Vinyl plank flooring - snap lock with history of success?

[dcason]

Has anyone done a snap lock (or glue strip) vinyl plank flooring with success? Talking about at least a year of success with temperature changes? What brand? Did you research brands that have wide temperature range? I am wanting to replace our nasty carpet with plank flooring (they should have just put lino down in our 24 foot class c!) and not carpet AND lino.

We realize there must be a perimeter expansion gap, the RIGHT Vinyl/waterproof and wide temperature tolerance. NO slides to deal with either just weird angles/cuts lots of them.
I would like learn from your experience:B
Donna/David (who will do the actual work)

[dcason]

Brad C what brand was yours and was it the stick strip or snap lock? You are the first I've heard where it was not successful and I watched a lot of videos off this site.
Donna

[Ron3rd]

dcason wrote:
Thank you! Allure is on my list.
Donna

From what I've read here, Allure also makes a snap and lock product too, but might have to be ordered. Supposedly tolerates extreme temp swings better.

[Brad_C]

I Installed the vinyl plank strips in ours and the seams all opened up after the first winter. I ended up tearing it out and replacing with a one-piece flooring

[dcason]

Thank you! Allure is on my list.
Donna

[colliehauler]

I also installed Allure with glue strip from Home Depot (not recommended for RV'S ) in my seasonal up in Northern MN. The temps have got down to -45 and it's on its 4 year. The only damage is from my slideout putting a couple of scratches in it. It's full floating with a quarter inch gap around the perimeter. The bedroom and the slideout I put in new carpet.

[MrWizard]

i put pergo red oak Hardwood Plank interlock (not vinyl or glue strip)
in a previous RV is 2009

i saw the RV (2) months ago, the Pergo flooring still looks good

[dcason]

I could not find this conversation so started another one....

Turns out the linoleum did NOT cover the whole floor...about 2 feet short of the cab area.

We are contemplating next steps.

Hubby is thinking vinyl plank...after he got over the crankiness.

[blownstang01]

jplante4 wrote:
Allure with Grip Strip from HoD. About $300 of material. Not recommended for installation in a non-climate controlled environment, but it's been through all 4 seasons twice now in the northeast now and it looks the same as these pics.

Leave a 1/4 inch gap around the edges and make sure NOTHING gets fastened through the vinyl into the subfloor. This means cutting around seats and sofa brackets etc and double stick taping the edge trim to the vinyl. The floor has to move as a unit, else it will buckle.

That looks great. Nice job.

[dcason]

Thanks for the Jayco factory tour info...we suspected. MAYBE we won't have to do anything for awhile except lift the carpet. Then a year or so do vinyl.
donna

[Cummins12V98]

^^^^^^ I agree, LVT "Luxury Vinyl Tile" is extremely durable, so much so we used it in mANY Dental Clinics. BTW it is a glued down product, no snap n lock/floating BS.

[jesseannie]

I installed "luxury vinyl plank" in my older TT I lived in the northern tier at the time and it has gone through the hot and freezing weather. No problems at all. Easy to install and easy to maintain. I would recommend highly. All the manufactures say not to do it, but that is purely CYA stuff the corporate attorney writes.
Jesseannie

[BarneyS]

I have toured the Jayco factory twice. They lay the linoleum down just as soon as the wood floor is on. Everything - walls, cabinets, furnishings etc. -
is put on top of that. You should have linoleum under your carpet. It only takes them about 2 minutes or so to get it down and installed on each frame.
Barney

[dcason]

Thank you for your good ideas...all of you.

I still hold out hope that when we remove carpet the lino will look good but if not will
do the vinyl plank. Hubby saw lino under the dining bench seats so we are thinking it maybe be throughout...at the price of it, much easier for Jayco to just lay down a sheet then spend time fiddling with cutting.

Donna

[myredracer]

Besides a perimeter expansion gap, make sure the floor planks can move everywhere and don't get hung up on screws for dinette table flanges and entry door threshold, toilet, etc. Where there were screws into the floor, I made the holes in the planks larger so they could also move at those points due to seasonal temp. changes. Don't caulk the perimeter gap as I have seen some do, allow 1/4" +/- and cover with a "baseboard" strip of wood as needed.

Walls and cabinetry are often not in very straight lines and it's a good idea to scribe the cut lines where needed using painter's tape. That way you'll get a consistent even gap.

[PartyOf_Five]

We bought and installed something from Lowe's and put it in last fall. So far it has done well but it was definitely time consuming to install. End result is really nice with a stone type look and very fast to lay down full boards as well as cutting to the edge. Given the small space there were plenty of cutouts and because we didn't remove everything first we had to trim around the kitchen cabinets and so forth. For an older RV, it is definitely a big upgrade from the carpeting and linoleum options