Jade and Reuben came out for the day on the 23rd of June to assist with floor removal. (Thanks guys!) Even with three of us and an air hammer I’d borrowed from Lucas, it took most of the day to get the floor down to metal.
Turns out that the floor is the source of that distinctive schoolbus smell- a sort of sour musty scent with an industrial chemical edge. I’d originally planned to save some of the floor for use in the rear bike storage area, but that plan didn’t survive past the first ragged piece we pulled up.
Once we’d ripped out the last pieces of stinking black rubber flooring, we pressure washed and scrubbed the inside before calling it a day.
There was a surprising amount of surface rust, particularly near the walls. The next day I spent several hours scraping out the worst of the corrosion before coating the floor with phosphoric acid solution to neutralize the rust.
Two applications of phospho and a few days later, I gave the bus its final interior scrub, sealed it up with a dehumidifier inside and worked on the electrical system for two days. Once it was thoroughly dry, every hole in the floor got filled with elastomeric sealant. This took a few days, as I sealed the larger holes from below as well as above.
The remainder of the roof coat was used to seal around the walls, over the patched holes and anywhere else with a risk of water intrusion.
Yesterday I finished re sealing all the windows, as we had some pretty significant leaks where the sealant was worn out or incorrectly applied. I also blanked out eight of the windows with sheet metal over wooden frames, as we don’t want windows behind cabinetry. They will be insulated on the inside with the same foam panels I’m using for the subfloor.
As of the time of posting, I’ve given the paint its two weeks to fully cure and finish outgassing, and will soon be gluing in the foam subfloor panels which Fatty has been enjoying in the meantime.
