your favourite material to insulate the ceiling of a panel van

[RomaDenizen]

ideally something that can be used in a second van many years later.
your advice please ?

 

[Firefox]

What I used on mine was rockwool.

I put in some wooden framing, and screwed up hardboard panels which were faced in cream leatherette, stretched over camping mats and stapled on the back of the panel. The leatherette over camping mat also has an insulation value and soft feel.

Then pack behind the panel 20-30mm of rockwool depending on the thickness of the metal strengthener members in the roof. Mine was about 30mm.

You can use polystyrene or celotex/kingspan but people have said it can squeak. I used celotex in my floor where it is very firmly sandwiched and stuck down.

 

[Fugg]

rockwool same as firefox but the way I went was cutting into squares and sealing inside bin bags, it's so cheap yet effective. For the areas with less depth then camping mats insulate well and are easy to work with. The van I'm converting at the moment has most of the insulation that I removed from my last camper, which was an identical van.

citroen relay camper conversion

 

[Firefox]

My rockwool was also enclosed in polythene, as I used the "space blanket" rockwool from Wicks which comes in a roll surrounded by a polythene tube.

You can get interstitial condensation so if you can enclose your rockwool it prevents it getting wet and reducing the insulation value.

 

[Squibby]

It is also a good idea to give all the metal pannels a good coating of waxoyl just to keep every thing extra water tight that way if you do get some condensation it won't rot your van fron the inside, In the pillars of my van and a few oddly shaped areas I used expanding foam, but only if there are no cables running through them. The rest of the van is loft insulation in bin bags. Works well not had any problems with fitting apart from the mess and a day of itching where the fibers get on your skin. Wikes or B&Q are the best places as they normaly have some kind of deal on, I relayed my loft and had loads to spare so did the van with it, possibly the cheapest option out there.

If you get 5ltrs of waxoyl then you will have plenty for in the pannels and also sealing the under side of the van.

Squibby.