Van Insulation Guide and Tips

Insulating your van is usually one of the first steps in converting a transport vehicle into a campervan. In addition to sound insulation, insulation ensures a good indoor climate. In winter, it stays warm longer, and in summer, you won't immediately suffer from the heat.

Anyone can do the work themselves, even if it can be a bit tedious at times. With time and patience, it can be done without major problems, and the best part is that not much is needed, and the work can be done entirely indoors.

Vanstudio has gathered the necessary materials, work steps, and some helpful tips here.

 

Required Materials & Tools:

- Cleaning agent

- Insulation material

- Adhesive tape

- Knife

- or, even easier: Everything in a set

(Protective equipment: Possibly gloves & respiratory protection when using cleaning agent)

 

Step 1: Preparation and Planning

Start with thorough planning. How big is your van, and how much material do you need?

At Vanstudio, we rely on our partner Vanue. Vanue is part of "Der Isolierprofi" (The Insulation Professional), a specialist retailer for quality insulation with over 20 years of industry experience. The products are specially designed for use in campervans, motorhomes, etc., and are manufactured in Germany.

The nice thing is: Vanue offers practical complete sets that eliminate the tedious task of putting together all individual parts.

As a rule of thumb:

Small vans like VW T5/6 or Mercedes V-Class can use a Set S. If high roofs are installed, the Set M is suitable.

Vehicles like the VW Crafter, MAN TGE, or Mercedes Sprinter up to L2H2 are also well served with the Set M.

For all larger vehicles, there are also Sets L and even XL.

Click here to go directly to the selection.

 

Besides the required quantity, the question of material thickness, i.e., how thick the insulation boards should be, also arises. Thicker boards insulate better but are less flexible and somewhat more difficult to process or may not fit in depth between the body and interior trim.

A thickness of 19mm has become standard, but thicker boards are also possible.

 

Step 2: Cleaning and Preparation

Thoroughly clean the interior of your van to create a clean work surface. Remove dirt, dust, and loose debris. Also, check for existing damage, such as rust spots, cracks, or similar, and repair them before insulating your camper. Once the insulation is installed, you ideally don't want to have to remove it again. If you want to install additional windows, rear extensions, or similar, now is the best time.

You should also start thinking about where you want to run electrical cables later. This topic is unfortunately often overlooked or considered too late. It is recommended to lay at least one empty conduit along the length of the vehicle to be able to wire the various consumers later. It is best to sketch a floor plan of the vehicle with the conversion and draw a wiring diagram. We speak from experience when we say that this will save you a lot of work and nerves in the end.

Generally, for all surfaces that are to be glued: Clean, grease-free, dry.

After the basic cleaning, the surfaces are cleaned and degreased. For this, we recommend this special cleaner.

The insulation material is glued, so the surface must be as clean as possible. The sets include the appropriate special cleaner; it's best to always have it handy in case you need to make adjustments during the work.

 

Step 3: Insulating the Walls and Roof

Start with the insulation of the walls and roof of your van. (Generally, it doesn't really matter whether you start at the top or bottom. Experience shows that it's a welcome change to work squatting and standing alternately.)

Cut the insulation material to size and remove the film from the self-adhesive side.

It is worth working very precisely when cutting the panels. The easiest way is to hold the panel in place and make a superficial cut. Using the resulting mark, you can then cut accurately on the vehicle floor. The more comprehensively the outer walls are covered, the fewer thermal bridges remain. This is the best way to prevent the formation of condensation, so your van will not "sweat" later.

Caution, especially with large surfaces, it is usually easier to only peel off the film from one corner and lightly fix the panel. Then carefully position it and, with one hand behind the panel, peel off the film piece by piece, while pressing the now adhesive surface against the body with your second hand from the front. This ensures that the cut panel fits perfectly. Because once it's glued, you can't reposition it.

Especially small areas near the wheel arches or those covered by sheet metal are sometimes difficult to reach. With a little patience, you'll manage well, and here too, we can recommend from experience that a large, simple area is a good change of pace. Divide the steps as sensibly as possible so that you can alternate between standing, bending, large, and small areas.

 

Step 4: Insulating the Floor

The floor and also the ceiling present another challenge: they are not flat. The floor of a transport vehicle is "corrugated," and the ceiling also has cross braces.

There are different philosophies for solving this problem:

Some only insulate the depressions before attaching their interior lining later. This creates obvious thermal bridges in your motorhome, as there is no insulation layer between the body and the living space in some places. We advise against this approach.

Alternatively, the insulation material can be laid over the waves, sills, and struts. This eliminates thermal bridges, which is good. On the other hand, in the case of the floor, cargo may exert pressure on the raised areas, potentially causing additional stress at these points.

Therefore, many use the third option and fill in the depressions to create a flat surface on which a complete insulation can then be applied.

Whether the localized stress is a serious problem cannot be answered universally. We can only strongly recommend insulating the entire surface to minimize thermal bridges in the end.

Step 5: The very small corners, edges, and transitions

There will always be small corners and edges that cannot be properly insulated. Due to the special shapes of vehicle bodies, this is unavoidable. Some areas can still be improved with the help of suitable adhesive tape.

We repeatedly hear that small corners and sills, for example, could be insulated with expanding foam. We strongly advise against this. Construction foam is not intended for insulation in a motorhome and should not be used here. Furthermore, it is extremely flammable and impairs repairs, for example, after accident damage.

 

Step 6: Inspection

Finally, check whether all surfaces are insulated as well as possible and whether the insulation holds well. As mentioned at the beginning, solid preparation, i.e., thorough cleaning of the surfaces, is important here.

 

Done! Your campervan should now be insulated, and the change will be immediately noticeable in the space, even if the insulation will naturally no longer be visible later. You will find that this work is really worthwhile: the van sounds different and also feels a bit different. Sometimes it initially smells a bit different too. However, the materials used air out quickly, no worries. With good insulation, you create a pleasant climate and permanently increase the quality of living.

If you have any further questions about insulating your campervan or ordering insulation materials, please feel free to contact us here.

We also welcome your feedback; please use the comment function below.

Good luck with the next steps of your campervan conversion!