For those curious, here are some pictures of the rear stateroom in its current state. The PO kind of made a mess when I asked them to remove the bed. I didn't know "the bed" meant tearing out a bunch of woodwork and such, but I guess it did since this is what we got.
The second picture is the ceiling condition (which is rough). Any suggestions for what looks good on a ceiling, is not too expensive to install and is not overly difficult to get a good look for someone not a conversion expert?
See now you're getting excited again...like malaria, bus nut fever goes into remission but once you have it you have it for life, not so hard on the liver but can be brutal on the wallet.
I'm not a fan of using OSB (chipboard) in an application that is exposed to as much humidity as a bus conversion is.
You might want to think hard about replacing as much as is practical with some marine grade plywood.
happy coaching!
buswarrior
Doug, Now were talking! Getting excited huh?
You can use OSB, but waterproof it real good. If you start from scratch you might want to tear it out and use plywood. BW is correct, it'll swell up big time.
Ceiling material, check the archives, lots of information there from carpet to tin!
Look at lots of pictures of interiors, that will give you some ideas. Cost??? Whatever your wallet can give.
~Paul~
FWIW the more recent OSB are more water resistant than the older stuff. I still don't like it, it still stinks and will swell if you really soak it ( so will plywood), but it is much better than before and suitable for interior installations 'though I wouldn't use it for a bathroom floor . While marine grade plywood is probably the best choice it's very $$$ and regular exterior grade plywood should be fine in an interior application.
All good suggestions, thank you. Yes, I am getting excited, does it show?
As zubzub pointed out, the newer OSB's designed for use as subfloor are a lot better than plain old OSB. I used the Advantek brand of OSB 3/4" tig sub floor. After 21 months installed and 20 months of living on it in some of the highest humidity climate nature has to offer, with it as both the sub floor and the final floor (budget priorities), I have been impressed with its stability, durability and water/moisture resistance.
One thing that should be noted about my installation though - I left the original bus floor, added insulation and framing and put the subfloor over that. So there is essentially no exposure to moisture from underneath the bus. I wouldn't recommend it for use when replacing the bus floor so that it would be exposed to underneath. Especially since Advantek specifies only one surface of the sheet to be water resistant. In those situations I would definitely recommend marine plywood or a good exterior plywood.