Floor Removal
Step 1: In our case, with having plywood on top of the original subfloor, we had to take that off first by unscrewing each of them. Then, since we have a handicap bus, we thought we had to remove the wheelchair rails to get the original bus subfloor off.
At first, we decided to have one person go under the bus and unscrew the bolts while the other held it in place on the rails. It seemed like a good idea until we remembered there were some at the back of the bus too and it would take a lot of time. Not the best idea!
We also tried to use the angle grinder to cut the bolts, but they were so thick it didn't do much. In the end, we just pried the wood off with the rails still intact and used a Sawzall to cut the bolts.
Step 2: We took crowbars and hammered them underneath the plywood around the parameter of each board to loosen them up since they were glued down to the bare metal. Once we got enough leverage, we could lift them off the floor.
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The condition of the floor was better than we expected. Around the wheelchair lift is where it was worse due to moisture getting in, and that being the most used part of the bus. Other than that, floor removal only took us a few days to complete given we had lots of help.
Tips:
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Don't worry about removing the rubber first then the plywood. It's much easier to remove them at the same time. You might have to cut the rubber where one board meets the other so it's easier to pry off though.
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Using a jack to get under the wood when it's high enough is also an option if you want to save your back. We've seen other conversions do this and it seems like a great idea. The jack will just pop the wood right off the metal!
