Chapter 5: Reckhorn ABX Alubutyl for noise insulation!
The time has come – with chapter 5 the first steps of the camper conversion begin: We attached Alubutyl to reduce vibrations (and therefore sound).
But before that we had to clean up: After years of its transporter existence, dust, dirt and worse have accumulated in every crack of the vehicle. We clean everything thoroughly before starting with the actual camper van conversion.
Besides wiping and vacuuming, we also remove all remaining wood and plastic covers from the vehicle. This concerns especially the driver cabin. Since we want to install a large storage area in the overhead bin, we take out the plastic storage area that comes as a standard with the Iveco. Since the headliner is very dirty, we put it aside and will clean it. As the camera was running, we don’t want to withhold the intensive cleaning (in 40 times timelapse 🙂 )
Thorough cleaning of the Iveco takes some time, as we also want to remove dust from every crack on the sheet metal so that alubutyl and armaflex can stick well. This is our best shot to make sure the self-adhesive Armaflex will hold reliably.
By the way, we bought too much Alubutyl, 2 square meters would have been sufficient. Since Armaflex also contributes to sound insulation, this investment is questionable anyway. If you are interested in more details about armaflex and the differences between its variants ACE, XG and AF, check out the linked article :-).
Why Alubutyl?
It’s actually quite simple: Like probably every van, the Iveco has large, flat sheet metal surfaces in the cargo area and on the roof. These sheet metal surfaces are thin and have no stiffeners or beads, so they can transmit sound well. This can be heard particularly well during rain, which causes a roaring noise on the roof of the van. If we increase the low mass of the sheet metal surfaces, they vibrate less and isolate the sound better and prevent the annoying roar.
We achieve this effect by bonding Alubutyl. You can use Alubutyl sparingly. It is sufficient to put Alubutyl on 40-50% of the flat surfaces to achieve an optimal sound insulation. For our camper conversion we mainly put it on the roof and the side walls.
Learning after a few weeks: It is not necessary to use both, Alubutyl + Armaflex. The sound insulation provided by Armaflex is already quite strong. Therefore, think twice about whether you want to use Alubutyl. If, on the other hand, you insulate with other insulating materials (e.g. styrofoam + vapour barrier), it is definitely worth buying Alubutyl!
Applying Alubutyl
We decided to use 4sqm Reckhorn ABX Alubutyl*, or the exact product on ebay* and ordered it at amazon.de. In the end we only glued 2 sqm.
In the following video you can see how I installed the Alubutyl in the whole vehicle. I also show my latest purchases, which will be installed soon.
After the Alubutyl is glued and pressed on firmly everywhere, it can now proceed with the actual insulation. 30 square meters of Armaflex are ready and so the next article will deal with cold and heat insulation. You can find more details about insulation with Armaflex in our article about insulating with Armaflex in the camper.
If you want to be kept up to date on the progress of our camper expansion, just subscribe to our YouTube channel. By the way, our next article is about the insulation of the camper, for which we will use Armaflex XG.
We are looking forward to constructive comments, tips and your experiences with Alubutyl or your own camper interior. Have courage!
