Carpet replacement in slide out area

[Mr&Mrs Duet]

One of the Motor homes we are contemplating purchasing has had the carpet removed and laminate flooring installed. They used flooring that was too tall and it is cut and scarred in several areas.

 

We have talked to a couple places about having new flooring installed and have been told that to do it properly requires the slide to be opened past the edge of the floor (requires removal of the interior trim ) so the new floor can be rolled over the edge of the subfloor. This prevents the new carpet or tile from being caught and lifted as the slide comes back in during normal operation.

 

What the shop describes makes sense, but is costly. There have been several threads about DIY floor replacement and I'm pretty sure the slides were not removed or slid out that far.

 

So what say those who have done it or seen it done?

What did you use and how has it held up?

Do we need to be that concerned?

 

Thanks

Keith

[gjhunter01]

We removed the carpet in our fifth wheel and installed wood laminate flooring. I have had to replace a couple of boards due to slide scratches which we mostly now solved by putting 3" wide clear packing tape down for just when we travel. With the slide extended, you can pull the slide carpet up which is secured with glue and staples and you will see a 4" wide metal strip that is screwed to the slide floor edge. After removing the metal strip this should expose the flooring edge. From there it's just a matter of prying the boards up and removing any wood trim that gets in the way. As far as our old carpet under the cabinets, I just cut along the edge with a utility knife leaving the old carpet under the cabinets. For the new carpet since you don't have the old piece, you could make a template out of heavy paper or cardboard taped together. Just some ideas and the experience was based on our Cameo.

 

Greg

[nana25k]

What type of slide?? Raised or flat. If its a flat slide look our 5th then its easy. We did ours and left the carpet in the slide.No need to move slide out. We want to do our MH but now have a raised as slide. Haven't tackled it yet

[Mr&Mrs Duet]

 

What type of slide?? Raised or flat

One of each. Passenger side is raised, driver's side is flat.

 

left the carpet in the slide.

Carpet in the slide is easy to do, It's the carpet or vinyl under the slide, that supposedly needs to be wrapped around the floor edge to keep from being potentially lifted up. The slide has to be opened past the edge of the coach floor so it can be wrapped around the edge. This seems to be mostly true of the flat opening side, the raised slide seems to roll over the floor and not be near the edge.

 

With the slide extended, you can pull the slide carpet up which is secured with glue and staples and you will see a 4" wide metal strip that is screwed to the slide floor edge. After removing the metal strip this should expose the flooring edge.

After talking with a couple of RV renovators/repairers everyone says "we'll need to see the coach before we can tell you everything needed to do the job" Apparently even the same model coach can have 2 or 3 different ways the flooring was installed. I even called Fleetwood customer service to see what it would take to get an appointment and an estimate. After getting the Fleetwood coach number I was told it will be 2-4 days and an estimator will call back.

 

I was really hoping to do this job myself, just trying to get some pricing for negotiations and knowledge in case I had to hire it done.

 

The biggest difficulty is the coach is 6 hours away, and I can't just run over there to see it.

 

Maybe that's a hint

 

Thanks for the responses.

[nana25k]

We did not have to wrap any flooring around our flat slides. The slide carpet was bound and loose on the front and extended out of the slide a short distance. This covered the metal mechanism that the slide rode on when moving. We measured the thickness of the carpet and padding very carefully to assure that our laminate was no thicker. We then abutted the flooring up to the same edge where the floor carpet was. We never had any scratches on it from our slides. The plan for the carpet in the slide was to carefully remove it, take it to a carpet store, have it duplicated and the front edges bound then install it

[Mr&Mrs Duet]

 

We measured the thickness of the carpet and padding very carefully to assure that our laminate was no thicker. We then abutted the flooring up to the same edge where the floor carpet was. We never had any scratches on it from our slides. The plan for the carpet in the slide was to carefully remove it, take it to a carpet store, have it duplicated and the front edges bound then install it

Nana;

We're hoping to do the same type of thing.

The rig went for it's mechanical inspection today and was deemed in good shape. Now we are waiting for the oil sample results. Assuming those are ok, after the results are back we'll finish the purchase and bring it home. We went to a local flooring place that has short runs and close outs. The shop has done several RV flooring jobs and gave us some pretty good advice. No matter what, It'll be another adventure.

[gjhunter01]

That is how we did our slide carpet. I cut along the wall/cabinet edge, removed the piece and had a local carpet store bind the edge of the new piece for us. To reinstall, I just stapled the edges down. It was so easy we plan to change the bedroom and 2 slides carpet every 2 years, for less than $300 it's not worth having it professionally cleaned.

 

Greg