A lot of these delivery trucks come with rollup rear doors. It may be great for a delivery truck but not so much when you’re converting it into a tiny home. The garage door takes up quite a bit of space along the ceiling of the interior of the van. They do make these with hinged barn doors but I would say the rollup garage door configuration is more common.
I’ve installed several garage doors in the past. There is a big spring that assists in the lifting of the door that you want to be careful of while removing it. It’s under a lot of tension and could potentially be dangerous when it lets loose. Going about the removal in an expeditious way, I partially closed the door to use it as a shield, reached in, and cut the cables from the outside. The spring let loose with a loud racket as it was unwinding and the cables were whipping around inside the van. Now I had the full weight of the door unassisted by the spring. I took the end stops off the track and pulled the door off into the interior of the van. You may want help for this as it is heavy.
I never wanted a rear roll up door on a step van but it actually turned out to be a good thing. Once it was removed I had a giant opening that I could frame in however I wanted.
I decided to offset the opening for a 32” hinged door (that I will later build). Putting the door opening slightly to one side would allow me room to install a 32 inch one piece fiberglass shower unit along the back corner of the van. I also had just enough room on the other side for a small 5,000 btu window air conditioning unit.
I used 1/2” treated plywood for the exterior sheathing and sealed everything real good around the perimeter. I thought about doing something fun like covering the back wall with cedar shingles, then adding a flower box, and a fancy door to make it look like a little house. But I decided it might draw too much attention. So I am going to cover it with white aluminum sheeting. I would like to be able park it in unconventional urban camping locations without drawing too much attention. The more it looks like a boring delivery van the better. I have been woken up by the cops several times in the middle of night while sleeping in camper vans. They are always polite and I’ve never gotten a ticket, but I’d like to avoid that as much as possible…
“The potter knows he plays with clay but works with space, For the use of the bowl is its empty space.
It is the same with the room, Made whole by the emptiness between the walls.
Remember that something is not everything. Nothing is also essential.”
~Lao Tzu