Van DIY

Van Flooring

May 26, 2019 by Gwen 3 Comments

Updated on December 28th, 2020

When we started planning for the van, we did not budget anything for van flooring. We had a lot of leftover hardwood from our house that we thought we would just repurpose in the van. About thirty seconds before starting to measure and cut for this hardwood we decided it was a terrible idea. This hardwood has been junk. It scratches, chips, and does not handle humidity changes well. All things that are a pretty bad idea for van flooring.

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How to Build Van Cabinets

May 19, 2019 by Gwen 5 Comments

Updated on January 1st, 2025

We were so excited to start the building the van cabinets! It was the first time we were really going to see something that made it look like a home. It was a lot of work, and was our most detailed project yet, but the results are awesome.

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How to Install Van Wall Paneling

February 24, 2019 by Gwen 4 Comments

Updated on June 16th, 2021

I was so excited to install the van wall paneling. This was the first step that I was going to start seeing my design decisions in action. We chose bead board as the van wall paneling for a few different reason, but mainly because I love the look of it and it is much simpler to install than something like shiplap would have been. Also the fact that it’s made out of MDF instead of wood makes it more adaptable to temperature swings.

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Van Build: Framing

January 7, 2019 by Gwen 4 Comments

Updated on February 15th, 2021

We are starting to get to the fun stuff now, framing the cabinets and bed! Good thing because the van mattress arrived last week and it’s taking up a lot of space in our living room! We have decided for safety reasons to anchor the bed and cabinets to the walls and this requires us to place framing for everything to screw into. We decided to do this before wall paneling so that we knew where the paneling would need to abut the railings.

How to Install Van Insulation

November 30, 2018 by Gwen 13 Comments

Updated on February 25th, 2021

Van Insulation is very important because it helps keep the van cool when it’s hot outside and warm when it’s cold outside. We plan on using our van only for adventures and not full time so we did go slightly lighter duty on insulation than someone might if they are planning to live in their van. We also chose not to insulate the floor. Andy gave an in-depth explanation about why we didn’t insulate the floor in our Subfloor Video at around 5:30.

How to Install a Van Subfloor

November 18, 2018 by Gwen 6 Comments

Updated on February 15th, 2021

The first major step in our van build was installing the van subfloor. We managed to complete the install in one day, but be prepared to have to wait overnight for any adhesive to cure before moving to the next step.

Please note: we made the decision not to insulate our floor. You can find out why in our van insulation post, but if you are planning to insulate your floor you will want to do that before you lay down your subfloor, and you will likely have to use a different method than the one laid out below.

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