Flooring, laminate or wood?

[Berner2]

I am getting ready to replace the carpet and linoleum in my MH. I am leaning towards wood, but, I thought I'd check here to see what others have done and if you're happy with your choice.

Did you use wood or laminate and if you were doing it again would you use the same material? Why or why not?

Did you install it length wise or side to side and if so did you install at an angle other than 90*
I believe I've seen wood installed at a 30* or 45* angle.

Did you cover the floor in your slide or leave it carpeted?

Glue/nail or floating?

I know there are several questions here, but, I would appreciate your input.

Thanks

[kimoson3]

We installed Pergo laminate in our coach 2 years ago, north-south, beautiful Burnished Fruitwood grain pattern, now DW wishes we had gone with the Allure plank. Reason: we camp mostly in state parks and beaches in FL where the soil is very sandy and now have several minor surface scratches around the entrance, mostly from visitors shoes, as we take ours off and leave outside on the patio mat.

On the other hand and in defense, we have something over 800 SF of Pergo, Oak Plank pattern, in our home including the kitchen, and there are literally no scratches or significant damage in 18 years of wear. And yes we have had our share of grandchildren and DH spills, including one major sink overflow without damage. About 50% is the original Pergo, which was tongue & groove edge glued, the other 50% is the snap together type. All DIY installed.

[wolfe10]

BigRabbitMan wrote:
We still have carpet in our coach. We also just had the entrance way to our house done in bamboo. Has anyone following this thread done a motor home with bamboo?

We had bamboo on our short list, but it was substantially heavier than the cork we chose.

[BigRabbitMan]

We still have carpet in our coach. We also just had the entrance way to our house done in bamboo. Has anyone following this thread done a motor home with bamboo?

My wife really, really likes bamboo! I am trying to avoid the issue! Since I don't have a slide, the thickness for that reason is not an issue.

[erniee]

I use a propane torch to heat the back. Makes it easy to cut

[msmith1199]

Ohhwell, on the complex cuts of the Allure flooring, trying using tin snips. Last time I installed some in a house I got some paper an scissors. I would cut the paper into the shape needed to go around the obstacle, and then used the paper as a template and used tin snips to cut the Allure. You can cut nice circles and angles and anything you need.

[OhhWell]

Vinyl is all I will use now. Well, the Allure type that is a full floating floor. They have overlapping adhesive and laminate-like click locking. I went with the overlap adhesive and it was the easiest I have ever done considering the sometimes complex cuts required in a camper. You can cut it with a utility knife.

It is incredibly durable, waterproof and can withstand wide temperature changes. The only trouble I had with the overlapping adhesive was when going over a rather uneven area, the adhesive would pull up some. The solution was a tiny bit of super glue in the contact area and press for 10 sec.

The people that complain about a perfect subfloor and gluing right to the floor are not talking about the same product.

I like laminate and would do that over real wood but laminate can be rather intolerant of humidity and temp changes.

[prism]

MustangGT wrote:

prism wrote:
hand gluing system

No hand gluing necessary. Just peel off the backing and stick. Really fast.
then MAYBE rent and use a 100 lb roller to get the bubbles out. I did, but not really required if the weather is warm. I hate the goopy gluing version too.

That Depends what your personal desire is.The cheapo hand stick stuff is OK and maybe some are happy going that route but the Vinyl plank(the real mccoy) is made of "much heavier" material.The hand gluing takes a little knowledge and all that but its water soluble for cleanup.There is no such thing as Bubbeling when laying the proper Vinyl planking that i,am describing.
I for one am not putting peel and stick in my 250K coach.
we are just not comparing apples to apples here not even close IMHO

[MustangGT]

prism wrote:
hand gluing system

No hand gluing necessary. Just peel off the backing and stick. Really fast.
then MAYBE rent and use a 100 lb roller to get the bubbles out. I did, but not really required if the weather is warm. I hate the goopy gluing version too.

[prism]

cdl2 wrote:
I know how to remove the seat & leave the base, I'm just not sure how it will look.
I guess the steps would be OK in vinyl.
I'm thinkin vinyl......because I'm worried about the laminate.....expantion & contraction.....plus water damage to the sub floor.

Like I told you remove base as usually there mounted on studs.Resheet over the hole and run Planking throughout, bolt seat down on new floor and look,s real professional that way

LIKE I said PM your email and I will send u pictures of the last one I did

[cdl2]

I know how to remove the seat & leave the base, I'm just not sure how it will look.
I guess the steps would be OK in vinyl.
I'm thinkin vinyl......because I'm worried about the laminate.....expantion & contraction.....plus water damage to the sub floor.

[erniee]

captains chairs separate from the base with 4-6 bolts. Leave the base on the floor if you don't want to crawl up in the wheel well.
I installed Maple engineered wood in my coach and glued it down. Rock solid.

[msmith1199]

cdl2, if you like carpet the best thing to do (in my opinion) is install one of the laminate or vinyl floors and then use carpet runners. When the carpet runners get dirty and worn out you throw them away and get new ones.

On the captains chairs, you'll have to either cut the flooring around them, or remove them, install the floor, and then bolt the chair back down through the floor. I'm no expert on this so before you take my advice on unbolting them from the floor, consult an expert and make sure it's okay to do that.

[prism]

cdl2 wrote:
My wife wants new flooring........I like carpet!!!!
What kind of vinyl are you guys talking about?
What do you do around the capt chairs?
What about the entry steps?

there is a few Vinyl planking links on this tread but U can do a search on internet and gets lots of info
I removed the Captain chairs and made for nicer complete job.stairs are also easy to do with this stuff.I in the ones I have done have always put down good one side plywood before applying glue and then Vinyl.Also another thing I do once sub floor is complete is I cut out and fit many pieces before gluing.I then Number them with like 1a-1b-1c-1d-1e 1b-2b-3b-4b etc.I also number the floor space each piece will fit then Spread the glue and let tack up then install the precut pieces as per my markings.
PM me your email address and i will send u some pictures

[cdl2]

My wife wants new flooring........I like carpet!!!!
What kind of vinyl are you guys talking about?
What do you do around the capt chairs?
What about the entry steps?