Remove or Not to Remove - Rubber Floor...

[usmcbay]

Okay... yes I've heard "Remove the Rubber Floor / Remove the School Bus Smell"...

How many remove the Rubber Floor if given the chance?
I'm going to pick up the Laminate Flooring this evening but would like some feed back on if you think the Foam Liner would block out the smell. I'm going to have Beadboard sides, Wood Trim around windows, Wood Slat ceiling, with a small section of bead board down the center of the Ceiling - maybe 3'-4' wide.

I'd like to keep it in / remove it for these reasons:

Pros - Extra layer of Sound Proofing

Cons - Possible Rubber Smell

[cschlessman]

Its kind of a personal decision based on condition, how much rust if any under it. I have several rust areas Im repairing so I removed mine.

Chuck

[TygerCub]

And it's not just rust. There's a host of mold that can grow under it too. It's up to you.

[usmcbay]

Going to pull it I think... then 1/2" Foam Board, 1/2" or 5/8" Plywood, then Moisture Barrier, then a light color Wood Laminate Flooring.

[gbstewart]

Originally Posted by usmcbay

Going to pull it I think... then 1/2" Foam Board, 1/2" or 5/8" Plywood, then Moisture Barrier, then a light color Wood Laminate Flooring.

good plan what i did. pulled down to bare metal painted ,etc, I think a person isnt a true skoolie till they do one of the hardest parts of a conversion(floor removeal to the bare metal) sweat blood and tears

gbstewart

[TheRainbowBoxer]

We pulled our rubber floor... there was a lot of moisture under there due to a leaky roof hatch. Preparing to paint the floor this weekend, with rustoleum primer + hytech insulating additive. We do not want to lose any extra interior height to insulation, so if the hytech is not good enough for us (we only generally camp during nice weather) we will insulate from underneath.

[Stuff]

leaving mine. its perfectly good shape and id just mess it up to tear it out!

[dirtygoat]

Originally Posted by gbstewart

good plan what i did. pulled down to bare metal painted ,etc, I think a person isnt a true skoolie till they do one of the hardest parts of a conversion(floor removeal to the bare metal) sweat blood and tears

gbstewart

I pulled mine, but still haven't figured out what I'm gonna do yet... And I think you have to remove at least 2000 rivets before you are a true skoolie...

[chev49]

Just depends on how good the bus floor is, and what you want to do. Most of my busses i removed the floor.. esp the wood floor coach... on this thomas, i removed the center section, cleaned and flipped it over and reglued it so i would have a flat rubber floor to put underlay for the pergo flooring... then i glued that stuff down also.

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by gbstewart

... I think a person isn't a true skoolie till they do one of the hardest parts of a conversion(floor removal to the bare metal) sweat blood and tears

gbstewart

I guess we aren't true skoolies then. Our rubber floor will stay. It is securely fastened to the floor. The only thing I have done was remove small circles of flooring with a hole saw so that I could seal up all those holes in the floor left by the various screws and bolts. Our floor doesn't smell. Even in 100F heat. We plan on laying Armstrong commercial floor tiles on top. I put the same stuff in the popup and it held up very nicely to the dirt and gravel campgrounds we stayed in.

[gbstewart]

sorry about that Lorna, with all your know how , you pass with flying colours, Im sure you have had plenty of war wounds

gbstewart

[Accordion]

I left my rubber floor in. There is no plywood underneath it. I did an extensive viewing of the underneath of the bus and determined that the metal floor structure was not rusted.

I covered the floor with 3/4 inch blue board insulation and then put down 3/4 inch hardwood flooring. I have no "old bus" smell.

BUT THEN, I have two dogs who make their own smells, and the older I get, the less my nose works.

At least my ears still work well. Not so for my eyes.

"What a drag it is getting old".

[bus-bro]

I was going to pull the rubber and see if the plywood was OK (my bus was the steel, plywood, rubber variety.) That didn't work. It was easier to pry up the plywood, with the attached rubber, with a long wrecking bar. Not all that much work, just some brief periods of hard muscle use. I had surface rust, and areas with bad plywood. Water came up through the seat bolt holes and caused localized problems. It was a western Washington bus, so it ran on wet roads alot. I floored it with t&g 3/4" plywood over 1" pink foam board. Ran about $10 a foot of bus length.

[lornaschinske]

I wonder why some Blue Birds are rubber on plywood, on metal and others, like ours, are simply rubber on metal?

[usmcbay]

Up early this morning with the kids... heading to my Folks to pull the Rubber Floor and put down the 1/2" Foam Board and 1/2" Plywood... Remove Vinyl Stickers and possibly roll on the Primer... we'll do what time allows!

[usmcbay]

Well here it is... and let me say~! Wow... what a chore!

First off... the Center Isle strip just pulled right up with no problems. The Seat Row Rubber was a different story... closest to the wall it came right up from the heat/degradation. Closest to the Center Isle was okay too just a lot of Bolt pieces to work around from Cutting the Heads off the Seat bolts. But the 70% of the Middle you HAVE TO HAVE a long handled Iron Scraper or work your life away with a Flat Shovel... anyhoo... Got it done! Thanks to my Parents help we knocked it out and lost lots of Water Weight in the process... Another thing - It took up 7 Mega Thick Ultra Heavy Industrial Strength Bags... the problem is Weight. Honestly the Floor weighs in around 400lbs-500lbs. I'm 200lbs and I figure it weighed AT LEAST two times my weight if not more. Also the amount of pennies, dimes, and quarters well makes up for any labor spent! (Value based on 1775 labor wages~!).

So enough said here are some Photos...

[usmcbay]

Add'l Photos...

My Dad really helped with the Flooring... my Mom helped with the Decal Removal, Bagging Trash, Covering Painted "School Bus" signs and cleaning everything that needed cleaning... they were both amazing help and love doing these types of projects. I have the best and hardest working parents in the World~!!!!

[usmcbay]

Floor Going down...

[Stuff]

looks good but no sealer/paint job first?

[usmcbay]

Originally Posted by Stuff

looks good but no sealer/paint job first?

Yea... we talked about that... The floor was in such "Good Shape" and the Foam board has the Vapor Sheathing. If I would have had it I would have done it but I didn't so I didn't. Just one of those things in hind sight I suppose. I am going to Caulk all of the edges and spaces... I spaced all the Plywood 1/8" gap from each other so that it would'nt start to rub and squeak later on while walking on or traveling down the road. Also a 1/4" gap along the edge against the wall. All of this will be caulked and a Sealer put on top of the Plywood then additional vapor barrier above that - which will be below the Laminate Wood flooring. I want to know that if something leaks or spills it is not getting to the Foam Board~!!! Also we caulked the floor holes and put down Aluminum Tape. All an effort to block any potential moisture. Also I sprayed Rust Inhibitor around the Wheel wells where the worst rust was noticed... and that was AFTER hitting it with a grinder to knock any scale off. So... no we didn't seal the floor however every attempt was made other than that to eliminate the potential.

But again... it would be and is a great suggestion to do it!