I got some really nice primed pine shiplap from home depot over a year ago before I put the van project away. I had left it stored in the truck until now. I’m glad I got the material when I did because I saw that my local Home Depot has now switched to an inferior MDF shiplap that I don’t like as much as the finger jointed pine I got before.
I measured and laid out my wiring so that the LED lights on the ceiling would be centered within the width of a board. I used a 4-1/8″ hole saw to make the cut outs for the LED lights. There was a little tab where the lap of the previous board invaded the cut out from the hole saw, I later finished cutting these out with the jig saw.
I used construction adhesive and 1.25″ brad nails to fasten the 1/2″ thick ship lap to the wooden ribs. The insulation is mylar backed EPS foam board from Home Depot. The brand of foam is called “R-Tech”, it’s not the highest rated foam insulation but I think it’s pretty good for the money. I put 2″ on the walls and 2.5″ on the ceiling, the R value is R7.7 for the walls and R9.63 on the ceiling. Every little gap in the foam was filled in tight with expanding foam. I believe this tiny space is now very well insulated. The straight walls and ceiling of a step van make it very easy to insulate and finish with flat materials as compared to the curved surfaces inside other types of vans.
“Success seems to be connected with action. Successful men keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don’t quit.” – Conrad Hilton