Paneling a passenger van

[jillbobill]

I've seen all the blissfully simple-looking paneling photos and tutorials floating around the internet -- and they all look simple. <br><ul><li>Cut panels to fit between the joists naturally&nbsp;occurring&nbsp;in the van.</li><li>Attach with furring strips.</li><li>Sip margarita.&nbsp;</li></ul>But my van was a passenger van, not a cargo van in its last life and not only do I not have regularly occurring joists. But I do have windows (a pain) and an irregular surface inside. Seen here:&nbsp;<br><br><br><br>So, my trouble is.... The foam insulation panels I bought are too rigid to 'smoosh' into the crevices and even if I did find a way, there's no way we could panel smoothly over with wood without losing valuable inches (around 4-5" overall) in width.&nbsp;<br><br>So, looking at alternatives... The only thing I came up with overnight was to switch the hard foam for smooshy denim/recycled insulation and 'panel' it with *GULP* some sort of laminate flooring that's&nbsp;malleable&nbsp;and can be smooshed/smoothed over and screwed and/or glued into place. It's not a horrible idea, but then I'm stuck with tacky flooring for walls.&nbsp;<br><br>I guess it beats carpeting.&nbsp;<br><br>But I'm open to ideas!&nbsp;

 

[wrcsixeight]

You can make small slices in the back side of foam panels to get them to bend into areas. &nbsp;As long as the gaps that open up in the insulation are dead air space the insulative properties are maintained. &nbsp;You can ensure this by taping over the opened gaps before installation with Nashua Flexfix tape, which is just a good tape to have anyway.<br><br><br><br>I have very light insulation on my Walls. &nbsp;I Sleep side to side and did not want to lose any head/foot room to insulation. &nbsp;It is my Black conversion Van windows which radiate the most summertime heat to my interior. &nbsp;I just made some 3 piece quadruple layered cardboard panels to tightly wedge inside the window frames with a black side out( I used black construction paper) , and my former curtains adhered to the inside of them. &nbsp;No light gets past and they are easy to remove entirely to let varying degrees of light inside when wanted.<br><br>These newly fabricated window panels, according to my IR thermometer, stay cooler than one layer of cardboard covered by two layers of Reflectix that I use in my smaller windows on the doors.<br><br><br>

 

[MrNoodly]

You might get a case or more of spray can insulation -- the kind you're supposed to use to seal air leaks around windows, pipes, etc. The tube nozzle on them can fit through all those holes that were used to attach interior panels and stuff. Fill up the cavities between the inner and outer walls. Start at the bottom and work your way up. Cut off whatever oozes to places you don't want. You'd get insulation without losing any room.<br><br>You can do the same with the channels above and between the windows, the door frames and the roof cross braces.

 

[wrcsixeight]

Spray foam might eat the paint, and trap moisture and rot the body from the inside out.<br><br>I wish I remained ignorant of its presence. &nbsp;it contributed greatly to my roof gutter and windshield rust.<br><br>

 

[MrNoodly]

Thanks for that info. Ignore what I wrote above.

 

[coultergeist]

I used a product called NRP when I covered my windows on my E350 passenger van.&nbsp; It will also be used to cover the sidewalls once I get the insulation installed there.<br><br>Basically, it is a thin textured white plastic sheet that is the same size as a full size piece of plywood.&nbsp; It is easy to cut.&nbsp; I cut mine with a good pair of scissors.&nbsp; It is also very flexible and can be bent to fit pretty much any shape.&nbsp; One side is flat, the other is textured.&nbsp; <br><br>I have how I did my windows with it in my conversion post, but basically, this is it.&nbsp; I cut reflectix to fit each window.&nbsp; I then covered them with two layers of black weed control fabric so the reflectix couldn't be seen through the window from outside.&nbsp; I then cut NRP pieces to cover the inside of the window.&nbsp; My van has studs with nuts on them that hold the windows in place.&nbsp; I drilled holes where each of the studs were in the NRP pieces.&nbsp; To install I then put the reflectix panels in the window first and then the NRP panel on afterwards and used the original nuts to hold it on.&nbsp; Blacked the windows out completely and insulated them at the same time.&nbsp; It took a bit of time, but it worked out really well.<br><br>There is also another type of panel material called FRP.&nbsp; It is basically the same thing except it has fiberglass as part of its mixture and is a bit stiffer and not nearly as flexible.&nbsp; It is stronger.&nbsp; If you have areas that need a little more strength and don't need much of a bend&nbsp;then it would probably be better.&nbsp; It looks almost identical and only costs a few dollars more per sheet.&nbsp; It is harder to cut.&nbsp; You will probably have to use a jigsaw with it.<br><br>Both types of sheeting are carried at my local Lowes in the paneling area.&nbsp; I'm sure most other home improvement type stores will carry it too.

 

[jillbobill]

The windows are already tinted, insulated and covered so I'm not worried about them at this point. I just have to remember not to screw into them, haha<br><br>My new plan is this....&nbsp;<br><br>Recycled denim insulation packed into and pressed around the contours of the interior and secured with tape because tape is turning out to be cheap and easy. Then I'll cover over that with this stuff....&nbsp;<a href="http://www.lowes.com/pd_72405-44905-688840_4294715699__?productId=3436816&amp;Ns=p_product_price|1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.lowes.com/pd_72405-44905-688840_4294715699__?productId=3436816&amp;Ns=p_product_price|1</a>&nbsp;it's like a flexi-bendy white plastic meant for bathroom walls. I'll drill it down with lengths of molding or something (like thin chair rail?) so it looks sort of nice. If I was even a decent carpenter, I'd give a crack at covering the walls in custom cut/fit bits of wood and paneling, but there's no way.&nbsp;

 

[jillbobill]

I understand being concerned about mildew and water damage, but... what's the big deal? The van doesn't leak. There is no exterior rust. I live in AridZona (haha, get it?) and they're right when they say it's a dry heat. I'm more worried about getting sand in the van than water, honestly. So, why would it be any different than, say, putting carpet floormats in a regular car? Surely a carpet floormat retains water, but I've never heard anyone fixate on it like I've read folks fixating on water and insulation and vapor barriers on this forum. There must be a good reason for this. What am I missing?&nbsp;

 

[jillbobill]

AH! I see - a very nice description of the problem. Thank you so much for helping me! I've camped in autos before (my SUV before the van, namely) and I know exactly what you're referring to. Do you find that fans/vents work to help this? Obviously, I didn't have a FanTastic Fan <img src="/images/boards/smilies/wink.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"> in my SUV.&nbsp;

 

[jillbobill]

WOW THIS WAS A BAD IDEA. omg, guys, why didn't you warn me? Haha, gads! I returned it all this morning and am back to the foam sheets.&nbsp;

 

[jillbobill]

Wow, openminds, think you misunderstood. I understand what you were saying and thanked you in post #11. I returned it all because a) the insulation was too deep/fat; b) the wall material was ungainly and HEAVY and c) everything you mentioned above.