New Floor Questions

[Elwoodj]

Our fifth wheel is in need of a new floor. The vinyl on the off door side has been damaged by the slide out going in and out. The carpet is worn all over the unit. We are thinking about removing all of the carpet and replacing it with hard wood or vinyl. We would have rugs. The questions are: Has anyone done this? If so what did you use for the materials and app. how much did this cost. Next question does the slide outs require carpet in order to go in and out properly? Thanks in advance for your responses.

[cpaulsen]

I used laminate wood flooring and have not had any problems.

[Dayle1]

Wood based laminate flooring is relatively EZ to install, but typically needs a lot of edge trim work as well. Most are not recommended for wet areas, so water leaks might ruin the floor. Since these are floating floors and trailers do flex, you may get gaps between the planks. Generally thicker planks will have better locks between planks. Or if you are willing to put in more labor, there are still some types that are edge glued rather than snap lock.

Home Depot sells Allure which is 100% vinyl planks. They install like other snap lock flooring but will not be damaged by water. They are thinner than wood laminate flooring and IMO don't lock together as good as the best wood laminates. The planks will flex as the trailer flexes, maybe this is good or maybe not. Edge trim is also needed, but there are fewer options, so finding the right styles for an RV may be more challenging.

Vinyl flooring is another option, but it is difficult to handle in the confined spaces of an RV. There are premium types that do not require adhesive to install. Tarkett makes one that has a fiberglass layer and rubber back and is 1/8" thick. This flooring will not distort or curl with age, and you can take it in and out of the RV multiple times as you cut it to fit. Used it when I replaced the carpet in my last trailer. No edge trim needed, when I had mine in place, I used a flat guide against the walls and cabinets to make a clean 1/8" gap and then filled the gap with a matching color caulk. This caulk, several floor registers and the aluminum threshold at the main door were the only things keeping the flooring in place. Never a problem with the slide-out and the flooring still looked good after 7 years when I sold the trailer. Thought about trying it for the slide-out as well, but never got around to doing it.

You can also do ceramic tile flooring or real wood planks as well. Good luck with whatever you decide.

[Ed9824v]

I am surely not expert BUT I put in a vinyl wood plank by allure and when I was done and retracted the slide I can reach under and turn the roller that is not in contact with the vinyl floor at all. and when we had the rug it would leave a mark on the rug where it slid in and out. so all is good.

[SWD]

As far as I know the slide needs the carpet to be able to function properly. The lino you could rip up and replace with laminate or whatever.