The New Floor Goes Down

The first order of business was to create a new floor in the van.  Our van came with a black cargo van mat with thin insulation on the bottom of it.  

Once that was removed we discovered there were several holes in the floor from a rack the previous owner had installed.  There are probably a half a dozen ways to patch these holes but Jerry elected to put a dab of adhesive caulk over the holes and then cover them with a small patch of fiberglass cloth.  

Also, several of the bolts that hold the body to the frame were rusted, not badly, but enough that we didn't want to leave them that way.  We coated them with Ospho, which is a liquid rust remover, paint preparation chemical.  After a few minutes they were wiped with a wet rag and the bolts showed no sign of rust.  Then both the patched holes and the bolts were coated with black liquid bed liner material that is designed to line the bed of your truck.  (Any other areas of rust were treated with Ospho and painted with the black bed liner material.)  Next, Jerry laid firring strips approximately 14 inches apart on the ridges of the van floor using galvanized screws to hold the 1x2 primed white spruce.  Hint:  get yourself a padded knee pad because the knees really get a work out on the hard van floor. 

Jerry had observed other people putting home insulation on the floor and then covering it with plywood.  He didn't believe that this was a good solution as the fiberglass has a tendency to collect moisture up against the bare metal and provides very little insulation and sound deadening.  Instead of using home insulation, we bought foil-backed 1/2" insulation from  the auto parts store (at a cost of $43 a roll, we needed 2 rolls, so it was a little pricey, but effective) and layed that down between the firring.  Next, we bought rubber horse stall flooring.  It's extremely heavy, probably 80 lbs per sheet.  (These were bought at a farm store at a price of $43 each; two were needed for the project.)  They were cut  into strips with a box cutter to fit between the firring on top of the insulation.  The insulation is perhaps a 1/4" thick and the stall material is 1/2" thick which came up to the top of the firring strips.  

Next, we layed down tongue and groove 3/4" plywood and screwed it to the firring strips.  

The small board you see was used to line up the center of the firring strips we screwed into. 

The first piece of plywood was placed in between the wheel wells and it only extended back 8 feet.  The back of the van was filled in with a trimmed sheet of tongue and groove, but it was placed crosswise to provide the rest of the flooring.  (The price of plywood was $25/piece; we used 2 for the flooring.) 

There is insulation material between the walls and the frame, but we added more by adding spray foam insulation (low expansion) to take away the chatter of panels hitting metal. 

Left to do is to fill in the sections where the plywood did not reach out to the sides. 

Jerry has driven the van since the new flooring was put down and it is rock solid and very quiet.  It will get even quieter once the ceiling, walls, and wheel wells are insulated and carpet is installed.  

NEXT UP:  The bed!!