Update:flooring, flooring, and flooring!
First I would like to post a picture of what I used to raise the toilet flange. The kit comes with a 1/4" and a 1/2" space which can be used individually or together to make a 3/4" spacer. Just remember to use the gasket material they give you or it will get messy. :)
Note: when you raise the floor level, you must make sure you have room to slide in the toilet flange bolts. Just drill in the new flooring to make room for the bolt head.
Floor preparation:
As I mentioned before, I used caulking to fill in small holes and to even out any differences in elevation of the plywood sheets.
Now to buy the flooring, and kill myself taking it out of the truck. Well, that last part wasn't part of the plan...
In this case, the flooring we purchased was 12 feet by 20 feet, which means I can cover the entire trailer (minus the front storage compartment) in one piece. This makes for some complex cuts with the bathroom. Just plan how you'll get the roll home, and protect it with padding where needed.
Next thing you need to do, is map out the flooring so you can cut it. the procedure I came up with was to first find the most square part of the job, and use that part as the reference. I my case, the main room is basically a nice rectangle (I checked), so I made the back corner my 0,0 spot ( drafting reference for the X and Y coordinates). But you can't use that back corner of the trailer for all your measurements, and using measurements on top of measurements is a sure way to make a mistake. The best way (I find) is to lay a reference line down the middle of the room (I chose the 48" mark which is close to the centre). The shape is basically a bunch of rectangles, so pretty well all angle changes are 90 degrees. So, you need to make note of all the corners in the shape, and transcribe them over to the vinyl.
For the bathroom. I noted that the 18 foot mark of my centreline went through the doorway, so I made one perpendicular to the 48" long line I made so I could have a clear reference for the bathroom, which is off the hallway.
Next lay your vinyl down someplace clean, flat and that won't get damaged. The best I could come up with was my front lawn.
Then mark a reference line on the vinyl sheet at the 48" mark (or whatever you decided to use). Then trim off the excess based on your largest length and width. Now this is the important part: make general shapes, and add for mistakes. If you have a complex shape that will fit into a single rectangle, add a couple inches to the overall dimensions, and deal with the trimming when you are installing the vinyl.
When laying down your sheet, start at your reference point (0,0) and position your sheet as best you can and start trimming off the fat. When I got my first corner in place, I used an RV battery to keep it from sliding around. Then, as I worked my way down the trailer, I would go back, and look for bumps that I needed to push out of the way. I worked the bumps towards where I still had to trim flooring, and would place the batteries ( I used 2 of them) to keep the folds from moving back. When you get a bump that doesn't want to flatten out, look for where the vinyl is touching a wall and trim a little bit off. In my case, I am staying about 1/8" away from every wall, and I'll just caulk it and cover with shoe moulding so it didn't matter if I was close to the wall or not.
When working down the hallway, be very careful. The reason is that the part that goes into the bathroom has a smaller opening than is measured. This is so that you can make precise cuts when laying it down. You do this by making cuts for the walls that are just cut down the centreline of the wall, and the same with the doorway. Thus, if you are not careful, you can tear the vinyl sheet when wrestling with the rest of it.
I used a 10" scraper/drywall blade as a guide for my utility knife/ I just kept working my way along the walls, using scissors for small cuts.
Notice the opening for the bathroom doorway is smaller than the doorway: this makes for some careful cuts: take your time, and you will be fine. Also, you can see both reference lines for the bathroom at the 18 foot mark: the one on the floor and the corresponding one on the vinyl:
And a bit of time later, you have the complex shapes cut out!
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Here I cut out the kitchen cabinet (I couldn't raise it because of the window just above the counter height):
And this is the main room:
Other than one major repair left, I am now in the rebuilding phase!!!
The major repair is this: I made a bad decision not to replace the entire sheet of insulation in front of the entrance. The foam insulation panels offer strength, and I thought that by adding the 1/2" plywood, it would be enough. It turned out not to be enough, and the floor is very springy in that section. I will now explore ways to support that part of the floor from below using 12 gauge Unistrut. I just need to figure out how to attach to the main frame: the frame is easy to attach to from the outer edge of the trailer, but not from within the trailer... More on that later: now it's time to get this trailer travel ready, and turn it into an RV!!! My goal: to get it ready for Canadian Thanksgiving, which is on October October 13th, so that means everything DONE by October 10th... Sigh...
