Hey guys cool web page you have. I’m at the beginning stages of a conversion (2007 144″ sprinter high roof. I have a few questions. For the wall insulation did you guys only use denim? Was it the 3.5″ R13? What type and dimension of insulation was used on the ceiling? It looks to be 1″ closed cell foam? Any tips on putting up the vapor barrier? Did you guys insulate/vapor barrier the space above the driving cab baffle? Also just curious why you Guys didn’t insulate the floor? How well has it all been serving in those cold areas you guys seem to be? Sorry for the flood of questions, I’ve spent months researching insulation options and your guys conversion is the closest to the plan I’ve refined down to. I’d appreciate a response at your convenience. Nice job, thank you,
Eric in crowdifornia
Hey Eric,
Thanks for reading and getting in touch! We’ve done a bit of research on what other people had done with insulation, and there were a few (unscientific) conclusions we came to for ourselves: 1) There is a ton of exposed metal and windows that conduct heat, so there is a limitation to what insulation can do for the van. 2) Most of the floor would be covered by our bed construction, plenty of insulation there. 3) A lot of people miss some part of the van when insulating (the cab ceiling, exposed metal parts, windows, rear doors, screws / metal parts that touch the van body, etc.), but go overboard on insulating only part of the van. 3) As there was no real information on effectiveness, we wanted to keep it simple (and non-toxic). 4) We typically keep a vent open at night for oxygen, so the air flow voids much of the insulation as well.
As for your questions: We used only denim on the side walls (3.5″ R13, you’re correct). We didn’t add Reflectix, which we’ve seen other people do. As for the vapor barrier, we used 4mil plastic sheeting, and clear Gorilla tape to attach it to the metal surfaces and seal the insulation. For the ceiling, we used 2 layers of 3/4″ foam, as the ribs on the roof leave about 1.5″ space. It’s really easy to work with, you can just cut it into the right shape with a knife and tape it to the body of the van. We didn’t get around to insulating the driving cab, although it was on the list of things we wanted to do initially.
Sleeping with 2 people in the van, we’ve never really had huge issues with temperatures dropping too much overnight (and we’ve experienced outside temperatures of 10-20 degrees). Whether this is a function of 2 bodies heating up the inside of the van or the insulation we’ve used, we’re not quite sure. What we’ve found is that low temperatures have been less of an issue than staying cool in hot areas. We definitely wouldn’t spend too much time on the insulation in hindsight, for the limitations mentioned above.
Let us know if you’re interested in more information – maybe shoot us an email (sprintervandiaries (at) gmail).
Hey guys cool web page you have. I’m at the beginning stages of a conversion (2007 144″ sprinter high roof. I have a few questions. For the wall insulation did you guys only use denim? Was it the 3.5″ R13? What type and dimension of insulation was used on the ceiling? It looks to be 1″ closed cell foam? Any tips on putting up the vapor barrier? Did you guys insulate/vapor barrier the space above the driving cab baffle? Also just curious why you Guys didn’t insulate the floor? How well has it all been serving in those cold areas you guys seem to be? Sorry for the flood of questions, I’ve spent months researching insulation options and your guys conversion is the closest to the plan I’ve refined down to. I’d appreciate a response at your convenience. Nice job, thank you,
Eric in crowdifornia
Hey Eric,
Thanks for reading and getting in touch! We’ve done a bit of research on what other people had done with insulation, and there were a few (unscientific) conclusions we came to for ourselves: 1) There is a ton of exposed metal and windows that conduct heat, so there is a limitation to what insulation can do for the van. 2) Most of the floor would be covered by our bed construction, plenty of insulation there. 3) A lot of people miss some part of the van when insulating (the cab ceiling, exposed metal parts, windows, rear doors, screws / metal parts that touch the van body, etc.), but go overboard on insulating only part of the van. 3) As there was no real information on effectiveness, we wanted to keep it simple (and non-toxic). 4) We typically keep a vent open at night for oxygen, so the air flow voids much of the insulation as well.
As for your questions: We used only denim on the side walls (3.5″ R13, you’re correct). We didn’t add Reflectix, which we’ve seen other people do. As for the vapor barrier, we used 4mil plastic sheeting, and clear Gorilla tape to attach it to the metal surfaces and seal the insulation. For the ceiling, we used 2 layers of 3/4″ foam, as the ribs on the roof leave about 1.5″ space. It’s really easy to work with, you can just cut it into the right shape with a knife and tape it to the body of the van. We didn’t get around to insulating the driving cab, although it was on the list of things we wanted to do initially.
Sleeping with 2 people in the van, we’ve never really had huge issues with temperatures dropping too much overnight (and we’ve experienced outside temperatures of 10-20 degrees). Whether this is a function of 2 bodies heating up the inside of the van or the insulation we’ve used, we’re not quite sure. What we’ve found is that low temperatures have been less of an issue than staying cool in hot areas. We definitely wouldn’t spend too much time on the insulation in hindsight, for the limitations mentioned above.
Let us know if you’re interested in more information – maybe shoot us an email (sprintervandiaries (at) gmail).