Pip Update - Tackling the floor

We have been super busy with Pip these last couple of weeks. We have spent a couple of weekends and a couple of evenings at my parents completing various jobs. I am happy to say he is coming along nicely! I'm going to split up the photographs into various installments, today I am going to show you what happened when we attempted to lay a new floor down.

All we really wanted to do was to replace the old, tired black vinyl tiles with nice new checked blue and white lino! When we ripped the vinyl up we realised the layer of wood underneath was a little damp and would probably need replacing - so we pulled that up. Then we got to the main layer of plywood at the bottom...Uh oh! This was damp too! So my Dad rushed off to the shop to buy some new plywood whilst we set to work tearing up the old flooring.

Whoever had laid this floor was a bit of a Frankenstein by the looks of it!

In fact everything seemed to have a billion screws/bolts and staples in it. We also took down the shelf at the back of the van as we decided we could put something lighter in instead.

Everything in this pot came out of the van. They were certainly a bit screw-happy! I bet that's made the van a lot lighter in itself!

So, once we got the flooring up there was a layer of insulation, and we cleared that away to reveal a bit of a rusty mess.

Luckily I think we discovered it just in time. My dad wire wheeled all of the rust, then painted some magic paint on to slow the rusting process. (Don't worry, we figured out where the leak was coming from and fixed it, so we shouldn't have the same problem again, fingers crossed!)

We then used the wood we had pulled out as a template for the new floor.

And then we made a lot of noise!

I varnished the edges of the wood so that it wouldn't be susceptible to getting damp again.

And then we bolted it all back in!

This is everything we pulled out of the van. Yikes! Chris had fun taking this to the dump ... not!

We did actually fit the new lino in too, but you'll have to wait for that. I didn't take any proper pictures and now we have carpet covering it to protect the floor whilst we are still working on it.

My 2 weeks off work starts on friday and we are planning to get it finished at the weekend. Hopefully we will be taking Pip on his first proper road trip early next week! Lots to do, we'd better crack on!

Next time I'll share photo's of us making a new bed/chair.

Laura xXx

P.S If you have any suggestions of where would be nice to visit, i'd love to hear them!