Step Van Mobile Muralist Studio

[HerrSuite]

Hi all! I'm working on a step van, and I've landed here as close a place to 'my people' I can find. My project is a little unusual - not trying to build a space to live but a space to work. I'm a full-time muralist, and the goal is a mobile studio that I can work inside of to do design work, then take to a job site and work out of like a work truck to paint murals. My sights are set on 'simple' and 'functional'. 

Okay, so I'm 5 months into wrestling with this project, and I'd love to share and get some feedback. I've never done any vehicle work before at all, and have very minimal building experience. I've been detailing my whole process on my blog (see signature, or go to the first post about the step van itself), but I'll put the highlights up here. I've also posted them on skoolie.net, if any of y'all are on both :

20' long 1993 GMC Grumman Olsen P-35 Step-Van

• 4,000 lbs. empty
  
• 253,000 original miles
  
• 8-cylinder 350 engine (the second in it)
  
• 20' from bumper to bumper, 11'2" ground to roof, 6'11" wide
  
• 6'10" tall and wide on the inside, 12' cargo space
  
• garage-style door and double rear wheels (boo)
  
• radio, a/c, heat
  
• 1 door (passenger side)
  
• broken gas gauge
  
• chipped front windshield, 1 cracked side mirror
  
• brand new front tires
  
• Needed work on the steering column, rear axle and brakes, and exhaust system in order to pass state inspection.

Cute, right? Those are the 'before' pics from December. Since then I've mostly been planning and fretting, but I've also ripped out a lot of stuff. Gone are the shelves and metal grid divider behind the driver's seat, gross seat cover, the e-track on either side, and the whole back door and half of the tracks for it (the rest were welded on and not in the way enough to worry about). 


Oh yeah, I also released a herd of children with spray paint at it   I'm going to be painting all over it anyway, so why not? (There are a lot of reasons why not, I'm already finding, but what's done is done)

So my plans now are as follows:

• cut two windows into the walls in the back (it didn't come with the luxury of school bus windows!) I already have the glass, salvaged from a 1992, and have outlined the placement for them on the walls themselves. Just have to drop it off at the auto glass place next week.
• frame out the interior walls/floor/ceiling to hold insulation and sheathing. several questions here - obviously i won't be framing to code, so what distances should I actually worry about? and what size lumber for framing? (planned for 2x3's right now, but I feel like I can go smaller) what kind of sheathing that won't offgas formaldehyde from being next to the sun-heated aluminum wall? I know my thickest insulation should be in the floor and ceiling, but how thick?
• buy and install solar system to power desktop computer, a/c, lights, various small chargers and electronics
• find out if I can buy a mini-split small enough for this size of space - I've been told I can find one but I'm not totally convinced it'll work

A sketchup of the building plan so far (rough sketchup of interior later coming soon)

Thanks for any advice or feedback! Tried to keep this light, so there's a lot of plans/ideas I haven't mentioned, but I'll update for sure. 

 

[flying kurbmaster]

Hi welcome, are you insulating the floor is that why you have it framed out on the sketch. I know you can use 2x2 in your walls and a lot of people will tell you to but I would go with 1x2 if you are using 2 inch insulation, glued and screwed or glued and brad nailed to keep the weight down, for paneling I used 3\16 Luan in mine 6 years ago and have since found out that Luan offgasses formaldehyde badly, there is paneling out there that is less toxic, I even heard you can get different toxicity in luan, not sure which ones are available for you, you will have to do a little research. Sounds like a fun project might want to think of a way to make a cup of coffee or heat up some lunch while you are on the job or even have a little siesta, maybe a hamoc. This rig is a mobile sign, free advertising for your mural business, good luck,

 

[cyndi]

Welcome to the CRVL forums, HerrSuite! I love that you let the kids loose with the spray paint. What fun! Bu, yeah. Not so much when it comes to the clean up and cover up.

Looking forward to watching your build progress.

To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips & Tricks" post lists some helpful information to get you started. We look forward to hearing more from you.

 

[rvpopeye]

Welcome aboard the forums HerrSuite!
Nice looking van. The kids must love you for letting them ugly it up a bit!

I agree with Kurb's advice. Especially the murals on the outside walls .

Give us a little more info on your electrical requirements of the solar system.
Lots of experience here on most anything you need answered !

Cyndi is not a big meanie , but that does make her a big fibber !

 

[BlackNBlue]

Welcome, and thanks for posting technical details of your van. Only 4000 pounds empty? Wow!

Why are you framing anything, especially the floor? If yours is anything like my '73 (and judging by the pictures, not much changed in two decades), the floor is plenty sturdy on its own. The walls do flex but they are structural and probably don't need any further bracing either. At least for the floor, I'd just lay down some rigid foam and put 1/2" or thicker plywood over it. As for the roof, it should already have aluminum C-channel bracing above the thin sheet ceiling panels (which don't do much so I'd remove them). You can put insulation between these braces, and a thin layer underneath to close the thermal bridge.

 

[HerrSuite]

Thanks for the responses, all! 

I just got a window cut in (and the left windshield pane replaced) at long last!! As simple as it is I’m super excited because that felt like a big roadblock for moving forward with anything at all. 

I’m now focusing on the framing and insulation. To answer flying kurbmaster and BlackNBlue: I am planning to insulate wall, ceiling and floor, with the bulk of the insulation on the ceiling and floor. I will go with smaller lumber on the walls to help the weight and the width of the walls (precious interior width), as well as to fit the thinner/cheaper wall insulation I’m thinking of. For the floor, I’m framing it because I assumed I wouldn’t be able to walk on insulation board alone - won’t it compress or something over time? The current floor is indeed plenty sturdy… 

WALLS
I'm framing with 1.125” x 1.5" (I’m not familiar with the baffling difference between standard lumber sizes and actual measurements, so I’m just going to use the actual measurements.) These are placed for two reasons: holding up sheathing, and to make studs for some of the furniture that should be attached to the wall for stability. 

I’ve made a frame around the window to make a little windowsill, but I’m unclear on whether this is necessary since I just don’t know much about the insulation: do I need the wood? can I just cut a nice hole out of the insulation and put a thin piece of wood/aluminum around the opening to cover it? 

Polyiso foam board seems to be the way to go, so I’m thinking 1” in between studs and 1/2” over top to combat thermal bridging, then some kind of sheathing (still haven’t researched what’s cheap/not hideous that doesn’t off-gas - recommendations welcome! I’d prefer something wood-ish rather than plastic, but I’m flexible)

Below: passenger wall with framing, then passenger wall with framing and basic furniture placement. The left are shelves that I already own, fit nicely over the wheel well, and need to be bracketed to the wall to make sure they're stable. They'll serve as a secondary surface for tossing a bag or things waiting to be put away, as well as some storage. My 4 batteries will sit on top of the wheel well, under these shelves. The right object is my sink (the black part) - it's a simple rectangular basin that was under-mounted previously. I'd like to under-mount it again, but don't have a construction plan for that yet. 

Below: Driver wall with framing, then driver wall with framing and furniture placement, then another view to get a better sense of the sections on the left. I'll have a long standing desk for my workspace (keeping my imac here safely is a whole nother concern - it's my main work tool and I can't not include it). To the left of that is my main paint storage - a roll-out shelf based around an ikea shelf that I just purchased. I'll need to cut it down to fit on top of the wheel well, which is why it sticks up right now. There will be a 'wall' on either side of the shelves to enclose them while driving - these will be attached to the framing for stability. Next to the left is some more shelving in front of another 'wall'. This wall sections off a small area accessible only from the rear of the vehicle which will hold my small scaffolding, ladders, painting panels, etc. 
There will also be a small set of shelves just behind the drivers seat, at the end of the long desk, to hold books. That's what the close-together framing is for at that end, to secure that to the wall as well. 

FLOOR
 Currently modeled with 1.5” x 2.5” framing, no specific insulation plan yet. Apparently the real question is whether I need framing at all?? I’m guessing I should talk to some people that sell insulation.  The dark gray block on the right is the pedestal for the driver's seat. The wheel wells will also be insulated. 

Both: To attach the framing, I’m assuming I should use bolts like the ones that were holding on everything else I’ve removed from the vehicle so far. Or screws from the outside? Halp
Also any recommendation for the best glue to ‘glue and screw’ would be much appreciated! Someone was speaking highly of 3M Super 77. 

Ceiling
I got no modeled plan for the ceiling yet - kind of figured I’d get the wall and floor frames done, then make a ceiling plan before any insulation/sheathing. Currently it seems to have about an inch of insulation above a thin aluminum panel, along with two cabin lights. I assume the rivets in horizontal stripes about every 2 feet along the ceiling denote where the c-channel bracing is. (You can see these stripes and lights in the 'interior painting shot' in my previous post)  Rather than remove them, I’m thinking I’ll just take the lights out and cover the whole mess - my walls only go up 90% of the way because of a little curve where the ceiling meets the wall, so I’m thinking bulk the ceiling out to there by attaching insulation and some kind of cover to where I know the c-channels must be. (pretty tin ceiling? the row houses in my city are covered in the stuff and I have a crush on it) 


PS BlackNBlue: is 4000 pounds on the light side for a dually? I don’t know what’s standard and have yet to have it actually weighed. 

flying kurbmaster and rvpopeye: A way to heat up lunch would be nice - I’m a little concerned about electrical load for a microwave or what-have-you. More on that when I post solar details (soon!)

forum etiquette: is this the best way to include photos, or do people generally prefer the attachment and thumbnail method?

 

[HerrSuite]

Oh - I decided on just one custom window for now, since I realized the second will be handier and maybe easier to install in the future back door. The back door is nonexistant right now, since I removed the big rolling garage door. I have a rough plan for it but will be talking to a fabrication shop asap about having it built.

 

[BlackNBlue]

For the floor, I’m framing it because I assumed I wouldn’t be able to walk on insulation board alone - won’t it compress or something over time?

I'll defer to someone with more experience than me for a definitive answer, but I think you'll be fine provided the load is just you and distributed evenly (that's where the plywood comes in). You can get specifications on compression strength of whatever product you have in mind, and run some numbers. Or just take a small piece, put plywood over it, dance a jig and see if it crushes. My impression is that it won't sag over time, it'll either collapse or not.

Two things I want to bring up that are fresh on my mind (I'm roughly at the same stage of stepvan construction as you): vapor barriers, and insulation choice. Polyiso has the highest R-value of any non-exotic insulation at test temperatures (about 75F), but its performance suffers at colder temperatures to the point that extruded polystyrene (XPS) outperforms it. We're talking going from about R6 to R4, where XPS remains R5 throughout. XPS is also a bit cheaper and less moisture-permeable. Again, I'm not an authority on this stuff, it's just things that have come up in my research that may be relevant to you.

I assume the rivets in horizontal stripes about every 2 feet along the ceiling denote where the c-channel bracing is.

Correct. Mine are a bit over 1" thick and were filled with a useless layer of fiberglass. I plan on putting rigid foam between them and then another layer below them. Don't remove the braces, of course, but I would suggest removing the thin sheeting riveted to them.

PS BlackNBlue: is 4000 pounds on the light side for a dually? I don’t know what’s standard and have yet to have it actually weighed. 

Oh, that might not be its actual weight, then. Yes, 4k is *very* light for this type of vehicle; research tells me they typically register about 6000-7000 empty. The title on mine (a 14' box, otherwise similar to yours) says 6250#. For context, my BMW wagon is about 3800#, my old Toyota 4x4 is 3200#, a modern Tacoma 2wd about 3600#, a Tacoma 4wd about 4200#, a Geo Metro something like 1800#, a Chevy Tahoe about 5700#.

 

[BlackNBlue]

Also, you are planning on putting in a bulkhead between the cab and the box? Or putting in a lot of effort to insulate the cab? Otherwise any insulation you put in the back will be about useless.

 

[flying kurbmaster]

do you have plans for ventilation maybe I missed that I didn' t read it all. I think I would have bought an rv window that opened instead of a fixed window, framing the window is a good idea. you are going to need some kind of ventilation.