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ddndoug
Explorer
Mar 03, 2015

More road noise after replacing carpet with vinyl?

This question is for those who have replaced their carpet with sheet vinyl, vinyl planks, or laminate. Did you pick up a lot more road noise while driving?

Even though the carpet in our MH is in great shape, my wife would like to replace it with one of the above materials simply for ease of cleaning. We like to "camp" at State Parks and COE campgrounds because of the woodsy, rural appeal that they have which also means sand, dirt, pine needles, etc. gets dragged into the MH. (yes, even with wiping our feet and outdoor rugs) My concern is while that is the majority of our camping we also take a few longer trips a year where we use the MH as a rolling hotel room for sightseeing and exploring this great nation of ours, and the though of losing the sound deadening of the carpet really concerns me. What have the rest of you experienced?

Doug

8 Replies

  • Did the floor replacement last year. Have not noticed ANY extra road noise. Really appreciate the ease of cleaning for the floor and the slide seems to slide a bit easier. Go For It!
  • My brother and i went to an RV show in Las vegas last fall. Just about all the rigs had vinyl flooring in them from the factory. Even the Motor Homes.

    My current Winnebago Vista has vinyl flooring in it. I notice no extra road noice.
  • Ahhhhh...one of the reasons to have a trailer. We have no idea what is going on back there as we cruise down the road. Can't hear a thing. No dishes clanking, no cutlery shaking, no road noise...nothing. Just the occasional clank in the hitch to let us know that the house is following us.
  • I have done two coaches, and have not noticed an increase in road noise.

    The first one we bought used with new almost-white carpeting. We kept replacing the dealer-installed plastic runner to keep it decent. Well, the Texas heat transferred the adhesive to the carpet. So we had white carpet with a brown stripe of glued-on dirt down the middle.

    Second one was intended, but moved forward due to an ice maker line leak.

    We, too, camp a lot in the desert. I would not consider carpet again.

    Matt B
  • One trick that I've seen done is to use a sound deadening material like Dynamat, Hushmat, or Fatmat used between the floor and the vinyl. This not just provides acoustic dampening, but also good insulation.
  • We removed the carpet in out last motorhome although a pain to remove, it was well worth it. We glued down vinyl wood planking. We never noticed more road noise. The only thing we noticed was , it was easy to clean. Just bring a broom :) We will never have carpet again.
  • yes, there is some additional noise, but it is worth it to NOT have the carpeting. We camp in the desert mostly and get alot of fine dirt/sand. The carpet was a pain to clean.