One special specific type of Tiny House is the Sprinter Van Conversion, though the idea applies more widely to van conversions, RV conversions, and ‘skoolies’ or school bus conversions.
We have received many inquiries from people converting their RVs, School Buses (Skoolies), and Vans (especially Sprinter Vans), into Tiny Homes. Most of these inquiries are regarding natural insulation, though our natural flooring and natural finishes are also a ‘
natural‘ fit. Perhaps our next most popular product for these conversions is our selection of
Forbo Marmoleum natural flooring. Marmoleum is not limited to floors though! The owner of Eco-Building Products did the counters, walls and ceiling of his food truck too!
Sheep wool insulation has many advantages as an insulation product in any application. Here are some advantages that may appeal to the rolling household:
- Sheep Wool Insulation naturally moderates and handles moisture
- Sheep Wool Insulation is naturally fire retardant
- Sheep Wool Insulation is resilient – we have multiple customers who make custom speaker enclosures, and they have switched to sheep wool because the speaker vibrations cause fiberglass and cotton to disintegrate over time, whereas a sheep wool fiber and bend and flex 30,000 times without breaking
- Sheep Wool Insulation does not off-gas – in fact it can absorb and lock up indoor air pollutants
Regarding the road vibrations, you will want a way to address the possible settling of any insulation. Regardless of which insulation you use, you may want to leave an access at the top of your walls, perhaps a 1×6 wood panel, that you can remove, check for settling, and add more insulation as needed.
To keep your wall insulation from settling, you may want to anchor it to the top of the wall. This is not really an issue if your wall framing is divided into many smaller areas – it is more of an issue if you have tall wall cavities, perhaps all the way from the floor to the ceiling. Some approaches include:
- Attach a wood header to the top of your wall and staple, nail, or screw your sheeps wool insulation to the wood
- Otherwise nail or screw your sheeps wool insulation to the wall
- Some customers glue their sheeps wool insulation to the van wall, though we do not have a recommendation on the best for indoor air quality
- Insert vertical wood framing and staple the sheeps wool insulation to the wood framing
- Compress thicker sheeps wool insulation into a more shallow cavity and rely on friction to hold it firmly in place
With cavities that are smaller you can probably rely on some combination of volume, friction, glue, or tape.
We also have a great deal on no-itch foil-faced cotton duct wrap (and pipe wrap) which is an affordable option for insulating your van conversion floor!
One of our Sprinter Van Conversion sheep wool insulation customers shared this article about their conversion experience.
