Clean up and preparing the floor

So far, with the help of friends, I’ve removed everything from the floor except the wood. First, we took out huge steel 18-foot-long benches from the sides of the bus, cabinetry that had been temporarily set up, and a vehicle refrigerator. Then I took out all the little random things that the last owner didn’t want, or thought I could use, including a smelly decaying sea turtle fin.


On the floor, 1/8 inch of rubber (the kind you see on most city buses) was dirty and cracking, so I decided to take it out. First, it was kind of fun taking out large chunks, but later it became tedious to chip away at the crumbs that liked to hang on. Thanks to my friends, this process was faster than it would have been otherwise.


The next thing to remove was the heaters. I was able to get all of the screws out except for 7 stubborn ones. They needed to be drilled out. I have no drill, nor do I have a regular power supply to the bus. So, on a Sunday, I park the bus in front of my apartment (with an extension cord stretching across the sidewalk). My friend took the day to drill out my stubborn screws (thank you friend). I piled the heaters into the front drivers seat so I can clean the years of buildup out of the floor.

The only things left on the floor to take out was a copper pipe for the exterior propane connection, the fuse box cables that went through the floor to the generator and a couple of bolts. I had help through the cutting of the fuse box wires, the copper pipe, and 2 bolts. I had a couple more bolts, but wanted to work on them when I had someone around. I left them alone while I painted the floor with KILZ oil paint and sealed a few spots with silicone. One day I finally just did it on my own. Screwing the wrench on one side and turning the bolt on the other side was the only way I could think of to do this one my own.


In some cases, I needed to secure the wrench underneath and screw from the top, so I jamed the wrench in a spot under the bus and kept it there via small tool holding boxes and peices of whatever would fit to wedge it in it's place.


With my constant movment from the inside of the bus to under the bus, I finally removed all of the bolts off of the floor. Four of them held an empty tank that use to hold fuel for the absent generator. As it's bolts and connections came of, I felt as if I had removed some kind of appendix.


After everything was removed, I ceiled every hole I could see, and painted a second coat of KILZ on the floor.


Currently, I’m trying to decide on flooring. So far Pergo floors sound nice, but I don’t have money for anything. I’ll be doing research on what I can get for cheep.