Hi guys,

I have a wooden floor in my van, and when the weather is hot and dry (here in WA) the floor squeks when we walk on it, it doesn't matter if the legs are up or down, same problem.

I was told by a caravan repair shop to stick a hose under and wet the floor from below, this did work for a couple of days, but water via hose is not always available when you are bush camping.

Can anybody suggest a way to stop the squeking permantly?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards _wombat_

Wonbat.
'Squeeky Floor Syndrome' is common with a few well know brands, although it can also occur from time to time in most brands.
First up, What brand van do you have?
I may then be able to offer a few solutions.
But don't follow the advice given about spraying with water as this can cause wood rot in the floor which is impossible to repair.
Cheers, ozjohn

Hi ozjohn,

WOW that was a quick reply.

our van is a Future System, it was built in Melbourne, and is now 8 years old, it has the black paint stuff under the van to protect it, I suppose that should be one reason for not spraying water under there, but it did work for a couple of days, as you say it will cause wood rot.

-- Edited by _wombat_ on Monday 13th of December 2010 10:24:46 AM

The black coating on the underside of the floor panels is bitumen paint used as a water retardant to protect the floor from wet road spray.
Future systems are an excelelnt product, pitty they're still not in production.
The floor panel joints should be well supported so I would look elswhere for the squeeks.
Hop under the van and have someone walk about to pin point where the squeek(s) are eminating from.
It's posssible the adhesive has broken down in one or more places between the CP flooring and the chassis..
Once pin pointed the flooring can be wedged up a a smigeon from the chassis and an appropriate adhesive/ sealant squeezed into the gap to eliminate the problem.
The other place to look for squeeks is the joints between furniture (Cupboards etc) and the floor and/or walls. These sometimes squeek when walking around a van and could be thought of as a floor problem when if fact it isn't.
Speak to a van repairer about which adhesive  products to use for the best result.
If the problem area is in fact between the floor panels then I highy recommend that any remedy be undertaken by an experience repairer. "Not the one that suggested hoseing under the van".
Cheers ozjohn.

Thanks ozjohn, I will do as you suggest, hope we can fix it, and as you suggest not with the company that suggested hoseing under the van

I forgot to add that if the squeek is between the floor sections then a simple fix is a few aluminium plates glued and screwed to stiffen the joint between the sections. This usually works quite well.
I've done this myself with a number of popular brands that suffer badly from this syndrome as the joints are not supported.
One of these brands you can see the movement between the floor sheets if you stand just to the edge of the join, If unattended this constant movevment evetually crackes the interior vinyl flooring. The proffesional fix is to weld a support across the van chassis to support the joint the whole width of the van.
Cheers, ozjohn.

Thanks ozjohn, think I will go to a pro to get the job done properly.

btw you can still get these vans made by Frank, but only by special order, so I've been told, I will check with Frank when we go over to Vic next year.

I crawled under mine with some measured lengths of 50mm Gal box and a welder. Used hydraulic jack to get pressure on it till squeek gone. Hauled out my little Inverter welder, welded in place no more squeek, thank goodness nealy drove us nuts.

signwilson, thanks for the tip but I am not a welder, so think it will best be left to a repairer who knows how to do it, I could probable attempt it but would then have to take it to get my attempt repaired. :)

It's often caused by not enough screws holding the furniture to the floor (or so a reputable repairer told me.) You can try adding some more.

Thanks PeterD, I might give that a try

Our van has a full gal sheet metal floor on top of the chassis, with every thing attached to that, no problems.

hope we do not have to do that, it would mean lifting the van off of the chassie, that would be an expensive exercise, Mrs wombat would not be pleased

Wombat.
It can't be done anyway with out totally wrecking the van.
Would be cheaper and less hassles to buy a new van with the gal sheeting.
Gal sheeting doesn't really offer a lot of improved pretection from stones etc, and can have the opposite effect with water protection.
Dust and water can accumulate between the gal and the CP flooring and cause slow rot in the CP floor. The first owner of the van probably won't have a problem, but subsequent owners could be left with a nightmare. Manufactures offer this type of construction with their dirt road vans, but to date I haven't really seen any long term benefits.
Cheers, ozjohn.

ozjohn, our van is all fibreglass as you would be aware, so the gal option is not an option. Regards wombat

Have not got this far on the forum but my squeaky floor was actually the water tanks causing the problem.
I drained them out and dropped them and put some foam along the ridges and then put it back.  Stopped the squeaks
Ken

ken thomas wrote:

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Have not got this far on the forum but my squeaky floor was actually the water tanks causing the problem.
I drained them out and dropped them and put some foam along the ridges and then put it back.  Stopped the squeaks
Ken

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Hi Ken,

I will have to try that, had a guy out last week and he put some bars across the middle but thy are still squeaking, will have to wait until we come back now.

 

Our pre loved van has a squeeky floor between the single beds,we fixed it by building a queen bed,now we don't walk on the squeeky bit!!