DIY Luxury Tiny Home on Wheels Part 3: Interior

You didn’t think I forgot about the van did you? Last time we tackled a van project it was all about the exterior. But I’ve only got 4 months left to finish it and it’s time to tackle the interior and really turn this cargo van into a luxury tiny home! By the end of this blog I should have the layout locked down and I should be ready to build it out. There’s so much I want to fit in this van and I’m not sure exactly how we’re going to make it happen but we’ll figure it out! So much to do, so little time, let’s get started friends!

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Tools & Materials

Tools

Materials

Interior

Exterior

1. Sound Deadening

The van actually makes so much noise when I’m driving because the walls of the van are vibrating and making it really loud. So I attached these self-adhesive panels to the thinner pieces of metal throughout the entirety of the van, including the roof, the walls and the flooring. It made an amazing difference, the first time I drove it after sound deadening it was so much quieter and didn’t feel like driving around in a tin can.

2. Flooring

I started laying out 1x2s to build the frame for the flooring. I had to decide how thick I wanted to go on floor insulation and I really didn’t want to overdo it. But once I got the frame laid out where I wanted, it was time to start attaching it to the van.

Then it was time to glue down the floor frame and put every heavy thing that I own on it to weigh it down while it dried.

3. Installing and Insulating the Floor

Probably should’ve thought of this before gluing down the frame, but I had to make a channel for the cable that will eventually go from the power source to the van battery. I figured that under the floor will be the path of least resistance and I went along the perimeter of the van so if I ever need to access it I can just pull up some flooring and easily get to it.

I grabbed my sawzall and made the channel through the 1x2s.

It was finally time for insulation. So I measured it out, cut it to size, and taped it down.

Remember that stinky mat that I saved from the floor of the van? Thank you past Sam! Once I had the ½” plywood from the home improvement store I laid the mat over it to use it as a template. This saved me an incredible amount of time.

After marking it out I was able to use a jigsaw to cut through the wood. It was a shocking visual to realize just how big (or small) the footprint of the van is. At this point I was starting to get very nervous that I wouldn’t be able to fit everything I wanted inside the van…

But it was still incredibly exciting to see a floor down in the van. I’ve been keeping the flooring as thin as possible while still having enough structure to screw things like cabinets and framing in, but not too thick to be a problem for the overall height.

I wasn’t too worried about the fit because flooring will go on top of this plywood but I did want the entryway to be neat so I trimmed it up a bit.

Once the subfloor was down it was amazing how different the van felt. It wasn’t just a cargo van anymore.

4. Insulating the Van

There are so many ways to insulate a van and I decided to use a product called Thinsulate. It’s basically a three-in-one system, it’s insulation, it’s a sound barrier, and it’s also going to help with moisture. I definitely decided to splurge on this because I want to make sure that the van is comfortable for us to live in. It’s going to be our tiny home on wheels and I want it to feel that way.

This is definitely one of those things I thought would take a couple of hours because it was just spraying some adhesive and attaching the material. But it of course took so much longer, which seems to be a theme with this van build.

I won’t be insulating these windows the same way. They came with trim rings and once those are installed I will be insulating behind them.

5. Installing the Floor

I decided to go with a vinyl plank floor because it won’t expand and contract as much as some of the other floating floor options. The van won’t be climate controlled all of the time, and there will be plenty of times where it is sitting in the hot or the cold so I wanted a floor that would be able to handle the changes.

I started with the flooring on this side of the van because this is the side where I’ll be installing the water tank and the plumbing. This way the last pieces of the flooring that will go down will be where I have the electrical running. So in the future if I need to access the electrical I’ll only need to remove the last two rows of floorboards in the garage area.

Not going to lie, this was the turning point in this build for me. Once the floor was down it was impossible to still see that this was a cargo van, I could totally see the vision for our tiny home!

It made such a difference right?

6. Floor Plan Walk Through

I was so excited because at this point I could finally map out the floor plan and really get an idea of what the full build was going to feel like. To be honest, I’m not sure how it’s all going to fit. But let’s walk through the plan.

We’ll start with the front door. It lets in a ton of natural light which is great but actually kind of a problem because I want some privacy, so we’ll be tinting this window.

Next is the living room/dining space.

Right next to the living/dining room will be the bathroom which will hopefully have a toilet that will be enclosed inside that bench when it’s not being used, fingers crossed.

Over on the other side we’ll have our kitchen with a cook top, fridge and small prep space.

Next to the kitchen will be a small sink with a water heater and pump underneath.

And here is our giant primary bedroom area and our garage.

In theory this tape layout works, but once the walls go up it’s going to feel very different. I hope you all join me as we continue to turn this cargo van into our tiny home on wheels! Next time you see the van I’ll be getting some framing up on the walls so my dad can come help with electrical and plumbing. It’s going to be a huge learning curve so that should be interesting! Stay tuned, and until then, Happy DIYing Friends!