Working in a bodyshope for 20+ years And Closed cell spray foam to many homes And companies ( City Inspections ) The highest of R-value is the Purple walltite from BASF However for metal apps like Trucks Vans Etc with long gap panels Warpage due to heat of curing happens with normal applying On my 2005 Blazer I wanted a 2 seater mini camper for long coast to coast drives which could deal with colder mountain temps with little use of power The trick was Applying Rubberized spray Rocker gaurd on the inside of the truck Letting it cure for a few days This also minimized temp transfer from outside to inside via the metal And is a sound deadner And will be note worthy later...Next to apply the spray foam (Has to be bought and used by a pro) I added a thinner pass by going faster with less pressure This kept the heat lower when on the panels And cure time was quicker so a second thicker coat was needed with in 5 to 10 mins in order to mesh well with the first coat And be one soild piece rather then a crusty first layer And a added second layer I had sprayed one side at a time before moving on to the next I done all areas But I left about a inch And a half out of the bottom of the inside rocker areas which have weeping holes for moisture This was covered by rocker guard And the holes cleaned out The doors also have rocker gaurd but again less near the bottom inside Because When it rains outside water does travel from the windows down to the moldings And sometimes on the inside of the window frame into the door And why you will see holes at the bottom of most doors Cloging these holes Or Covering the whole door with foam The water will sit on the foam And in time you will see the foam break down Or pool against the metal and rust DIY kits have a diffrent foam the Closed cell type is not as tight as the Pro's use It does break down with water becoming mushy and softer with in a few years of water contact Sprinter vans And other vans with that plastic molding on the sides Water 100% of the time brings dirt on the inside of the moulding And sits on the plastic inserts that hold the moulding to the van Rust starts on the lip of the holes And pools on the inside of the trucks when the dirt turns into mud And covers the weeping holes This is why most of the time you see cars that are always rotted on door trims And bottoms of the car Dirt always falls from the roof downward and makes Mud....Mud takes 4 times longer to dry Then plain water
Definitely appreciate all the detail! We left water passages that were sealed with plastic in our sliding door so it could drain. On the other doors we didn’t put much spray foam in it. Going slow and putting on thin layers is definitely the key.
Thanks for a thorough synopsis of the process. Been watching a lot of videos on van builds but the engineer in you puts more weight behind what you give us. Thanks.
Thanks for the details. We bought our van last weekend. We're in the ordering parts phase now. With no carpentry, electronic, or plumbing skills your videos will help us greatly. Thanks again!
@@goldenadvantures2573 did the faom put stress on the metall off the van is it still in the original shape no waves on the outside , i had a vito 108 cdi self build whit normal rockwool now i got a caddy maxi 2012 140.000 km and i want to do spray foam insulation iam in the proces of getting every thing togheter so i can build it at ones .great video
Glad you enjoyed the video! We didn’t have any distortion from the spray foam. If you apply it correctly you don’t have anything to worry about. Good luck!
Hi! Thanks a lot for this video!! Are you still happy with it a couple of years later now? No problems with moist or anything? Did you cover the walls directly with wood or did you put an extra barrier? Thanks a lot for your response
We’re glad you enjoyed the video! We sold the van two years ago but the second owner was still happy with everything after living full time in it for a year! We put wood directly onto the studs.
Thanks! You could use a Kreg Jig to join all the floor boards together. It would be stronger than the way we did it. The main reason we didn’t was because we knew the foam was going to tie it all together and it would have been more time consuming.
Awesome video! I assume the adhesion of the spray foam is sufficient enough to reduce the “tinnyness” of the metal panels and eliminates the need for any sound deadening material like killmat right?
@@goldenadvantures2573 Thank you sir! If it helps anyone; a tip I learned when working at a commercial kitchen equipment manufacturer, prior to spray foaming the refrigerators they would use Pam (the cooking spray) to spray on any surfaces they would not want the foam sticking to.
hi! Thanks for the detailed explanation. Have you had any concerns down the road about potential dangerous gasses created from possible incomplete reaction due to not perfect mixture? That is what spooks me a little...
We’re glad you enjoyed the video! We used the van for an entire year then sold it and it was lived in full time for a little over a year. We haven’t had any adverse effects from using the spray foam nor has the second owner. I hope this helps!
You said that spraying 1/8” was too light, but given the potential for warping exterior metal couldn’t you come back and hit everything with a 2nd layer rather than spraying it on thicker? Also, from your video it appears that unlike most people who run the electrical wires 1st and then spray over the wires, that you didn’t run the electrical 1st? I was thinking that it would be better to spray 1st and then removing channels of the foam if needed to run the wires later so that you could access them more easily if needed. Is this how you did it?
It’s always better to be safe than sorry with spray foam so the second layer is a good approach. As for the wiring we ran conduits for the lights in the ceiling before spraying the foam in. We wanted to be able to access all of the wiring and plumbing if we ever needed to get to it so we didn’t foam any of it in.
Hi. I just found your van build videos but can only find videos ten and beyond. Hoping to watch your build start to finish. Liking what I've seen so far. Watched this video on the floor and the one with your headrail shelf with speakers. Can you send me a link to your first video. Thanks so much!
We're glad you're enjoying the videos! Here's a link to the first episode of the van build series ruclips.net/video/opfS-iUyaV4/видео.html Also we have a playlist that has all of them on it if you're interested in that! Let us know if you have any questions along the way!
Glad you liked the video! We didn’t end up with any sheet metal warping. I sprayed really thin layers to prevent that. The kit we used was closed cell foam.
@@goldenadvantures2573 thank you. It appears that the high ribs are different in spots. What a pain in the a**! I am doing my headliner like yours. I got the rope one done after a million adjustments. I did my top one in 1/2 " b/c of weight and was thinking of doing bottom in 3/4" .Hopefully it wont be too heavy once I screw together. Maybe I will have to put some kind of support. Idk. Does yours sag at all? I know u used 3/4 for all of it. Everything I do takes me F O R E V E R! 🤦🏻♀️
That’s unfortunate it’s not the same dimensions. 1/2 for the top and 3/4 for the bottom should work. Ours hasn’t sagged at all but it is reinforced by the face frame for the cabinet. We know all too well that van building is a large exercise in patients haha. Keep chipping away at it and you’ll be surprised how far you’ve come when you look back!
Thanks for the video! I'm about to do this to my van build and was great to see it done here. Did you find that it was that much of a savings to do it yourself vers having a company do it?
Glad you liked the video! I tried to find someone to do it for us for about three weeks and nobody would touch it. I think too that COVID-19 had a lot of places shut down because half the places I called never even called back.
I don't understand the floor joists, why wouldn't you just screw the OSB (I prefer plywood) directly to the metal floor. You referenced house floor joists, they don't have a metal structure to anchor the flooring to. To me, it looks like a lot of extra work for little gain.
You’re probably right about the marginal gain. The main reason we didn’t screw the plywood to the metal floor is that we didn’t want anything penetrating the metal floor. We attached the wooden frame with silicone and screws into the interior ribs of the van. The other thing that did was give us a little extra thickness of spray foam and eliminated any thermal bridging.
Glad you enjoyed the video! I would be very careful backfilling with foam. In the two places that I added additional foam after putting up the walls it expanded to much and deformed the walls. Luckily the two places are where you can’t see the problem. For me personally I wouldn’t do it that way again.
Spray foam itself is not toxic once it has cured. The only time to worry is when spraying it and when trimming it. I used a respirator when spraying and a dust mask when trimming. It's a two part mixture and when it mixes it expands. Thanks so much!
@@goldenadvantures2573 I think it is bad idea for three reasons: 1) in case if the spray foam was not applied correctly or of bad quality, it would be difficult to remove and would cost a lot for retreatment. 2) in the long term maybe after 10 years or more the foam may deteriorate and/or accumulate water, bugs, dirty, etc. and cause some bad odors so again it would need replacement or treatment and would be hard to locate that issue. 3) The wood and insulation has taken lilttle more space from the car plus it is more expensive than sheets. Thats my opinion but I am not saying you did bad work. You did very good DIY job.
I agree about the application. I was a nervous wreck before I sprayed it because I was worried about messing it up so badly. Luckily everything went very smoothly when we applied it. We’ll see how it works out over time. I know people speak very highly of it in residential applications but only time will talk in the van world. Thanks so much for the feedback!
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Working in a bodyshope for 20+ years And Closed cell spray foam to many homes And companies ( City Inspections )
The highest of R-value is the Purple walltite from BASF However for metal apps like Trucks Vans Etc with long gap panels Warpage due to heat of curing happens with normal applying On my 2005 Blazer I wanted a 2 seater mini camper for long coast to coast drives which could deal with colder mountain temps with little use of power The trick was Applying Rubberized spray Rocker gaurd on the inside of the truck Letting it cure for a few days This also minimized temp transfer from outside to inside via the metal And is a sound deadner And will be note worthy later...Next to apply the spray foam (Has to be bought and used by a pro) I added a thinner pass by going faster with less pressure This kept the heat lower when on the panels And cure time was quicker so a second thicker coat was needed with in 5 to 10 mins in order to mesh well with the first coat And be one soild piece rather then a crusty first layer And a added second layer I had sprayed one side at a time before moving on to the next I done all areas But I left about a inch And a half out of the bottom of the inside rocker areas which have weeping holes for moisture This was covered by rocker guard And the holes cleaned out The doors also have rocker gaurd but again less near the bottom inside Because When it rains outside water does travel from the windows down to the moldings And sometimes on the inside of the window frame into the door And why you will see holes at the bottom of most doors Cloging these holes Or Covering the whole door with foam The water will sit on the foam And in time you will see the foam break down Or pool against the metal and rust
DIY kits have a diffrent foam the Closed cell type is not as tight as the Pro's use It does break down with water becoming mushy and softer with in a few years of water contact Sprinter vans And other vans with that plastic molding on the sides Water 100% of the time brings dirt on the inside of the moulding And sits on the plastic inserts that hold the moulding to the van Rust starts on the lip of the holes And pools on the inside of the trucks when the dirt turns into mud And covers the weeping holes This is why most of the time you see cars that are always rotted on door trims And bottoms of the car Dirt always falls from the roof downward and makes Mud....Mud takes 4 times longer to dry Then plain water
Definitely appreciate all the detail! We left water passages that were sealed with plastic in our sliding door so it could drain. On the other doors we didn’t put much spray foam in it. Going slow and putting on thin layers is definitely the key.
Dry ice blasting gets spray foam out piece of cake 😊
That’s good to know! I’ve never heard of that before.
The best DIY foam video for a van out there. Great job! And thank you.
Glad you enjoyed the video and we appreciate the kind words!
Thanks for a thorough synopsis of the process. Been watching a lot of videos on van builds but the engineer in you puts more weight behind what you give us. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed the video! We watched a ton of videos before starting too and there’s definitely a wide range of information out there.
truly appreciate the description of all you did. one of the better video's
Thanks so much! Glad you enjoyed the video!
How has the foam held up these last three years?
We sold the van in 2021 but have kept in touch with the new owner. They’ve had zero issues with it!
Thanks for the details. We bought our van last weekend. We're in the ordering parts phase now. With no carpentry, electronic, or plumbing skills your videos will help us greatly. Thanks again!
Glad you enjoy the videos! With enough research anything is possible! Don't be afraid to reach out with any questions!
Very informative.
@@goldenadvantures2573 did the faom put stress on the metall off the van is it still in the original shape no waves on the outside ,
i had a vito 108 cdi self build whit normal rockwool now i got a caddy maxi 2012 140.000 km and i want to do spray foam insulation iam in the proces of getting every thing togheter so i can build it at ones .great video
Glad you enjoyed the video! We didn’t have any distortion from the spray foam. If you apply it correctly you don’t have anything to worry about. Good luck!
Hi! Thanks a lot for this video!! Are you still happy with it a couple of years later now? No problems with moist or anything? Did you cover the walls directly with wood or did you put an extra barrier? Thanks a lot for your response
We’re glad you enjoyed the video! We sold the van two years ago but the second owner was still happy with everything after living full time in it for a year! We put wood directly onto the studs.
Peace… Salam... Shalom... Namaste and Thank You so much for All that you are doing to Heal our Mother Earth 🙏🏻 😊 🌈 ✌ 🌷 ❤
We do our best!
Oh please!
This is awesome! Any need to use a Kreg Jig on the flooring to connect pieces or would that be an overkill?
Thanks! You could use a Kreg Jig to join all the floor boards together. It would be stronger than the way we did it. The main reason we didn’t was because we knew the foam was going to tie it all together and it would have been more time consuming.
Solid golden content man
Glad you enjoyed the video!
Awesome video! I assume the adhesion of the spray foam is sufficient enough to reduce the “tinnyness” of the metal panels and eliminates the need for any sound deadening material like killmat right?
That’s correct. We used killmat in the cab area of the van where we didn’t spray foam. After insulating the van it was a much quieter ride.
Would you mind sharing a link to the Dow froth pak? The link in the description doesn’t work.
@stangtmb this one should work. amzn.to/417A4sw let us know if we can help out in any way!
@@goldenadvantures2573 Thank you sir! If it helps anyone; a tip I learned when working at a commercial kitchen equipment manufacturer, prior to spray foaming the refrigerators they would use Pam (the cooking spray) to spray on any surfaces they would not want the foam sticking to.
hi! Thanks for the detailed explanation. Have you had any concerns down the road about potential dangerous gasses created from possible incomplete reaction due to not perfect mixture? That is what spooks me a little...
We’re glad you enjoyed the video! We used the van for an entire year then sold it and it was lived in full time for a little over a year. We haven’t had any adverse effects from using the spray foam nor has the second owner. I hope this helps!
This looks wonderful and so nice and neat! We've recently insulated our van with a different method! Yours looks great!:)
Thanks so much! What did you guys use for insulation?
You said that spraying 1/8” was too light, but given the potential for warping exterior metal couldn’t you come back and hit everything with a 2nd layer rather than spraying it on thicker? Also, from your video it appears that unlike most people who run the electrical wires 1st and then spray over the wires, that you didn’t run the electrical 1st? I was thinking that it would be better to spray 1st and then removing channels of the foam if needed to run the wires later so that you could access them more easily if needed. Is this how you did it?
It’s always better to be safe than sorry with spray foam so the second layer is a good approach. As for the wiring we ran conduits for the lights in the ceiling before spraying the foam in. We wanted to be able to access all of the wiring and plumbing if we ever needed to get to it so we didn’t foam any of it in.
Hi. I just found your van build videos but can only find videos ten and beyond. Hoping to watch your build start to finish. Liking what I've seen so far. Watched this video on the floor and the one with your headrail shelf with speakers. Can you send me a link to your first video. Thanks so much!
We're glad you're enjoying the videos! Here's a link to the first episode of the van build series ruclips.net/video/opfS-iUyaV4/видео.html Also we have a playlist that has all of them on it if you're interested in that! Let us know if you have any questions along the way!
Very nice explain. Did you get and sheet metal warp? Is this spray insulation open cells?
Glad you liked the video! We didn’t end up with any sheet metal warping. I sprayed really thin layers to prevent that. The kit we used was closed cell foam.
Hi. I know you ripped the 14 ft in half for the low parts of the floor. Can you tell me what the dimensions are for the high parts please?
I don’t remember those but if you watch episode 10 we go into detail on how we framed the upper parts. I hope this helps!
@@goldenadvantures2573 thank you. It appears that the high ribs are different in spots. What a pain in the a**!
I am doing my headliner like yours. I got the rope one done after a million adjustments. I did my top one in 1/2 " b/c of weight and was thinking of doing bottom in 3/4" .Hopefully it wont be too heavy once I screw together. Maybe I will have to put some kind of support. Idk.
Does yours sag at all? I know u used 3/4 for all of it.
Everything I do takes me F O R E V E R! 🤦🏻♀️
That’s unfortunate it’s not the same dimensions. 1/2 for the top and 3/4 for the bottom should work. Ours hasn’t sagged at all but it is reinforced by the face frame for the cabinet. We know all too well that van building is a large exercise in patients haha. Keep chipping away at it and you’ll be surprised how far you’ve come when you look back!
Did you heat the tanks up people say to do that .
Yes, we put them in warm water to bring the temperature up.
Did you go closed or open cell?
We used closed cell foam.
How do you feel about the spray foam? We used it in our house and I feel pretty mediocre about it, not sure if I should use it in the van or not...
It worked great in the van. If we do another one we would use foam again.
Thanks for the video! I'm about to do this to my van build and was great to see it done here. Did you find that it was that much of a savings to do it yourself vers having a company do it?
Glad you liked the video! I tried to find someone to do it for us for about three weeks and nobody would touch it. I think too that COVID-19 had a lot of places shut down because half the places I called never even called back.
I don't understand the floor joists, why wouldn't you just screw the OSB (I prefer plywood) directly to the metal floor. You referenced house floor joists, they don't have a metal structure to anchor the flooring to. To me, it looks like a lot of extra work for little gain.
You’re probably right about the marginal gain. The main reason we didn’t screw the plywood to the metal floor is that we didn’t want anything penetrating the metal floor. We attached the wooden frame with silicone and screws into the interior ribs of the van. The other thing that did was give us a little extra thickness of spray foam and eliminated any thermal bridging.
I appreciate your experience! Do you think it would be possible to put on your inside panels and fill the cavities with foam?
Glad you enjoyed the video! I would be very careful backfilling with foam. In the two places that I added additional foam after putting up the walls it expanded to much and deformed the walls. Luckily the two places are where you can’t see the problem. For me personally I wouldn’t do it that way again.
Thats was cool. Thank you. Where you not concerned about the the foams toxicity? Is it or can it become toxic? Whats it made from? Big Ups!
Spray foam itself is not toxic once it has cured. The only time to worry is when spraying it and when trimming it. I used a respirator when spraying and a dust mask when trimming. It's a two part mixture and when it mixes it expands. Thanks so much!
Come to the point dude 😂
Enjoy the Toxic Foam... Price, Extra Weight, Gas and all the other problems that comes with it.
What do you think the vans made of? Mud and sticks?
It is bad idea to use spray foam for VAN better to use the sheets for tidiness and more reliable
I would agree that the sheets are a little more tidy. Why do you feel it’s a bad idea or less reliable to spray foam?
@@goldenadvantures2573 I think it is bad idea for three reasons: 1) in case if the spray foam was not applied correctly or of bad quality, it would be difficult to remove and would cost a lot for retreatment. 2) in the long term maybe after 10 years or more the foam may deteriorate and/or accumulate water, bugs, dirty, etc. and cause some bad odors so again it would need replacement or treatment and would be hard to locate that issue. 3) The wood and insulation has taken lilttle more space from the car plus it is more expensive than sheets. Thats my opinion but I am not saying you did bad work. You did very good DIY job.
@@goldenadvantures2573 ruclips.net/video/0Hh5MYv7lWc/видео.html
I agree about the application. I was a nervous wreck before I sprayed it because I was worried about messing it up so badly. Luckily everything went very smoothly when we applied it. We’ll see how it works out over time. I know people speak very highly of it in residential applications but only time will talk in the van world. Thanks so much for the feedback!
The amount of chem trails going by in the sky is ridiculous. Those are not clouds.