The Build: Sound proofing and insulation

Soundproofing

With so much road and engine noise and stuff that will be in the back rattling around, I wanted to add some soundproofing where I could to make it a little easier to hear my music, radio, audio books, and self think while driving. I’m not sure if it works the other way or not at all, but minimizing people outside hearing me in the van when I’m camped or sleeping or whatever would be great, too.

Since the previous owners had already installed reflective insulation stuck to most wall and roof surfaces, I had the floor to work with if I didn’t want to pull out anything and have to redo it.

After some forum/blog/you tube searching, I decided to order some Kilmat sound deadener material from Amazon. To install it, according to the directions and you tube, I stuck it down to the van floor and used a little roller I had to purchase separately to roll down the quilted pattern which indicates it’s pressed down firmly enough.

Each piece sticks down and gets rolled out

My van’s floor has little ridges which made it kind of a process to stick evenly and roll out, but I did my best. due to the uneven shape I had to cut some pieces down to fit in corners and edges, which was a sticky mess but not terrible aside from getting little black lines all over the knees of my jeans as I knelt in the van rolling the edges where the butyl was seeping. Finally I stuck down some trim tape, also an Amazon purchase made by Noico, to the edges and places the butyl was exposed or seeping.

All down and trimmed

Over one evening and the following afternoon it probably took about 2 hours all together to finish. I could hear the difference clearly when I was applying it, but we’ll see if it really make an impact once everything is in there.

I think I hear the difference?

The Insulation

As I’ve said, my van came to me with reflective insulation- probably Reflectix but since I didn’t buy it and the couple didn’t recall the brand I don’t want to say for sure- installed around the walls, under the roof cover, and laid on top of the floor. Reflectix has a low insulation value, but it was already paid for, installed, and better than nothing so I’ll take it unless I freeze or sweat my butt off once I get going and it’s bad enough to rip out and redo. Famous last words, right?

To add a bit where I could, I bought a sheet of 3/4″ XPS foam insulation from Lowe’s which I was able to cut with a box cutter to fill in the space between the floor ridges, and add a little more insulation, perhaps some additional soundproofing and padding, and even out the level. I cut it down, and applied a coating of spray adhesive to help secure it down. This layer is on top of the soundproofing, but will be below the reflective insulation, subfloor, and floor, so I doubt it will be moving much anyway but it helped for now during the build.

Almost done cutting and sticking the foam insulation

The size they sell by the board was more than double what I needed for the floor, so I will likely apply some to the indents where the windows might have been in the sides of the van.

With original reflective insulation laid back over the foam, and all along sides and on roof

I’ll update once I do some test runs and get on the road, but so far the little thermometer I bought and keep in the van to measure interior temps is lower consistently than I would have expected so perhaps that’s a sign it’s working?

Buying the Van

The Search

Once I decided to really go for this whole #vanlife thing for real, step one was pretty obvious: find a van! I mean, it’s right there in the name and all.

The research consisted of reading some books and blogs/sites, following a bunch of social media sites for inspiration as to what different types of vehicles can do in terms of layout, and every 10 minutes while driving craning my neck to see what model that cool van I just passed was.

Some things I narrowed my search to:

  • Must be automatic transmission. I never got past driving around the parking lot in my high school boyfriend’s car sort of being able to shift gears without stalling or rocketing us through the windshield. I’d like to learn the skill, but the chances of me mastering it quickly and with enough confidence to reliably navigate on all kinds of roads, through hills and mountains, and traffic? Pretty laughable.
  • Must be able to park and drive without major difficulty. I consider myself (as I’m sure most people delusionally consider themselves) to be a decent driver with the occasional exception of when lost, in storms or ice, or ridiculous traffic. Even so, the thought of changing lanes on a highway or navigating narrow or curvy roads in a gargantuan RV-esque van, let alone backing up a giant van with no windows terrifies me. I’d trade the ability to stand fully and more living space for the better likelihood I’ll avoid backing into a tree or careening off a mountain pass any day.
  • There are tons of brand new beautiful vans out there, ready to be Insta-customized, with room for bathrooms, ovens, fridges, etc. but only if you have tens of thousands to spend. You can find cool retro VW campers that have been redone and kept up, but only if you have tens of thousands of dollars. You can find already tricked out adventure-mobiles ready to off-road anywhere, but only if you have tens of thousands to play with. Sense a pattern here? Still, with so many work vans, fleet vehicles, campers and minivans around the used market is there, but for me budget rules since this is a relatively short term commitment rather than my life plan for a mobile/digital career full time. My search was limited to $10,000 and below.
  • Had to be under 100,000 miles for similar reasons: breaking down frequently ruins the trip, a major overhaul like a new engine or transmission kill the budget even if the initial price is lower, and lower mileage in my mind is reassuring to my visions of breaks failing on mountain in the middle of nowhere.
  • Had to have decent gas mileage. I know it will never be close to my Honda Fit’s 30ish mpg (and personal best of 50+ mpg average those months I was commuting on the highway to and from grad school between 12am-6am), but closer to car than RV. Plus, you know, the Earth is dying, climate change, fossil fuels, etc. (not to mention, gas is expensive!)
  • Had to be local since I wasn’t going to be buying sight unseen, and was van shopping at the busiest time in my work schedule so couldn’t take any time really to travel.
On pickup day

I scoured Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, and used car sites online for weeks, sent many interest inquiry messages, discovered that a majority of sellers don’t know or care to mark things as sold when unavailable, and chatted with several people before finding my lead.

The Buy

It was a Craigslist ad, located in a suburb on the other side of the city, decent asking price, good photos, responsive seller, and met most of my list above. I checked it out, test drove, went back with a family friend who knows cars and made sure I wasn’t missing an obvious major issue, he test drove it, we negotiated a little, and after a long safety inspection process it was all mine!

The owners were a young couple from Germany working in the US who had been using the van for camping and road trips. They had installed some reflective insulation around the interior of the back, and built a removable bed platform which allowed storage underneath and a queen sized mattress. They were eager to have the next owner continue the camping life, so I think they sold it to me rather than another person with a higher offer who wanted it for work. They even sent me off with some replacement filters and bulbs, and had ordered a new stereo since they thought I might want bluetooth. Good karma to start! I hope I do them right and keep it going. The couple had recently purchased a much larger, nicer van which they planned to build out into a tiny home for full-time travel in a few years as off the grid as possible- they said this was a perfect test run before returning to Germany to build a green tiny home.

I ended up paying $7,000 plus a little for the inspection, registration, taxes, etc. Above blue book value, but the value of the many hours of work they’d put into improvements for camping were well worth it to me.

The Van

  • 2011 Ford Transit Connect XLT
  • Has rear windows for some visibility
  • Fits in a standard parking space
  • Taller than an average car, but not much taller than a large SUV or minivan so fits in most garages, tunnels, etc. but not tall enough to stand in
  • Power windows, cruise control, 3 cupholders (these things are important, especially after my 10 cupholder pre-tree smush Fit), AC & heat working fine, cd player, radio & aux input
  • Came with the insulation, bed frame, mattress, etc. they’d installed and passed along
  • Approx. 13 gallon tank, and best guess average when I bought was 18-22 mpg
  • Automatic transmission, standard gasoline
  • Small dent in back from previous (before the couple) owner, and one side sliding door doesn’t open for unknown reasons, but the other one does so no big deal
  • So far fun to drive and I haven’t almost hit anyone yet!

Meet Mary

A very little bit about me, but if you’re here you probably already know it all

Hi, and thanks for taking the time to check out the page. My page is mainly designed to share updates and stories with my friends, family, and perhaps people I meet along the way so I don’t forget to share something these people want to keep up on (but let’s be real, mainly so my mother doesn’t worry so much- hi mom!).

In case you don’t know, though, here’s my very brief story:

The faces of Mary: travel, animals, friends, music, outside, and many many ridiculous outfits
  • Raised in a suburb of Washington, DC by wonderful, loving parents in a nice little house with some cats
  • Went to college just a few hours away, and came back to the DC area for grad school and stayed for work, great friends, and great opportunities
  • Worked at the same job in a few different roles over the past 10 years
  • Lots of free time spent traveling the US and abroad whenever time and money allowed, sometimes solo, sometimes with a friend or group
  • I love popcorn, Murder She Wrote reruns, coffee, piggies, walks in the woods, rainy days, reading, trips to Wawa, and fun with friends like Sharknado and Hallmark marathons, music festivals, playing ‘around DC’ people-watching bingo at every occasion, and other shenanigans
  • Currently 34 in actual age, have the wardrobe of a college student, the ridiculousness of a 5 year old, and TV habits of a 70 year old

You might be thinking, that sounds nice, why would you just leave all that good stuff and live in a metal box with no company and no home base?

Well, I kind of ask myself that all the time but here’s my best answer:

  • I’ve lived in the DC area pretty much my whole life. It’s fantastic. There’s a lot of cultural opportunities, free museums and monuments, smart and engaged people of all different backgrounds, beautiful sights, and interesting things happening. It’s close to 3 major airports, a major train station, waterways, beach, national parks and sites, and within easy driving distance of many other cool cities and towns. There’s decent food, even for a vegetarian. Authors visit, protests occur, cherry blossoms bloom, fireworks illuminate, panda babies are born. But living in one place for so long means I haven’t lived anywhere else for long, and how else will I know if there’s a better place out there for me (perhaps lacking the traffic, high cost of living, and people who think they’re the most important thing on the planet)
  • I love to travel, and while I’ve been to a lot of cool spots in the country there’s so much more to see. Spectacular places and sights await!
  • I’m an only child, I’ve been basically living alone for years, and don’t mind being alone most of the time. This will either turn me into a hermit spinster, or push me to connect more with people- one way or another it’s a good way to find out! I’ll miss my friends and family a lot and will probably bawl occasionally and have major FOMO when they haven’t put their lives on hold, but phones work and visits happen.
  • My previous apartment was recently sold by my landlord so it was a good sign from the universe it was time to make a change. Plus I totally can’t afford to live in this city without the sweet deal I had on rent or without a partner to share expenses and since I’m perpetually unattached I’d need a major career change or to win the lottery.
  • I was ready for a change in my work life. I had a great career working at a preschool in the area, teaching young children, and managing our school library and reading to the kids each week. As time went on, staffing changed, and needs changed, I ended up taking on new challenges which were more managerial and office/tech driven- great for learning new skills and accomplishing goals I wanted to complete for the school, but terrible for my overall physical and mental wellbeing. Much more stationary, more stressed, less contact with the sweet and funny children, and more isolation from coworkers. I loved my school but there might be a better fit for me elsewhere getting back more to what I love doing on a daily basis (can’t beat that vacation schedule though!)

Let’s see if my self-reassurance works out!