What do I do now? Cleared van out, need flooring ideas

[Tundrawolf]

Hello,


A little back story, I have a 99 Dodge Ram Van 1500 I decided to turn into a camper van, I put a Santana camper topper (Like in Napoleon Dynamite) from a 77 Chevy van on it, cut the roof off, add solar, a sun deck, water, toilet and septic, inverter, etc. 

One day I decided to spend a weekend in it parked on the back 40 of the ranch I live on, and a weekend ended up turning into the better part of a year. I loved it. I broke the 32" TV and ended up using a 50" TV that ended up working out very well. I sleep on the top portion very well. I use a combo of the sun and a small inverter generator to power it, and refill the water tanks and dump septic every few weeks. 

I thought I could get by without doing anything about the condensation, but I believe it ended up turning to mold. Endless coughing and sneezing, brain fog, insomnia, etc, now that I am out of the van all of that has cleared up. But I want to go back into the van. Previously the van was a work van and subjected all sorts of glues, industrial solvents, so the carpet was pretty much ruined before hand anyway. 

I tore it all out, even the foam. Under the foam there was water. I am going to treat it for mold. 

Previously I had a captains chair in the back on a plate steel that wasn't bolted to anything. She suggested a ton of pillows so her and I can snuggle. I like the idea! I don't care if the chair goes bye-bye and it may give me more room. I am also going to be removing the two brackets for the chairs as they were a pain in the butt and this is no longer a passenger van.

But, what about the floor? I need something waterproof, like if I spill 14 gallons in there I do not have to worry about the water going under the flooring and becoming mold (again). I like the idea of carpet for how it feels on bare feet, however, I realize carpet is NOT suited for my daily living, and honestly if i put a rug in there and covered it in pillows that's pretty awesome, too. 

Any ideas on a truly waterproof flooring? Should I fill the floor corrugations with floor leveler and seal it with some kind of floor sealer? Drill holes in the floor for drainage? My water tank recently sprung a leak and I suddenly had gallons of water soaking into everything so that is a possibility and I have no room down below for an underside tank. 

Any help is appreciated... And is there a good way to seal the plywood I have holding the top of the topper to the bottom section? I think there is mold there.

 

[Almost There]

I pulled the rubber mat from my van, treated any rust spots and then laid 3/4" plywood directly on the wood. Because I already had the design layout of the interior all planned I was able to lay down the plywood so that all the seams would be underneath cabinets and the bed. This was important because it meant that none of the seams needed to be dealt with, I was never going to be walking on them.

I used 3/4" plywood because I wanted something that wasn't going to warp over time, would allow me to screw the cabinets/bed walls etc down in to the wood without penetrating the metal floor.

I patterned the indents and cut outs for wheel wells on cardboard and then laid the first sheet of plywood so that it was closest to the passenger cargo doors and as far forward under the driving compartment as I needed. This left a strip down the drivers side of just less than 2' so the second sheet of plywood got cut in to pieces of 2' x 8' at the lumber yard.

A jig saw does a great job of cutting al the curved indents and cut outs.

The final piece was across the back of the van which would be under the bed.

I would strongly suggest laying vinyl laminate flooring. I've been in the van full-time now for 4 years and the vinyl laminate lets me deal with wet clothes, spills and dropped stuff in the kitchen area without a problem.

I chose to lay the laminate AFTER the cabinets were all built but it was probably  more difficult to lay because of all the cutting. If I  had it to do over I'd lay the laminate and then build the interior!

I do use small area rugs for comfort but they're small enough to be tossed in the washing machine and also taken out to shake all the sand/pine needles and crap that we all bring in to the van.

In regards to the recent flood, can't help there, I use a 2 1/2 gallon kitty litter container for waste sink water and simply replace it when it gets too gungy! I've had some spills but never a major flood!

 

[crofter]

They make a rubber mat that fills in the grooves and becomes your flooring. I used a layer of reflectix and a layer of plywood bolted down thru the floor bolts. Then painted with several coats of spar varnish. If you use plywood, you will have a seam to caulk also. The smell of the varnish goes away in a week or so, takes a few days to dry.  -crofter

 

[Stargazer]

I used a vanrug bedrug.  Google search will show it.  Easy to install and worked great! Provided some insulation, mold mildew proof, hose it off if needed (gods forbid).  Of all the things I did in my build, this was probably the easiest and best as far as useability is concerned.  I would do it again.  If they made this for a house, it would be a done deal!  If you want to see it in person, I found it at one of those truck/auto accessory places.  They had samples and ordered it for me.