Leaderboard

I agree with jrm223 about the Reflectix, I've seen many people using it wrong. It works great in an attic where you would lay the sheets over the existing insulation and it reflects heat away from the living space. The foam boards were an option for me but I wanted to avoid the possible noise it would create vibrating against the steel exterior. Plus it's very difficult to get the foam board into the many voids of the body. Spray foam was also an option but I didn't want to risk spraying too much in and bulging out the exterior, I did this on my boat, under the 1/8 aluminum bench seats and it bulged it out. Maybe the window and door foam would be okay. The other option was fiberglass insulation which I wasn't crazy about because I HATE working with that stuff and it puts out fibers into the air. Even though I had plans to completely cover it with panels, I was still concerned about the fibers finding their way out around the edges. Then I discovered 3M makes rolls of Thinsulate. The same stuff that's used in clothing but in 5 foot by however long rolls you want. This stuff was designed for exactly what we wanted to accomplish, excellent r-value, noise reduction, moisture resistance, and no dust fibers. I believe they use this stuff on boats as well. It is a bit pricey but worth it IMO. You can push it into all the voids and for the long runs on the roof and sides, you can use the 3M spray adhesive to help keep it from sagging. It comes in different thicknesses, I used the thickest version, the 600 https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/company-us/all-3m-products/~/3M-Thinsulate-Acoustic-Insulation-SM600L/?N=5002385+3292659035&rt=rud On a side note, I also used sound deadening black butyl on the exterior sheet metal. This stuff reduces vibration, not necessarily road noise. The insulation will lessen the road noise, it's two different types of sound deadening and used in conjunction it's brilliant. When you apply the butyl, you only need to cover 25% of the area you are trying to sound deaden. Past the 25-35% coverage results in reduced returns, more weight, more work, and more cost. If you decide to go the 100% coverage route, it will definitely reduce more sound but not by much. My main concern was weight. My initial plan was to put 72 sq ft of that stuff on, so I ordered 2 boxes. When I felt the weight of just 1 box, I realized how much weight I was adding, so I cut it back especially after learning about reduced returns. Most of my research on sound deadening was done on car audio sites. If you start tearing your van apart, you will see the factory butyl sheets. I always wondered why they didn't cover the whole thing, now I know. You are just trying to add mass to the metal panel. More mass requires more energy to vibrate it.