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[1993chevyg20]

Home Depot sells Southern Pine Asphalt Impregnated Board. The ad claims it has heat and sound dampening qualities. Could I use this for my subfloor and not worry about adding additional sound dampening material


https://www.homedepot.com/p/1-2-in-x-4-ft-x-8-ft-Southern-Pine-Asphalt-Impregnated-Board-A11230848096/206086210

[Camper_Dan]

Greetings!

While I'm not familiar with this type of board, the description seems to say that it is something along the lines of OSB that has been asphalt infused to make it more moisture resistant.  OSB will disintegrate if it gets wet and I would be worried about the off gassing of asphalt or possibly the smell...

Is there a reason that you don't want to use marine plywood?  It's usually cheaper, better, and easier to do stuff right the first time around.  Marine plywood is time proven to give you the moisture resistance and resilience you're looking for.  Raise the floor at least 1/4 inch off the metal, then 1/2 inch marine plywood, 1 inch foam board insulation, 1/4 inch marine plywood, then whatever finishing floor on top of that.  That should give you a very sturdy, well insulated floor that should last the life of the van without any moisture problems.

One of our biggest enemies in vehicle conversions is moisture and mold problems, and this kills so many home built campers prematurely.  Too many people falsely believe they can stop or prevent these problems from occurring.  Consequently they fatally neglect the step of dealing with the moisture that WILL inevitably occur.  While we can't prevent the moisture from occurring, we can make sure that we're not trapping it, so it can be drained and/or evaporated out. 

No extra sound deadening, insulation, or moisture prevention is necessary in a stock passenger van, and by studying these, we can determine how and why it works.  Once we understand these methods which have proven successful for many many years, we can duplicate that success.  Basically it's ventilate all the way to the metal skin, or wick the moisture to the interior.  So if your design isn't compatible with wicking, (such as in carpet padding and carpet) then ventilation of the interior metal is necessary.

Cheers!