So many questions...

[Spindel]

Just bought a mid size bus. I'm wondering why people pull out the rubber flooring. It seems like a lot of (unnecessary) work. Wouldn't the rubber help protect the floor?

[Tango]

Given the very leaky nature of Skoolies, most folks want to see and or replace the wood floors as well as reform the rust that is there. If you pull up your floor and find no rust...please take pix. It will be a first. Some not so bad...others all the way through in many places. Not a good idea to build a house on an unknown foundation.

[Spindel]

Ahh, so it's rust removal and sealing. Thanks. I'll pull up a part to see. If there's no rust I will take pics for sure, Thanks!

[brokedown]

Some buses have rubber directly on metal. Others have rubber over wood over metal. Others still have rubber over wood over [nothing].

The nature of the beast is that water gets in and not all of it gets out. It doesn't take long for whatever is under the ruber to get wet.

When I pulled my floor up, the wood came up a handful at a time. It had been damp for a very long time and had no strength left. Fortunately, not a lot of air got in, and the rust was manageable. Other people had different stories where rust had eaten large amounts of their floor. You never really know until you've pulled it up.

I'd suggest taking it out. If it's in good shape you can just put it right back down.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Spindel

Just bought a mid size bus. I'm wondering why people pull out the rubber flooring. It seems like a lot of (unnecessary) work. Wouldn't the rubber help protect the floor?

The rubber will protect the funk under it.
Most of us wanna start with the metal and build an insulated floor.

[snonut]

I guess I was one of the lucky ones, I had one small area of flooring that was soft so I peeled the rubber back and found rotten wood. Fortunately that was the only area with significant rust and it was only heavily pitted. But , and this is a big but, you have no way to tell without doing the labor of pulling up the floor covering. I was able to re-use all the plywood except for about two square feet.
Fortunately my wife and I are shorter than average so I was able to put a layer of foam under the plywood and it being precut to size was a big saving in time. Kind of made up for the extra time it took to remove it intact.