SPRAY FOAM INSULATION

[Millie Master]

Almost without question, the best kind of insulation to be installed into any panel van or even lorry conversion is closed cell spray foam.

You can by DIY kits that several people I know of have used including @Kermavio who lives over in France, however these kits are expensive and the onus for getting the application correct is entirely on the shoulders of the persons doing the insulation and it isn't easy. As such the very vast majority of people who decide to go down the spray foam route end up going to time honoured professionals.

Arguably one of the most experienced of all these professionals in the UK is Adam at MPI Insulations, Church Street, Westhoughton, Bolton, Lancs. BL5 3QW
Tel: (01942) 811839 http://www.mpinsulations.co.uk/

When I was a member of the SBMCC I had 'Millie' treated by Adam and have never regretted it as it works so very well, keeping you toasty warm in winter months and cool in the summer months as well.
You will notice from the photograph below that I didn't have the floor done, my reason being the kind of layout/construction I had planned.

 

[Darcar]

Looks great after a little bit of cutting back!
Darcar.

 

[trevskoda]

When the floor pan rusts how are folk going to weld without a complete strip down in a panel van

 

[Millie Master]

Looks great after a little bit of cutting back!
Darcar.

Most especially the roof and that was hell to do!!

 

[Millie Master]

When the floor pan rusts how are folk going to weld without a complete strip down in a panel van

In the first instance Trev you buy a van that doesn't rust, or if you do own a van that is known to rust then you thoroughly treat and coat all of the dreaded stuff prior to applying the spray foam.

 

[trevskoda]

In the first instance Trev you buy a van that doesn't rust, or if you do own a van that is known to rust then you thoroughly treat and coat all of the dreaded stuff prior to applying the spray foam.

Most vans here are clean rotten after 4/5 years,must be the damp and we are close to the sea,as a rule irish folk dont look after things and at 3/4 years vans cars are in poor shape ,never serviced once out of warrenty and dented so bad you would think they had been to a stock car raceway,many folk here go to scotland/england to buy used as they seem to look after things better.

 

[wildebus]

Most vans here are clean rotten after 4/5 years,must be the damp and we are close to the sea,as a rule irish folk dont look after things and at 3/4 years vans cars are in poor shape ,never serviced once out of warrenty and dented so bad you would think they had been to a stock car raceway,many folk here go to scotland/england to buy used as they seem to look after things better.

England much better bet then Scotland as well.
Bought two older cars that spent their life here in the Borders. Superfically they looked fine (one looked totally brilliant). Both very poor underneath. The last one used to shed rust flakes every time the door was slammed shut. Sold after 6 months as had enough of bits just falling off (where I am, the car brakes are always an MOT advisory as they just have constant rust coatings on the discs. One garage owner I know says he just replaces his MILs Discs once a year before the MOT as she doesn't use the car much).

 

[Darcar]

When the floor pan rusts how are folk going to weld without a complete strip down in a panel van

Whatever insulation you use you’d have to remove it before welding! So scraping off the foam isn’t much more work! After you have ripped out all your fixtures and fittings.
Darren

 

[wilfthevan]

Almost without question, the best kind of insulation to be installed into any panel van or even lorry conversion is closed cell spray foam.

You can by DIY kits that several people I know of have used including @Kermavio who lives over in France, however these kits are expensive and the onus for getting the application correct is entirely on the shoulders of the persons doing the insulation and it isn't easy. As such the very vast majority of people who decide to go down the spray foam route end up going to time honoured professionals.

Arguably one of the most experienced of all these professionals in the UK is Adam at MPI Insulations, Church Street, Westhoughton, Bolton, Lancs. BL5 3QW
Tel: (01942) 811839 http://www.mpinsulations.co.uk/

When I was a member of the SBMCC I had 'Millie' treated by Adam and have never regretted it as it works so very well, keeping you toasty warm in winter months and cool in the summer months as well.
You will notice from the photograph below that I didn't have the floor done, my reason being the kind of layout/construction I had planned.

View attachment 807View attachment 807

Hi, thanks for the post and the foam looks great!

We are also wanting to get our van spray foam insulated, but we are based in London and wold prefer to avoid the trip up to Bolton if possible. Do you know of anywhere in London or Bristol offering this service? If not, how did you go about finding these guys? We are hitting a large minimum cost with most of the spray foam providers.

Louise

 

[Millie Master]

Do you know of anywhere in London or Bristol offering this service?

Louise

Sorry Louise I can't give you the name of an individual company, however I have just done a search and you might find a suitable company from this site http://www.canaljunction.com/boat/insulation.htm

The one thing that you should look for when looking at any of their websites is how smooth the finished product is, the reason why I say this is that I know that properly and expertly applied, it is possible to get quite a smooth finish and that can only be achieved if the person doing the spraying regularly checks the temperature of the solvents as well as only giving the faintest misting with each and every pass of the spray gun.

If you do end up with a lumpy to very lumpy finish, then I can assure you it is a right royal and messy pain cutting it back to achieve suitable clearance for all the wall and ceiling panels.

Here below is an image of me suitably togged up (but in this pic. not showing the goggles, face mask or hood) when I was in the process of cutting my foam back, I hated it!!

Phil

 

[Squiffy]

Without putting a damper on the idea, there are a few drawbacks with spray foam price being not the least one, the other is the clean up after spray it can be horrendous as it gets everywhere and unless you mask absolutely everything that does not require spraying you will be in for a major head ache and sure as hell the guys that do the spraying aren't going to mask it up for you if they do I can almost guarantee they will not mask it to any great standard, unless you pay well for the privilege that is. Another drawback is if you are unlucky enough to have a prang and any welding is required the work to strip out the spray foam is long and laborious as opposed to pulling out sheets of builders insulation in one quick manoeuvre. Just saying . Phil and I have had this conversation on other sites and I know we will never agree on it. Phil

 

[Millie Master]

Phil and I have had this conversation on other sites and I know we will never agree on it. Phil

You're not wrong there Phil, but having now found the Sheffield based One Insulation, I now know for a fact that correctly applied there is next to no need to do any cleaning up after they have carried out the work as they are that good!

Phil

 

[Squiffy]

You're not wrong there Phil, but having now found the Sheffield based One Insulation, I now know for a fact that correctly applied there is next to no need to do any cleaning up after they have carried out the work as they are that good!

Phil

It could be Phil that now more and more folk are building their own, these insulation companies have realised that there is profit in spraying insulation for self builders and have improved their standards because of the complaints of excessive clean up in the early days was putting folk off and losing these companies money. Phil

 

[wilfthevan]

Thanks Phil and Phil! Great to get both of your thoughts