Insulating and Sound Deadening the Van - Walls Off and Back On

Ametalin 

There are so many options for insulation and sound deadening out there from wool insulation of the walls, to expanding foams that fill the whole of the wall cavities.  There a lot of horror storeys out there about rusting out of vans caused by condensation build up in walls. So the product needs to be a vapour barrier as well.  Wool, typically fibreglass is not good.

After a lot of research and the advice of Unique Van Conversions at 7-25 Hiles St, Alexandria NSW 2015, I settled upon using Ametalin ThermalBreak™ Product Code: TB7.


The best things about this product are:

Removing the Wall Panel

The timber wall panels that came with the van were fixed with the standard plastic wall anchors.  I purchases a simple kit on Ebay to remove the plastic anchors and take the timber panels without damaging them, as I have not decide whether to paint or stain them or carpet them.



Cutting and Installing the Ametalin

Cutting and installing the Ametalin using a sharp utility knife.  after simple measurements of each accessible area of the wall panels.  This is not a quick process, but it is not hard.  I cut templates from cardboard, marked out the cuts on the Ametalin ThermalBreak™ with a Sharpie, cut it with a blade and then glued it in place inside each panel opening with T-Rex Power X-treme.

You will notice that the vertical slots have been left open at this point so that I can run some cables in the walls.



Fixing the Ametalin

I wanted a very strong no-slump high initial tack bond, with a flexible high strength fix.  So after consulting with Soudal's technical team, just using there online contact form, I was advised to use T-Rex Power X-treme and this would cover all my fixing and sealing needs for not only insulation but most of what I would need for all my build.  We will see!  Watch their Youtube clip, this stuff is high tack, no slump and strong.





I found the best price at a local plumbing supplier the Hot and Cold Outlet and bought 6 tubes to kick things off.  I'll be back there when I am doing the water and waste water stuff as well, they have all the tricky plumbing parts you won't find in Bunnings and know their trade well.

Rivnut Fixings

I replaced the plastic fasteners for the wall panels by inserting 6mm Zinc Rivnuts into the factory fixing holes that already aligned with the factory wall panels, avoiding the need to try and do all than painful alignment and cutting work.

I needed to drill a few new fixing points and widen the holes to take the Rivnuts.  I did this using a round magnet from and old Microwave oven - The swarf from the drilling is captured by the magnet as each hole is drilled -  Increase Panel Hole Size and also vacuumed up. 


To ensure that the Rivnuts don't fail I re-tapped and cleaned up every Rivnut thread after inserting them all.  

In retrospect I should have used Plus Nuts, but if you take the time to re-tap and clean up the threads on each Rivnut they should not fail and your bolts go in and come out easily without spinning the rivnut in its hole.



These new fixing points received the M6, 25mm 304 Stainless Steel Counter Sunk bolts with Cup Head Washers (eventually Loctited) allowing the wall panels to be removed at any time required.

Replacing the Panels

This was so easy, as the Rivnuts fitted into the factory fixing points and aligned with the factory wall panel holes, it was then easy to refit each panel after each cavity area was insulated.

Where I had to add a couple of new fixing points I inserted the rivnuts and used a centre point bolt to mark the back of the wall panels before drilling new holes in the wall panels in the accurate locations.


I have been sourcing my Stainless Steel bolts, nuts and washers from The Fastener Factory who have a great website and shopping cart system and most importantly quick delivery.  But also got even better pricing from Concept Fasteners but their website is not as easy to find stuff on.  Both were reliable and quick.

The finished wall panels are far more secure, held in place by the M6 Stainless Steel bolts and Cup Head washers.  Then off they came for white wash and finishing with Clear Marine Varnish, they will stay off until I have fitted the 240 volt 15 Amp supply sockets and town water supply sockets sorted.
















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