Lesson #1: those white coolers are not Styrofoam<tm>
Styrofoam is Extruded PolyStyrene (XPS), the blue foam board. R-5.
The white stuff we in America call styrofoam (like coolers made or those little round squishy pearls) is
Expanded Polystyrene (EPS). R4.8.
Lesson #2: 2" foam is PITA to cut with a razorknife
I didn't start out with 2" on purpose. My original intent was 1" of polyiso on the roof and 1/2" on the walls. But the cheeep 2" XPS landed in my lap so I bought 3 sheets. It took much longer to cut than the .5" I'd been working with thus far, as I had to cut each side.
Lesson #3: but it's easy to cut with a jigsaw
All the razorknife action was slowing me down so I considered a skil saw. Or jig saw. I started with the jig saw thinking it would cause less fluffy blue shrapnel all over my yard.
It works
great. The sawblade is a little too short and beats up the bottom a bit, but dragging a finger along the rough edge cleans it up.
Lesson #3: Alex Plus and Liquid Nails for Projects vs. polyiso and XPS
Both of these seem to work find. I put a blob on both foams (bare, no facing) and they adhered nicely overnight with no apparent damage to the foams.
This pic is at the 2hr mark. AP on the left, LNP on the right.
I didn't take any pics the next morning but there was no change, other than the stuff drying. AP went on with a medium-thin consistency and dried semi-flexible. LNP went on much thicker (like Colgate toothpaste?) and dried hard.
Lesson #4: a carpenter's square is pretty cool
I'd seen them but had never used one. I have an orance plastic cheapie that I'm still learning with. Already saving me time extending out measured lines, etc. This first few minutes of
YT vid got me started.
Lesson #5: simpler cuts make insulation installs easier and sturdier
I was trying to account for small irregularities in wall/ceiling surfaces (like where two pieces of sheet metal are welded togther) is by cutting sections out of the foam. This was annoying and time consuming. I realized later I can quickly cut the foam to fit the largest contiguous flat space and bridge the empty spots later.
On the left was some of my prior attempts to shape the foam. On the right I just cut it to fit the flat spot and will bridge the area between them easily.
BTW that black piece coming out of the hole is a ziptie, not a wire. I put it there to support a junction block I was gluing up until it dried, then forgot to remove it until I saw this pic.
Lesson #6: ceiling insulation doesn't have to be propped up from the floor
It was easier and faster to hold them up with a bungie and some spacers. Need more bungies!
This and that
1/4" lauan or similar will go over the insulation. Even with all that and the floor there is about three fingers of headroom left when wearing shoes.
Since it has started to cool off me and the furbabies slept in the van last night for the first time. It was just in the driveway but I felt so grateful. I love this van!
The opportunity circuit is working as designed.
- When house power comes up to ~13v a ~45min timer is triggered; this allows the controller to get well into Absorption.
- When the timer expires the opportunity circuit is energized .
- If the system drops to 12.7v (sundown, heavy loads, etc) the circuit turns off again.
Must go to bed. It is 4 hrs past my bedtime... have to get up at 2am for work.
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