In this, the next instalment of my van conversion, I’ll be sharing how I insulated, lined with plywood and carpeted the ceiling of my Nissan NV200.

My thought process

With one of my main priorities being to save as much space as possible on this van build, the ceiling was one place where my choices could have a huge impact on this. I have seen many van builds which fill cavities between the metal ceiling beams with thick insulation board, which is great…if it doesn’t impact you being able to stand or even sit up in the van.

Fortunately one of the first things I did when I got my van was build an expandable bench/bed. I found that the bench/bed got more support – and require less legs – by resting on the wheel arches. This was pretty much the lowest I could make the bed, but if had made the bed any higher my head would have hit the ceiling just from a sitting position, which was something I wanted to avoid at all costs. I’m not a tall person (5’6″) so factor in 1+ inches of ceiling insulation and I’d have a very achy neck!

My whole premise for converting a panel van into a camper is to have comfortable base for day trips, surfing and camping adventure and so I took the decision to continue to use the thin Thermawrap foil bubble wrap insulation on the ceiling as well, instead of insulation board.

By insulating in between the beams, then placing a smart but protective layer of thin ply over this, I’ve reclaimed considerable amount of headroom and looking back this was definitely the right decision for my van build.

Getting started

My first step was to prepare the van. As you’ll see below, it already had plywood panels on the ceiling, with foil bubblewrap insulation taped between the boards and the metal.

I had done this some months earlier as a temporary measure. Whilst staying the the van I noticed a lot of condensation every morning, but also as autumn came, the colder morning meant the ceiling was dripping wet even when I hadn’t stayed the night in the van.

By taping the foil insulation to the ceiling, I was able to learn over time that Thermawrap really does keep away the condensation.

The time had come to make this insulation permanent, so I removed the ply panels and insulation to start from scratch and undertake a proper job on it.

Making the plywood ceiling panels

I measured and scribed the ceiling panels then cut them to size out of 3.6mm plywood, which was thin enough to bend with the curve of the roof, and then I screwed them into the raised edge of the ceiling beams (being VERY careful not to go through the roof!). I used 4.2mm self-drilling metal screws sourced on eBay to attach it to the ceiling.

After removing these plywood panels, I removed the main insulation and started coating the holes made by the screws in metal primer to prevent any rust in the future.

Filling the ceiling beams

Next, I started taping off the beams with masking tape so I could fill them with expanding foam. As I would be carpeting over the beams, I didn’t want them to end up pooling condensation and with limited access inside the beams foam was my best option.

Once the foam was dry, I removed the tape and scraped off any excess. Using white spirit I was able to clean off any leftover residue.

Gluing the insulation

The NV200 ceiling has 4 raised areas running from the front to the back of the van. When I originally insulated the ceiling, I decided to fill these with strips of foil insulation to bring these to the same levels the rest of the ceiling. I could then tape larger insulation panels over the top, without any gaps for condensation to form. As I’m now gluing my ceiling insulation in place, it isn’t strictly necessary to fill these raised areas and the glued insulation would conform to the tape of the ceiling, however I already had them in place, so I glued them in place.

To save removing all the strips, I simply cut the strips in the middle, glued them with Trimfix contact adhesive, stuck them back in place and taped over the cut with aluminium foil tape. I was then able to glue my large insulation panels over the top using the same method. To finish them, I taped all the edges and the ceiling was now ready for carpeting.

Carpeting the beams

Having sent off for a number of samples, I chose to use smoke-coloured carpet. The reasoning here was that as I don’t have windows in the back of the van, it wouldn’t make the back too dark, whilst being dark enough to hide any marks or dirt.

To cover the ceiling, I purchased a 1 metre length of 1.4m wide carpet and this was more than enough for the area I was covering.

Laying the carpet out, I cut strips to span the width of the van, giving myself plenty of excess. Using Trimix contact adhesive, I stuck the carpet to the beams, making sure to apply plenty of pressure, especially in the corners to provide good contact and to keep the contours of the beams. I trimmed the edge of the carpet to the corner edge of the ceiling and continued onto the other 2 beams.

I also carpeted the front of the van, where the cab meets the back as I had some leftover carpet and this would need to be covered either now or in the future in any case.

Replacing the ceiling plywood

After making a couple of adjustments to the ceiling ply to account for the added thickness of the carpet, I was able to locate the original holes and screw the plywood back into place.

Overall, the carpet and plywood look really good together and I’m very happy with the result. There are a couple more adjustments that I hope to make, to ensure the ply fits a bit better, and I intend to put velcro on the top side of the boards to get the edges to hold to the carpet so they don’t hang down but other than that, the ceiling is finished!

If you want to see more of my camper van build in action, please CLICK HERE.