Hi everyone - later on in our build we realized we had made a mistake in our flooring by covering up our spare tire release with subfloor and flooring. We used a 3-3/8" hole saw to drill out a hole so that we could install a 3" hatch that would cover the hole and leave our spare tire release accessible in the future. That video is here: ua-cam.com/video/m86jC0s2RIo/v-deo.html
Hard foam is used on floors because anything that compresses loses most of it's insulation properties. What you've used will still help with conduction heat radiation but it can't trap much air when is compressed. Thinsulate works in the walls because it doesn't compress there so it can trap air.
Finally someone has put up a video showing how to insulate a van floor the correct way. Without the height issue I'd also put 1 inch/25 mm PIR boards down. I plan to use a combination of the two on my campervan build.
Do you notice any compression of the minicell after you've laid down your plywood subfloor? I'm on the fence about minicell because of the lower density vs something like Foamular 250. Great content keep it up!
I've never seen the minicell foam insulation. Super interesting. What's the R-value on it? Our floors and walls have foamboard rated at like R-9 and the ceiling is Thinsulate. Grateful for the R-9 but the thinsulate saves so much time and hassle, I think we'd ditch the foamboard in a future build.
The R-value is relatively lower from what we could find online - per inch it’s about 3.5, so for a 3/4” thick sheet of foam it would be about 2.63. It seems like with van building there are always trade offs!
Hi! Thanks for the helpful video! Can I ask you a huge favor? We also installed our floor and forgot to make a hole for the spare tire access point 😅. Can you tell me the measurements of the access point location? Or tell me how you found it so precisely. Thank you guys! See you on road!
Hi @britandmike I’ve been following you guys through your van built. I just purchased the same van and is about to start building it out. Did you guys use Kilmat under your subfloor or was it just the Minicell Foam and Plywood? I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you in advance
You glued the first layer down but not the other two layers. And it didn’t look like you screwed the plywood down. Did you do this off camera? Or is there a reason you didn’t?
Every video I've seen talks about needing airflow under the floor to prevent mold. What do you think about that since you filled in all the potential air flow?
Can I ask where you purchased your sub floor material? Can you provide a web link ? This is the first time I've seen these products use for a subfloor and I love it. 🙏
I am tall too and only have 3-4” to play with. Any concerns or lessons learned with the flooring material in this video? What AC did you end up going with?
The biggest concern and lesson we learned is to try to protect the floors during the build and especially don’t let them get exposed to direct sunlight. Part of our build was in the summer and on a 100+ degree day we left the door open for a couple hours and the heat caused one of the planks to expand too far, it became brittle and a small corner piece broke off. So it doesn’t sit down nicely and we had to tape it down into place lol. We went with the Dometic RTX 2000. We haven’t needed to use it much yet but no complaints with it!
Yes! It was really loud to drive empty. Then we drove it on the highway with the kilmat and insulation on the walls/ceiling (the subfloor wasn’t in yet) and barely noticed any noise.
It was mainly to save on height! Mike is 6'2" and our A/C unit hangs down 3" or so from the ceiling, so we wanted to make sure he could walk underneath it without bumping his head.
Hi everyone - later on in our build we realized we had made a mistake in our flooring by covering up our spare tire release with subfloor and flooring. We used a 3-3/8" hole saw to drill out a hole so that we could install a 3" hatch that would cover the hole and leave our spare tire release accessible in the future. That video is here: ua-cam.com/video/m86jC0s2RIo/v-deo.html
Hard foam is used on floors because anything that compresses loses most of it's insulation properties. What you've used will still help with conduction heat radiation but it can't trap much air when is compressed. Thinsulate works in the walls because it doesn't compress there so it can trap air.
Finally someone has put up a video showing how to insulate a van floor the correct way. Without the height issue I'd also put 1 inch/25 mm PIR boards down. I plan to use a combination of the two on my campervan build.
Thank you! Best of luck with your build, that sounds like a good idea.
Love the progress!
Thanks for watching!
Do you notice any compression of the minicell after you've laid down your plywood subfloor? I'm on the fence about minicell because of the lower density vs something like Foamular 250. Great content keep it up!
I've never seen the minicell foam insulation. Super interesting. What's the R-value on it? Our floors and walls have foamboard rated at like R-9 and the ceiling is Thinsulate. Grateful for the R-9 but the thinsulate saves so much time and hassle, I think we'd ditch the foamboard in a future build.
The R-value is relatively lower from what we could find online - per inch it’s about 3.5, so for a 3/4” thick sheet of foam it would be about 2.63. It seems like with van building there are always trade offs!
@@britandmike for sure. That’s not much lower than thinsulate though.
Hi! Thanks for the helpful video! Can I ask you a huge favor? We also installed our floor and forgot to make a hole for the spare tire access point 😅. Can you tell me the measurements of the access point location? Or tell me how you found it so precisely. Thank you guys! See you on road!
He made a video on it. There is a link in his pinned comment.
Hi @britandmike I’ve been following you guys through your van built. I just purchased the same van and is about to start building it out. Did you guys use Kilmat under your subfloor or was it just the Minicell Foam and Plywood? I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you in advance
You glued the first layer down but not the other two layers. And it didn’t look like you screwed the plywood down. Did you do this off camera? Or is there a reason you didn’t?
Every video I've seen talks about needing airflow under the floor to prevent mold. What do you think about that since you filled in all the potential air flow?
Hi - both ends of the floor are open, and there are gaps between the foam on the bottom layer, to provide some airflow.
Curious if this works under compression? Usually the air in the material is needed?
What’s your take on using kilmat on the flooring? Do you ever wish you had? I’m wanting to use minicel as well
Can I ask where you purchased your sub floor material? Can you provide a web link ? This is the first time I've seen these products use for a subfloor and I love it. 🙏
Here it is! We got the extended wheelbase package that includes TAI.
www.ebay.com/itm/143658738772
What’s the combined R Value of that floor?
Hello Mike and Brit, where did you buy the minicell foam? Do you have a vendor name?
We bought it on eBay from a vendor named impactproducts
I am tall too and only have 3-4” to play with. Any concerns or lessons learned with the flooring material in this video? What AC did you end up going with?
The biggest concern and lesson we learned is to try to protect the floors during the build and especially don’t let them get exposed to direct sunlight. Part of our build was in the summer and on a 100+ degree day we left the door open for a couple hours and the heat caused one of the planks to expand too far, it became brittle and a small corner piece broke off. So it doesn’t sit down nicely and we had to tape it down into place lol.
We went with the Dometic RTX 2000. We haven’t needed to use it much yet but no complaints with it!
When you drive the van, is it getting quieter as you add in all the sound deadener and insulation?
Yes! It was really loud to drive empty. Then we drove it on the highway with the kilmat and insulation on the walls/ceiling (the subfloor wasn’t in yet) and barely noticed any noise.
Why did you use minicell foam instead of the traditional pink foamboards most vanbuilders use?
It was mainly to save on height! Mike is 6'2" and our A/C unit hangs down 3" or so from the ceiling, so we wanted to make sure he could walk underneath it without bumping his head.
Question, it is cold, we can see your breath. WHO IS MOWING.?
May ask why you took out flooring mate that came with the van?
Ours didn’t come with one! We ordered it from the factory and didn’t order any flooring
@@britandmike okay my husband and I are thinking about putting our flooring on top of the mate that was installed already.
Its thin su late. A is long vowell when an e is at the end