It is important to insulate your campervan ceiling to maintain a comfortable temperature. On hot days insulation will help keep the heat out and you cool. Same goes for when it’s cold. Campervans are made up of very thin sheet metal which contain no insulation on their own. Therefore, the temperature outside is easily conducted and transferred to the inside of your van. Since the van walls are so thin, we also decided to apply a sound barrier to help with noise transfer. See below for the steps we took to insulate our campervan ceiling.
We chose to use Kilmat as the sound barrier because it was highly recommended in the #vanlife forums . To apply the sound barrier follow our steps below.
Table of Contents
Step 1: Clean and Prep the Surface
Supplies Needed
Before applying the sound barrier, make sure you clean the surface thoroughly. I used Simple Green cleaner mixed with soap and water. After your walls are cleaned, examine and treat any exposed metal to prevent rust. We used Rustoleum spray paint for this.
Step 2: Apply Sound Barrier
Supplies Needed
First, cut each sheet into four sections. Once you have your all of your sheets cut, you can apply the sound barrier. Peel off the protective backing paper from the piece and carefully apply the Kilmat onto your wall. After that is complete, take your roller and roll your Kilmat until the bumps are flat. This will take some elbow grease so be patient and take your time.
Step 3: Repeat
Repeat steps 1-2 throughout your van walls and ceiling.
Once your sound barrier is in place, you can move on to the next step…
Step 4: Apply Foam Board to Ceiling
Supplies Needed
We left the ribs of the ceiling exposed to utilize them as furring strips for our ceiling and insulated in between.
First, you will you will measure the length and width of the ceiling cavities then transpose those dimensions on to the insulation foam board.
Next, secure the foam board to the ceiling cavities with insulation tape. To secure, place the insulation tape around the perimeter of the your piece of foam board.
Repeat these steps until your ceiling is complete.
Step 5: Cover Foam Board with Reflectix
Supplies Needed
The Reflectix will be acting as a vapor barrier for the ceiling. Creating a vapor barrier adds an extra layer of protection and insulation to the foam board. To install the Reflectix, tape it over the installed poly foam board . The Reflectix will need to be slightly larger than the foam board to insure the entire perimeter of the foam boards is covered.
Once complete, your ceiling should look something like this.
