usersmanual wrote:
what is this stuff in the picture? house areas are way larger and I doubt u will see anything this bad in a MH
some parts of Canada have extreme weather temp changes but lots of it do not
I did a glue down vinyl plank in my motorhome. I did the install, mid-winter, in Florida, and it has been in for about eight months now. The rig spent the spring and summer above the Mason line. The manufacturer is very clear about installing the product in a temperature controlled environment for a good reason. It can fail, in a manner similar to the picture, if it ends up exposed to large temp. swings. I have end gaps between my planks, and always will, due to simple physics, not installation issues, or glue selection.
My floor is not nearly as bad as the picture, and it is a top quality, thick, beveled edge commercial product by Armstrong.
The reason for the gaps is simple. Vinyl has an expansion coefficient that is roughly 4-6X greater than wood. My vinyl planks are 36" long and will vary in length by 1/8" depending on how hot it is inside the RV. The problem is that the installation is done at a comfortable temp. say, 65*. Later, the rig sits in the hot sun, and hits 100*, or more. The planks expand and push the flooring, length wise. The planks all move a bit, and the ones at the front and back of the rig, move the most since the expansion pushes them farther. Things cool down to the "base line" temp. that the installation was done at, and they DO NOT return to their original position, but still have visible gaps of 1/32 to 3/32, since they are glued to the floor, but have all slightly shifted by virtue of expansion and relocation while they were "hot". The only time my floor is truly tight is if it's parked on a hot day, and it's really hot inside. I know however, that once the interior cools, the gaps will return.
Bottom line is that Ernie is right. Vinyl is a pretty marginal product for use in RVs, and if you are going to put a huge amount of effort in to doing it right, the cost of a quality,engineered hardwood product is well worth the upgrade.
