Installing laminate wood floors

[jtad]

We have been talking about replacing the carpet and tile in our 2004 Holiday Rambler since we bought it last Feb. When we were looking at coaches we asked a couple of different places about doing the install. I don't remember what the quotes were but they were in the thousands. When I'm done I will have less than a $1,000 in the whole job. I'm pretty handy, have done a lot of tile work and have put down a laminate wood floor about a year ago in a cabin. So I thought I'd give it a shot... Carpet tear out wasn't bad, but the tile demo was a beating..Here are a couple of pics the last one is just a preview of what we are putting down. I will add some more as I go..

[msmith1199]

mike brez wrote:
IMHO I would rather have tile and carpet. I'm not a fan of laminate wood floors.

It's not a wood floor. It's a laminate.

[Naio]

diplomatdon wrote:
The laminate will look nice when done, however I always found laminate to be noisy and cold. All tile and no heated floors cold and hard. I did my 2001 Diplomat with lock and click cork. Installs the same as laminate, rich looking, warm to walk on, easy to clean...galley and bedroom with cork, quieter from road noise and so nice to walk on due to the cushiony feel and warmth.

I always forget about cork! Soft is nice. I have this fear that kitty would use it as a scratching post, though. Do you think that is possible?

[Kayteg1]

If you are asking me - marble is self-edging as you have solid material at 3/8" thickness.
You can cut it, shape it any way you want and I only lacked patience to repolish the edges.
With ceramic tiles you are not only very limited with shapes, but any scratch will score ceramic layer and expose clay under.

[bbaker2001]

pretty cool job, is tile difficult to cut cornors

[Kayteg1]

In our vintage coach I instill about 500 lb of marble floors and love it.
Can't imagine anything but marble on curvy stairway.
We hate the carpet we left in master bedroom, while living rm laminate gets rug drop over it.
Good to have choices.

[lafrentz]

lenny-shawna wrote:
Jtad,
I too am not a fan of tile or carpet in an RV. Tile is very heavy and do to the perpetual motion of driving, is susceptible too cracking. Chipping is another problem that warrants concern; even high end porcelain chips. And yes I've dropped objects on my tile and chipped it.

Carpet, well not many positives there so I'll leave it alone.

I like glued down engineered wood. I would also glue in-between the joints to make it highly water-resistant. I installed this in my home and a couple years later had a pipe break and flood the floor. We though for sure the floor was ruined. Fast forward 4 years and still the floor looks beautiful with ZERO water damage. I attribute this to the fact that the wood was engineered and I glued both the wood to the floor and the joints.

Since you have an RV and are going over a wood substrate I would first install a water barrier and install over that.

Good luck!

tile weight makes no difference in a DP nowadays.factorys have it now as standard flooring.Todays tiles do not chip or crack like the old days with special underlays and the new super thinsets available
all mid to upper end Class A All use tile flooring.Engineered hardwood is cheap flooring and marks very easy and hard to repair it
you don't see it coming from the factory.some people use it to repair old units which works well

[tinkerer]

Last summer I installed Allure in our coach,replacing the carpet. After spending time in our state and 3 months in Arizona, we are very happy. Make sure you float it and leave a small gap on one side to allow ffor expansion.

[lenny-shawna]

Jtad,
I too am not a fan of tile or carpet in an RV. Tile is very heavy and do to the perpetual motion of driving, is susceptible too cracking. Chipping is another problem that warrants concern; even high end porcelain chips. And yes I've dropped objects on my tile and chipped it.

Carpet, well not many positives there so I'll leave it alone.

I like glued down engineered wood. I would also glue in-between the joints to make it highly water-resistant. I installed this in my home and a couple years later had a pipe break and flood the floor. We though for sure the floor was ruined. Fast forward 4 years and still the floor looks beautiful with ZERO water damage. I attribute this to the fact that the wood was engineered and I glued both the wood to the floor and the joints.

Since you have an RV and are going over a wood substrate I would first install a water barrier and install over that.

Good luck!

[prstlk]

Any input as to floor heat? Understand it's a pretty easy add on for new floors regardless of type.
Thinking of replacing my flooring input appreciated.

[Naio]

Looks great!!

I test drove a van the other day, and the current owner had put in laminate. I decided I am going to put it in whatever new van I buy, whether or not it is his.

Carpet is completely impractical for my camping style :).

[diplomatdon]

The laminate will look nice when done, however I always found laminate to be noisy and cold. All tile and no heated floors cold and hard. I did my 2001 Diplomat with lock and click cork. Installs the same as laminate, rich looking, warm to walk on, easy to clean. I didn't remove tiles in the galley area but may replace them with porcelain tile as stronger than ceramic and not so prone to cracking and breaking from the rollers. Rollers in the lounge area are mounted to the floor and the slide rolls on top of them. Galley rollers mounted to the slide and roll on the tile, which has caused breakage. galley and bedroom with cork, quieter from road noise and so nice to walk on due to the cushiony feel and warmth. How were you able to remove tiles under the cupboards in the slide. Did you have to remove some of the cupboards?

[derouen6]

Hey John,
We installed laminate in our Tropi-Cal you didn't buy. It looked great and we loved it as I am sure you will in your MH. Good luck. Can't wait to see the finished pics.

Sherry

[wirenutz]

let us know how the slides move over the new flooring

[crasster]

For me, tile or vinyl planking. "waterproof" is important.

[lafrentz]

mike brez wrote:
IMHO I would rather have tile and carpet. I'm not a fan of laminate wood floors.

me neither In my current MH I went with glue down Vinyl plank in bedroom and bedroom slide.Tile in the main area and 3/4 Hardwood on living room slide. I hate carpet in a MH