Flooring for cargo vans and mobile workshop vans

A work van goes through more in a year than a camper does in ten. Toolboxes, bags of cement, tins of paint, wet boots. Yet the factory floor in most vans is painted corrugated metal. It is slippery, it rattles and it starts to rust at the first deep scratch.

What is wrong with bare metal

• Cargo slides. Painted steel is slippery, especially when wet or dusty.
• Noise. Every tool and every bump can be heard in the cab.
• Rust. A scratch down to the metal plus water makes a corrosion spot.
• Cleaning. Everything collects in the corrugations: sand, swarf, spills.
• Resale. The condition of the load area is the first thing a buyer looks at.

What a working floor consists of

Base: 9–12 mm plywood. It levels the corrugations, spreads the load and deadens noise. Many vans are sold with it already fitted; for the rest there are ready-made kits for each model.

Covering: vinyl roll flooring with relief. It seals the plywood against liquids, gives grip and cleans with a mop.

Plywood without a covering also works, but not for long: it soaks up oil, paint and water, then starts to smell and delaminate.

What the covering gives you

• Protection for the plywood. Spills stay on the surface. A sheet 2 m wide covers a van floor with no seams.
• Grip. The relief holds both the sole of a boot and a box. Checker plate grips better when wet; stud is easier to clean (compared in the article on stud and checker-plate relief).
• Cleaning. A brush and water. Once a week is enough.
• Weight. 1.45 kg/m², under 15 kg for a long van. The payload is barely affected.
• Appearance. A customer who glances through the open door sees order.

What the covering does not do

The relief reduces slipping, but it does not replace securing the load. Heavy items still have to be fixed with straps and load bars: that is a requirement of the transport rules and a matter of the driver's safety under braking.

A 2 mm covering is not designed for dragging pallets with protruding nails or for sharp metal edges. For loads like that, bare phenolic-faced plywood is left as it is or a sacrificial sheet is laid.

By trade

The transport of food and animals is governed by separate requirements for the vehicle. These need to be checked before choosing materials.

How much material you need

One linear metre of a roll 2 m wide covers one metre of load length. The formula: load length plus 0.2 m, rounded up.

Calculated at €12.99/m² including VAT. The table by specific model is in the article on how many metres a van needs.

Fitting: what is different from a camper

The sequence is the same as in the guide to fitting vinyl in a van. Three places matter in a work van.

1. Rear threshold. Every box hits it. The edge of the covering is finished with a screwed-down aluminium profile, preferably a wide one.
2. Side door. The same, plus the step: it is covered with a separate piece.
3. Lashing rings. Cut-outs for the factory tie-down points are made in place and run round with sealant.

The adhesive must be heat-resistant: a work van stands in the sun just like any other (which adhesive to choose).

A workshop van with racking

If a racking system is going into the van, the order is: plywood, covering, then racking. The floor under the racking stays covered and collects no dirt, and the uprights hold the covering down as well.

The racking is fixed through the floor to the body, following the system manufacturer's instructions.

Care

• sweep or vacuum once a week: sand acts as an abrasive;
• clear up spilt oil and paint at once;
• do not use solvents or acetone: they damage the protective layer;
• do not leave black rubber mats down for long: dark rubber in prolonged contact leaves stains on PVC.

FAQ

Can vinyl be glued straight onto the metal with no plywood? Not onto a corrugated floor: the ribs will show through and the covering will tear along the ridges. A flat plane is needed.

Will the covering stand up to a pallet on a pallet truck? The plywood and the body carry the load. The covering itself copes with pallet-truck wheels, but not with a damaged pallet with nails being dragged across it.

Which colour is more practical? Graphite and mid grey. Pale dust shows on black, oil on light colours.

Can it be hosed down? From above, yes. Make sure water does not run under the floor through the threshold and the cut-outs: the perimeter must be sealed.