For flooring we decided to go with vinyl peel & stick tile and we chose this for a couple of reasons. The main reasons we went with vinyl flooring is cause of how easy it is to install and how lightweight it is. On top of it being a good material for our van it was also very cheap to buy. All in we spent $120 on the flooring. We used 3 sheets of 5mm plywood for a total of $42 dollars ($14 each), 2 boxes of 12×24 vinyl tiles for $58 ($29 for each 30 square foot box), 3 10oz tubes of liquid nails for $7.50 ($2.50 each), and a carpet transition trim piece for $11.50.
Sub Floor
Since the floor of the van has groves we used the plywood to make a subfloor. This allows the floor to have more strength and a flat surface to lay the vinyl down on. We used three sections of plywood for the whole subfloor, having big sections is going to be stronger than smaller sections so it is best to use a few big pieces rather than a lot of small pieces. To get the shape right we laid out the old carpet and traced it onto the plywood. When we installed the subfloor we used strips of the old carpet padding to fill the groves in the van’s floor. This adds strength to the subfloor and can also act as a insulator and sound deadening in the floor. I am sure there are much better options than to use old carpet padding for this. To hold down the plywood we used liquid nails. Make sure when using liquid nails or an alternative adhesive to put weight across the plywood and let it dry.
Vinyl
Vinyl is probably one the easiest types of flooring you can do. The only tool we used was an utility knife to cut the tiles. It is important to have a plan for how you are going to lay the tiles and to keep them lined up. Try to get the tile to be as close as you can to the other tiles. Around the edges where a tile would not fit we took the paper from the backs of the tiles we already used and cut them as template before cutting the tile.
Trim
For the cab area of the van we decided to leave the old carpet there for now. Later on we would like to replace it all with new carpet but for now we are keeping it how it is. When we took out the carpet I cut a straight line right behind the driver and passenger seats where I wanted the vinyl to come to. Now that the vinyl is installed I added silver carpet trim to go over the area where they come together. This really cleaned up the transition and won’t allow one side to come up or get dirt under the carpet.
