Concerns on installing tile in a Class A

Ours has tile in the galley area and used to have a small area of tile near the entry stairs. When I pulled out the carpet I also removed the tile in the front. They were adhered to a thick sheet (1/4"?) of masonite type material and that was glued to the plywood. Not sure if that allowed HR to install the tile in one shot or not but it made for troublesome removal. I opted to remove them as the edges were curved which I could not find a transition strip that I could use on a curve. I ended up removing two tiles in the galley area (curved and replaced them with spares to squared off the corner and use stock transition strips.

Wouldn't be advisable on a gas chassis. I don't know of a mfr that has ever offered it. To much flex and as already mentioned the WEIGHT that will be added. It's not just the tile, you have cement board that needs to go beneath it. Sure you can go ahead and install it but I believe you'll be greatly dissapointed when it begins to crack. We'd love it too but we'll never have it. We'll just enjoy what we have in the S&B and the linoleum that's in the coach. Good Luck with what you decide.

If you have a class A weight is not going to be your problem. While tile is heavy it's overalll effect will be like adding one more passenger.

The area is small, getting it laid down correctly will be your challenge. But with some homework and talking to the factory I am sure you can do it. It really isnt difficult to lay tile and make it look good.

Are you going to be installing this tile yourself?

An experienced, professional tile setter will know what to use and how to install it. I have tile in two areas in my trailer, at the entry and around the heater. This will be the third RV that I've installed tile in and have had no issues.

We've had tile in both our last two motor homes. Wife absolutely loves it. Easier to clean and always looks good. We do have two oriental rugs we put over the tile in the kitchen and living room. Only tile that broke was once we forgot to lock the fridge and lost a bottle of wine when it hit the floor. Smashed the bottle and cracked one of the tiles. Fortunately, Monaco gave us an extra box of matching tiles when we bought the coach.

Pros: Looks good, easy to keep clean.
Cons: Colder than wood/carpet/laminate, may break if something hits it right, anything fragile that drops on it most likely will break....Dennis

I agree Dick_B... The wife has seen them in identical models to my rig when it came in as OEM and therefore wanted it as well. Seems like more risk than benefit.

I'd look into an underlayment by Schluter BUT that will add another 1/2 inch to the height plus the tile. How about a vinyl floor that LOOKS like tile? Fewer problems down the road.

Weight and deflection are the two issues. I would weigh at least the front axle and see how much headroom you have. I know for a fact there are some manufacturers that have overloaded the front axle by using too much tile (among other things). The tile that is used is standard tile.

We had a Newmar Essex with tile floor and the granite would crack due to the floor flexing. It was replaced a couple of times but the replacement tile never matched the original tile.

The biggest issue is floor deflection. If there is any "give" in the subfloor the tile will crack over time as you walk on it. In a residential application you would install cement backer board (like Durock or HardieBacker) under the tile. The backer board is cemented to the subfloor with thinset mortar and screwed down, then the tile is installed on that also using thinset mortar.

The only RVs that I have seen tile in are big DPs, I suspect because they can carry the weight of both the tile and the stronger subfloor.

If tile was an OEM option on your rig, you might call the manufacturer and ask if all rigs were tile-ready, or if the tiled units had additional structure under the subfloor?

Thanks... I am figuring it must be acceptable... have seen a few my age/brand/etc... that have it in place as original equipment. But I wondered was that tile different in material/thickness/etc... than what you would normally buy for household use. Certainly agreed how fast that weight can add up.