Advice needed on flooring

foggymorn · 09-14-2006, 05:01 PM

I decided to take the floor all the way up and start new. there is a bit of rot in the entrance isle and along the back of the bus where a window was broken. Most of the rest is still good. So I decided to read up on removing the old floor. I notice one major difference. My bus only has the wood osb, marine type flooring. It is 3/4 and it is screwed into the frame and some cross bars. Is this how it left the factory? The screws are huge flat head counter sunk screws. I am having a hard time getting the tar paper/tile stuff up. Are there any easier Ideas? Can I only replace the Pieces of wood with damage on them? Maybe it would be best to take it all up and replace with t&g. Any added info or help would be great.

the_experience03 · 09-14-2006, 10:32 PM

Everyone's opinion is different and usually dicatated by climate and intended use of the bus.

My bus had the vinyl/rubber flooring glued to marine plywood that was nailed (

) to the steel floor. As good as I thought it looked, I pulled it all up anyway because I wanted to start fresh. I'm glad I did. Most of my floor is just painted steel, but the section over and around the rear axle was actually galvanized. Go figure...the galvanized part is where it jad some rust. I was lucky in that mine turned out to just be surface rust and a little wire wheel action took care of it. It was then coated with two HEAVY coats of a flat red oil based metal primer all the way up to the seat rail on the wall. The holes were filled with an outdoor rated liquid nails.

We then laid out a grid of 1x2 furring strips every 16 inches or so. These were glued down with liquid nails to prevent squeaks and secured with 20 year rated screws (lots of predrilling into the floor).

Between the grids we laid 3/4 inch (same as the nominal thickness of the furring strips) white rigid foam insulation. It doesn't have the same R-value as the pink stuff, but was cheap and I had a bunch before we started. We covered the whole thing with a 4 mil continous piece of vapor barrier.

On top of all that we screwed down 3/8 inch plywood. It is thinner than a lot of people would recommend, but is span rated for what it was on, has something under it in all places (foam doesn't compress all that much), and was cheap. The carpet was then laid on top of that.

All told I probably lost MAYBE 1/2 inch of headroom, but the floor has that nice home-like feeling now. No matter how you go, make sure you do it well because the floor is not the most convenient thing to fix after the conversion is done.

westport_wayne · 09-15-2006, 07:19 AM

on my 81 shorty it was thick lenoleum stuff then the metal floor. i tore it up then took the wire wheel to the surface rust. there was some rust pitting, not to bad. after i wire wheeled it i whent to napa and got some of that liquid rust inhibiter and painted the hole floor. it turns the rusty area black. then i painted the floor with rustoleum paint. then i took 100 percent pure silicone and used it as filler for the seat holes.it worked real well.

used a plastic puddy spatula to smear it around. that stuff is tuff. then i bought some preimiem rubber undercoating and sprayed the hole floor. hell it worked great. im going to build a sub floor and put plywood down. that metal floor gets cold. thats what ive been workong on. time to go to work folks. westport-wayne.

foggymorn · 09-15-2006, 08:43 AM

Thanks for the answers. I can't believe that there is not a metal floor under my marine wood. It just blows my mind. I wonder what that does as far as the stability goes. I got to thinking about it...it must have come from the factory this way because it has the origional tar paper flooring. I guess I will just pull it all up...and replace itin the same manner. Unlike the taller busses, I dont have the headroom to frame and insulate. there is only about a 4 inch clearing over my 5'5" head. And that is ONLY if Im standing in the isleway. My husband only has an inch of clearance. By the Way i measured my wheelbase yesterday and it is 199, that means that I have the 3 ton bus. Not sure why but that excited me!

Good day to all. I gotta go rip up some floor. I think today I will take my lawn edger, sharpen it and see if I have better luck with that.Yesterday I used a putty knife on my hands and knees.....realized Im to old to work like that

lol. At least with the edger I can stand .

foggymorn · 09-15-2006, 08:56 AM

About the vapor barrier... I will replace the 3/4 marine wood, then I plan on putting down vinyl (sp?) tile. how would I add the vapor barrior? the vinyl tile wont stick to the plastic, it would stick but not be anchored. Maybe put the 3/4 down then the vapor lock then a 1/4 plywood? Or maybe 1/2 marine wood, vapor barier, 1/2 osb, tile. Is the vapor barrier needed in this case? probably more so w/o any metal of any kind? Help!!

the_experience03 · 09-15-2006, 05:11 PM

You really do have a short bus. Mine measures just below 72 inches in the aisleway. Unfortunately I'm 77 inches tall and most of my friends are right in there.

With the age of your bus, it really comes as no surprise to me that there isn't any metal. If you wanted to add a vapor barrier, just put it between the wood and the metal framework. Have you considered getting some sheet metal and putting a layer down between the frame members? I think you might actually have a pretty sweet deal going there because you COULD insulate without losing headroom. All just a matter of the pocketbook and time I guess.

wtd · 09-15-2006, 09:43 PM

3 Ton Bus - would make a good name - has a ring to it ...

westport_wayne · 09-15-2006, 11:06 PM

hey all, i got a 84 crown bus. ex-skoolie, 35 footer. it has a frame work and thick marine plywood for a floor. it must be a inch and a half or two inchs thick. maybe its two inch thick peices ??? works good for doing conversions. easy two drill or cut through for stuff. so i guess it isnt just the old stuff using wood.

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