Floors - It's my first time...

[TinnedFish]

Greetings,

We are about to put down a floor in our '73 IHC Carpenter. I am scouring the web for info, and I've got quite a few books angling across the US in UPS trucks now.

But if y'all aren't too busy, could you please throw out yer 2 cents?

1. Should I pull the rubber floor out, or just bang down plywood over the top?

2. I see some folks put closed-cell foam insulation under the plywood subfloor. Is this a michigan winter thing, or is it a good idea for northern Washington? If it's a good idea - any recommendations, tips, tricks for installing? Or just make a sandwich w/ the existing wood floor of the bus?

3. Once we put in the plywood subfloor, we're going to chase it with a tongue and groove pine walking floor. Please let me know if this is a bad idea, or if there are any bus-specific finishing caveats I should be wary of.

Many thanks. I'll post pics. It apears that it's bad form to post pics of an empty bus, so I'm waiting until I have something worth showing.

TinnedFish

Ultimate Goal - Floor and ceiling of the bus will be tongue and groove pine. Walls of the back 1/2 are all shelves - to house books and records. Front 1/2 is a couch/dvd/record player, playdough and drawing zone. This bus will be our living room, another bus (in the shop) will be the sleeping, cooking, and gettin' dressed life pod.

[Dennis The Bus Dweller]

Hello Tinnedfish

I remember you from one of thr tribes I belong to. Drop me an email at busdweller56@hotmail.com and I'll be glad to swap notes with you. I just put a pretty good size reply togeather for your post in MS word so I could spell check and then remembered that I can't paste it on the site so I'll send it to you in a email and drope Sharkey anote to see if he has a way to put a spell check option on the frum. Anyway, Good luck with the new rigs.

[Sharkey]

Can't post the Wrod document because of the no-right-click script? Have you tried using your browsers File | Paste menu feature?

If I was to add anything, I'd recommend you put as much insulation in your bus as you can manage, including the floor. Vehicles don't have much thermal mass and they don't have foundations to prevent cold air from circulating underneath. The floor in my Housetruck is damned cold, even with 3/4" of foam insulation. The Crown is insulated with R-19 fiberglass. I'm looking forward to warmer feet after I move into it.