WHAT'S UNDER THE RUG??

djlcanuck · #1 10-14-2018

As I work my way through rebuilding my mid-door 96 WB42 I have pulled up the carpet and the ceramic tile. At the front I removed all the carpet that was stapled down. Under the carpet there was carpet underlay in very bad shape. Then from the front to just over the front wheels there was rubber padding. There was none of this past the from wheels. When I pulled it up it was soaking wet under the rubber.
1. Is this sound proofing material?
2. DO I need to put it back?
3. where is the wet coming from? There was no roof leaks in this area. There is no sign of leakage on or around the dash. It looks like it starts in the front right (passenger side) corner. Nothing there except for hot air vents from dash heat. Anyone seen anything like this?

lucaswillemse · #2 10-14-2018

Doug, I do not have any answers for you but I am contemplating the same project. How difficult was the removal of the tile? I want to remove the tile and carpeting and go to wood or vinyl planks. We did this on our 1980 FC and it worked. great. I did not find rubber under the carpet in the FC just dirty padding material.

djlcanuck · #3 10-14-2018

We pulled all the ceramic tile in the kitchen and bathroom. I used an air chisel to get tiles up. If the tile was down properly in came out in about 20 pieces. In the bathroom there had been a major water leak and the tiles popped right off, but the thin-set was totally covered with black mold. The tiles are not the problem its the thin-set that is super hard to get off. After watching several YouTube videos I used a diamond cup wheel on a grinder. I was wearing a mask and safety glasses. It took about six hours to do the kitchen and bathroom. Slow and tedious work and dusty as ****. I'm now down to the bare plywood. I will clean everything with Moldex to kill any mold spores left. Then cover it with Mold killing primer and finally lay a new sub-floor using 1/8" hardboard. Its water/moisture resistant and will take the pressure glue I will be using for the Industrial carpet squares we are laying.
Conclusion: IF you're handy its hard work but totally doable. I sure wouldn't want to have to pay someone to to do it. If the tile is good (no mold) I would have probably put the sub-floor right on top of it and put a new 38" sub-floor where the carpet was to bring it up to the same height as the tile.