Ply Floor

[osman]

So having finally tackled the floor of my previous owners conversion I see he just drilled straight into the floor with self tappers like all his work !! something tells me that the fact I can see the ground through bare metal holes all over the floor of my van is not good ! Plus the fact that the holes are multiple at a time due to no accuracy whatsoever is not helping ...
Anyway I will be attempting to start this job over and do it properly this time ..
Any ideas how to make good this damage and how does one properly go about the flooring process ... surely not self tapping screws straight into the vans floor ?

 

[osman]

 

[Paynewright]

That looks horrendous! If they were singular and spaced out I’d fill with pop rivets dipped in waxoil.

If that were my van I’d go see a trusted body shop and get them welded and ground back then spray painted.

A local company to me did a fantastic repair to a puncture in the floor of my car, with matching seam sealer and spray painted under the carpet.

 

[Paynewright]

View attachment 55701

Any more thoughts on next steps?

 

[osman]

Any more thoughts on next steps?

Well I’m filing the raised metal edges flat on the holes then painting with red oxide then filling with some sort of waterproof gunk . The holes really need sorting from underneath the van but that’s not an option for me right now .. so I will just treat then from the inside for the moment .. as far as I’m hearing this happens frequently and even with vans that were lined by VW approved dealers .. BUT I also have holes all over the internal metal parts where the idiots also used self tappers for lining the sides and roof !! Damn it it’s a lot of extra work to deal with because of the previous owners total lack of pride in the van or the work done to it

 

[Pete C]

Our van was ply lined by VW, and they screwed straight into the floor and other panels. Like you, we treated these with suitable paint, and filled them with sealant.
To answer your original question, once you have sorted the holes, you need to glue ply battens into the lower sections of the ridged van floor, then lay suitable insulation depending on your intended use, then screw the new floor into those battens. I forgot to take pictures of where to lay the battens, but it's pretty obvious, and there are no doubt pictures on this forum of what others have done.

Pete

 

[Donk]

My van(s) were not as bad as that. I did pretty much what you're doing. Make sure you coat the bare metal fully. I used some sikaflex to smother them.

 

[osman]

Our van was ply lined by VW, and they screwed straight into the floor and other panels. Like you, we treated these with suitable paint, and filled them with sealant.
To answer your original question, once you have sorted the holes, you need to glue ply battens into the lower sections of the ridged van floor, then lay suitable insulation depending on your intended use, then screw the new floor into those battens. I forgot to take pictures of where to lay the battens, but it's pretty obvious, and there are no doubt pictures on this forum of what others have done.

Pete

Thanks Pete yes that’s the plan .. obviously I’ve done a fair bit of reading up on this now

 

[osman]

My van(s) were not as bad as that. I did pretty much what you're doing. Make sure you coat the bare metal fully. I used some sikaflex to smother them.

That’s the plan just off to get some now