We’ve been living and traveling in our van for six months! We recently posted about the things we love about our DIY van build, and we think it’s just as important to talk about the things we haven’t been as happy with so that you can learn from our mistakes. Overall, we are very happy with our tiny home on wheels but the following are our regrets about our second van build!
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Toilet Door Fail
For the last ten months, we have been doing our “business” on the toilet out in the open because of an issue with our original plan to create some privacy for our toilet space.
We made a measuring error when designing the cabinet that our toilet sits in and we didn’t realize it until we received the cabinet doors and tried to install the door. Turns out, the cabinet is wider than our “hallway” so a door would not have been able to open. Our original privacy plan had included using that door to block the view from our bed to the toilet area.
We are still trying to come up with a solution that doesn’t involve long walks or noise-cancelling headphones!
Outdoor Shower
Our outdoor shower was already a compromise because we had an indoor shower on our wish list for this build and just couldn’t fit it. But the first setup we used for the outdoor shower setup just wasn’t practical.
We initially used two shower curtains and two poles that mounted to the rear doors. This setup had a lot of issues, including not being private because the curtains would blow around in the tiniest bit of wind. Having the rear doors open let in a ton of bugs into the van and also, even with the second curtain, we were still getting some splashes on our bed and on the fabric-covered back door panels. In other words, it was a disaster all around.
After that frustration, we have decided to go with a pop-up shower tent! It has its own downsides, mainly that it has to dry out after use. But, it is overall a much nicer setup especially from a privacy standpoint!
Maxxair Fan
After a ton of research about what the best fan on the market is for a van build, we landed on the Maxxair Maxxfan 7000. When you look at the other options, it really is the best of what’s available. That said, we are still not super happy with this fan.
We have two main complaints:
- The first is that it has a terrible high-pitched squeal when run in humid conditions. Like, think the noise that a dentist’s drill makes. After reading online, apparently, this is a common issue and Maxxair has said that their instructions say to run the fan on high for 24 hours to seat the brushes. We did not find that information in our instructions, and now it appears there isn’t a fix once it starts.
- Our second complaint is around the remote. This one is a two-part. The battery life is horrendous. We have been in the van for just six months and have already gone through four sets of batteries in this remote. We believe it’s related to the thermostat feature, but we don’t know that for sure. And the second issue is that it doesn’t work from one side of the van to the other. What is the point of a remote that you cannot use from less than 10 feet away.
We won’t be making any changes with this issue because there isn’t a better option on the market at this time. But we reallllllly wish there was! Let us know if you find one!
Too Bright Overhead Lights
This next issue is entirely one of our own making. We installed led puck lights in the ceiling. They are super bright, which is great when you want to cook or work, but not so great when you want to chill out and create a cozy environment.
We stupidly bought dimmable LEDs but never installed a dimmer. It’s a pretty easy fix that we will be tackling soon. But our advice is that, while having the ability to have crispy bright lights is great, you will probably want the option to dim them or have a set of cozier lights like the string lights we installed around our bed!
Countertop Wear and Tear
This is the fourth time we have installed butcher block counters in a project. Twice in our houses and twice in our vans. We have done just oil, we have done just poly, and we have done stain and then poly. This time around, I was very excited when I saw stain and poly combo product. I am a big fan of working smarter not harder so using a 2 in 1 product seemed like a great idea.
I really should have known better. We have been really disappointed in how this combo product has held up. After just six months, you can already see a ton of wear and tear on it. On the counter top, that I had stained and then poly’ed in our house, we had none of these issues, even using the same brand, which leads me to believe it’s the combo product.
We’ve since sanded off the combo product and redone the counter with stain and then polyurethane and it is so much better! Easier to clean and it’s not wearing nearly as quickly.
Flooring Peeling and Scratching
And the item that we have hated the most is…..Our flooring. We thought we bought the same peel-and-stick vinyl flooring that we used in our last van build, the TrafficMaster brand. But we actually used a different brand–Style Selections.
Here in Penny, with the Style Selections, we have had issues with shrinkage which has caused there to be gaps between the pieces. We also have several areas that are pulling up and, for whatever reason, this floor has been scratching a lot.
We switched back to the TrafficMaster peel-and-stick flooring we used in our Chevy, and it is exactly as we remembered it. We have not had any issues, and it’s been extremely durable!
We hope talking about our issues helps someone out there who is starting to plan their build. Overall, we are extremely happy with our setup, and most of these are easily fixable, many of which we’ve already taken care of. Now we just need to figure out how to poo in private!
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