{"id":948,"date":"2021-06-24T10:55:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T10:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catmantravels.com\/?p=948"},"modified":"2024-06-20T10:01:16","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T10:01:16","slug":"first-things-first-adding-an-insulated-subfloor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catmantravels.com\/index.php\/2021\/06\/24\/first-things-first-adding-an-insulated-subfloor\/","title":{"rendered":"FIRST THINGS FIRST: ADDING AN INSULATED SUBFLOOR!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the first things you’ll want to do when converting a van is to add a solid floor since you’ll be building upwards. We started by cleaning the entire inside of the van really well with soap and water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our van was pretty dirty and scuffed up from its prior life as a delivery vehicle <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once everything was clean, I sprayed Rust-Oleum professional primer<\/a> on pretty much every imperfect surface I could see. Then I followed that up with Rust-Oleum Professional Gloss White Paint<\/a>. I simply brushed the paint from the can onto the floor. If I had to do it over again, I would probably also try to get a primer in can form since I think I had to use several spray cans worth of primer. I would highly recommend going with the Rust-Oleum professional line as I’ve always had great results with the durability and look of the finished product. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This was after the primer was sprayed! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once all the paint had dried, I then cut 2×2 pressure-treated wood for the framing of the subfloor and then glued them down to the floor with Loctite PL Premium Max construction adhesive<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We have a shiny new floor!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Floor Framing!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

I then filled the squares with a 1.5″ rigid XPS insulation foam board<\/a>. I used Havelock Wool<\/a> on the outer edges since the areas weren’t as uniform. We also filled in any smaller gaps between the insulation foam boards and the wooden frame with some spray foam insulation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our feet won’t be cold anymore! <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once the insulation was in, it was time to cover that all up with some plywood boards. I opted for 1\/2″ plywood since it was cheaper and lighter. My wife and I are on the lighter side of the weight scale, so we’ve had zero problems with the floorboards flexing, but many van lifers will recommend going for 3\/4″ thick boards for ultimate durability. To make the cutouts, I used Builder’s Paper<\/a> to make the templates and then transferred that onto the plywood boards to make the cutouts with my Jigsaw<\/a>. You’ll also want to paint the plywood boards to protect them from moisture. I had a ton of paint leftover from earlier in the process, so I used that, but you can also opt for some Thomson’s Waterseal<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The last step is to screw them into the 2×2 frames so they don’t shift and move around. Since you don’t want to bump your feet into those screws, you’ll want to use a countersink bit<\/a> to predrill the holes and then finish off some wood putty for a nice smooth finish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that’s it! We’ll be adding a vinyl flooring sheet over this at a later date but you don’t want to do that just yet as the floor will just get damaged while you’re working on other parts of the van.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Enjoying our nice insulated floors on a trip to the Carolina coast!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the first things you’ll want to do when converting a van is to add a solid floor since […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vanblog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t