Planning to Carpet the Van

Speaking to a few people on Brickyard and also having a long conversation with Mark from Mega Van Mats, I am beginning to think I can handle most of this job myself. I'm certainly thinking I'll be able to get the panels carpeted without professional help and maybe I'll even consider tackling the metal work.

Basically this appears to be a two stage process. The first is to remove and carpet the panels. The second is to carpet the remaining exposed metalwork.

Phase One
I'm currently trying to decide on an exact type of carpet and on the colour I want. I'm thinking something almost black as it will look great in the black van, but equally I have to balance this with making sure it doesn't show every mark and dirt patch. Anthracite is my current colour of choice. I think I'm going to get automotive carpet, stuff designed to do the specific job, rather than just any old carpet cut off from Carpet Right. Not quite decided where I'm going to source it from yet.

The plan is to remove each panel by removing each of the plastic rivets, carpet one side (the inside!) and then replace the plastic rivets with a replacement rivet-thingy Mark is going to send me an example of. I'll post a picture when I get it. This should allow me to simply clip the panels back into the metalwork easily. I'll need to order about 4m sq. to do this job which should come in at about £40 or so.

Phase Two
If phase one goes well I will consider taking on phase two myself. This involves carpeting the remaining exposed metalwork. Basically the process here is to take all the panels off, then very carefully carpet directly onto the metalwork aruond the panels, going into the recesses that the panels sit over, so that when the panels are refitted they sit snugly against the newly carpeted metalwork again, leaving no edges visible. That's the idea anyway. I think the main issue might be trying to get around all the edges and corners and folds and curves without making a total cock up of it all. I guess we'll see how I feel about this when I get to this stage!