Aluminum Topper Insulation

[pete.wilson]

Hey

Does anyone know of an adhesive backed insulation that would be about an inch thick for insulating my Unicover Pro aluminum topper? I guess i could use some 3M spray adhesive if needed (stereo deadning material would be very expensive). Also what about some idea's for finishing off the inside? The material would need to be thin, in order to bend the corners of the roof area. I was planning on using a bedcarpet for the lower portion of the bed.
Thanks for any suggestions.

Pete Wilson

P.S. I have the tool boxes on both sides and double rear doors. Address to my topper: http://www.unicovercaps.com/truck-caps/doublecargodoors.html

[63tlf8]

Does anyone know of an adhesive backed insulation that would be about an inch thick for insulating my Unicover Pro aluminum topper?

Pete

Hi Pete,

I used a closed cell foam duct insulation with an acrylic adhesive coated surface one side and Alu foil on the other for my MOG cab. Very flexible and works exceptionally well for both sound and heat. Can't recall the name for sure but it may be something like " Thermoshield "

Tony

[HenryJ]

You would have to add your own adhesive, but I have sucessfully used Reflectix (http://www.reflectixinc.com/) for this application. It is available at most building centers. Very inexpensive in comparison to other products.
I have it under the headliner of my truck. All the Hotrod's I build get lined completely.
Here are some other options:
Sound Deadener (http://www.julianos.com/sound_deadening.html)
Insul-tek (http://www.julianos.com/insultek.html)
Carpet underlay (http://www.julianos.com/carpetunderlay.html)
Brown bread (http://www.b-quiet.com/brownbread.html)
Hliner (http://www.b-quiet.com/hliner.html)

[hapyjac]

Pete,

Try Lizardskin ceramic spray on, I've researched and have settled on this to insulate my ARE shell.

http://www.lizardskin.com/

Terry

[JIMBO]

:sombrero: JC Whitney has "thermo-acustic" auto insulation, 1/2" thick, with foil on one side and using spray adhesive, I've done all the inside of my Jeep JK Ruby and the heat (sun) and sound are WAY down in the Nevada desert !!

:victory::costumed-smiley-007:safari-rig::safari-rig: JIMBO

[eugene]

I did one years ago. I just cut 1" styrofoam from lowes or home depot then just taped it in with aluminum duct tape. The aluminum stuff is very stiff so I just ran it along where the insulation met the frame tubing and it held fine.
I never did cover it though, was thinking of using pegboard or the same board they sell like it without the holes then covering it with headliner to match the truck.

[Spur]

I like second skin. They have a product called heat wave that I'll be putting in my headliner.

http://www.secondskinaudio.com/thermal-insulation/heat-wave-pro.php

[thecriscokid]

I have been thinking of ideas for finishing the interior of mine as well. The only material that I have seen was in a lazy susan cabinet. It's a very thin partical board.
I'm still looking though. My hope is to find some ultra thin bamboo.
I'd be curious to see how a spray on insulation (like the Lizardskin) covered with bed liner would turn out.

[Spur]

I have been thinking of ideas for finishing the interior of mine as well. The only material that I have seen was in a lazy susan cabinet. It's a very thin partical board.
I'm still looking though. My hope is to find some ultra thin bamboo.
I'd be curious to see how a spray on insulation (like the Lizardskin) covered with bed liner would turn out.

I've thought about natural wood as well. You can buy cabinet grade birch plywood in 1/8". Stained and coated in poly. I think it might look cool. Kind of nautical. Finding reasonably priced priced sheets of bamboo is hard and I've never seen any that's ultra thin.

[thecriscokid]

I think it could look nice to have the top and platform match. I have thought of some simple overlapping ideas so that there would not be any bedliner or clamps showing. It would be very nautical feeling crawling into a full stained and sealed 5'x6' box. Think Catamaran...
When I picked up my topper this spring I painted the interior white and really enjoy the reflective light inside.

[pete.wilson]

Hey

Thanks Spur, that heat wave looks like a winner and should help with sound deadning and insulation both. Now for a cover material, like 1/8 in. ply or some kind of plastic material.

Pete Wilson

[fisher205]

How about milk board? I can't think of the other name for it, but it's a thin plastic sheet for lining walls that will get overspray. We use it on pump houses. I had thought of using it on my aluminum topper until I sold it.
-Brad

[failsafefabrication]

Hey, how is it going, I saw this thread the other day, I don't have any pictures to post as of yet because there are many and I need to re size them, you can find me on facebook to see the build progress. I am using an ARE DCU series topper with an aluminum skin on top of an 05 superduty long bed. The ARE got 2 layers of 1" thick aluminized foam insulation with an R-6 rating. the most important thing to work on if you are planning a build like this is to off set your insulation to prevent thermal transfer from the outer skin thru the aluminum framing members to the inner sleeping/rest area. I hit this from a few different angles: first use 3M high strength 90 to glue in the aluminum panels (shiny side in) to the outer skin in between all of the framing members. Next use a window and door flashing material that is made out of butyl rubber to run over every single exposed piece of aluminum that you can find. Frame out your aluminum in 1" x 3" wood, running two layers over each aluminum stud and crossing joints where appropriate. Caulk your first layer of insulation directly to the wood using silicone 3. Once that has all dried, you are ready to go over all of your voids with more of the 1" aluminum insulation, caulk again and presto, you are ready to skin the interior. With this combination I recently achieved a 16 degree temperature difference in Moab with just myself inside the camper. My bed platform leaves me about 24" from the top of the 4" mattress to the ceiling and about 50" width by 78" length. I also ran a furniture pad over my rear doors which snapped closed along the perimeter and one which snapped over my front window to cut down drafts and cold transfer from the outside air. I ran the test with an outside ambient temperature of 34 degrees. It has also been tested with two people and the 9" roof vent cracked about 1" for ventilation, the 2" x 3" side vent was open but not pulling air in at the time. That test gained me an indoor temperature of 54 degrees sustained from 9pm at night with outside temps at 30 degrees F to the morning at 5am with an outside temp of 22 degrees F. Let me know if you have any questions about costs and such.

Thanks.

[pete.wilson]

Hey

So far I haven't been able to do much with my top due to the hours I have been putting in at work but I am leaning towards doing a bedrug for the bed. Great idea's so far, does anyone have pics?

Pete Wilson

[Bike_Mech]

For those of us who don't facebook, do you have photos any place else?


Hey, how is it going, I saw this thread the other day, I don't have any pictures to post as of yet because there are many and I need to re size them, you can find me on facebook to see the build progress. I am using an ARE DCU series topper with an aluminum skin on top of an 05 superduty long bed. The ARE got 2 layers of 1" thick aluminized foam insulation with an R-6 rating. the most important thing to work on if you are planning a build like this is to off set your insulation to prevent thermal transfer from the outer skin thru the aluminum framing members to the inner sleeping/rest area. I hit this from a few different angles: first use 3M high strength 90 to glue in the aluminum panels (shiny side in) to the outer skin in between all of the framing members. Next use a window and door flashing material that is made out of butyl rubber to run over every single exposed piece of aluminum that you can find. Frame out your aluminum in 1" x 3" wood, running two layers over each aluminum stud and crossing joints where appropriate. Caulk your first layer of insulation directly to the wood using silicone 3. Once that has all dried, you are ready to go over all of your voids with more of the 1" aluminum insulation, caulk again and presto, you are ready to skin the interior. With this combination I recently achieved a 16 degree temperature difference in Moab with just myself inside the camper. My bed platform leaves me about 24" from the top of the 4" mattress to the ceiling and about 50" width by 78" length. I also ran a furniture pad over my rear doors which snapped closed along the perimeter and one which snapped over my front window to cut down drafts and cold transfer from the outside air. I ran the test with an outside ambient temperature of 34 degrees. It has also been tested with two people and the 9" roof vent cracked about 1" for ventilation, the 2" x 3" side vent was open but not pulling air in at the time. That test gained me an indoor temperature of 54 degrees sustained from 9pm at night with outside temps at 30 degrees F to the morning at 5am with an outside temp of 22 degrees F. Let me know if you have any questions about costs and such.

Thanks.

[bobbyinredwood]

I was thinking a product like Kool Seal might work in this application. It supposed to be a sound reducer and insulator, it expands to get in all the small seems and cracks. Worth some investigation maybe?

http://www.koolseal.com/product_family.asp?family=elastomeric

[rusty_tlc]

years ago I had a job coating roofs in Las Vegas with urethane foam. We did a lot of other stuff as well. One thing we did was under coat beverage delivery truck under-bodies. We also did an application similar to a truck canopy. the builder had attached wood forms perpendicular to the inside of the body. We sprayed foam over the surface and he sanded it flush with the forms. The forms were used to attach a thin plywood skin over the foam. I never saw the finished product but by the time we finished it was a lot stronger and very well insulated.

If anybody wants to insulate a metal shell I'd look in the phone book for urethane roofing companies. You could probably use the Great stuff foam but it might cost more.

[AlwaysExplr87]

Just got an aluminum topper and was planning to insulate it and put in a wall or headliner. I know this would be great in the winter when I want to stay warm but I am wondering about the summer time. Im in NC and do most of my camping in the summer, I really want to keep this thing as cool as possible. Would insulation prevent heat (mostly radiant heat I assume) from heating up the inside and keep it cool, or will it hold in heat and make it warmer? This thing is not going to have AC, just a circulating fan, so keeping cold air in isnt much of a concern.

[Bella PSD]

For those of us who don't facebook, do you have photos any place else?

I tried to find it on Facebook and got nothing. BUT he posted a picture in his albums here on portal

37778

I would love to see more picture. This is about what I had in mind for my DCU.

Louie

[failsafefabrication]

the basic structure I have going in the DCU is:
Aluminum inside skin
3M High strength 90 & liquid Nails
First layer of 1" R7 aluminized foam insulation
3M High strength 90 & liquid Nails
second layer of 1" R7 aluminized foam insulation

this combination went into all bays between the aluminum frame, on the frame went a layer of butyl rubber window and door flashing self adhesive product (home depot) to act as a thermal barrier to the outer skin/frame. next went 1" x 3/4" strips of wood which were then caulked with silicone III. I then did a second layer of wood with the screws offset this part is important; to the original framing screws so that there was a minimal chance of heat transfer even from screws through to the aluminum frame. At this point I have furred in the interior about 1" in total which in practice when I mount my final interior skin of 1/4" birch ply to the inside should give me 1/4" to 1/2" of airspace between my final layer of aluminized insulation and the interior skin. the gap is critical because the insulation is designed to reflect heat in wall cavities and needs that airspace to work. It was a bit of a pain to do all of that work but I can say that with a 50" wide by 23" tall by 78" long bed platform with a 4" memory foam mattress and nothing but one person's body heat (mind you with the 9" roof vent cracked 1") I was able to repeatedly show a temp rise of over 20 degrees from outside when it was 25 deg. F outside over the course of a night with very little humidity accumulating inside. Needless to say, I probably will heat this thing eventually. Working on the water system for now and that with work is taking all of my time. more to come.

[rusty_tlc]

Just got an aluminum topper and was planning to insulate it and put in a wall or headliner. I know this would be great in the winter when I want to stay warm but I am wondering about the summer time. Im in NC and do most of my camping in the summer, I really want to keep this thing as cool as possible. Would insulation prevent heat (mostly radiant heat I assume) from heating up the inside and keep it cool, or will it hold in heat and make it warmer? This thing is not going to have AC, just a circulating fan, so keeping cold air in isnt much of a concern.
The insulation will help keep it cool inside.

[Bogo]

I did one years ago. I just cut 1" styrofoam from lowes or home depot then just taped it in with aluminum duct tape. The aluminum stuff is very stiff so I just ran it along where the insulation met the frame tubing and it held fine.
I never did cover it though, was thinking of using pegboard or the same board they sell like it without the holes then covering it with headliner to match the truck.

I'd be worried the tape would tear over time.


the basic structure I have going in the DCU is:
Aluminum inside skin
3M High strength 90 & liquid Nails
First layer of 1" R7 aluminized foam insulation
3M High strength 90 & liquid Nails
second layer of 1" R7 aluminized foam insulation

this combination went into all bays between the aluminum frame, on the frame went a layer of butyl rubber window and door flashing self adhesive product (home depot) to act as a thermal barrier to the outer skin/frame. next went 1" x 3/4" strips of wood which were then caulked with silicone III. I then did a second layer of wood with the screws offset this part is important; to the original framing screws so that there was a minimal chance of heat transfer even from screws through to the aluminum frame. At this point I have furred in the interior about 1" in total which in practice when I mount my final interior skin of 1/4" birch ply to the inside should give me 1/4" to 1/2" of airspace between my final layer of aluminized insulation and the interior skin. the gap is critical because the insulation is designed to reflect heat in wall cavities and needs that airspace to work. It was a bit of a pain to do all of that work but I can say that with a 50" wide by 23" tall by 78" long bed platform with a 4" memory foam mattress and nothing but one person's body heat (mind you with the 9" roof vent cracked 1") I was able to repeatedly show a temp rise of over 20 degrees from outside when it was 25 deg. F outside over the course of a night with very little humidity accumulating inside. Needless to say, I probably will heat this thing eventually. Working on the water system for now and that with work is taking all of my time. more to come.

Note if you use 4" spaced beads of the liquid nails on the inside face of the AL shell, and press the foam sheet insulation against it, it will form an air gap between the AL and insulation board. That will allow the reflective layer to work properly.

[Every Miles A Memory]

I've never done this myself to a topper, but my parents had it done in their house and it looks like an amazing product

The company sprays it in and if forms to any angle or surface. It expands just like the stuff you buy at the local hardware named Great Stuff

They then use a wire that is hot and melt it down to the studs or what ever they've sprayed it into so it's flush to cover with either drywall (When sprayed in a house or attic) or carpet or which ever surface you plan on using in your topper

I'm thinking the inside of a topper would be pretty inexpensive for how insulated it would be using this product

This Link (http://www.icynene.com/) brings you to their site and it offers a Find a Dealer link so you can at least call a dealer in your area to get a quote