Everything's out, now I can put stuff IN!
- Tia Scheffer
- Jan 26, 2017
- 2 min read
Things always take longer than I say they will... At the point of this picture of Tony sweeping up junk from the soggy plywood removal, I said "Everything that's coming out is out, now I can start putting stuff IN!" Toting that I was going to clean, treat, and paint the floor the next day. That was 4 days ago, and I still haven't painted. And then I posted a video of me sweeping the bus for the gazillionth time... That was 1 day ago. Turns out prepping a floor for paint is VERY tedious and steadfast. Plus every step had to be done over the 240 sq. ft. that is my new home! (I just calculated that out yesterday, and I was in shock - that's a lot of space!!)
The flooring beneath the anterior heaters (driver's side and door side) was stuck under, well, the heaters. I really did not want to dismantle the heating tubes to move them out of the way. Actually, I tried, but my attempt was embarassingly feeble thankfully no one was around. Actually, thankfully no one is around most of the time because I continue to talk to someone even though Phyllis is no where around. It's a coping mechanism. Anyhow, I did not remove them, I just jostled them around and used pure finesse to remove the floor from underneath of them. This was a huge HUZZAH moment for me! After I got those out, there was one lonely step left to remove. This was one stubborn step. It was the bottom step. The rubber was layered atop a piece of metal, making it very hard to handle. Some of the screws were stripped and embedded in the rubber, making it impossible to remove. But after time (and finesse, lots of finesse. I should name this bus Finesse) I got it out, another huzzah. Finally, I was ready to paint.
PSYCH! I still needed to grind the rust out, treat the rust, let the stuff dry, nah nah nah nah nah. After thinking it was good enough several times, I went back in with chisel and hammer to get out as much of the gunky old caulking and tiny slivers of leftover plywood that I could.
Here' what I did.
Swept vigorously.
Ground out the remaining screws and bolts.
Swept vigorously.
Chipped out remaining plywood.
Chiseled out remaining caulking.
Swept vigorously.
Used a knotted wire brush on my angle grinder on the whole floor.
Swept vigorously.
Swept vigorously.
Washed the floor with TSP Eco (same TSP properties, biodegradable and no-rinse!)
Let dry.
Sprayed on Rust Converter (I couldn't find the stuff I wanted - Blue Steel, a marine grade rust converter - so I just used an aerosol I found at Canadian Tire. Hopefully it works.)
Let dry.
Rinsed again with TSP Eco.
Let dry.
And this is where I am today, ready to paint!
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