Our trials and travails with our dealership continue. We bought the coach in September, reported issues in October and we still don't have our coach back. We had a leaky dishwasher that caused the floor to warp. The interlocking floor was glued down from Fleetwood, but the dealer said we really should go with a floating floor. We bought the same exact flooring as we had before directly from Fleetwood.The dealer replaced the floor to be floating, but now it just doesn't feel solid. Plus, you can see some give when someone walks on it. I'm worried the dealer didn't prep the floor well before installation. We had 2 spots that had creaking. the dealership said that was normal and that it would "settle" after some time. However, after much insistence on our part, the dealership later called and said the creaking was fixed.Here's what i'm wondering: anyone out there have a floating floor? Is it normal for it to give?

Some of the floating floor products have a type of foam padding under it which will cause a slight deflection when you step on it. Mine has what looked like a 1/8" to 3/16" foam attached to the backside.

When a 'floating' floor is placed in a house, that simply means it is not nailed to the sub-floor and was it grows and shrinks with moisture or the movement of the house settling or aging, it can do so. There is usually about a half inch of space between the flooring and the walk to permit this movement without buckling. Have never installed with anything other than 'paper' but I understand there is some thicker material available as rgatijnet1 mentioned. I suggest that if you can actually feel the floor 'move' then this might not be normal. Is this movement detected anyplace you step, or is it just in the area of where the leak took place?

rgatijnet1 wrote:Some of the floating floor products have a type of foam padding under it which will cause a slight deflection when you step on it. Mine has what looked like a 1/8" to 3/16" foam attached to the backside.The deflection is making for a very unhappy mrs as it's quite pronounced- especially when the floor felt solid before. The fact that there were some spots with creaking is also worrisome.I'm wondering if anyone has a floating floor that is also seeing deflection out there or is thee floor supposed to be fully solid

If the flooring has the padding underneath it, the squeaking can be caused by the adjoining flooring pieces moving against each other as the deflect. The noise can usually be stopped by sprinkling baby powder over the area that squeaks. If the flooring has the padding underneath, the only way to stop the deflection is to remove and replace the flooring completely, with flooring that does not have the padding.

So the floor was soaked enough to warp the wood flooring. How long did the dealer dry out the sub floor before putting on the floating floor. Some of the give could well be that the sub floor was warped too and he was just hoping to cover it up with the floating floor. Myself, I'd have made the dealer install the floor the same way it came from the factory.

New floating floor: shouldn't it feel solid?? | Good Sam Community

16 Replies

erniee
Explorer
Apr 03, 2016
HobbsHauler wrote:
It was a true floating floor. New carpet was put on the slides and everything else was Allure. Pilot and Co-Pilot chairs were removed and anything else that was on the floor. The 1/4 in. gap was left along the walls and the 1/4 round trim was attached to the wall not attached to the flooring. The shop did everything correctly, it was the product that was bad. They definitely lost money on us.
I hope that answered your question. :)

wolfe10 wrote:
HobbsHauler wrote:
We learned from Ernie about flooring. We had a floating floor installed three times by a professional rv business and everytime we would take it out and have cold evenings, the floor would pull apart slightly and stay that way. The floor would look beautiful when we would pick it up from the shop, but the first night out in chilly temps, it would look like ****. They finally ripped it out and will not ever install in a rv again.
Good luck.

A question: Was it TRULY installed floating or were there "fixed" items on top of the floor. A floating floor in an RV is a HUGE amount of extra work, as every piece of furniture installed on the floor must be installed on a "platform" just a slight bit thicker than the floor and a molding used that ONLY, repeat ONLY adheres to the wall.

Any other method is a lot easier, but results in a "should be floating" floor that can NOT FLOAT and WILL warp/separate.

Inquiring minds want to know.

yup- allure is junk
HobbsHauler
Explorer
Apr 02, 2016
It was a true floating floor. New carpet was put on the slides and everything else was Allure. Pilot and Co-Pilot chairs were removed and anything else that was on the floor. The 1/4 in. gap was left along the walls and the 1/4 round trim was attached to the wall not attached to the flooring. The shop did everything correctly, it was the product that was bad. They definitely lost money on us.
I hope that answered your question. :)

wolfe10 wrote:
HobbsHauler wrote:
We learned from Ernie about flooring. We had a floating floor installed three times by a professional rv business and everytime we would take it out and have cold evenings, the floor would pull apart slightly and stay that way. The floor would look beautiful when we would pick it up from the shop, but the first night out in chilly temps, it would look like ****. They finally ripped it out and will not ever install in a rv again.
Good luck.

A question: Was it TRULY installed floating or were there "fixed" items on top of the floor. A floating floor in an RV is a HUGE amount of extra work, as every piece of furniture installed on the floor must be installed on a "platform" just a slight bit thicker than the floor and a molding used that ONLY, repeat ONLY adheres to the wall.

Any other method is a lot easier, but results in a "should be floating" floor that can NOT FLOAT and WILL warp/separate.

Inquiring minds want to know.
erniee
Explorer
Apr 02, 2016
Floating floors were designed, primarily, for sub floors that were not smooth or for do it your selfers that didn't know how to properly prepare a floor for a proper glue down application. They were designed for residential and some light commercial installation. They were never intended for rolling items- slide rollers, etc. Or bouncing down our magnificent highways. They move- I don't like movement. Or the hollow sound.
I have had coaches come to me with that installed and have witnessed first hand the shoddy workmanship and cheap products. Cheap is what you get- cheap. When it fails-and it will- then install some quality.
Bruce_Brown
Moderator
Apr 02, 2016
erniee wrote:
So much wrong information is given to consumers. Allure flooring is junk. Period. Don't buy it. The reason it is so cheap- well- its junk. Your call.
Every floor I install, and that is engineered wood adhered with urethane adhesive will NEVER come up- unless you wreck the coach. After 44+ years in the flooring business I have almost heard all the myths that these dealers try and pull the wool over consumers eyes.
Floating floors were introduced for the do it yourself crowd that has no clue how to prep a floor for a glue down application. Glue down makes everything rock solid- no give, no hollow noise.
Some folks may like this method. I will never install any floating floor.

I'd tend to agree with this - a lot.

Years ago we went the Pergo route in one hallway in our house. Even with the pad under it you could still hear the cat walk on it.

About 10 years later the carpet came out and real hardwood went down, real, solid, 3/4", nail down hardwood. The Pergo was also replaced. It did all come up as one sheet though. :B

My knees hated me for a few weeks but it has been well worth it. 2 more rooms to go and the whole house will be hardwood - real hardwood, not paper covered pressboard.
wolfe10
Explorer
Apr 01, 2016
HobbsHauler wrote:
We learned from Ernie about flooring. We had a floating floor installed three times by a professional rv business and everytime we would take it out and have cold evenings, the floor would pull apart slightly and stay that way. The floor would look beautiful when we would pick it up from the shop, but the first night out in chilly temps, it would look like ****. They finally ripped it out and will not ever install in a rv again.
Good luck.

A question: Was it TRULY installed floating or were there "fixed" items on top of the floor. A floating floor in an RV is a HUGE amount of extra work, as every piece of furniture installed on the floor must be installed on a "platform" just a slight bit thicker than the floor and a molding used that ONLY, repeat ONLY adheres to the wall.

Any other method is a lot easier, but results in a "should be floating" floor that can NOT FLOAT and WILL warp/separate.

Inquiring minds want to know.
RedJeep
Explorer
Apr 01, 2016
erniee wrote:
So much wrong information is given to consumers. Allure flooring is junk. Period. Don't buy it. The reason it is so cheap- well- its junk. Your call.
Every floor I install, and that is engineered wood adhered with urethane adhesive will NEVER come up- unless you wreck the coach. After 44+ years in the flooring business I have almost heard all the myths that these dealers try and pull the wool over consumers eyes.
Floating floors were introduced for the do it yourself crowd that has no clue how to prep a floor for a glue down application. Glue down makes everything rock solid- no give, no hollow noise.
Some folks may like this method. I will never install any floating floor.

Completely agree!
HobbsHauler
Explorer
Apr 01, 2016
We learned from Ernie about flooring. We had a floating floor installed three times by a professional rv business and everytime we would take it out and have cold evenings, the floor would pull apart slightly and stay that way. The floor would look beautiful when we would pick it up from the shop, but the first night out in chilly temps, it would look like ****. They finally ripped it out and will not ever install in a rv again.
Good luck.
erniee
Explorer
Mar 22, 2016
So much wrong information is given to consumers. Allure flooring is junk. Period. Don't buy it. The reason it is so cheap- well- its junk. Your call.
Every floor I install, and that is engineered wood adhered with urethane adhesive will NEVER come up- unless you wreck the coach. After 44+ years in the flooring business I have almost heard all the myths that these dealers try and pull the wool over consumers eyes.
Floating floors were introduced for the do it yourself crowd that has no clue how to prep a floor for a glue down application. Glue down makes everything rock solid- no give, no hollow noise.
Some folks may like this method. I will never install any floating floor.
TNGW1500SE
Explorer
Mar 22, 2016
Belgique wrote:
We put Allure floating in ours with a foil barrier under. It gives very slightly...barely noticeable. Floating is a must, I think. We had temp changes this week from warm to cold and we have some almost 1/64 inch openings. If it were not floating, it would be a mess.

We used Allure in our house and ripped it up after less than a year. It shrunk and the seems opened up. We had it professionally installed and they used 100 pound roller on it. Homedepot gave use all our money back for the product but we ate the labor. Replaced it with Pergo. Much better quality but some of the boards had the pattern printed crooked. Had to pick through them and return defects for exchange.
Belgique
Explorer
Mar 21, 2016
We put Allure floating in ours with a foil barrier under. It gives very slightly...barely noticeable. Floating is a must, I think. We had temp changes this week from warm to cold and we have some almost 1/64 inch openings. If it were not floating, it would be a mess.