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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Tools Needed:
- Circular Saw
- Drill
- Drill Bit
- Jig Saw
- Tape Measure
Materials Needed:
- 3 4×8 Sheets of Beadboard
- 1” Stainless Steel Sheet Metal Screws
- White Spray Paint
- Cardboard
Nail Prep
If you are planning to be lazy like us, and not paint, you will want to paint your screws. Do this a day or two ahead of time so the paint has plenty of time to cure. We used
Measuring
Measure van wall paneling pieces, length, and width. Keep in mind if you have any seams they will need to line up on a metal stud so that both pieces will be supported.
Rough Cut
Rough cut the sheet to size. We recommend doing all of your basic measurements first so you can fit as many pieces on each board as possible, but make sure to go back and measure again after each piece is installed before cutting the next piece.
You’ll want to set up a guide for the circular saw. We used a 2×4. It was offset by the distance from the edge of the saw to the blade. Then you can just run the saw along the edge of the wood and get a straight cut.
Test Fit
Test fit the panel. At this time you will want to mark any areas that you will need to cut around. This could include ribs, boards, door hinges, and general van shape. We made a cardboard template for the areas on either side of the backdoor to help speed up cutting of these odd shapes. See our template at 6:12 in the video. Most vans are a mirror image,
Final Cuts
Trim the panel(s) to your template(s) or marks, we recommend a little oversized so that you can scribe it in place to get a nice tight seam. Remember the van won’t be level, so when you are measuring be sure to use the floor to make it square instead of a level.
Installing Boards
Take measurements of where you want the screws to enter the metal rib. See 4:23 in the video for a visual. Use a grease pencil to mark on your tape measure. Transfer these measurements onto your panel board so that you know where to pre-drill.
Pre-drill with a drill bit through the panel board and the metal rib. Be careful not to drill through the outside of the van! Andy only measured the length of his bit after drill two holes so we got very lucky! Don’t be like Andy, measure first!
Use the drill to install the sheet metal screws in each spot.
Repeat steps until you have all of your panels in place!
Active Time–4 hours
Total Time–24 hours
Previous step in our van build: Framing
For more post about our van see: Van Build
This is awesome! How flexible is the beadboard? We’re looking to do something similar to this, but our van has pretty strong curves from the floor up to the roof. Thank you for this tutorial!!
It has some flexibility but for strong curves you would probably need more than one piece to make it work. We used Masonite, but there is a PVC version that is more flexible but also more expansive. Best of luck with your build!
Do you happen to have a link to your bead board? The ones I’ve found, the lines are closer/narrow and don’t look as nice.