Suggestions Needed

Getting down to the nitty gritty on interior and exterior paint.

Interior gets painted first to save on labor. I'm looking for any suggestions as I can't seem to make up my mind in term of the cargo area floor.

I have considered Raptor lining, Pergo floor and painting and prepping the floor to a high quality level to show it off at shows. I have prepped all of the raised metal screw holes from previous owner by pounding down the raised metal and filling with fiberglass in preparation for paint. I had planned to have a custom fitting mat cut that I could use to protect the floor and remove when taking the van to meets and shows (to show off the glossy floor. It would be spray coated with Lizard Skin sound control if I go that route, so noise protection would be covered.

Painted route will take a lot more labor to get the floors in better than alright condition and the fiberglass has to be ground down which adds a lot of time. It's estimated at about 7 hours to do it.

I need to use the van for basic moving of light to moderate items from time to time and want dogs to haul in back, so a bare painted floor isn't a good option, even with sound and heat coatings before hand.

Any other ideas anyone can suggest? Bedliner would be cheaper without all the prep work, but it's a permanent material without a torching it off down the line and it scuffs up over time. Wood floor will let things slide around, adds weight and will scratch (could cover with a rubber mat as well.) I've made my other decisions myself, but this is the hardest for some reason.

Appreciate anything to sway me one way or the other.

JMO but vans at "carshows" need an interior. Don't worry about showing shiny paint. Personally I'd opt for an application of bedliner on the floor and a couple inches up the sides. I made a rubber mat out of conveyor belting and tucked a chunk of indoor outdoor over it without fastening it down mechanically. Then I had a "Show blanket" made that covers that and is easily removable. Big thing is to protect the floor from moisture whatever you put on top of it. Personally I like the way Duplicolors bedliner in a can works. Not very thick but pretty tough.
Additionally adding some weight behind the engine isn't a bad thing. Having the V8 auto combo along with what I added for interior brought me to 3600# with a 60/40 split from front to rear.Not as nose heavy as most would think.

IMO Lizard skin and a rubber mat or carpet to cover.

Digz wrote:JMO but vans at "carshows" need an interior. Don't worry about showing shiny paint. Personally I'd opt for an application of bedliner on the floor and a couple inches up the sides. I made a rubber mat out of conveyor belting and tucked a chunk of indoor outdoor over it without fastening it down mechanically. Then I had a "Show blanket" made that covers that and is easily removable. Big thing is to protect the floor from moisture whatever you put on top of it. Personally I like the way Duplicolors bedliner in a can works. Not very thick but pretty tough.
Additionally adding some weight behind the engine isn't a bad thing. Having the V8 auto combo  along with what I added for interior brought me to 3600# with a 60/40 split from front to rear.Not as nose heavy as most would think.

Thanks, Joe and Bruce.  Joe, got a photo handy?  I already have an industrial grey carpet for the ceiling that I like and considered that as well to match.  It's from Lowes and if they still sell it, it would look nice.  Downside is dog fur will attract to it.  It would be easy enough to replace as well if it gets dirty and I had planned to use it in the foot wells..

Are you suggesting bedliner as a way to seal out moisture or sound proofing?  I am using Lizard Skin regardless for my doghouse and possibly the entire interior and inside doors, so I will have that covered.  Seems rubber mat would suppress noise pretty well and obviously protect metal floors.

The spraycan bedliner would be for moisture and a wear surface only. It is much to thin to effectively do much for sound. It can also be painted.
I really poor boy'd it on the mat. It is 3/8 or 1/2" conveyor belting 3 feet wide so I did it in 2 strips. Something I had laying around but it made a decent flat surface to put the carpet over.

The floor ribs are about 3/8" higher than the floor itself so I left 3 to 4" around the edges to tuck in under the mat as there is ample room between openings and ribs to do that.

The blanket is polar fleece with a thin canvas backer I had stitched on to make it manageable. Just set that up to tuck under at the door openings.
I have pics someplace of cutting the mat but I can't find them at the moment.
Not sure about sound suppresion with the mat as I haven't covered the wheel wells yet but I believe I get most of my rear end noise from those.

I can't tell if there is any physical difference between Lizard Skin and Elastomeric Roof Coating..... other than the price!
I coated the plywood deck of a car trailer with elastomeric and it was still perfect after three years in the AZ sun when I sold it! It's also been over five years since I coated the inside and floors of my 68 Suburban and it still looks great....
I think you can still get 5 gallons of the stuff for under $100, which will probably be enough material to do every interior metal surface, the outside of the roof, and perhaps a driveway or two!
The stuff fills and skins over gaps, seams etc.
On mine, I plan to then paint the bottom of a piece of plywood with the stuff and wrap carpet over the top side.

Thanks, Don. I know we have discussed that material prior. I had planned to use home made Lizard Skin, but the gentleman doing my body and paint does not want to experiment with home made products. He thinks Lizard Skin is only $300 or so, but that's for one gallon of one type of product. It's far more expensive. I'm trying to convince him otherwise.

If elastomeric would sound and heat proof, I would be game. I do have a insulation kit for the entire van, so that might be enough to do the trick. I just really want the Lizard Skin product, especially for heat in the box and for sound inside the doors and wheel wells.

Well if you get what you pay for, this stuff ought to be good.
http://www.hotrodssuperstore.com/fulinin.html
Sorry,forgot to post the link.

I read a thread somewhere that implied that the difference between elasto and Lizard skin is that Lizard Skin has "microspheres"..... Well, there are Elastomeric roof coatings with ceramic microspheres and you can also buy microspheres and mix them in yourself...... There is plenty of info on the net, both to learn and to shop prices.....I'm too cheap to pay the big bucks for Lizard Skin while knowing that Elasto works just fine for 90% of what I'm after and the other 10% may not be available from ANY COATING, regardless of the hype...
Some reading:
http://energy-seal.com/ceramic-coatings/

read the reviews on this product:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_139941-29-5530-1-30___?productId=3013309&pl=1&Ntt=roof+coatings

You could go with a big bushy shag but I wasn't a fan of it, much prefer the "Brazilian" instead

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.  No shag for me.  Already ripped all the old stuff out...

After much debate, I have settled on going with a wood or laminate style flooring if at all financially possible.  It will look great, help with noise in addition to the other measures in that regard and it will take too much work to make my floors look as nice as the rest of the van if I paint them.  And, painted floors will take too much precaution to keep in good condition.

For those that have installed wood or similar floors, did you use an underlayment of any type?

This is my inspiration.  Particularly like the boxed over wheel wells.  Great way to add speakers and squeeze out some storage.  No Tiki theme for me, either.

Here's an idea pic for ya then. Other than it's a No-door and has carpet LOL

Lazarus- I put 1/2" foam insulation and cut out the ribs on the floor to hold space and act as cushion. I put 2 mil on top of that to protect the floor. I'm currently finishing cutting 1/4" ply to act as subfloor than I'm laying my hardwood on top of that. Should be Cush and warm.

Similar. I used 1/2" closed cell foam (won't absorb water) under then plywood. More details in one of my posts...

Have fun!

Vantucky wrote:Lazarus- I put 1/2" foam insulation and cut out the ribs on the floor to hold space and act as cushion. I put 2 mil on top of that to protect the floor. I'm currently  finishing cutting 1/4" ply to act as subfloor than I'm  laying my hardwood on top of that. Should be Cush and warm.

Wow. Cutting the ribs seems like an ordeal. Not something I want to do. I have a custom insulation kit which is basically that padded, closed cell bubble insulation, so that has to fit under and fill. Was hoping I could just use that as my base with plywood if necessary.

I don't plan to hang out back there. It's for looking great and being functional at the same time.

I even though a large enough box could hide a spare if I wanted to go that route. Digz has me thinking that some extra weight, while bad for gas efficiency, is good for balance in handling.

Lazarus- 2 options that cone to mind1.thicker plywood with spacers the height of the ribs to stabilize the platform or 2-You could cut out the whole rib sections, for support on the outside of the ribbed areas like by the barn doors and the other gaps. ... Didn't seem like that big of a deal since I was already cutting and placing stuff extra ~30 minutes or so. You can be kinda sloppy right there since the closed cell foam is a placeholder and use the back of the tape to close it off and truthfully the 1/2 inch closed cell is more like padding and stabilizer. My two cents😎