Insulating The Floor Of A Van

Because of this we decided to fill the ribs on our floor with insulation to be as efficient as possible.

Insulating the floor of a van.

Using foam board you should be able to fully insulate your van for about 150 to 250 we spent about 150 to insulate our standard wheelbase chevy express. For these reasons choosing the right type of insulation is a lot harder than in a house. You should be able to fully insulate your van with havelock wool sheep s wool insulation for about 300 to 600 including shipping depending on the size of your van. Reflectix insulation is a reflective bubble wrap insulation that provides a slight conductive benefit and also creates a radiant barrier.

The r value of reflectix isn t the greatest but it s better than nothing and it doesn t cut much height out of the van. Insulation in a van is a bit more complicated than insulation in a house. This was a pretty simple process. Our van has a center aisle that runs full length with bunks aft on either side so there is exposed floor from front to back.

R value quality of material your living space and your budget. Lay battens and foam insulation. For one a van moves bounces and vibrates. Our van floor is not flat it has high and low ridges we made sure they all sat at the same depth ridge to ensure a level floor.

Insulating the floor. This way we have somewhere to run the wiring behind the walls ceiling. A van is tiny and every inch makes a difference. The van insulation is basically 1 inch of spray polyurethane in walls and ceiling and 1 inch of rigid polyiso foam board in the floor we also use reflectex plugs in the windows at night.

A lot of van lifers futz around and fill in these spaces with little pieces of foam or insulation but these natural gaps make the floor the perfect place to use reflectix insulation. Basically diy cargo van insulation involves a balancing act among at least four things. We used great stuff gaps cracks to glue our foam boards down to the van floor but we also used it because it would expand and fill the ribs with insulation. We would recommend using 1 2 inches.

A van is a metal box that does not breathe like a house does. R value space and expenses living in a vehicle is a unique situation. When building out your van you want to resist heat conduction by insulating the ceiling walls and floor with materials that have a high r value. It pays to think ahead at every step of a van build.