Linoleum Floor Tears

Expansion and contraction of the various building materials in your floor can cause the vinyl to split. It is highly unlikely you have linoleum.

Sure. Flooring is petroleum based, correct?

Probably with use the vinyl flooring gets scratches, dings and small cuts in the surface from wear and tear along with the occasional dropped knife or screw driver. Then winter comes along and the vinyl flooring begins to contract resulting in the vinyl tearing along those cuts and scratches which are now the weakest spots.

yes, cold does it. Very common with boats as well.
During the winter I keep the inside above freezing and have not had this happen. At the same time my neighbor had the floor in his fishing boat split.

Im a S Ontario guy also and have seen this happen frequently. Huge temp swings likely the culprit. Fortunately my 2012 Heartland hasn't had this problem. I did however drop a tool and it penetrated a large area of the floor. My fix was to very very carefully and slowly heat/soften the area with a heat gun and essentially melt the cut back together. I actually can't find the spot now, it was not small. it took a lot of patience, i did retain the floor texture. You are melting the floor back together, so it potentially will be a weak spot going forward. It has survived two seasons so far.

SoundGuy wrote:

rowekmr wrote:
What could have caused this?

Cold weather. It's why some trailer manufacturers, Coachmen being one, are now using vinyl sheeting that is more suited to extreme variations in temperature. My 2014 Coachmen, built in 2013, has Congoleum flooring and I've not had any issues at all even though temps here in S Ontario can vary from -25C in the winter to +35C in the summer. A friend of mine had exactly the same problem with his 2008 Starcraft ... extensive details of his repair is here.

That was a great, well done project! Kudos to your friend.

rowekmr wrote:
What could have caused this?

Cold weather. It's why some trailer manufacturers, Coachmen being one, are now using vinyl sheeting that is more suited to extreme variations in temperature. My 2014 Coachmen, built in 2013, has Congoleum flooring and I've not had any issues at all even though temps here in S Ontario can vary from -25C in the winter to +35C in the summer. A friend of mine had exactly the same problem with his 2008 Starcraft ... extensive details of his repair is here.

Ok makes sense. It does get nippy here in the Winter but didn't know it can do this (with age)

donn0128 wrote:
Cold will do it. Add in a bit of age and it will fail.

x2, had this same issue on an older trailer my neighbors owned. Very cold temps can do it with age.

Cold will do it. Add in a bit of age and it will fail.