#campervan conversion

Van Build: Sub Floor & Flooring

There are so many different ways to go around building a van, and I don’t think there’s really a wrong or a right one. Some people do the floor first before they insulate their walls; some people insulate the whole van before they move on; some people leave the floor/flooring for later when they have their bed, kitchen, living area, etc all built. But with the van fully insulated (walls, ceiling,…

One of the first things we did with the van, after dealing with some interior rust and installing our MaxxAir Fan, was insulate. We wanted to insulate the van so that it would stay warm in the winter but also keep out heat in the summer, since we plan on living in it year round. I did SOOO much research about all the different ways of insulating and all the different types of insulation. To be…

Welcome to the sixth instalment of our camper conversion series! In this post, we'll be carpeting the walls and doors of our 2020 Peugeot Expert. You'll find a step-by-step guide along with helpful tips and tricks for your own conversion project.

Tools Used:

Smoke grey carpet X2: Link

High-temperature spray adhesive: Link

Stanley knife with plenty of replacement blades

Fabric scissors

Fabric measuring tape & pen

Screwdriver with six-lobe Torx screw head and 11mm socket

Trim Removal Set: Link

Lining the Back Doors

Marking The Door Seals

We started by marking the point where the door met the rubber seals. We'd be using this to know where to spray the adhesive.

Removing The Door Handles, Locks, and Trim

Next, we removed the door handles and loosened the locks so the carpet could fit underneath. This would make the process easier and provide a cleaner finish once the job was done. We used a six-lobe Torx screw head and an 11mm socket (pictured above).

Taking Measurements

We measured the door with a fabric measuring tape to account for the curved edges. We settled on 95cm, which gave us plenty of fabric to work with.

Glueing Down The Carpet

Once the fabric was cut to shape, we got started with the adhesive spray, starting at the top of the door. It's a contact adhesive, so you'll need to spray both the door and the carpet.

We worked our way down, gently stretching the fabric to avoid wrinkles and using our fingers to press it into the grooves for crisp, clean edges. Since the adhesive spray takes a while to dry, we were able to pull the carpet off and readjust it if needed. The material itself was quite flexible.

We used a sharp Stanley blade to cut holes just large enough to fit the carpet around the locks and the latches. Once these locks and latches were positioned through the carpet, we glued the carpet down.

The process was the same for both doors, with the only key difference being the location of the door handle. I taped over the recessed door handle so it wouldn't get attached to the carpet.

Trimming The Edges

Once all the carpet was stuck down on both of the rear doors, I went around trimming the edges. I used a fresh Stanley blade for every two or three cuts so the edge would be clean. As soon as the blade gets a little dull, it's very noticeable.

By referring to where the seals meet the door, I was able to cut the carpet so it wouldn't stick out too far, which is important as this could cause a leak.

Tip: If you leave the door shut for a while, the rubber seals will leave an imprint on the carpet, letting you know where you need to make the edge.

Reinstalling The Trim

Once the carpet had been successfully installed, the last job was re-screwing in everything that we had previously removed. I had to cut holes for the screws and pushed the rubber trim back over the carpet along the edge where the doors meet.

Fixing Stiff Rear Doors

After I had finished reattaching the lock latches, I found the doors were much more difficult to open than before.

To fix this, I unscrewed them a bit so they were still held in place but had some wiggle room. I lifted the latch into a position where the door would shut more easily while still holding itself in place. Once I was happy with the position, I tightened them back up. I did this on both sides, and after it was done, they opened much more smoothly than before I had removed them in the first place.

Lining the Side Doors

Marking The Door Seals

Like with the back doors, I started by marking the point where the doors met the rubber seals.

Removing The Door Handles

Next, we removed the door handles. For this, I used a trim removal tool to pry out the centre plastic piece around the handle. Once this was removed, I could then access the two screws that hold the main piece of plastic trim in place. Finally, I removed the last piece with a trim removal tool.

Taking Measurements

We used the fabric measuring tape again to measure the door; this time, we settled on 1.3 metres.

Glueing Down The Carpet

After we had cut the fabric to shape, we got started with the adhesive spray. We started in the middle this time, as this would make it easier to mark the screw holes that will hold the upper piece of plywood in place.

Most of the side doors will be covered with the ply lining, except for the middle section and edges. The process was exactly the same for both doors this time.

Trimming The Edges

Once all the carpet was stuck down, I went around trimming the edges. This time it was a bit more fiddly due to the lack of space. I have seen people take the whole door off for this part of the job, but I thought it would be more work than needed, and I didn't want to risk scratching the outside of the door.

After trimming around the edges, I cleaned them with isopropyl alcohol to remove any excess carpet and oversprayed glue. If the knife became dull during the process, the edges would appear more fuzzy. In that case, I would go over it again with a fresh blade and re-trim the edges for a cleaner finish.

Reinstalling The Trim

Once the carpet had been fully stuck down, I reinstalled the trim around the door handle.

Fixing Creases

On three out of the four doors, we had to fix sections with overlapping material. To remedy this, we:

Cut out a diagonal line from the corner and glued down each section, leaving a gap in the middle without spray.

Once the pieces were stuck down, we went over both of them with a Stanley knife.

Finally, we removed the excess piece from the centre, and the remaining two sides met in the middle. Then they could be glued down.

Lining the Walls

Section Around The Side Doors

Using the remaining fabric from the first roll of carpet, we covered the section of wall above the door after removing the rubber seals.

The only tricky part of this section was covering the metal that protrudes from the wall. However, it only took a few cuts to allow the material to stretch around its edges. This section will eventually be covered by the curtain, which we'll be installing at a later date, so it didn't need to be perfect.

Then we overlapped a second piece of carpet and used a fresh blade to cut both pieces along the same point. Once the first piece was glued down, we carefully lined up the second one before glueing it down as well, making the seam hardly noticeable. See the video above for more details.

After both pieces were attached, I trimmed off the excess material and reinstalled the seals. The process was the same on both sides, except for having to work around the wires that run along the left side of the van’s roof.

Side Panel

I decided to carpet only one of the larger side panels. The side next to the bed will be carpeted, while the other will be painted. I chose this approach to avoid having carpet next to the stove while cooking inside the van, and it should also make the interior a bit brighter.

This was the point when the first roll of carpet was used up.

I started by placing the plywood panel over the carpet and cutting out a rough shape. Before continuing with the carpet, I glued and clamped down a chipped piece of wood, then sanded the edges to make them smooth.

Once the wood was ready, we used the adhesive spray to stick down a strip at one end. From there, we rolled the carpet up and worked our way down, being careful to avoid making any creases.

When the first side was fully glued down, we marked the screw hole points, then flipped the panel over. We had to make some cuts so the fabric could stretch around the edges. We also trimmed any overlapped material, as too much would have pushed the panel away from the wall and made gaps.

The back side didn’t need to look perfect; the material just needed to cover the edges.

We made a mistake by carpeting over the screw holes on the rear of the panel, as the hardened adhesive was very tough to get through. If I were to do this again, I would cut out those sections to avoid the holes—this would have made the reinstallation much easier.

Rear Arch

Before we could reinstall the plywood lining, we had to carpet the rear arch of the van.

We started by taping over the light and door lock loops. Then, we removed two pieces of trim, one of which involved unplugging the 12V charging port. There were also some wires running along the top of the van that we carefully cut free to create more space.

Next, we measured and cut a long strip of carpet to cover the entire section with one piece. We ended up having to make one cut in a corner, using the same method as above the door, as the carpet became misaligned.

As with previous sections, once the job was complete, we trimmed away the excess material, including around the light, and reinstalled the trim.

Reinstalling the Carpeted Wooden Panelling

With all the carpeting done, the final step was reinstalling the plywood lining. I found it easiest to start by screwing in the side nearest the side door, as I could see the screw holes more easily. When I couldn’t find the holes, I used a longer screw to identify them, then pushed the wood to bend it closer to the wall before screwing it in. This was a little tricky, but it looked great when it was done.

What's Next?

In the next instalment of our campervan conversion series, we’ll be reinstalling the ply lining after giving it a fresh coat of paint. For more van content, visit my YouTube channel here.

Click here for a full list of all our campervan conversion posts