wanted to get some feedback if anyone has tried it... I am going to POR15 the walls and floor. On the walls use the reflective insulation and then put regular home insulation in, wrapped into about a 10mil oversized clear plastice bag. Get all the air out of it, and glue it shut and carefully cram it unto the sides between pillars. Put vapor barrier and then my siding.... My insulation factor may not be as good as I had hoped, but I would think sound deadening would be greatly increased....
Anyone tried this????? Just throwing out another idea....

Any updates on this topic? I'm thinking dynamat in the doors and then a spray on liner type material over the rest of the interior before panels and finally upholstery. I live in Texas where it is really hot in the summers and didn't know if this was enough insulation or if I should look into some sort of foam in between the panels but on top of the spray liner.

Any tips or thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Wonder if Dynamat would be a good thing for the walls????

I think the Cost of Dynamat might keep me away from all the walls. I showed my van to a guy that does custom interiors and he seemed to think that the rubberized spray liner might work better because it will flex and won't seem to harden up in the creases over time like the Dynamat type products.

no mater what you use the walls have to breathe frost in the morn & sun i n the afternoon it will sweat. i think if you use foam and leave a space between the wall and the foam it should work.as lond as it can vent. the doors have weep/vent holes in them if fiberglass gets wet in will not dry out & could mold. you donot want mold. i had a 97 conversion it had fiberglass in the walls . i bought it in texas after i could smell the mold i traded it in.. mold spores in your lungs is very bad. (again) the walls need to breathe..

this was suggested by member mr. fred carello

http://www.lowes.com/pd_13358-56291-BP48025_4294858104_4294937087?productId=3011906&pl=1&currentURL=/pl_Foil%2BInsulation_4294858104_4294937087_

i have a thick loose foam rubber carpet underlay

[quote="beanses"]this was suggested by member mr. fred carello

http://www.lowes.com/pd_13358-56291-BP48025_4294858104_4294937087?productId=3011906&pl=1&currentURL=/pl_Foil%2BInsulation_4294858104_4294937087_[/quote]

That's what I used on my ceiling......

i would think that would work great!!!!!!

very good idea, looks great. and i have a lowes behind me.

Another nice thing is that (1) One roll covered the entire roof!!!

Dan

That is similar to what we put under the concrete floor at the pit shop, The double bubble foil has an R value of 5 and replaces an inch of styrofoam, the floor stuff has a layer of poly on it like a very thin tarp, is only a 1/2 inch thick, Id be tempted to adhere it to the inside of any panels that go up insted of the metal. I dont know if they have small rolls of that tho, maybe check with a builder to see if they would have any left overs.