Absolutely Floored, Part 2: Laying a Cork Floor in a Vintage Airstream

There’s something so rewarding about having a trailer floor that one can safely walk on with bare feet, especially after many months of fearing extreme bodily harm by doing so. There was a constant risk of tetanus, splinters, impaling on various fasteners, or even falling through the floor.

It seemed fitting that a wine lover like myself would pick cork as the Airstream’s floor covering: sustainable cork floor tiles from Lumber Liquidators glued on the plywood subfloor.

It was the first project in the Airstream that someone else did without me being present (gasp!). Relinquishing that bit of control was equal parts terrifying and gratifying. This thing really has become like my child, now that I’ve invested a full 9 months into it! Letting someone else do work on it alone was a new experience that I’m sure is akin to sending your kid off to school for the first time.

I feel fortunate to have found a pair of extremely skilled hands, in the form of a local hardwood and tile installer. Tile flooring was something I’d done, but didn’t have the tools and expertise required for a project of this scale and difficulty level. The entire floor was installed several times faster than I could have ever done it myself. There’s definitely something to be said for outsourcing those kinds of tasks. 

Two days ago we also finished installation of our interior walls, which still have the original vinyl textured “wallpaper” coating on them, and painted them with two coats of heavy-duty primer. Thankfully that covered the many stains and scars from 50 years of use and neglect. It’s amazing what a coat of fresh paint can do to make this old girl look sharp again!

After the floor fully cures in a day or two, it’ll be time to get right back to the build-out: painting the interior walls, then starting to install the thin wood sheeting that will form the new interior curved end caps of the trailer.

We’ll also be busy installing the tankless water heater and furnace unit, then framing out cabinets, a sofa, and a bed, so we can start to work on the bathroom and kitchen plumbing! It’s starting to feel very real that the Airstream may be habitable soon.