It is a 20 ft food trailer. When it was in operation it was used daily, permanent location. Heavy equipment, people working. There was never down time. We were fixing it as we went. When walking on the floor, some areas felt soft.
It is not used anymore. I am never wanting to it sell it. Since everything is closed, with social distancing it seems like the perfect time to correct the floor issue.
I removed all of the equipment, removed the old tiles, exposing the floor. It is in bad shape. There is lots of rot in the corners. There are no leaks. The rot is from when the trailer was in operation and water splashed from sinks and from washing the floor.
The plywood is 3/4" thick. The bottom of the plywood had a black water proofing material, (what is that )? I am ripping up the plywood and exposing the floor beams. I am not wanting to do this job again.
What is the best plywood? Oak? I am going to coat the plywood with water proofing. There is no sub floor, only wood over beams screwed in. The beams are 24 inches wide. There are no cross beams in the middle. I am assuming that if there were cross beams the floor would have had more strength. With the help of my steel fabricator friend we are adding more beams and cross beams.
I will be laying 3/4" pressure treated plywood covered with vinyl tiles. Since there is rot in a number of corners I am considering when installing it not using one long piece. I want to make a plywood border coming in from the outside beam to The first side beam approx. 10 inches, with one piece of ply wood in the middle. This way I only have to remove a few tiles and change sections rather than whole large pieces. Any other ideas would be appreciated.
Thank you.
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You are on the right track here. Adding more beams is the key when dong this one. If the tailer has so much use why not use OSB instead of Plywood? The OSB is a lot stronger than plywood and will hold up much better in the conditions you are describing. You need to consider that plywood is made from glued thin strips of wood veneer (called plies) that are layered at alternating 90-degree angles and placed in a hot press.
absolutely insert more beams is a good idea.
The black waterproofing material is probably Flex Seal or Liquid Rubber waterproof sealant, the kind used on roofs. www.lowes.com/
I see here that for a subfloor your best bet is to use OSB or CDX plywood, which are wafers of pressed wood designed to be structural and withstand pressure and use. CDX is a bit rougher looking but more affordable and slightly less water resistant. www.hunker.com/
The big secret is to make sure everything is pressure treated and a stronger sub floor with beams to hold all the extra weight and moisture. They have all the materials you need at your home improvement stores. The also have the professionals there to guide you through what is need to make this better than before!
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