How do you test a lorry floor ????

[Happy Bird]

After reading that horrible post about that poor horse going through the floor of a trailer, it got me thinking about my own lorry. I regularly have a jump around in back but how can you test a floor safely ??? It looks fine but that does not mean much. How often should you test the floor ??? Should you ask a mechanic to have a look when you have lorry serviced/plated ?????

 

[evsj]

Don't think a mechanic would be any better able to test the floor than yourself. I discovered the floor in my lorry was rotten by knocking on the wood and hearing a hollow sound. Also, you could try prodding with a screwdriver, rotten wood will flake off easily. The bits round the edge tend to go first. Do you know how old the floor is? Mine was 10 years old so I knew it was due replacing and went ahead and did it before I put my horse in it.

 

[Happy Bird]

My lorry is ancient - more than 20 years old. It has had a new granulistic type floor fitted - the inside was probably renovated about 5 years ago. I do have a coachbuilder who is going to build me some new gates - I think I will ask him to check.......

 

[SillyMare]

Also crawl underneath and have a look. Poke the floorboards with a screwdriver - they shouldn't be soft.

The metal supports may have a bit of surface rust, but you should be able to hit them with a hammer without bits falling off.

 

[ColleenIsh]

your coach builder would be the person to ask if you are unsure yourself

 

[OWLIE185]

In a properly built lorry with a wooden floor there will be two layers of wood. Thick planking underneeth with boarding on the top of it. The thick planking will be supported by angled steel at the side of the container with steel cross members going accross the entire length of the vehicle.

Firstly buy some protective goggles and a very bright spotlight torch. Then just get under the floor of the lorry with a bright torch and poke the underside with a large screwdriver to detect any rotten wood.

Check the angled steel at the edge and also the cross members for any corrosion.

Do the same from the top of the floor. You should remove the rubber flooring first. If it is granular flooring then you have a problem as this is normally bonded to the floor! Take particular care to do this at the edges and corners.

At the same time un-block any drain holes.

Then take a look at the ramp in the same way.

Make sure that the silicon sealent around the edge of the ramp is intact and not perished as this prevents rainwater from creaping between the wood and the steel cross and edge members.

Hope this helps you.

The reason that most floors rot is because fluids become trapped betweeen the wood and the rubber flooring thus causing the wood to rot. On many cheap conversions the steel cross memberts are not treated corrected and they then rot. Part of or even the complete floor can then just drop out.

 

[evsj]

[ QUOTE ]
My lorry is ancient - more than 20 years old. It has had a new granulistic type floor fitted - the inside was probably renovated about 5 years ago. I do have a coachbuilder who is going to build me some new gates - I think I will ask him to check.......

[/ QUOTE ]

I meant my floor was 10 years old (lorry now 18!). I was told granulistic flooring can been a problem in that it can allow moisture to get trapped under the rubber, rotting the wood. I went for wood topped with thick removeable rubber mats when it was replaced.

 

[filly190]

I dont think you would be able to test the floor completely yourself to find any week spots. My dad is a retired fireman and had quite a few calls in his career coming to cut out horses that had gone through floors. I asked him, and he said it was'nt always rot that caused it.

The only way would be to take it to a coach builders for a complete assessment, something to do with poundage per square inch and all that