Title: Insulating Your Van: Everything You Need to Know for Your DIY Van Build
Headings: Insulating Your Van: Everything You Need to Know for Your DIY Van Build
Insulating Your Van: Everything You Need to Know for Your DIY Van Build
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Best Van Insulation
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Heat Transfer and Insulation: What You Should Know for Your Van Conversion
Radiation is heat transferred through air or a vacuum – think of the heat radiating from the sun, passing through the atmosphere, and warming your skin.
Conduction is heat transferred through solid surfaces – think of when you touch a hot cast iron skillet and burn your hand.
Convection is how heat moves through a liquid or gas (like the air in your van) – think of warmer air rising to the ceiling while cooler air sinks to the floor.
Insulation slows the rate of heat transfer into and out of your van, which makes it easier to maintain the temperature you want.
A thermal bridge is an area that has greater thermal conductivity than the materials around it, providing an avenue for heat to pass through.
Super Detailed Rundown of Common Insulation Materials (Plus an Informative Chart!)
Havelock Wool Sheep’s Wool Insulation
Reflectix (and Other Radiant Barriers)
Polyisocyanurate (Polyiso) Foam Board
Extruded Polystyrene (XPS) Foam Board
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) Foam Board
Closed-Cell Spray Foam
Fiberglass Batts
Rock Wool Batts
Recycled Denim Batts
3M Thinsulate
Lizard Skin and Other “Insulating” Ceramic Paints
Van Build Insulation: What We Recommend
Best Van Insulation
Here’s How We Recommend Insulating Your Van:
How much does it cost to insulate your van?
Warning About Reflectix
Do You Need a Vapor Barrier?
Why You Need Proper Ventilation in Your Van
Best Vent Fan
Don’t Forget the Windows!
Badass Upgrade
What About Sound Deadening?
Best Vanlife Sound Deadener
Insulating for Different Climates
Insulating for Extreme Cold: More R-Value and Less Thermal Bridging
Insulating For Extreme Heat: Active Ventilation and Reflective Window Coverings
Insulating Your Van: Step-by-Step
And There You Have It! A Fully-Insulated Van!
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Content: Every insulation material has an R-value, which is a measure of the material’s Resistance to heat transfer. The higher the R-value, the better it’s able to resist heat transfer via conduction. A thermal bridge is an area that has greater thermal conductivity than the materials around it, providing an avenue for heat to pass through. When you stuff insulation between your van’s frame ribs but don’t do anything to the ribs themselves, the frame then becomes a thermal bridge. Heat can conduct inside your van through the exposed frame much more easily than it can through the insulated areas. This thermal bridge reduces the overall effectiveness of your insulation, since heat can go around it to a certain extent. Some insulation is always better than no insulation, and an insulated van with some thermal bridging is much more resistant to heat transfer than a van with no insulation at all. Insulating inside your van’s hollow frame can help reduce the effect of thermal bridging. If you spend a lot of time in very cold weather, it might be a good idea to put up thermal breaks, which are basically non-conductive materials (i.e. insulation) placed in the pathway of a thermal bridge to block the flow of heat. If you put up additional insulation on top of your van’s ribs, that would be a thermal break.