Building
Fixing furniture in a van: where to drill and where never to
Furniture that is properly fixed is furniture you never think about again: no creaking, no readjusting, and no discussion at the inspection. The good news is that there are only four ways to connect something to a van, and you can master all four in an afternoon. This article covers when to use which, and the handful of places best left alone.
Updated on 12 min read
Fixing to your own floor board is not fixing. The floor you laid is held to the vehicle by a handful of screws or by adhesive; in an impact the cabinet and the floor come loose together. Anything heavy must ultimately reach the bodywork.
The four methods, by strength
| Method | Use for | Watch out |
|---|---|---|
| Factory mounting points | Anything heavy: bed, kitchen, tall cabinets | Usually in the side wall and floor, often under the factory lining. Find them before you insulate. |
| Through-bolt with a backing plate | Where no factory point exists and it must still carry load | Always a plate on the outside and always sealed. Never through a double-skinned section you cannot see into. |
| Structural adhesive on a bonded mounting pad | Wall cabinets, panels, anything non-structural | Degreasing is not optional. Curing takes days, not hours. |
| Rivet or rivet nut | Light trim, cable trunking, covers | Not a load-bearing connection. A rivet nut in thin sheet simply pulls through under load. |
Where you never drill
- In the floor without looking underneath first. Fuel lines, brake lines, the tank and the exhaust live there. Look literally, with a lamp, from below.
- In the pillars around the door openings and the B-pillar. That is crumple structure and seatbelt anchorage; no extra hole belongs there.
- In the roof without knowing where the ribs run. Miss one and you are in a single 0.7 mm skin.
- Through a hollow sill that doubles as a water drain. A hole there fills up, and then it rusts from the inside.
How to make a load-bearing fixing
- 01
Locate the point
Remove the factory lining and find the M6 or M8 nuts the manufacturer fitted, usually for shelving or a bulkhead. They sit in a reinforced part of the wall and are by far your best option.
- 02
Mark before you insulate
Measure each point from two fixed references and write it down. After insulating and panelling you will never find them again, and then you start searching with a drill.
- 03
Make a spacer
There is now insulation between the wall and your furniture. Put a hardwood block or a piece of aluminium tube of exactly the right thickness there, so you can torque the bolt without crushing the insulation and deforming the panel.
- 04
Spread the load
One bolt through a 15 mm plywood panel eventually tears through it. Use a penny washer or a strip that spreads the load over a larger area — that is the difference between ten years and two.
- 05
Fix at two heights minimum
A cabinet fixed only at the bottom tips forward. One point low and one high turns a hinge into a structure.
- 06
Seal every hole
Every penetration through the panel gets primer on the bare edge and then sealant. Bare steel in a hole rusts within a single winter.
Why we build on aluminium extrusion
Furniture made of loose panels only stays square while every joint is tight. In a van that flexes daily that is a losing battle: first it creaks, then a joint works loose, then it is out of true. A frame of 20 × 20 mm aluminium extrusion absorbs those forces; the panels only have to fill the gaps. That is why our external dimensions always come out as the sum of the panel sizes plus 20 mm per upright, and why there is no 820 mm kitchen in our range.
See how the frame goes together
What you need for this
We do not (yet) sell these parts separately. The list is here because this is what should be in your basket before you start.
- M8 body bolts with backing plate and penny washers
- M6 rivet nuts with tool, for non-structural fixings
- MS-polymer structural adhesive
- 20 × 20 mm aluminium extrusion with corner connectors and T-nuts
- Zinc primer and sealant for every penetration
Frequently asked questions
- May I glue furniture in place instead of bolting it?
- For wall panels and light cabinets, structural adhesive on bonded pads works well, provided you degrease and let it cure for days. For the bed, the kitchen and tall cabinets, no: those belong bolted to the bodywork, and an inspector will pull on them.
- Where are the factory mounting points in my van?
- Usually in the side wall at roughly hip and shoulder height, and in the floor along the sides — intended for shelving, lashing eyes or a bulkhead. They are often under the factory lining. Find and record them before insulating, because afterwards you never will.
- How many fixing points does a cabinet need?
- At least four, spread over two heights, plus two more per height for a cabinet over a metre long. More important than the count is the spread: four points all at the bottom will not hold a cabinet upright in an emergency stop.