Flying Floating Flooring

[ThruTraffic]

Have any of you ever installed floating flooring in your RV and glued it in place?

No need for hundreds to pile on with the mfgr said this and that and no you can’t do it because the warranty is gone and yada yada yada. I know one isn’t “supposed“ to glue floating floors.

I’m asking in this context:

- Floating floors are designed to float because of expansion; the reason a 1/4” gap is left around the perimeter.
- BUT, is expansion really an issue in such a narrow installation like a motor home??? The widest part of my RV’s floor is about 6’.

I understand the necessity of considering expansion in a home with a large room. But what if one were simply doing a four foot wide hallway; which in most cases are around three to six feet wide. If one could glue a hall, one should be able to glue in an RV.

I don’t think the weather extreme argument holds or the manufacturer would warn against installing their products in vacation homes where inside is like outside when no one is in residence and then fired up the furnace/AC a few times a year.

I’ll add a line or two about why I’m asking: I’m concerned that the rollers on the slide out may push the flooring ahead of it, and the worst case scenario would be when they push the flooring till it stops against the far wall it could then push the flooring until it “accordions”. When a roller under load is given enough inertia to move it has to be forced to roll; it doesn’t want to by itself; it digs in like a kid being pushed towards the bathroom to brush their teeth, then it will roll. If the floor is glued this concern doesn’t exist.

[magicbus]

JimK-NY wrote:
...I can and have pulled the entire piece of carpeting out of the RV for cleaning. When it gets really dirty, I hose it off and even use a broom with soapy water.

And there is one of the best selling points for using a wood product or vinyl instead of carpet.

Dave

[ajriding]

Absolutely no problems with this method.
You might need less glue than you think.
There is no need for a floor 18 or 36 inches wide to float, only a house sized room. The "expansion" will be so insignificant.
Glue away.

Sometimes engineers are the least intelligent people I ever talk to..

[Guy_Roan]

I would do it in a heart beat.

I have installed laminate flooring in every room in my house over the years and just finished the last 15 foot by 25 foot one.
I firmly believe that the spacing around the edges is a CYA thing by the manufacturers.
In some of the rooms I had to attach portions of the laminate to the sub floor for one reason or another and through winters where the house was left in sub zero weather with no heat on I saw no change at all
We have a 40 foot trailer which I will never move on a permanent RV spot, and I intend on installing it in the slide so we can get rid of the ugly carpet.
If I were hauling the trailer I would not hesitate to glue it down

What ever you do, don't by the el cheapo stuff. It is next to impossible to install ( from experience !)

Guy

[JimK-NY]

Wooden floors are very heavy. I don't want to carry any more weight than needed. My RV floor is vinyl. After several years of use, I decided to try carpeting. Indoor/outdoor carpeting from Home Depot was very expensive and looked decent. It also helps to keep the floors warmer in the cold. I can and have pulled the entire piece of carpeting out of the RV for cleaning. When it gets really dirty, I hose it off and even use a broom with soapy water.

[spoon059]

Gdetrailer wrote:

Oh, by the way, "engineered wood flooring" is another term for leftover wood and paper scraps mixed in a bunch of glue compressed under high pressure and if you are lucky a thin wood veneer is glued to the top.. Pretty much a MDF (Medium Density Fiber) panel board material.. It WILL absorb water and it WILL EXPAND, not so much with contracting once it expands even if the moisture has been removed.

Depends on the product used. There are many high quality engineered wood floors that are plywood based with a wear layer that is thick enough to be sanded several times. That's more expensive than the cheap stuff at the box stores, but its also more rugged and less susceptible to expansion/contraction than solid wood because of the cross laminated plys.

Its foolish to make a blanket statement about ALL of one type of product. There are usually different grades of quality.

[spoon059]

Why not just install a floor that is MEANT to be glued down if you're going to glue it down? Seems like a Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) or Plank (LVP) is what you are considering. Some of them are designed to be adhered. Rather than buying the wrong product, seems more intuitive to buy the right product.

Other than that, let us know how your retrofit works.

[wopachop]

I think it would work just fine without the glue. Have thought about tossing some snap in flooring into my trailer. Doesnt have the slide roller issue.

[magicbus]

I did enjoy the reference to “engineered artificial fake wood” and “vinyl and carpet” in the same post. Point in fact, they are ALL engineered artificial products - except for the fake wood flooring, which is actually engineered from real leftover wood! 😛

Dave

[fj12ryder]

Guess he didn't hear what he wanted to hear.

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[Gdetrailer]

Well one can roll the dice buck the advise of the manufacturer (who designed, manufactured it and most likely knows a lot more about how it reacts than any arm chair Internet Keyboardist would know) and see if your experiment fails or succeeds.

I would bet that most likely it will ultimately fail in utter disaster with your glued down flooring buckling after some time passes.

If it doesn't buckle, you are most likely are going to deal with damage from the slide moving back and forth over it ANYWAYS.. Many folks who installed wood flooring under the slide area end up with the slide dragging on the flooring causing gouges in the newly minted flooring. Even "engineered" flooring will be thicker than carpet and will not give like carpet.

My best advice would be to lay CARPET under the area that the slide will go over when in.. Then lay your flooring around the carpet and frame with some trim work on the floor.. Or if very careful you cut the padding short of the edge of the carpet then fold carpet under then you can use a few hundred staples through the carpet to tack it down, then lay your wood flooring around the carpet.

Don't like carpet at the slide? Then get some vinyl flooring and put down in the area the slide will move over. Check with a few flooring shops to see if they have some discontinued vinyl floor or perhaps some leftover scraps from installs that may be large enough..

Oh, by the way, "engineered wood flooring" is another term for leftover wood and paper scraps mixed in a bunch of glue compressed under high pressure and if you are lucky a thin wood veneer is glued to the top.. Pretty much a MDF (Medium Density Fiber) panel board material.. It WILL absorb water and it WILL EXPAND, not so much with contracting once it expands even if the moisture has been removed.

You are buying expensive junk.

Weighs a ton also..

I would never consider putting a wood floor (including "engineered artificial fake wood flooring") into a RV, RVs experience huge changes in temperature and humidity. Yes, there are folks who have done it and been successful but more likely more failures have happened..

Go with vinyl or carpet, much more forgiving in the RV environment, I used peal and stick squares in my RV, quick and easy and if one gets damaged, pull up the damaged tile and drop a replacement tile in..

[kellem]

I did a previous home with it and these floors are very easy to install with a miter saw.

My biggest concern would be how well will the slide except this increase in floor height and will all cabinet doors open,do you have fold in steps.

If none of these concerns are an issue then it will likely look fantastic but expect some minor separation in low humidity using glue or just glue the section under slide.

And if you pursue this I'd be curious how it turns out.