Now that you are done with your insulation, it is time to start carpeting your van. The carpet is also an insulator and sound dampener, but it looks much much nicer than foil bubble wrap! If done properly, the carpet will give your van a finished and homely feel.
In an ideal world, I would have loved to have wood cladding instead of carpeting, however due to the shape and size of the Kangoo, this solution was highly impractical.
The carpet used on van conversion isn’t the carpet you would use on your bedroom: it’s much thinner, elastic and most of the times it’s also fire retardant.
I have purchased mine from Megavanmats. The quality is excellent and they have a very good colour selection. For Pamthevan I went for the Megastretch Pacific Blue colour, which is a nice full but not too dark blue. I would suggest you buying a sample card before buying the full size carpet just to make sure that you are happy with the colour.
The carpet comes with instructions which are very useful for somebody new to the business. The carpet can be bought by meters but it also comes in pre made kits for different sized vans. The kits also include the spray contact glue.
For Pam I went for a 5m kit but I then had to buy another 2m for the back door and to cover the shelf on top of the driving cabin.
TECHNIQUE
- Your goal is to have the least cuts as possible, so you will want to use a carpet piece bigger than the area you want to carpet. I initially thought that carpeting was a bit like doing patchwork and I started by cutting lots of small pieces to fit around the door window. DON’T DO THAT! Measure and cut a piece of carpet with at least 5cm allowance.
- Apply generous amounts of glue to the metal/wood and to the back of the carpet (the back should be fluffier). Don’t even think in saving in glue! At the same time don’t apply enormous amounts as it will leak through the fabric.
- Stick the carpet to the surface and apply some pressure for a couple of seconds. For large areas you might want to start from bottom to top / left to right etc. It will make it easier to handle the carpet.
- For difficult angles and curves, you can use a hair dryer to warm up the fabric, making it easier to bend and handle.
- When the carpet is glued, you can start cutting around the edges by using a sharp stanley knife. You will need loads of spare sharp blades as you will soon find that the blades tend to blunt quickly.
- Glue is likely to get everywhere, especially if the spray nozzle gets clogged up. White wine vinegar and glue solvent will remove any traces of glue, so don’t worry to much if it gets on the carpet.
- Click here and here for more detailed tutorial on how to carpet doors / window edges.
Get yourself a coffee or a cup of tea before carpeting. Actually, get a whole thermos of it. The secret to good carpeting is not to rush, so take your time and put some good music on!
-A ridiculous amount of coffee has been sacrificed to write this blog post so if you are feeling particularly generous, you can buy me one HERE .
You can also support Pamthevan’s adventures by visiting my Etsy shop HERE -
