Insulating a Campervan | Transit Van Conversion E06
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- Опубліковано 20 кві 2021
- It's time to start insulating our van! For our van insulation we're using a combination of Thermafleece SupaSoft and Xtratherm PIR boards (which is the same as Celotex and Kingspan).
We spent some time researching the most efficient camper van insulation, so it stays cool in Summer and warm in Winter. It's a bit of a minefield with so many choices out there!
We decided to go with Xtratherm PIR for the large cavities in the van walls as well as the ceiling, and the Thermafleece SupaSoft for the smaller areas. The SupaSoft was really nice to work with, like a nice fluffy duvet! It did take a while to cut though... but nothing compared to how long it took to shape the pieces of foam board for the random shapes in the van! We definitely underestimated how much of an involved job that would be (how hard is it to cut a few square (ha!) bits of foam!?).
Thanks for watching! What insulation did you use in your van? Let us know below!
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Products used in this video (includes affiliate links *):
↠ Thermafleece SupaSoft - www.celticsustainables.co.uk/...
↠ 50mm Xtratherm PIR Board - bought locally
↠ 25mm Xtratherm PIR Board - bought locally
↠ Insulation Stick Pins 90mm - ebay.us/ShO2W5
↠ Insulation Stick Pins 110mm - ebay.us/piQ1vS
↠ Thermo Van Liner - ebay.us/M8URnV
↠ Aluminium Foil Tape - geni.us/JEe1AIv (Amazon)
* Disclaimer: Some of the links above may be affiliate links. If you choose to click on them we may earn a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
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All our videos are for entertainment and show our process of converting our campervan. They're not intended to be tutorials and we may make mistakes along the way, so always do your own research and if in doubt about anything then make sure to get advice from a suitable professional
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#vanconversion #campervanconversion #vanlifeuk
Super duper videos, I can't thank you enough. Clever little tips you mention like making some parts of the cladding able to pop out for future needs of reaching the electrics are so valuable. There's something particularly unique about your videos over others that are very clear and understandable. 🤩
Thank you very much, glad you think so 😊 That removable panel has been useful several times already!
PIR board arriving today, and this video was excellent in giving some top tips and methods, thank you so much. Main thing I obviously need is….TIME!!
You're welcome! And yeah, took a deceptively long time to do all the insulation, especially with a Jumbo van. Appreciate it now though, with the heater on it gets warm in no time and retains its heat pretty well. Had it 25C inside today to dry some things 😛
The patience of you 2 is inspiring! 😍
Thanks :) You have to have some level of patience with this project (we do lose it with the weather sometimes... 😅)
since starting our build, i have a whole new respect for such a tidy job. well done. thanks for the video. p.s. love the house shoes❤
Haha, thanks! Glad you enjoyed it 😊 Took a while but we're happy with the result. What vehicle are you converting?
Another great video, well done both of you. That cold weather certainly must have been a challenge. Great to see you keeping your spirits up as it was clearly a very slow process. Looking forward to the next installment👍
Yes it was! Spring has made everything a lot easier 🙂
So informative guys Thankyou.
You're welcome 🙂
I really enjoy your videos.
Thank you, glad you like them! 😊
Buen vídeo pareja 👌🏻
Mucho animo con esa camperizacion
Saludos desde España 💪🏻
Thank you 🙂 Greetings from UK!
Well done
Thanks 😁
Great series guys, we are following many including yourselves and one reason we enjoy your videos is because you are both so happy and calm. There's no pushing products and sponsorships. But I guess each to their own. What's your plans for heating. I want trauma having had the system in a brand new motorhome, but I'm likely to use a Chinese heater and. Bobil system for hot water for our shower. If it's your path a 5kw is the most reliable, I've an 8kw in my double garage and it's quick toasty and worth the money
Thank you 🙂We try to have a sense of humour and just get on with as it's such a big project, it can get a bit daunting sometimes! And it does get frustrating sometimes too (like the window leaking... 🙄). Yeah we're going to be using the Bobil kits paired with a Chinese diesel heater, hopefully not too far away from that now, which will be very welcome with how cold it is out there!
Love your videos - they are highly inspirational! 🙂
The challenges of doing this in cold, damp weather are more than obvious. Do you have any concerns about "locking in" some of that moisture in behind the insulation after you apply your vapour barrier?
Probably a little late to ask as you more than likely will have further advanced in your build (videos tend to lag a little behind schedule 😉)...
We've just did a basic clean in the cab and cargo area and removed the inside panels on our crafter. There we luckily found no rust, just what looks like a factory wax treatment about 6 inches from the bottom up. The biggest challenge yet will be the removal of the airline tiedown tracks on the frame rails as they are riveted AND glued. 🙄 🙈
Keep it up! You're getting there! 🙂
Thank you! Yes we've realised we underestimated how much Winter changes things if you're doing everything outside 😯 We're actually not putting in a vapour barrier, we're of the view that moisture laden air will inevitably find cold surfaces in the van so are concentrating more on ventilation instead and choosing insulation materials that are hydrophobic. We've already experienced water in the pillars and seen how many possible areas there are for moisture to find it's way in through roof/door/wall seals and things like that, so we're planning to allow that moisture to dry and vent and not be sandwiched between two barriers (the metal of the van, and any second one we added).
Glad to hear your conversion is starting well! No rust is a good feeling, ours was great on that front too. Good luck on removing those tiedown racks! One thing we've learnt so far is that everything takes so much longer than we thought it would... and yes that includes editing videos, so they do lag behind a bit... slowly catching up! 😀
So surreal watching, we're having a terrible time insulating all around the windows though as ours is a Transit Minibus. We used sheep's wool for stuffing the crevices. interesting the slightly different approach, but can't get over how neat yours is!
Yeah we can imagine it being a bit tricky with so many windows! Are you keeping them all or are you going to be covering some up? And thanks! Hoping that putting in the effort in the details now will be worth it in the long run... :P
We hope so too! Keeping all the windows but tinting as some will be obscured by the bed etc so it helps with privacy and not looking a mess from the outside.
Hi both - absolutely fantastic set of videos you’re both awesome!! We’re at the very early stages of starting our conversion and wondered why you didn’t use any screws to supplement the glue on the flooring batons? … and, we’re considering using the white fluffy insulation on the walls too - just haven’t got your patience👏 - curious as to what made you use the firm insulation board instead? Many many thanks for your efforts!!
Cheers! Glad you think so 🙂 We didn't want to use screws because one of the first things we did was fill all the existing screw holes that were in the van floor from the original ply that was in there, and there was a lot! We figured we'd rather have it screw-less to avoid any chance of rust where the holes were. We haven't had any problems using just the sikaflex, everything has stayed down completely firm. And the rigid PIR board has better thermal properties than the fluffy recycled plastic bottle (about twice the R value for the same thickness). So we used that for the big flat areas, and the fluffy stuff for the awkward cavities. The fluffy stuff worked great being tucked in everywhere and didn't even need any glue or anything to hold it in place. We just cut it and stuffed it in, and with the heater on, the van gets very nice and toasty 🙂
Hey, great video guys. What was the reason for using both 90mm and 110mm pinsticks?
Cheers :) And because of the curvy nature of the Transit in some of the places with the thick 50mm rigit board pressed into the cavities the 90mm ones weren't really long enough to reach from the van metal and actually poke out enough to be secured. Knowing that we'd have probably just got the long ones for everywhere, as you can easily bend them down/cut them if too long but can't use them if they're too short 👍
Hi guys. Love your channel. Were just starting our van build and wondered how much dodo sound deadening you ordered?
Hiya, we ordered a roll of 5.83m x 0.6m. Good luck with the build! 🙂👍
Great job! Your videos are superb.
I've got the same Transit but MWB version. That roof is so high I had to hire a tower scaffold to do the roof fan! Haha.
I'm just about to insulate the walls and ceiling and wondered how much 'fluffy insulation' did you get through? Do you remember which thickness you used?
Haha, yeah it's not our favourite job to be on the top of ladders doing anything on the roof! We just went up recently to add some more sealant up there, and we're mostly parked on a slope too so securing a ladder is interesting sometimes 😀 We used the 10cm thick Thermafleece SupaSoft, which came in rolls of 59x500cm. We used three rolls in total, which was enough for putting it in every exposed awkward shape cavity including the rear and sliding doors. 10cm was a pretty great thickness as we found we could stuff it into each recess and it stays in place with no fixing/glue etc. One thing we'd probably change if we were doing it again though would be to use slightly thinner PIR board on the ceiling. We used 50mm and it made it trickier later on when we were doing the ceiling as in some places because of the curve of the roof it protruded lower than the metal struts. If we'd used 40mm it would have been a lot easier we think 😛
@@SelfBuiltStories Hey guys absolutely love your videos! I'm about to convert the same model van, I was just wondering how many PIR boards did you use? I think using 40mm on the ceiling is a great idea.. thanks for all your help
All the best
@@tomwitts5640 Replied to your other comment :)
Another top video! How many rolls of super soft did you use? I am starting a build on a MWB crafter next week.
Cheers! And we used 4 rolls of the 100x590x5000mm size in the end, which was just the right amount for us. HTH 👍🙂
@Self Built Stories Hey guys absolutely love your videos! I'm about to convert the same model van, I was just wondering how many PIR boards did you use? I think using 40mm on the ceiling is a great idea.. thanks for all your help
All the best
Hey! Glad you like them 🙂 We bought 4x 50mm and 3x 25mm boards, all 2.4x1.2m. The 50s did the ceiling and the large sections of the walls, and the 25s did the floor and the bulkhead. We still have some offcuts left of the 50. And yeah if we were doing it again, 40mm on the ceiling would be a lot easier to work with as it would fit better in the recesses and still give a nice amount of insulation. Good luck with your build!
@@SelfBuiltStories Thanks so much for the information and replying! All the best guys!!
@@tomwitts5640 You're welcome :)
Hi Abi, Tim, pets - great series thank you for the information, without shame may be borrowing your layout 😂…
Wondering if I could ask what have you done for a vapour video, there looked to be one added over the insulation in one or another video, have you just added something between the studs but not interrupting your stud frame? 🙂
Haha no problem, hope it works out well for you 🙂 And after a lot of thought we decided not to install a full vapour barrier, we mentioned a bit more about why in the highlighted comment here: ua-cam.com/video/yOt27VBEeCM/v-deo.html&lc=Ugwc5sA9SzTWdYaqkl94AaABAg. Most likely what you see in the later videos is additional 8mm adhesive lined insulation which we added in some areas. We've also treated all of the wood we've used throughout (the only untreated wood in the van is the bed slats), and used hydrophobic insulation materials. There's a lot of debate about the pros and cons and we always keep an open mind, but so far we're happy and haven't had any issues
Thank you, looking foreword to the rest of the build series! 🙂
@@AlexanderRGray You're welcome 🙂
Your attention to detail and thoroughness for insulating were admirable. And entertaining! I noted, as did you, the apparent impossibility of insulating the the upper/inner portions of the rear doors. Perhaps you would consider drilling some fill and relief holes to accommodate using low expansion canned spray foam to insulate the doors. Hiding the holes afterward should pose no problem. Also, if I may, I would like to suggest that, when using a razor knife you should not draw the blade toward your body. Although it can be awkward, the safest method is to make your cuts away from your body and not toward the hand which holds the material you're attempting to cut. Following this rule of thumb just might also save your thumb one day. Truly, I am enjoying your videos and can't wait for the next one. I hope your Christmas is a merry one. Or should I say Happy Boxing Day? God bless you both. Peace.
Thank you again for your kind words 😊 We haven't tackled the insulation on top of the rear doors yet but we want to avoid spray foam so we're likely going to use some of the sticky back foam insulation we've used in some areas. We haven't got a heater in the van yet (can't wait!) but when we run a heater from the house and switch it on, it's already getting nice and toasty pretty quickly! Thanks for your suggestion too, we try to be safety conscious at all times. Merry Christmas to you! 🎄(Funnily enough it's boxing day today, so Happy Boxing Day!). Hope you're enjoying the holidays
Hi guys sorry to be late to the party just found and subbed to your channel some amazing videos,just wanted to ask how you got around fitting your upper cuboards with the wiring channel running down the drivers side to the rear Thanks
Cheers! And we found there was just enough flex to be able to raise the factory loom up towards the ceiling and get it out the way, we did it here: ua-cam.com/video/kVKTaQxFv3E/v-deo.htmlsi=c_bwUG6pJfS7e4Js&t=600 👍
thank you for the video! May I ask where you bought the spikes or what they are called? I love the idea of using them instead of adhesive
Sure, no problem! They're called insulation stick pins/hangers and we bought them on eBay. We did actually experience an annoying problem with all our insulation boards starting to fall down when we first used the pins in this video and we ended up having to redo them. We think it may have happened because it was so cold when we put them up the first time so affecting the adhesive, or perhaps we didn't use enough pins on each board. The second time we didn't want to take any chances on them coming down again so we also added some aluminium tape around the edges of the boards and used a few more pins, and it's been fine for months now like that 🙂 We used 90mm pins the first time and 110mm the second time, which were a little easier in our case
❤ if anybody still insulating Vans use those stick pins in the other direction if you're putting up reflective material it holds it in place as well
Hey Guys, thank you so much for sharing your approach, think I might do something similar. Just wondering if you did anything to combat thermal bridging from the inner most metalwork? And also, did you do anything to aid airflow behind the insulation to prevent moisture build up?
Thanks for your help!
No problem! And yeah we tried to break up the thermal bridges everywhere we could with either stretch carpet or some 8mm foil backed insulation.A lot of that we actually did later on in future videos, as we waited till we were covering up each section of wall before finishing it off, so there isn't much of the inner metalwork uncovered anywhere. Airflow wise in quite a few places there are small air gaps between the wall and the insulation behind, but we haven't done anything specifically to increase the air flow beyond that. We're trying to just be mindful of moisture and condensation with each project, so using hydrophobic materials and treating pretty much all of the wood. HTH :)
@@SelfBuiltStories Excellent advice, thanks!
@@chrisbakermusic You're welcome, good luck with your build :)
This won't be useful for you guys anymore but maybe someone else can use this tipp: If you stick Parchment Paper to the walls etc and then use the edge of a pencil, you can mark the shapes and all the little angles. You can then just stick it to the PIR boards and cut it accordingly.
Yeah we did something similar for getting the shapes for the shower, the trickiest part we found with the insulation boards was the depth of the cavity and the bevel that we needed to carve out of each piece. We could have made it easier on ourselves by just undersizing it slightly, but we figured spending a little longer to get a really snug fit would be something we'd appreciate one day when we're parked up somewhere super chilly 🥶
Thank you so much for sharing your conversion process! My partner and I are currently converting a medium wheel base transit and your videos have been so helpful. They’ve got use through mounting the solar panels and creating roof rack as you did! Working through the insulation now and curious about how many rolls of SupaSoft Insulation Therma fleece you ordered and whether it was the 100mm Thickness x 390 Width x 5000mm Length? Much appreciated 😊
You're welcome! Glad they've been helpful 😊 And we used the 10cm thickness everywhere which tucked in perfectly into all the cavities in the van. We used 4 rolls of the 100x590x5000mm size in the end, which was just the right amount for our XLWB. HTH 👍🙂
@@SelfBuiltStories That’s fab! Thanks so much 😊
You're welcome 🙂
Hey, jumping on this as it seems well linked. Really enjoyed the videos, watched them all in pretty much 3 weeks recently. Also looking to do a van soon, but would like to how many boards of what size you used please?
Just seen the answer on another comment! But glad to find a good answer!
Hey I love your videos... super informative! Can I please ask did you put up a vapor barrier? I'm battening g out my citroen but can get my head around the barrier. ThankS
Hey, cheers 🙂 And after a lot of deliberation we decided not to put one in, as we have a similar opinion to far out ride: faroutride.com/condensation-moisture-van/. We're using hydrophobic insulation materials and trying to encourage air flow and dry heat instead. We've also treated all of the wood we've used throughout (the only untreated wood in the van is the bed slats). There's a lot of debate about the pros and cons and we always keep an open mind, but so far we're happy and haven't had any issues. Good luck 👍
@@SelfBuiltStories hey! Thanks for taking the time to reply... I'm also starting to think if the van can breathe and dry out I'm probably gonna try my best but not worry too much about putting one in... thanks!
@@ioanshah9428 No problem, it's one of the areas with a lot of different opinions out there for sure. Hope the build goes well whichever way you go👍
Hello, where did you get the spikes from to hold in the insulation thank you 😊
@@buttonsplasteringnorfolkwe got them from eBay, there should be a link in the description or you can just search for 'insulation stick pins' 👍🏻
Great vids guys but won't you have a problem with condensation forming in the insulated cavities ?
Cheers :) And we deliberately choose hydrophobic insulation materials (recycled plastic bottle and PIR board) as condensation and moisture is inevitable when you're living/breathing/cooking in a van. So we went with the approach of having good ventilation and allowing the van to breath and adapt to the different climates and stress we put it through. We left some areas where we can get to the insulation behind the wall and after a couple of years now we've had no issues 👍
Hey guys, did you cover up the drainage holes in the back right corners of the floor of the van or leave them open to drain any moisture out? I don't know if it will cool the van down too much leaving them open or if they need to stay open to let water out
Hmm we tried not to cover any factory drainage holes, not sure exactly which holes you mean but there are some in the base of the pillars to the side of the back doors. Those have a rubber plug on them that we can remove from the underside of the van and drain anything out that's in there, though every time we're taken them off so far it's been dry inside anyway
In a later video, it looks like you have covered your wheel arches with a reflective material. Can I ask what it is? Is it reflectix? Or equivalent. Thanks.
Hiya, we used SuperFOIL which is basically Reflectix, just foil lined bubble wrap. Possibly doing it again we might just use. the 8mm sticky back insulation foam we've used in other places. HTH 👍
I just used the pins on my Boxer build to hold up the celotex, after a short drive 90% of them fell off, even after prepping the surface with acetone :/
How annoying! Yeah the same thing happened to us, we decided one of the biggest factors was the temperature affecting the adhesive bonding properly as it was so cold when we put them on. We redid them all when it was warmer, cleaned the surfaces with IPA, used a couple more pins on each board, and added a bit of foil tape around the edges. Haven't had any issues in 2 years after that, all held up great. In fact we just redid the backdoors and it was a bit of a mission to get them off! Good luck 👍
@SelfBuiltStories fair, it was a bit chilly (England). I used acetone to clean the surfaces prior to application. Glad to know it wasn't just me! Ended up using Sikaflex and expanding foam. To be fair at least 1 in 10 of them seemed to be practically welded on, just thr other 90% that fell off 🙃 thanks for the reply.
@@tactcom7 Yeah cold weather is the enemy of all adhesives as we've found out the hard way many times building outside in the Winter 😛We had to reglue our reversing camera bracket 3 times until we just waited till the Summer and did it then, no issues since! You're welcome and hope the rest of the build goes well 👍
Don't think I would used the insulation hangers. It seems to me that it would make a thermal bridge. I am going to use spray adhesive. Oh course I need something removable in the doors where the locks are.
They're not too bad for creating thermal bridges actually as the base has a thin layer of foam which is the sticky bit that goes against the metal, so the metal of the pin doesn't directly touch the van metal if that makes sense. They are a bit of faff to use though, and we had a few of them fall down the first time too which was annoying to redo but done again in better (warmer) conditions have had no issues since. Our walls and ceiling are also not flat and the foam boards are rigid and don't flex, so for us spray adhesive probably wouldn't have had enough surface area contact to stick well enough in those areas. Works great if you have fairly flat surfaces though, we stuck them on like that for our bulkhead wall 👍
Hi. How many rolls of Thermafleece did you use, and is it as good as you hoped? Thanks
Hey, we used 4 rolls of the 100x590x5000mm size in the end, which was just the right amount for us. And yeah it worked great, would do the same again for sure 👍🙂
Hi, what do you call the adhesive spikes for holding the insulation on the wall? trying to source some.
Hiya, they're called 'insulation stick pins' and we picked them up from eBay, there's various different lengths available there
I don’t know how cutting away the insulation “ to make it fit“ Is a good idea.
With all the shapes in the van shaping it to fit let us get in a lot more insulation than we would have otherwise 🙂👍
@@SelfBuiltStories
Yes, I understand that. I’m looking at doing a van in Canada for the winter. There’s no way that I can have any part that’s no insulation.
I would just have to build the walls out a bit more.
Thank you for response, it looks really good I’m glad that you’re happy with it
@@Ont785 No problem, and thanks 🙂
Is there a reason why you didn't use 3m thinsulate as that's a popular choice?
Hey, we looked at it but it's not readily available in the UK (mostly just found it in gloves 😛). We used 8mm adhesive lined insulation in places where we wanted something similar though
Interesting video! I'm also planning for an exact same van as yours so I'm really glad I've just found your channel to learn from you.
Did you find out where the water block is at 10:00 ? also you know the placement for the bed, could you please let me know how wide the back of the van is? the exact measurement (or estimate) between the wall panels within those sort of alcove type indent sections? - like at 13:10 the insulation board you're making for that wall panel there, half way up to the right side of that insulation board, how wide is the van inside at that point wall to wall? There's 7 small panels along the wall from the back door to the side door, 4+3 panels, I'm wondering about putting a bed between that 4-panel section, I'd keep the 3 diagonal strengthener things between the 4 panels that I'd build over. I'm contemplating using thin insulation and boarding just for there.
Thanks, we're glad you found it interesting, and it's a great van to choose! 🙂 We like how it's less boxy than some of the others, but as we experienced with this insulation the curves do make it interesting at times...
We think the water was coming in through the seal behind the rear light cluster or one of the seals on the roof, but haven't completely tracked it down yet. There is actually a drain hole right under the van in that pillar which has a plug over it (was quite dirty under there so didn't see it at first!), so we were able to drain it really easily. Just pulled out the plug and it flowed right out. We've now added some more sealant in some areas on the roof, around the existing factory holes, and behind the light so we're going to monitor it and see if any water continues to build up in there. Fingers crossed it doesn't!🤞
Sure, we've just been out to measure the width between the two walls at the back (as accurate as we can with our tape measure, there will be a bit of variance of course as it's hard to be precise with the different shapes!). So from the middle of those 4 panels at the back (i.e. measuring from the second support brace across the width to the corresponding support brace on the other side) it is:
top: 185cm, middle: 191cm, bottom: 193cm.
And the same measurements from the first support brace (nearest the rear doors) is:
top: 185cm, middle: 189cm, bottom: 192cm
So the van tapers on both axis, it's slightly wider nearer the bottom, and also nearer the middle. It's quite subtle and not too obvious just looking at it. The distance between the outer sheet metal and the top of the support ribs varies between about 8-10mm on each side (also the supports are vertical straight down not diagonal).
We also measured the distance across those 4 panels where you were thinking of the bed, so the length of that inset area. And that is roughly 134cm at the top (there's a rounded corner at the part nearest the rear doors), 137cm in the middle, and 138cm at the bottom.
We thought about minimising the insulation in that area and doing a width wise bed also, though decided to have a length way bed in the end as Tim is around 6ft2 so we thought it would still be a squeeze, definitely doable as an option though, if you are creative with how you make use of those inset areas. We might actually thin down some of the insulation on that wall but not for the bed, slightly further up the van to give more space for the shower. We're still debating that one 🙂
@@SelfBuiltStories Thanks! Gold dust info of measurements lol. I'm 6ft 5/8th's of an inch (1845mm) tall so I'll probably/hopefully be comfortable with the bed being side ways. I was hoping to get a queen size mattress for the van but it'll probably be a very tight squeeze so it might be a nightmare when changing-tucking/folding the sheets/duvet around the mattress.
Well, I'm a couple of years out yet from getting the van, got plenty of time to theorise and plan things out. Can't wait!
No problem! Cool, yeah lots of time to plan it all out then. It will be fun! 😀
Hi there! Is there a reason you chose not to spray foam it?
Hiya! We ruled out spray foam pretty early on as we didn't like how permanent it is and we wanted to be able to do it all ourselves exactly as we wanted it. We like how we were able to insulate fairly early on in the process but can still modify pretty easily if needed which we've done to cut out pieces of the insulation from the walls to make extra recesses for our shower and window frames. Sure we could cut away some spray foam too but it would be pretty messy. Spray foam would definitely have got into more places than we did so likely have a bit better thermal properties, but at the risk of buckling out some of the metal. In the end though with the choice of the supasoft and PIR board we were able to get into pretty much all of the cavities and our van feels really nicely insulated when we're in there with the heater on. We can run it on low speeds and easily and quickly have it up to 25+C so we'd go down the same route if we were doing it again. Pro's and cons to every method so just have to find what works for you, HTH! 👍🙂
@@SelfBuiltStories thank you for your insight!! I’m getting a ton of knowledge and ideas from your videos. I really appreciate them 🙏
@@tmo7984 No problem!
2 years on any issues?
Hiya, nope no issues with the insulation, it keeps the van really nice and warm with the heater running but cool in the Summer too so very happy. The only thing we'd probably do differently if we were to do it again would be to only use 40mm not 50mm PIR board on the ceiling, just because that extra depth made doing the ceiling cladding more awkward as we had to make some extra shims to clear the insulation 👍
You lost the r value on the boards by shaving off the foilback,should have used foil tap to cover what ws left bare . good efforts though
Cheers :) The sides of the board don't come with foil on them, but if you mean the ceiling then yeah we did shave it down around the backs of some of them to make them fit better as that meant we could get more insulation into the tight spaces. But the reflective foil needs an air gap to be effective at reflecting back radiant heat and contributing to the R value anyway, so just pressed up against the van metal as we have in those areas it doesn't make a difference really wether it's there or not. In the walls where there was a bit more space we do have a small air gap before the cladding so we benefit from it there 👍