Subflooring question!

[KC10Chief]

I'm preparing to put in some 7/16" sub flooring tomorrow in my bus. I decided to go ahead and pull up all of the rubber flooring in the bus. It's basically just sitting there and comes up pretty easy. I've spent the evening cutting out screws and anything that was sticking up. So, I'll be laying the subflooring right onto the metal floor. There's a couple of small rusty spots, but nothing serious. I'm planning on just using some screws to attach the wood to the floor. Should I use any kind of glue or anything like that? It would need to come in a big bucket. I'm thinking that just screwing the wood to the metal floor will be more than enough. Just curious if anybody had any advice before I do this tomorrow?

 

[KC10Chief]

Well, I haven't removed it yet. I am removing the rubber aisle though as it sticks up about 1/8" higher than the other rubber. I have about half of that up. I might leave the rest of the rubber. What do you guys think? If I left the aisle rubber in there, the wood would be bowed in the middle. Probably not enough to notice, but I want it perfectly flat. I have plenty of head room. I'm 6'1" and have about three inches over my head. I'm not worried about that. There will be an area under the sub flooring where the aisle way was where there will be a 1/8" gap between the wood and the metal floor. I don't think that will be a problem. My floor is going to be heated as well. That's the plan anyways. :?

 

[the_experience03]

I can't say enough about furring strips and insulation under the subfloor, but if you don't want to go that route I would atleast suggest using just a little liquid nails on the plywood to keep squeaks to a minimum.

 

[Demonknight]

we layed out carpet (brand new) in the back of our bus...it was a whole two days, maybe less before that rubber smell came thru...I say rip it out now while you can...ours will before we (I) put any glue on it.

 

[swinada]

I went with the 3/4 strips & insulation

I have to ask, why the strips???
I just put the 1/2 pink down, taped the seams, put a vapour barrior on top and then laid 5/8" tounge and groove plywood on top. Nice floating floor.

But I defenetly would take that rubber stuff out.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

I agree when I pulled out my rubber the bus smelled way better. I would lay felt paper between the metal and wood. It makes a big difference on squeaks and is a moister barrier.

 

[KC10Chief]

Where can I get felt paper? Is it very expensive? I'm waiting for the rain to stop before I go to Home Depot. I don't want to get my wood all wet. Maybe I'll just drive my bus up there to pick it up. Hmmmm....

 

[KC10Chief]

I see that Ace Hardware sells felt paper. $21 a roll. Should do the whole bus. Do you really think it would help with squeaks though? My bus smells fine with the rubber in there. I'm thinking that the rubber between the metal will help with squeaks. On the edges, I could use some liquid nails. What do you guys think?

 

[Roasting8]

Hi Matt,

What I did was removed the rubber, laid plastic for my vapor barrier, and screwed in 1/2" ply. To keep the plywood from squeaking, I laid strips of plastic between the cracks of the plywood. That way the plywood sheets don't rub with each other.

I used plastic because my bus has wood instead of metal. I think the felt would probably be better for the metal floor (I think the felt would allow the moisture to evaporate).

I hope this helps.

Robert

 

[KC10Chief]

Well, I bought the sub-flooring. I decided against using the roofing paper. It smelled kinda bad. I am also going to cut my wood down to 7'8" and lay them in there sideways. I didn't want a seam down through the middle of the bus either. I am also screwing it all down to the metal. I can't imagine that after being screwed down to the floor, that it would squeak that much. I'm going to leave about a 1/8" gap between the wood and each wall. Then I'm going to fill it with liquid nails. I am going to put some liquid nails in where the sub flooring butts up against each other. Unfortunately, now I'm deciding if I should put some insulation on the floor. I'm thinking about the 1/2" thick sheets. I wouldn't use any wood strips. I'd just lay the foam down, and then lay the sub flooring on top. That would add an inch to my floor. But I just don't know if it would be that much of a benefit. I am going to electrically heat my floor anyways. The insulation would run me another $75, and I'd rather keep that money for now as Christmas is coming up. That would mean if I decided to buy it, I'd wait until after Christmas and that would put my flooring on hold. What do you guys think? Is the pink insulation worth it? It doesn't get too cold here, and I do most of my camping in the warmer months anyways. Then the floor will be heated electrically anywhere there is a walkway or somewhere you can stand. Carpet in the rear too.

 

[swinada]

I believe the biggest benefit of using the pink insulation will be sound dampening. I could tell a big difference between before with regular floor and after with the 1/2" insulation in between.

 

[the_experience03]

If nothing else go cheap and use the white foam insulation. The r-factor isn't as high, but it works just as well and is about half the price.

 

[DizzyIzzy]

There is a big difference between felt and tar paper. Felt is just that felt! It is used manly for hardwood floors. Tar paper does stink though. Felt is non smelly.

 

[KC10Chief]

I really appreciate all of the help you guys are giving me. I'm probably going to run up tomorrow morning and get some of that insulation stuff. There's no way I'll be able to wait to work on my bus until after Xmas! So the white stuff is cheaper huh? I don't see how the difference would be that much different. Do you think that I should put the felt paper between the insulation and metal floor? I swear, I didn't think that I'd have this much dilemma over my floor. :?

 

[DizzyIzzy]

I would for that stuff is a super moister barrier. And it also is good for noise. I put some down in mine before I laid my 3/4" plywood. I went with a thicker plywood since my floor was a little to rusty.

But those are my two cents.

 

[KC10Chief]

My floor is in pretty good shape. I haven't done much work to my bus. I bought all the wood, but the weather has been super crappy. Rainy with 40mph + winds. :? I'm not too motivated to be outside. Today, the sun is coming out, but it's VERY windy outside. The wind would snatch one of those insulation things right out of my hands! Probably the sub flooring too. I'm still deciding on how I want to do it. I'm thinking that I'll lay some felt paper down, lay the insulation on top of that, and then lay the sub flooring on top of the insulation. What do you guys think?

 

[the_experience03]

40? That sounds like a tropical heatwave to me! Today is the first time in a week we've seen double digits...which is good because plowing twice last night (and again this morning) was on fun in the cold.

I think your plan sounds good. Just a generalized question for people that don't use furring strips...what do you anchor your walls to then? Do you just run really long screws through the subfloor and insulation down to the metal?

 

[KC10Chief]

I have been wondering the same thing. The foam insulation is pretty dense, and when you have wood sub-flooring sitting on top, you don't really compress it at all. However, I'm worried about building on top of it like that. Originally, I was going to just lay the foam down, put the sub-flooring on top and then put screws through the wood, then the foam and into the metal. But I'm thinking that I should put some firring strips down as well. I still haven't even started on my floor yet as I've been hemming and hawing over what to do. The bus has just been sitting in my driveway for a couple days now. :? Oh, and today I was looking at the insulation again. The white stuff is actually more expensive than the pink stuff. How much does a firring strip cost? Say one that's 1/2"x1"? Thanks for all of the advice you guys have been giving me!

 

[swinada]

Do you just run really long screws through the subfloor and insulation down to the metal?

that is my plan in some way or an other, but not all screws have to go all the way to the metal, (if at all) The plywood floor is fastend down enough, so putting screws just in to the ply wood shoul be enough, I think. Top of the walls will be secured to angle iron which will be attached to the roof rips.
If you look at a regular camper / RV the walls are just screwed or stapled to the floor. One good hit with a sledge hammer and they come out. (I know I tried it ) Not that I'm trying to build something flimsy as an Rv but I'm not going to overdue it either.

 

[swinada]

I forgot to said it was in the low 80s this weekend brrrrrrrrr

are you nuts? BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR? for low 80's???? that summer im Northern BC
we are fighting -30F right now, with the windchill more like -40, that is called BRRRRRRRRRRR.