Painting subfloor

[JoeSullivan]

New to the Airstream process and need some input. I have gutted my 78 31 foot rear bath Sovereign down to the plywood floor. All looks good with some slight water staining, but no rotting found. Getting ready to put New waterproof vinyl flooring in but was thinking about painting the floor first to try and protect the subfloor from potential future water damage. Not sure if this would cause any issues with creating a vapor barrier on top of the wood thus causing a problem rather than helping. I have noticed that no one seams to do this on the resto videos. Any feedback would bNew to the Airstream process and need some input. I have gutted my 78 sovereign with the rear bath down to the plywood floor. All looks good with some slight water staining, but no rotting found. Getting ready to put New waterproof vinyl flooring in but was thinking about painting the floor first to try and protect the subfloor. Not sure if this would cause any issues with creating a vapor barrier on top of the wood. I have noticed that no one seams to do this on the resto videos. Any feedback would be appreciated.

[Dingo Girl]

I used penetrating epoxy on mine.
There is someone on here that painted their floor but it was their "floor covering". Nothing went on top of it.
Good luck with your project!

[perryg114]

I painted the floor in mine which helps protect it from more water damage but I don't have anything on top of it. Will probably put carpet squares over it. The problem with vinyl flooring that goes all the way to the walls, is it hides and seals in water. At the rear of the trailer, water comes in from the back and goes under the floor from that plate at the back that goes on top of the bumper. Water can get in the sub floor through numerous c-channel penetrations and also at the corners where there is a break in the c-channel. The vinyl will seal water in that gets into the floor. I recommend that whatever floor covering you use that you don't go all the way to the walls with it where it can't be seen. If you want to fix it right you can remove the lower inner skins and seal all c-channel penetrations including bridging the gap at the corners and also put in drains. A drain can be a flared piece of tubing that goes through the floor and funnels water below the floor. Also not a bad idea to replace the fiberglass with some sort of foam board with the edges taped. I like RMAX that has aluminum on both sides. Once you are done, you can caulk the bottom edge of the c-channel where it meets the floor. Pull belly skins and removed all the stinky wet pink insulation and leave it out or replace with ridged foam with a gap so water can drain out. Best to have no insulation. Also POR15 paint the frame.

Perry

[JoeSullivan]

Originally Posted by perryg114

I painted the floor in mine which helps protect it from more water damage but I don't have anything on top of it. Will probably put carpet squares over it. The problem with vinyl flooring that goes all the way to the walls, is it hides and seals in water. At the rear of the trailer, water comes in from the back and goes under the floor from that plate at the back that goes on top of the bumper. Water can get in the sub floor through numerous c-channel penetrations and also at the corners where there is a break in the c-channel. The vinyl will seal water in that gets into the floor. I recommend that whatever floor covering you use that you don't go all the way to the walls with it where it can't be seen. If you want to fix it right you can remove the lower inner skins and seal all c-channel penetrations including bridging the gap at the corners and also put in drains. A drain can be a flared piece of tubing that goes through the floor and funnels water below the floor. Also not a bad idea to replace the fiberglass with some sort of foam board with the edges taped. I like RMAX that has aluminum on both sides. Once you are done, you can caulk the bottom edge of the c-channel where it meets the floor. Pull belly skins and removed all the stinky wet pink insulation and leave it out or replace with ridged foam with a gap so water can drain out. Best to have no insulation. Also POR15 paint the frame.

Perry

Thanks for the reply, going to pull up the floor and see what we have below.