Ceiling Insulation Plan

[Melbo]

I bought my bus partially converted.  It had some spray foam applied before I got it. I bought a some spray foam kits and did some more myself.  THEN I hired the pro.  Just do that first.  Trimming is kind of a project in itself. If you can find someone who will spray and trim do that.  The pro I hired did it on a weekend.  He actually did sprayfoam roofing.

HTH

Melbo

[peterbylt]

I had mine Spray Foam Insulated last august, I had a hard time finding anyone that would do it, I thought I would have to do it myself and started pricing out the kits.
 
I did a Spray Foam search on Craigs List and found Elite Foam a local independent guy.
 
He came over Measured the bus and gave me an extremely reasonable Quote for Closed Cell foam.
 
Made an appointment he showed up when he said he would, did an excellent job spraying, Knew his equipment and was able to spray it so it expanded to an exacting thickness so as not to waste the foam and keep the triming to a minimum, Had a trailer with large tanks of the product the heaters, a huge Compressor, Lots of hose and a mixing application Gun, Finished in a couple hours, then trimmed everything and cleaned it all up, I was so impressed with the job I tipped them $100.
 
He is based out of St Petersburg FL, not sure if he would come to Jacksonville, If you want to drive down, I am sure we could find room at the shop for him to insulate your Bus.
 
My conversion is not far enough along to say how efficient the insulating properties are, but I can tell you that it did become significantly cooler working inside the bus after it was insulated.
 

 

 
Peter

[Jeremy]

I have no doubt that spray-foaming is the best way to do it but for me it would have been totally impractical because there has never been a point when the whole bus was at a stage where it was ready for insulation. I've been working in different parts of the bus at different times and have been insulating as I go using foam sheets/blocks and aerosol expanding foam, but only after walls and bulkheads have been installed, wiring conduits and plumbing pipework run, and all the necessary bracketry from which cabinets etc will hang have been welded to the wall and ceiling ribs.

I've seen lots of photos of fully-foamed bus shells and I always think "But THEN what do you do?" Specifically, how to you mount all the interior walls and furniture to the metalwork of the bus after you've buried it all in foam? I know people talk about running these lightweight furring strips along the length of the body, and I'm sure those are fine for mounting panel work, but surely you don't hang walls and heavy furniture off those?

A single homogenous application of spray foam is undoubtedly better though than trying to separately attach lots of individual pieces - I expect the ideal approach would be to use multiple smaller DIY spray kits at different times over a period of weeks/months/years as you get each area of the bus to that stage in the conversion - but that would also be the most expensive way of doing it, and doing all the preparations each time would be a lot of hassle.

Jeremy

[birdarchitect26]

I agree, get all your wiring ran and some extra conduit to run the length of the bus before you you spray it. I used a "Foam it green" kit online for ~$600 and it covered the entire inside just fine and took about an hour taking my time. That CL guy sounds legit to, then you don't have to sweat in a suit, but I like to play in the dirt. I feel you are more appreciative when you DIY!

[TomC]

Peter-good job-but-you still have the metal supports exposed. That's why I installed the 1x2 fir strips horizontally to cover everything. 2.25" insulation is not really that much when you consider a ice cream trailer has 5". Good Luck, TomC

[peterbylt]

All the metal ceiling ribs were sheathed in PVC Planking before attaching the ePVC ceiling panels.

The Planking and the epvc panels are made from an expanded PVC which is an extruded closed cell PVC foam and has a certain R value.


 


Peter

[solardude]

This is what 2K in Home Depot + 2K in professional services will get you.

[chessie4905]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I would think you would want the foam completely flush with the ribs. Adding slightly more foam and shaving off the excess to make it flush with no recesses.

[DoubleEagle]

Maybe I'm missing something, but I would think you would want the foam completely flush with the ribs. Adding slightly more foam and shaving off the excess to make it flush with no recesses.

Absolutely, they both got shorted on insulation. It would be better to call it a sound deadening treatment. 

[PNWorBUST72]

All the metal ceiling ribs were sheathed in PVC Planking before attaching the ePVC ceiling panels.

The Planking and the epvc panels are made from an expanded PVC which is an extruded closed cell PVC foam and has a certain R value.
Peter

Peter - Why did you use the PVC over traditional lumber?  Can you link to the product you used please and how did you attach it?

[peterbylt]

Peter - Why did you use the PVC over traditional lumber?  Can you link to the product you used please and how did you attach it?

I Used the PVC Planking for a couple of reasons.
 
Main reason is, it is made out of Closed cell PVC foam and I thought it would create a thermal break between the Metal Roof ribs and the ceiling panels.
 
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Royal-Mouldings-6510-1-4-in-x-1-3-4-in-x-8-ft-PVC-Composite-White-Lattice-Moulding-0651008005/202089995
 
I started to attach the planking to ceiling with screws and almost immediately switched over to construction adhesive, 
 
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Loctite-PL-Premium-28-fl-oz-Polyurethane-Construction-Adhesive-1390594/202020474?keyword=PL+premium+3x&semanticToken=21040+++%3E++++st%3A%7Bpl+premium+3x%7D%3Ast++cn%3A%7B0%3A0%7D++premium+%7Bbrand%7D+pl+3x+%7Brest%7D+

This proved to be a good choice.
 
Another reason I used the PVC Planking as opposed to the wood is the ability use the heat gun and form it exactly to the contour of the ribs.
 
The final reason was that the 4x8 EPVC panels that I am using for the ceiling are also made out of PVC, I originally tested and was able to glue a sample of the ceiling panel to a sample of planking using solvent pipe glue, the bond is quite good, I was never able to get this to work, the working window of the solvent glue is too small to get the 4x8 sheet positioned.
 
I ended up using screws with finishing washers to hang the ceiling panels.
 
Each of the panels is attached to the next panel using a divider Moulding.
 
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Stabilit-855-1-4-in-x-1-3-8-in-x-96-in-PVC-Composite-White-FRP-Divider-Moulding-10002-ZW096CB/205347156

So far the wife really likes the look of it, it is a long and tedious process, it has taken 3 to 4 hours per panel to install.
 
All the PVC moulding and planking has been inexpensivly avaliable at Home Depot, The PVC panels I purchased at a local Plastic supplier, Farco Plastics.


 
Peter

[PNWorBUST72]

NICE!

I am liking the divider moulding and the idea of the PVC planks for furring strips.  Does it hold screws well or does it strip easily?

I am not sure the PVC panels will work unless I can paint them easily?>

[eagle19952]

spray foam insulation shaver/planer. this is why you have furring strips.
be sure they are spaced properly,
maybe you can rent this tool,
they are not cheap....

https://youtu.be/c2CGCFpi_B4?t=27s

[eagle19952]

Some say this stuff is the cat's a$$

http://www.engineheatprotection.com/rollboard.html

[peterbylt]

NICE!

I am liking the divider moulding and the idea of the PVC planks for furring strips.  Does it hold screws well or does it strip easily?

I am not sure the PVC panels will work unless I can paint them easily?>

The screws are drilled into the steel ribs.

The ePVC panels are easily paintable, the main use for them is signs, They come in many colors.

https://www.acmeplastics.com/expanded-pvc-foam/expanded-pvc-foam-sheet?v=17928&st-t=adwords&vt-k=&vt-mt=&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIz6yzz-mq2AIVVp7ACh15RAAjEAUYAyABEgL30PD_BwE
 
Peter