Insulate your floors with cardboard!

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shadowmoss said:
On another, not van dwelling, forum folks were discussing horse stall mats.  I searched and found Tractor Supply has 4'x6'x3/4" mats for around $50.  I don't know how it stacks up price wise but one person used them on his garage floor tomake a home gym and workshop and was happy with the result.

I can attest to those mats. I bought 6 @ $33 bucks ea on sale at my local TS. I use a couple for the floor of my tent when camping. Also, impermeable play ground flooring is really good stuff and pretty cheap. We put it down on the floor of our bedroom so my wife's foot and wheelchair wouldn't slip when she was transferring. A half inch of that would be excellent hard wearing(and sound deadening) insulation. It comes in tiles and in rolls.

https://rubbersurface.com/pages/sub-collection
 
Has anyone insulated the underside of the floor?  Seems like adding an inch or so of flooring takes precious height from a standard panel van.

A few years ago I used hexacomb for packing material in a business.  Came in 1", 1.5" and 2" thick.  Same as found in hollow-core doors.  Used it to sleep on when I lived in the shop.  Much more effective than an inch of cardboard boxes (had a lot of them as well).

Often thought of facing them with 1/8" ply sheeting for standon strength and using that as a sub-floor.  Very light.  Of course, that does lose height also.

Maybe a plastic membrane between sub-floor and van floor.

Heavy duty, double thickness (1/4") cardboard van also be bought in 8x4 sheets.  That may be useful if finished with 1/8" ply in conjunction with underfloor insulation.
 
Cardboard is great as long as it doesn't get wet. I prefer the anti fatigue roll mats from Harbor Freight. Dense black foam ,$10.
 
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