How to Remove Floors in a School Bus // Skoolie Conversion

This is how we removed the floors to our school bus. Even though it was a lot of work it was definitely needed due to al of the rust and water damage. If you have any questions, feel free to comment!
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[@blondie2654]

“When in doubt grind it out”. That is definitely my motto since starting my conversion. You’re not alone in the broken drill bits either❤️

[@franklinrichards6559]

seconds into it im going " why didnt he just drill the screws out"... seconds later i bet he wished he had

[@shandiperry5167]

Your video was more helpful than the other 10 I watched today!! Thanks!!

[@tobiaschen9619]

Just done taking seats out, on to this step! Thank you for the video!

[@jamiefreeland2228]

I am at the same spot now…looks like I will just rip them up and grind those screws later…thanks for the advice!

[@BEAdventurePartners]

Whoa! That's quite a process to take out the floor. We're up to that point here either today or tomorrow. One thing we've learned thus far is that our "Phillips" screws ended up actually being square bit screws that look like Phillips bit. Once we switched to those bits, we haven't ruined a single bit yet! You may check those out if you have more panels to take out. Great video & videography. Thanks for showing the journey! You're definitely inspiring us! - Brian + Erin

[@BackroadPurpose]

That's an awesome tip about the Phillip's. I did realize that the bigger bits worked a lot better for grapping them out and then once it's a little stripped, its game over for the bit so we bought a pack of like 12 and have almost used all of them. Thank you so mu h for taking the time to watch and comment. It really means a lot!!

[@attainingpeace]

Use a JACK! we didn’t have a floor Jack but the screw one from both cars worked great

[@HippieBoricua]

Ive watched this video a thousand times lol and still can't seem to get how you did it. The screws but come outttt!!

[@BackroadPurpose]

Crowbar, long one, with good leverage helped me a lot.

[@harrystewart1038]

Thanks for showing me .

[@LadyNerdMT]

Thank you so much for sharing. I will be following. Starting on my floors next week!

[@BackroadPurpose]

Nice! Thank you so much for watching btw!

[@barroshaboykin2866]

This was beyond helpful. Thank you so much!

[@BackroadPurpose]

Very cool! I'm glad I could help!

[@RedSiBaron]

Just pulled my plywood floors in the last hour. Lots of surface rust and only major holes are around one of the rear wheel wells. After watching this, I feel a lot better.

[@BackroadPurpose]

Lol yeah thats not too bad. compared to what I've seen, this is pretty lucky too. lol

[@RedSiBaron]

@@BackroadPurpose Ya doesn't look like you had too too bad either. Plus like you said, it's a great excuse to buy a welder. I don't know how I've made it my whole life wrenching and not had one. I need it on like 4 projects right now.

[@lacimoore2618]

I’m doing this in my bus tomorrow!!! Thank you!!

[@BackroadPurpose]

You got this!

[@johnalbrecht6]

I’m right in the process of removing the subfloor on my school bus! Great video, very helpful!

[@BackroadPurpose]

how exciting! glad to help. thanks for watching!

[@scotteberline5458]

Subscribed! Love the editing in this video as well!

[@BackroadPurpose]

Thank you so much!

[@ingridgarcia2944]

Very informative

[@BackroadPurpose]

Thank you! I try.

[@naturallydope247]

Wow. My bus is also from Jersey and I’m at this point. I anticipate my floors looking like this too. Good to see your method you used. Now I need to see how you patched it up.

[@BackroadPurpose]

Yeah the wheel wells were the worst but its all part of it. Wasnt too bad to fix either. Plus I learned to weld out of it which has been super handy.

[@nealnewman8596]

I am located in New Jersey. my Bus is also here... Lots of Rust not as much as Yours, currently pulling up wood... at the Point of the Front steps.. now sure If I go all the way to the Firewall , and Do I have to Pull the drivers seat?

[@pdooley9570]

Great video

[@BackroadPurpose]

Thank you so much!

[@SmackingTuna]

We just did all the things your doing today!! Man we had tons of screws and a lot stripped out so in the morning we are going to home depot for a grinder and wire brush for the metal floors and still need the plywood pulled up!! Loads of fun huh

[@BackroadPurpose]

Nice! and congratulations! Also, a 36grit sanding disc on a grinder does a really good job cleaning the screw heads and more rough spots. Its kind of like a cutting wheel but more precise. Thanks for watching!

[@SmackingTuna]

@@BackroadPurpose I ended up finishing the floor Saturday from 8:00pm to Sunday at 5:30am and made sure we got every piece of rust gone. We did a rust converter and the I painted the matte black rust-oleum and now patching the holes and re painting the patches with rust-oleum again.

[@SmackingTuna]

@@BackroadPurpose we are in a group on Facebook called skoolie-nation I have a lot of photos of our skoolie. If you ever want to look us up or mine is just under Michael Anderson. I would be happy to share photos of our skoolies I met another KZbinr Emily keeter on Facebook she recently added me just to chat about our bus builds. Thanks for sharing the videos too..

[@JKLauderdale]

5:45 and THIS is why you pull up the original flooring on your skoolie!

[@BackroadPurpose]

Haha thank you! I cant believe some people dont pull up their original flooring! Its insane to me.

[@JKLauderdale]

@@BackroadPurpose Alot of people don't. As you found out (the hard way), it's alot of work and some people would rather NOT KNOW than to find out they (might) need a new floor. In the future, if you ever find yourself in that situation again, use some CRC penetrating oil. Spritz it, walk away and try it in a couple of hours. If it's still too tight, Bang the head with a screwdriver and hammer, spritz it again and come back the next morning.

[@roberthaskell1731]

I bought a bus from New Jersey too. tearing out the plywood this coming weekend. I dread how my sheet metal is going to look.

[@BackroadPurpose]

I'm sure it will not be as bad as some that we have seen. We used the metal from the seats to fix it. Pretty Simple and cheap. you could also use a rivet gun if you'd like. The wheel wells for us were the worst part.

[@RoamingHighlander]

So many questions but my first and foremost what ply did you put back down is it marine ply or normall ply painted im worried about moisture great videos btw any advice on mine would be so cool

[@BackroadPurpose]

Hey! We actually used osb, but put insulation down first.

[@eloyanzaldua1889]

Dont kno bout up north but here in louisiana. Once a week the buses would be rinsed out with water hose and let dry on it's own. Lol that's how they cleaned them but every day the bus driver supposed to sweep them out.

[@BackroadPurpose]

Oh wow yeah I have no idea. Our bus came from jersey so Im sure they washed them often but salt is crazy stuff with metal.

[@eloyanzaldua1889]

Lol we only get snow once every 10 yrs but it only lasts a day or 3. We usually just use salt for cooking yea.

[@davidohara7669]

Get an impact driver. Ryobi makes vary good ones. Their drills kinda suck. (loose chuck)

[@BackroadPurpose]

We've got one! I use it literally everyday!

[@Eyeinthesky7]

What did you guys do with the flooring near the front? I'm having trouble getting up the mat and floorboard on the driver's side. We have the same type of bus

[@BackroadPurpose]

We have to remove the seat and then I cut around the arm rest on the left instead of completely removing the control panel with all wires

[@puccipower]

Can someone answer my question? Is it possible just to lay down tile or panel flooring over the original bus floor? I know it adds height but frankly I don’t care and I don’t want to rip out all this floor. I just want to know why people don’t go over the floor.

[@BackroadPurpose]

Yes it's possible. I wouldn't recommend pulling out the old floors. There's usually a lot of rot and old under there. And the weight of the tile on rotten wood would probably not settle well.

[@fwnevaeh1674]

The scews and the floor has alot of rust because it's a very old Ic school bus.

[@BackroadPurpose]

Facts

[@MrArik86]

So, as a new schoolbus owner myself, I have a question. How hard/easy did you find it to learn welding by yourself? I'm dreading the prospect to be honest

[@BackroadPurpose]

It was a bit tricky learning by myself since I had no one to tell me what I was doing wrong but I'm definitely glad that I learned. I've made some extra side money with it as well nowm

[@MrArik86]

@@BackroadPurpose Thanks man! That's helpful. Any tips for a newbie? Materials/tools wise?

[@S2KCYA]

How long did it take?

[@BackroadPurpose]

to take out the floors? 2 days with one person. thanks for watching btw.

[@gillardpetry7492]

What year model is your bus?

[@BackroadPurpose]

Its a 2005 International FE300

[@Roanen]

Main issue is you’ve got the wire wheel on your impact and your bit in your drill.

[@BackroadPurpose]

The impact spins faster so the wire wheels does better on it. The impact has too much torque so if the bit was in it, the screws heads would break off..

[@Roanen]

@@BackroadPurpose ok ok I see, I'll keep that in mind for my own skoolie restomod. Thanks for the response! 🙂 As a mechanic we always use the impact on rusty bolts

[@attainingpeace]

And left rubber in the boards. Why take it off 😂