So having completed all the dirty mods to the van, she was now fully equipped with a pop up roof, hatchback tailgate and a nice set of tinted windows for keeping nosy passers by out! However, the inside was in worse shape than when I bought her, meaning there was some serious work to do to get it fit for living in for the amount of time that we’d be away. First of all I needed to clean out all the crap that the previous owner had left in the load bay. After an hour of elbow grease this was the result:
[peg-image src=”https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-IPw4DfWHW4I/V8xI_pOW7xI/AAAAAAAAFiQ/5GWAWJTjTQsLXbCk4cRlzQil7sRYuzr0gCCo/s144-o/20160616_154819.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/106656392310830434275/6323487077200757329#6326511834783739666″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”20160616_154819.jpg” image_size=”2988×5312″ ]
The next step was to insulate, put in the plywood floor and line the van with carpet to give a nice smart base in which to put the other things. I had already learnt that doing anything in the van took about twice as long as I was used to from other DIY type projects on account of the small space and the number of corners and curved lines. Fortunately, house renovation had taught me something about building materials and working with tools and I had a fully equipped workshop at the house for doing any wood based bits of fit out.
I decided that unlike most conversions, the floor of the van would be insulated. Although this may seem counter intuitive given that heat rises, I wanted to be sure that come winter we would have warm feet! The height of the van allows little scope for thick insulation however 25mm of Celotex would fit in just fine and would make a big difference. I levelled the floor with some offcuts of 9mm plywood, boxed off all the openings with 25mm batten (to match the thickness of insulation) and set about cutting the insulation in. A few hours later this was the result:
[peg-image src=”https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8kfLKpT634w/V8xI_pn-V2I/AAAAAAAAFiQ/vt4o7HL6Si0YQGMAO5aVGrnSZbN04DDVQCCo/s144-o/20160617_104317.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/106656392310830434275/6323487077200757329#6326511834891179874″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”20160617_104317.jpg” image_size=”2988×5312″ ]
[peg-image src=”https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Z7oWd4Eluuk/V8xI_idP95I/AAAAAAAAFiQ/nHk48Qdqv0ESni7Yq9p4bdy60hvRge-EQCCo/s144-o/20160617_113545.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/106656392310830434275/6323487077200757329#6326511832967149458″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”20160617_113545.jpg” image_size=”2988×5312″ ]
For filling in the panels I did a bit of research to see what others had decided to use. From an insulation efficiency perspective, Celotex always gives the most warmth per mm of thickness. However, it is also at least as important to ensure there are no gaps otherwise cold air will pass straight through. Rockwool was traditionally used for the old T25 campers so I decided that this would do just fine making up for its relatively poor U value with the fact that it easily fills any odd shapes. It also had the added advantage of being an excellent sound deadener- something that a few journeys in the empty van had shown me would be incredibly important. I decided to increase the deadening effect by adding some roof flashing to all of the large panels and to the reinforcing channels that I had added when doing the pop roof conversion. There were mixed opinions online about whether flashband did the same job as the more expensive “proper” sound deadening material however the proper stuff would have cost me £100s so the decision was easy!
[peg-image src=”https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W6TuChP9880/V8xI_uKr_hI/AAAAAAAAFiQ/jMH6xTNG2PwdZgqM4TJca1ZWadUmQ15RQCCo/s144-o/20160617_141043.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/106656392310830434275/6323487077200757329#6326511836110519826″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”20160617_141043.jpg” image_size=”5312×2988″ ]
Once the insulation was done, I spent a day refitting the original hardboard panels that came with the van and added some additional plywood where necessary to smooth the contours of the back and she was finally ready to be carpeted! Now, all the guides say that you need two people to successfully carpet a van on account of the fact that you need to do each side in one piece. Unfortunately there was only little old me on my own so I needed to come up with a way of doing it. I first cut down the roll of carpet into all the separate bits that I would need; Two small ones for the wheel arches, two very large ones for the sides and a bit for each door. In the end by working carefully, firmly and smoothly from top to bottom and in to out on every panel, I achieved it. In reality the actual carpet fitting only took a day- it had taken more than a full day to prep first.
[peg-image src=”https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ZowKAJDgFmk/V8xI_rXN3sI/AAAAAAAAFiQ/D3YQ4b1yAsEw9Gt8GabWLZ6BJ0NACOjkwCCo/s144-o/20160617_141046.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/106656392310830434275/6323487077200757329#6326511835357765314″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”20160617_141046.jpg” image_size=”5312×2988″ ]
[peg-image src=”https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-pFje2bhPT4Q/V8xI_u5N12I/AAAAAAAAFiQ/X4JajljbF8cKERDeFAtSX72cEMrzU4c8ACCo/s144-o/20160621_161232.jpg” href=”https://picasaweb.google.com/106656392310830434275/6323487077200757329#6326511836305676130″ caption=”” type=”image” alt=”20160621_161232.jpg” image_size=”5312×2988″ ]
Finally Seline was starting to look like she might make a home!
That’s all for now folks! Next time I’ll write about making up the cupboards and fitting the bed.
Good To read that you thought it thriugh