Replacing rug with wood laminate

[ChuckD]

We had an accident on our last trip. A quart of olive oil was spilled on the living room rug. My Dear Bride says it is there to stay and perhaps it is time to replace the rug and linoleum in the kitchen and hall. The coach is 11 years old and we have enough improvements and upgrades that we are not going to replace it. In other words we like it... We are not full timers, just maybe 7 months a year in it. Sometimes more, sometime less, but about that.

The rug goes under the couch and dinette table and benches. (She would like the rug in the bedroom to stay.) There is a slide-out that goes over part of what we want to replace, about 18 inches The couch is a folding bed with storage drawers under it.

There are no marks on the rug or the linoleum that the slide is dragging on the floor so I hope the slide won't mark the floor. I do know it has to be thin. Now some of the questions....

 

First, is this something that should be left to tie Pro's or a DIY project?

 

Should there be a layer, felt or foam, under the laminate? and should it float or be glued down. I know wood has to expand but does laminate?

 

Do I have to take out the couch and dinette benches or can I work around them?

 

What type of laminate do you recommend?

 

How can I stop thinking about all this at night when I am trying to sleep? LOL

 

This is another case of ask the ones who know. And I thank you for being.

[ChuckD]

Sorry, this is a double post and I would like one of them deleted. HOW?

[Kirk W]

We moderators can and do hide the duplicate posts when that happens, which it has been a lot during the difficulties of the present move to a new host server. Not sure when it will be repaired, but we are all watching for the problem and hiding the accidental duplicates. In your case, Stanley Miller has already taken care of the extra.

[ChuckD]

Well, that takes care of one of the questions..

[StarDreamers.us]

When we did ours over we left the job to the PROS. We took our RV back to the factory for the repair work. They did a great job on the replacement and had everything they needed to do the job right. Wife was VERY HAPPY. Nothing more to add.

 

SAFE TRAVELS!

[bobsallyh]

Depends how handy you are. Another option is sometime during your seven month trips be in a large snowbird area and you will find RV flooring people. Sometimes regular residential floor outfits will give you that "deer in the headlight look".

[ChuckD]

Bob, part of that 7 month period is in Mesa, AZ.

[Bill Joyce]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5MgGW9gfYc is a 16 minute video of a young woman, Pippi Peterson, doing all the work herself.

[skunk workz]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5MgGW9gfYc is a 16 minute video of a young woman, Pippi Peterson, doing all the work herself.

 

We're in the process of redoing our floors with the same product that she's using (Allure). It's not super technical to install (planning around slides can be a bit tricky), but it can be tough work (lots of time on your knees removing carpet, old flooring, staples, etc). It's super thin so it clears most slides easily, and doesn't require a lot of special tools to install.

 

We removed everything in areas that we've done, but we have a fiver and not much is bolted down. This stuff cuts pretty easily, and you are working with one piece at a time so custom trimming is possible, but you'd have to decide how you want the end product to look. Cutting around the couch might be noticeable, but around the dinette benches should be fine.

 

Each product will have specific installation requirements .... with the Allure, it's floating and not glued down, and has no padding / underlayment of any kind.

 

The search link below will get you a lot of info on putting this particular product into RV's:

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=allure+rv+flooring&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

 

[Clay L]

Several years ago we removed all carpet and replaced it with laminate flooring. We used Armstrong's best grade of laminate. We picked it based on some tests that Consumer Reports did that showed it had better wear and scratch resistance than Pergo. Its 3/8 inch thick.

We were surprised to find that a Carpet Time store had much better prices on the best grade than Home Depot or Lowes had on the middle grade which is all they carried. The best grades were special order.

We did the installation of our flooring ourselves. We couldn't find an installer willing to do the job.

It took us about ten day’s altogether (we only worked about 4 hours a day though). It wasn't terribly difficult but did require a lot of cutting and trimming because of all of the corners. There were also some challenges at the front of the slides, around the stairs, and underneath the dinette.

Before we did the installation we did a test by removing a square of carpet and making sure the slides would ride over a piece of T molding, laminate and underlayment.

Some people try to cut the carpet back under the slide, but we cut the carpet in front of the slides leaving enough carpet to be stapled down. I was afraid the slides would catch the carpet when the slide went back out. A Tee molding or baseboard covers it so it doesn't show.

If you do the job yourself I would recommend a few things to have:

1) table saw, 2) chop saw, 3) good saber saw, 4) Rotozip tool, 5) air slight head brad nailer, 6) air stapler, 7) utility knife and sharp hook blades. 5) A staple puller - looks like a flat blade screwdriver with a V cut into the bent end of the blade. 6) heat gun for a few places where the carpet was glued down (stairwell for example)

There were two grades of the foam underlayment available. We used the best grade - more expensive but thicker and provides a moisture barrier.

We also used a special waterproof joint glue in areas that are prone to getting wet - like in front of the sink, refrigerator, and around the stairwell. (This is used to glue the joints so spilled water can't get in the joints - not to glue the flooring to the subfloor).

We also used silicon caulk to fill the 1/4 gap at the edges in those areas.

The caulk and waterproof glue are both recommended in the instructions from Armstrong.

We vacuum and mop carefully before we bring the slides in to avoid leaving anything on the floor that might scratch it. In spite of that over the years we have had some minor scratching in three or four places. One fairly deep place at the very beginning was due to our cat batting a couple of paper clips under the slide while we were working on the project.

I stapled door sweep strips behind the base boards in front of the slides because of that.

Even with the scratches it looks much better that the carpet did after only three or four years. In addition it is so much easier to keep clean.

[pugsly]

I just installed vinyl floor planks that I bought from amazon. These are the self adhesive peel-and-stick type. I decided that for our application I was more inclined to vinyl-that-looks-like-wood.

 

We have been really happy with the way it looks. Removing all the staples from the carpet was the worst part of the job.

 

http://smile.amazon.com/Achim-Home-Furnishings-VFP2-0RO10-10-Pack/dp/B008E4869Q

[budeneighe]

I just finished doing this a few weeks ago. I did the research, saw Pippin's video and a number of others. Searched out as many RV switching stories as I could find on the forums and on Youtube.

 

Putting it all together, I decided that I (We) likely would not be completely happy with the adhesive vinyl plank flooring over time. It did not look real enough, they did not have any that really thrilled when it came to going with our existing hardwood cabinetry and I definitely wanted the solution to be as impervious to water/liquids as I could find.

 

I settled on the Traffic Master Allure ULTRA vinyl plank flooring. It snaps together rather than depending on adhesives, floats, does not require any padding under it and does cut/shape easily with a utility knife.

 

I chose the 2 strip Clear Cherry flooring because the 8" planks each have 2 narrower simulated wood planks on them and the narrower they are the bigger this space seems to be. My choices were down to the 2 strip Clear Cherry Allure ULTRA and the darker CInnamon OAK version. I bought a package of each, took home and worked with them both to see which was better for our RV. The lighter, brighter 2 strip clear cherry was definitely better in both visual appearance and in ambiance.

 

I debated most on whether to put it down lengthwise to the RV (5th wheel) as they recommended or do it crosswise and tried the samples both ways before I settled on crosswise. I figured that crosswise would be less likely to damage multiple planks if anything happened because of the slides. Theorhetically, this was appealing but visually, it really made this space seem much roomier than going lengthwise. Lengthwise really made it come across as more of a bowling alley.

 

Taking up to old carpet was not that bad. A utility knife cut it along the base of the walls. Getting the staples out was more involved and Pippin's tools were not quite the best choices. I found that a vise grip plier worked better than the snippers (which I already had). A Huskey scraper tool was much better for getting staples up where I could grab them with the vise-grips.

 

Also, for general trimming of the vinyl planks, a small Exacto multi blade knife was easier to use than a regular sized utility knife. The blade was thinner and easier to work with in making close trims. But for scoring each plank, the utility knife was best and it took frequent blade changes to keep it sharpest.

 

The hardest part was holding each plank and the tri-square down tightly enough that neither slipped while scoring the plank. It was very helpful to have a second person there to stand on the plank to be cut. These guys are really slippery on the back and fronts so they move very easily on most surfaces.

 

She was very correct in the cleanliness advice, though. Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum as you work. It does not take the thickness of a dust bunny to get into the interlocking grooves of the planks to keep them from snapping together properly.

 

One thing she did not mention was that these planks can sometimes have some factory debris in the grooves so it is vital that each mating surface of the grooves be inspected for anything at all, like wisps of vinyl scraps or shavings. Also, inspect the corners to be sure there are no injuries to them. These will prevent the corners for seating completely and will destabilize the whole interlocking strip if not corrected before snapping together.

Beyond these things, it went together well. I started at the entry door end of the living/kitchen room because it had the most fitting to be done around the steps, slideouts, kitchen cabinet ends and the entry. Once I was past all the custom fitting planks, it was taking me about 10-15 minutes per plank to get it exactly right. By the time I was 3/4 done with this 25' space, I was putting down a plank row about every 7 minutes or so. If I had been doing these lengthwise, though, it would have been very important to have at least 1 and maybe 2 other people to help with setting each row because of the precision necessary to properly snap these pieces together. There is no finagle room when getting these to go together perfectly.

[budeneighe]

Here are the photos. Some are from the initial tests with the two samples I mentioned, then getting up the carpet, cleaning, putting down the flooring.

https://goo.gl/photos/5e2uME47RnfwHgBh8

 

[ChuckD]

Thank to all of you for your information and advice. I think I might take time to post pictures and comments as I go.

 

My biggest concern is the slide-out. It goes from the front all the way to the hall. Remember this is a 30 foot Class C so that is not all that far. I would hate to put down the flooring and within a short time have the slide-out ruin the job. As I said earlier it leaves no marks or impressions in the rug. There might be a small spot on the the kitchen linoleum that might be a slide mark but very small and could have be caused a long time ago when something was under the edge of the slide but you really have to look for it.

[KRum]

Once done you could get a product like Slide Out Slicker to protect the flooring...

 

http://www.amazon.com/Products-013-410051-Slide-Out-Slicker/dp/B0031NFUHQ

 

Outrageously overpriced for a couple pieces of plastic!... But you could just use 2 or three leftover pieces of flooring and lay them down on each end and one in the middle to act as a track for the slide and protect the flooring below...

 

Also keep an extra few planks in a box behind the sofa to make repairs in the future ;-)

[ChuckD]

KRum, I don't see how these work. Are they laid down every time you use the slide? If so where do you put them? I see no roller marks on my rug so I don't know where I would put them if you put them the direction of the slide.

Thanks

[rmcf308]

When we have the slide in, the rollers can move some (vibration from going down the road) on the laminate flooring and cause marks on the floor. My wife has plastic cutting board type sheets for each roller. This sheets are about 10 inch by 13 inches and are available at Walmarts and some flea markets for about 50 cents a piece. As I bring in the slide, right before it is all the way in, she has the sheets laid out so the rollers will rest on the sheets and the floor does not get damaged. Of course, before we bring the slide in, she makes sure the floor is clean so it doesn't scratch coming in.

[KRum]

Here is a video of how they work...

 

 

The slide will rest on these and prevent scratching when you extend/retract the slide and also prevent scuffing from vibration while you drive..

 

Again I am not advocating buying these they are HUGELY overpriced... but has been said similar one can be made for pennies... or as I said just place a few extra vinyl planks in the same spot as the video.

[ChuckD]

Well, I know some folks like to know if Frank got his battery fixed, or if Kirk found the hole in his roof or if John got Pauline off the tracks in time, or if Chuck got his rug replaced with Wood Laminate? I can answer the last and close this topic. The answer is "NO" I am sorry to say. There are two big problems to prevent this from happening. The slide-out is about 14 feet long. Half is carpet gong under the couch. The other half is linoleum that goes under the kitchen part. I can not get the carpet out from under the couch and the other problem is the kitchen part is so low to the floor that the laminate will not go under it. I even had a Pro check it out and he said "it happens"

So I am back to the original reason for trying all this, the dumping of the olive oil on the rug. I have to find a way to soak it up.

Thanks for all your help and ideas.

[Kirk W]

So I am back to the original reason for trying all this, the dumping of the olive oil on the rug. I have to find a way to soak it up.

We may be able to fix the duplicate posts, but so far we don't have any way to fix this problem!

[pugsly]

So I am back to the original reason for trying all this, the dumping of the olive oil on the rug. I have to find a way to soak it up.

Thanks for all your help and ideas.

 

I would try rubbing baking soda or corn starch into the stain with an old toothbrush, letting it set, and then vacuuming it up. You will probably have to do this several times - but it will be pretty easy to tell if it is working or not, and definitely won't make it worse. Good luck!