Replacing carpet with hardwood

[bigred1cav]

Does seating sofa, breakfast booth, cockpit seats, bed have to be removed to replace carpet with wood?

[tyaughton]

In our last motorhome we used rubber backed laminate - durable, flexible, looked great. Not sure what to do with this motorhome yet. Still working out the bigger issues.

[Berner2]

We installed engineered wood in our previous MH, 36' Cross Country. I followed some of Ernie's posts about starting point, start at the entry steps, gluing etc. The end result was very nice and we really liked the look of the wood, the color complimented our cabinetry etc. We used Bruce engineered flooring.

I removed the dinette, we went back with a table and two chairs, unbolted the sofa and just moved it out of the way as needed, from the slide to the main floor. We unbolted the driver and passenger seats, took up the quarter round base board, removed the door casings and doors and pulled up all the old flooring, carpet vinyl etc. We also removed the toilet and replaced it while it was out. We also installed wood on the slide, not sure I'd do that again. We unscrewed a couple of small magazine racks and cupboards that were mounted to the floor, easier than cutting around them.

The biggest problem we encountered was working space. With 2 of us in there it was hard to have enough working room. The gluing can get messy and the cutting requires about 9000 trips in and out of the door and down the steps. It's hard to really get in a rhythm due to the size of the floor. Lay about 3 pieces and go out and cut the next piece and on and on, a lot easier in a big room in the house. You also can't glue a very large area.

We did every inch of the floor, bathroom, kitchen, living room and bedroom. We took our time, we would quit when it started getting tedious and start again the next day. We were in no hurry and did it in our spare time so it drug out for a little over a week.

The one big mistake we made was to put travertine in the little toilet room. I made travertine baseboards and glued it all down. It looked great, but it was like walking on ice in the morning. We ended up putting a little throw rug on it so you didn't freeze your feet.

All in all it was quite a bit of work, I swore I wouldn't do it again, but, that was then and this is now!! We are kind of kicking it around on our current MH. We'll see.

[erniee]

Engineered wood adhered with urethane adhesive works- period!!

[HobbsHauler]

We had Allure put in our rig twice and both times the floor buckled due to the cold temps that we camp in. We contacted Ernie Ekberg about flooring and he advised us to put in engineered wood flooring that was put down with adhesive. The floor is beautiful and has endured the cold for two seasons beautifully.

[Itasca55]

I was going to put in hardwood floors.. But I thought first I hit with a shampooer . I was pretty amazed what $100 carpet shampooer did from walmart bisell hand held and hoover full size I left the carpet. after I was done Carpet looked brand new.
I was pretty amazed . the junk in the water was pretty nasty. I could tell right where the first owner spilled some pink antifreeze lol.
shampooing worked alot better then I thought it would . chairs and couch and front seat all were like new again . it also smelled fresh new after . I dont think many people try this rout but sure did work good for me .

Itasca55

[11dZippo]

Using the Allure vinyl planking from Home Depot on my 36' Pace Arrow, the cost was just over $600.00. I added vinyl trim - painted to match for another $50.00. Price when comparing with carpet, padding, strips, and hardsware would have cost about the same and the Allure planking has a lifetime warranty!
As an added bonus. I used a pure silicone caulk around the edges and my floor is now completely waterproof!

[11dZippo]

CW allowed floor to warp due to bad winter here in Idaho. Removed all carpet, used bleach and lysol to kill mold and mildew, used hand planer and sanded floor back to level and installed vinyl planking.
I not only found it easy to install (I removed all furniture inclusing captains' chairs) and with kit installed planking. It actually feels better on feet than carpeting and I find it looks better and is easier to keep clean. Only installation problem was slideout 1 (hide-a-bed and dinnette) where I had to use screws so slideout rolers wouldn't catch. Wife has a few throw rugs in some areas and we couldn't be happier with the floor. Weightwise, it seems about the same as the carpeting.

[erniee]

msmith1199 wrote:
Something else to think about, if you glue wood down to your sub-floor, what happens if some day you want to replace that wood? Maybe part of it gets damaged and you can't find a match anymore so you have to pull it all out? At least with Pergo (or a floating floor) you can remove it very easy and put down something else if you want to.

sell the coach

[bigred1cav]

I looked at your photo's very nice. What was the product and did you remove all interior to replace the floor?

What costs should I prepare to expend?

Thank you

mike brez wrote:

turbojimmy wrote:

mike brez wrote:
Nope did it to my old PA I know this member does it for a living and has done a bunch
Here

I'm sure you could pay a guy a lot of money to put whatever you want down on your floors, but I asked you since you seem so knowledgeable about what you would and wouldn't do. What sort of engineered wood would you put down? Since you're sure the box store stuff with the attached padding is no good.

Never said it was no good I just don't like it or the the hallow sound it comes with. Already told you I would glue it down. I used Armstrong. JMHO and you are entitled to yours.

[msmith1199]

Something else to think about, if you glue wood down to your sub-floor, what happens if some day you want to replace that wood? Maybe part of it gets damaged and you can't find a match anymore so you have to pull it all out? At least with Pergo (or a floating floor) you can remove it very easy and put down something else if you want to.

[rgatijnet1]

The first thing I did after I removed the carpet, was to put two coats of polyurethane on the sub floor. This will help to protect it from any future spills and seal out any previous odors.

[erniee]

Solid wood will be affected by the changes in humidity. Engineered wood, adhered with urethane adhesive has virtually no affect with changes in humidity. Solid wood will cup on the edges when the humidity is high.

[msmith1199]

I'm no floor expert, but I down Pergo in my last house (not in my motorhome yet, but it's coming). I was a big skeptic of this type of flooring prior, but I bought the good stuff with the foam backing on it and after a short time I was a huge fan of Pergo floors. At the time we put them down my Golden Retriever was young and active and he could dig his toe nails into that floor all he wanted and it never even left a mark. In fact nothing ever left a mark in that floor. It was on top of a vapor barrier that was on top of concrete, so maybe that's why it felt so stable, but it was a great floor. That's why I'll put it down in my motorhome one of these days.

[turbojimmy]

mike brez wrote:
Never said it was no good I just don't like it or the the hallow sound it comes with. Already told you I would glue it down. I used Armstrong. JMHO and you are entitled to yours.

I get that. A floating floor floats, so occasionally you'll find spots that sound hollow when you step on them, even with a quality product.

I have 2,000 square feet of solid oak floors in my house. Nailed and glued. Even so, I can literally see the changes in the gaps in certain places as the season changes. Shrinks up in the Winter. Now that Spring is here, gaps close up. Wood is a living thing I guess. And nothing beats the look and feel of real wood. If I thought it would last in the RV I'd have gone that route.