Bus Demo and Flooring
I can’t believe we have gotten to this point!! I can’t wait to start building this bus out! There were a lot of steps to get to this point! So I am going to be sharing them on this blog post and also share what flooring we used! This is where we started, that is a lot of seats! The bus we purchased is a 2000 Bluebird and it is 40 feet long!
Beginning of Demo before Installation of Bus Flooring
It was crazy how big it started to feel with each seat we took out! Most of the bolts were rusted out, so in order to get them out we had to band saw the seats then grind the rusted bolts off. Some came out clean, I loved when that happened!
After we got all the seats out we then ripped up the flooring, you want to do this to check and repair the rust underneath. We got lucky and there was only a few holes we needed to fix.
In order to neutralize the rust and keep it from spreading we needed to get all the rust flakes off. We did this with a grinder and some flap discs. To cover the holes we used sheet metal pieces and welded those to the bus floor. If you don’t have a welder I have heard you can use Flex Seal and it does the job.
Once we had the holes filled and the rust flakes removed we were ready to spray the rust with a Rust Neutralizer. This product converts rust to a paintable surface. We let that dry for 24 hours and then we were able to paint it with Rust Stop from Ace Hardware. This will prevent the rust from spreading and prevent rust from happening. We also let this set for 24 hours.
Beginning of BusFlooring
Once the paint was dry we went used silicone to seal all the edges on the floor. We used A LOT! It didn’t need to look pretty because it was going to be covered. We then laid down 1/2″ insulation on the floors, to get better insulation we probably should have used 3/4-1″ insulation, but we didn’t want to loose height. We attached the insulation using liquid nails.
Once we laid that down we were ready for plywood. You want to make sure you use and exterior plywood. We also used 3/4″. We also attached these with liquid nails.
Once we got the plywood all laid we were able to start the flooring!! Ah!! The flooring we ended up going with was 100% waterproof laminate. It is from Home Depot made by A&A surfaces in the color Trinity Natural. The best part was it was only $1.99 a square foot! So good!!! I would highly recommend getting the Installation Kit tool to lay the flooring, it made it so much easier!
Just like that we have floors down!! Next up the walls and then the bedroom!! Can’t wait!
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Beautiful job! What are you going to do about the wheel hubs?
I love hearing that you love us born. We are in the market for some laminate, I love that it’s 100% waterproof! Great job, loving watching the progress???