Horse lorry floor

kazg07

kazg07

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Hi
I own a 2000 Ivevo coach-built horsebox. I've never really paid much attention to the floor and it's construction. However, this weekend I had a good look at it and it would appear to be wooden underneath the rubber mats. In addition, it seems that around the edges are damp and starting to rot. There is also an area of sagging where the horses stand and poo. I was mortified and am now panicking that this needs urgently repaired. My other half thinks I am completely over reacting as the floor has aluminium underneath this wooden layer and says there is no way a horse would go through that. However, it needs to be replaced and OH is going to do it this weekend. What do people recommend as obviously I don't want to put cheap rubbish in that will rot quickly! Would post pics but don't know how.
 
You need to double check that the aluminium is actually able to take the weight and is correctly attached to the joists (not sure what joists are called in a lorry) or is it just tacked to the underside to protect the timber floor from water from the road.
Mine doesn't have this aluminium layer. We fitted 24mm Buffalo board (phenolic board) which is resistant to rot for quite a long time. (Google it). I wouldnt have used anything thinner than this. Don't use marine ply - it rots ! (It rotted in my trailer). Only Buffalo board will do. Hope that helps.
 
My husband has just done the same thing in my Daf wagon. Same as you top wood was getting spongy but aluminium underneath was good. Was relatively easy to do but husband did use his works workshop and tools. One thing to check is that although the horse area is double lined my living area isn’t it’s just wood so where it rotted in there I could see daylight. We were going to use marine ply but when we enquired about it we were recommended to use a type of cattle wagon flooring which is better apparently and less expensive. Think we spent about £250 on new wood.
I also got a nice new fitted living out of it as we scraped everything that was fitted to the old wooden floor in there.
 
kazg07 said:
Hi
I own a 2000 Ivevo coach-built horsebox. I've never really paid much attention to the floor and it's construction. However, this weekend I had a good look at it and it would appear to be wooden underneath the rubber mats. In addition, it seems that around the edges are damp and starting to rot. There is also an area of sagging where the horses stand and poo. I was mortified and am now panicking that this needs urgently repaired. My other half thinks I am completely over reacting as the floor has aluminium underneath this wooden layer and says there is no way a horse would go through that. However, it needs to be replaced and OH is going to do it this weekend. What do people recommend as obviously I don't want to put cheap rubbish in that will rot quickly! Would post pics but don't know how.
Click to expand...

Don't compromise with floors! You should be able to get underneath (harder with coachbuilt) and check out the floor from there, As suggested phenolic board is excellent and has sufficient layers to withstand hard wear. Don't know where you are, but i got a very good deal from a firm in Watton Norfolk. Much cheaper than other suppliers. They were selling on ebay, but you would need to collect. In my experience, use two thinner layers, laid different ways to each other. That way, if the first starts to go, not such a big job/expense to replace. Rubber matting is a mixed blessing, as it hides other issues.
 
Thanks for the good advice. Will look into sourcing the right wood to get the job done! I know you can't be too careful with floors hence my panic and over reaction!!
 
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