How To Install The Floor For A Van Conversion. In 5 Easy Steps!
We are going to go over how to install the floor for a van conversion! Your floor is important for waterproofing, sound proofing and insulating your van.
If you are like me and have never installed a floor don’t worry this is something that you can do without much experience. Just follow these five steps that I did and you will have a van floor in no time!
- Clean the van floor of any dirt or debris
- Level the van floor with insulation or wood
- Cut and install floorboard insulation
- Cut and install plywood subfloor
- Install the finished flooring
Disclosure: Some links on this page are affiliate links, and if you go through them to make a purchase or a booking, I may earn a commission. Using these links DO NOT affect the cost of the product/booking. The price remains the same affiliate link or not. This is the process that I did my flooring in different vans may have their own nuances it is important to do thorough research of your van and needs prior to installing your flooring.
Step #1 Clean The Van Floor:
First thing’s first we need to clean the floor of our van. Use a metal-friendly cleaner and wash out any dirt or debris on your van floor. Dirt and debris can interfere with the bonding of the glue we will use to stick our insulation down.
Step #2 Level The Floor
Leveling your floor requires placing insulation or wood in the grooves of the cargo van floor, which can be tedious work. You should select a material that matches the height of the tracks as close as possible. I recommend placing all your strips of insulation or wood where you intend to secure them, then taking out a level to see if what you have set up is truly flat. Having a level floor is crucial because it is what you will be building the rest of your floor on.
Wood vs Insulation:
You can go with either strips of wood or insulation to level your van. I went with a combination because I wanted to be able to better secure some parts of the subfloor. But you would be fine with just using insulation. After cutting your strips of wood/insulation you can use liquid nails to stick them to the floor.
Another option is to purchase one of these pre-made bed rugs to level your floor this can save you a ton of time!
Step #3 Install Your Foam Board Insulation
Next up you need to install your foam board insulation. I went with 1” thick XPS foam board after cutting out the wheel wells to make sure everything fit we placed Liquid Nails to secure the insulation to the van floor. Sorry no pics of this 🙁
Step #4 Install Your Subfloor
After you have your foam board insulation in place the next thing you need to do is install your subflooring. My subflooring required 2 pieces of 4 x 8’ 3/4″ thick plywood cut into 3 separate pieces. After cutting out our plywood I laid them down to see if they were level and applied a bunch of liquid nails to keep them in place.
Unfortunately we ran out of the liquid nails in the middle of laying down the subflooring. Because of this after it dried there were areas of uneven seems from the lack of adhesive. Fortunately we were able to fix this by drilling some screws down into the wooden strips we laid down to level out the boards.
After securing your subfloor you want to place your gaps and stuff along the edges to make sure it is level for when you place your finished floor. Be sure to cut out the excess before it drys to make it flush with the subfloor.
Also you want to use wood filler to sand down the seams of the plywood to get rid of any gaps.
Step #5 Install Your Finished Floor
Now that you have your insulation and subfloor down the final step is to put down the finished floor. There are several options you can go with then it comes to installing your finished floor. You can either go with:
- Vinyl floating floor
- Vinyl sheet flooring
- Lineoleum sheet flooring
I went with the vinyl floating floor because I felt like it offered me a bit more room for error and didn’t have to worry about messing up gluing down my floor and it looking like crap. Floating vinyl floors are extremely easy to install. These floors work with a click lock to secure them together. I just recommend getting a vinyl floor installation kit to help you do this.
After this apply some silicone to the border of your floor and you are all set!
Tools / Material Needed
| Tool | Use | Check Prices |
|---|---|---|
Circular Saw
  | Make Straight Plywood Cuts | Check Prices |
Jig Saw  | Make curved cuts. Specifically for the wheel wells. | Check Prices |
Level | Ensure a level floor at all stages of the project. | Check Prices |
Utility Knife  | Cut out insulation. | Check Prices |
Caulk Gun  | Lay down adhesive | Check Prices |
Vinyl Flooring Installation Kit:
  | Install vinyl flooring for a FLOATING FLOOR. | Check Prices |
Tape Measure
  | Measure out cuts. | Check Prices |
Materials Needed
- XPS Foam Board Insulation 1″ thick for insulation layer. Measure to determine the thickness needed for your vans grooves. You can get from local hardware store or Home Depot
- Two 4×8′ 3/4″ thick plywood for subfloor. You can get from local hardware store or Home Depot.
- ~10 x tubes of Liquid Nails
- Vinyl Flooring
- ~2 x tubes of Silcone II
- ~2 x tubes of Great Stuff Gaps and Cracks
