SLIDEOUT IS NOT LEVEL

[Angie M]

13 minutes ago, Wrknrvr said:

Have one person under the slide, to feel if the slide moves down, when someone stands on it .

 

   That side wear is another subject In itself. I have a few thoughts on that subject.   Thinking back 10 or so years for fixing that subject.

Yes it does

[Kirk W]

Have you checked your private message from Vern? 

[Angie M]

2 hours ago, Kirk W said:

Have you checked your private message from Vern? 

Yes I have. 

[Danfreda1]

Do you have room in the slide for a narrow floor cabinet that could sit next to a chair or other piece of furniture to be an end table? The after the floor is flattened you could put a couple of pieces of angle iron inside the cabinet, one on each side. Then run carriage bolts from the bottom of the slide through the floor and into the bottom of the cabinet and the iron and nuts would be hidden in the Cabinet. That would keep it flat without being seen or get in the way of the slide working. 

[Kirk W]

34 minutes ago, Danfreda1 said:

That would keep it flat without being seen or get in the way of the slide working. 

That is just what I have been thinking and I have seen that done successfully before. 

[Angie M]

35 minutes ago, Danfreda1 said:

Do you have room in the slide for a narrow floor cabinet that could sit next to a chair or other piece of furniture to be an end table? The after the floor is flattened you could put a couple of pieces of angle iron inside the cabinet, one on each side. Then run carriage bolts from the bottom of the slide through the floor and into the bottom of the cabinet and the iron and nuts would be hidden in the Cabinet. That would keep it flat without being seen or get in the way of the slide working. 

Funny you suggested this. We were just discussing making an aluminum frame with slats every 6 inches or so and attaching the ply would to the frame. We started thinking that even if we attach a piece of ply wood and are able to pull the floor up to it, eventually the same problem occurred if not immediately. I think the floor needs support. Does this sound feasible?

[Danfreda1]

It will work just use angle iron or thick wall tubing. I think the angle would work the best as far as getting the bolts tight. You could also use aluminum angle. 

[Kirk W]

2 hours ago, Angie M said:

I think the floor needs support. Does this sound feasible?

That is exactly the reason that I was looking for a way to use some angle iron or aluminum to support the floor. Did I understand correctly that the slide floor is 12' long and 3' wide? 

[Angie M]

7 hours ago, Kirk W said:

That is exactly the reason that I was looking for a way to use some angle iron or aluminum to support the floor. Did I understand correctly that the slide floor is 12' long and 3' wide? 

12x3 1/2. I’m wondering if angle iron is strong enough to keep the new floor from bending?

[Danfreda1]

4 hours ago, Angie M said:

12x3 1/2. I’m wondering if angle iron is strong enough to keep the new floor from bending?

If you use 1/4 min. 3/8 would be over kill but will work

[Kirk W]

If it was hidden by something you could even bond a 2X4 or something to the surface of the floor. If you look in Lowe's you will find quite a range in sizes and load capability of metal in both steel and aluminum. With something that is supporting from above you will need to be concerned about any screws or bolts pulling out of the OSB. If you were to use wood of some sort then it could be attached to the flooring with something like Liquid Nail that would not have the issue of pulling through. With that you could bond the entire surface of the frame to the flooring permanently. Doing it that way you could make a nicely finished cabinet that will look as though it was always there and sill supply the support to prevent any sagging of the floor. If I were doing that I would make the frame of 2X4's on edge and extending from the very front of the slide all of the way to the outside wall. Such a cabinet could then be designed to have the proper height and width to serve as an end table between the two chairs as well as added storage. It could be covered with 1/4" finish plywood and varnished. I'd put a hinged door in the front, to the inside of the RV. Only the parts of the frame that touch the floor would be of 2X4 with the remainder of 2X2 or even 1X2 to reduce the weight of the cabinet. Just be careful that it doesn't interfere with slide operation by setting it into position and then run the slide in and out a couple of times before making it permanent.

You could also take the approach that Vern is suggesting, as he does have a lot of experience in RV repairs. I have known Vern for about 10 years and respect his opinions. 

Edited February 27 by Kirk W
typo

[Ray,IN]

On 2/26/2024 at 6:26 AM, Wrknrvr said:

   I believe putting attachments under the slide would not allow the slide to retract.

   I will say I have seen slides on Prevost conversions and other high end motor coaches, come up and over the interior floor. But that whole mechanical system is built to do that.

     I believe a trip to a hardware store to test plywood, could be a learning experience.    Get a piece of finish grade birch plywood out and lay it so it is supported on both ends. Then push on the middle for flexibility.  Your with is 32” I think , so support it at those distances.

   Then get other types of plywood out and do the same test.   See if you can detect a difference in the stiffness of the plywood.

   My thinking cannot remember the tool that puts wood wafers in wood joints. I will check and get back to you on your subject. But I use the biscuit cutter and biscuits when joint joints in wood. Apparently I thought of breakfast biscuits for the last sentence.

   If any screws are used to attach anything from above the floor. They cannot be long enough to penetrate the lower side of the floor.

 

 

That machine is a biscuit-cutout, the inserts that are glued-in are biscuits shaped like a football,and come in many different sizes.

Edited March 3 by Ray,IN

[Kirk W]

Angie M, how about an update on where you are on this and what you plan to do? 

[Angie M]

1 hour ago, Kirk W said:

Angie M, how about an update on where you are on this and what you plan to do? 

Here is an update. Taking bits of advice from each of you, We have decided to try using 1”square metal tubing and attach them to the underside of the new 3/4” plywood every 12”.  With a test run it seems to be sturdy. They now in the floor cannot be lifted up with jacks. It just frozen in that position.  The whole slide lifts up. Whether this will work on a large scale remains to be seen. May be too heavy for the slide. The extra 1” lip May present more if a problem. We just received the metal tubing in the mail. It’s suppose to rain the next few days so that may delay us. Will post pictures tires when I have some. 

[Angie M]

Update:  the floor is finally level and strong!

since it became apparent the slideout floor would never bend back into position, which eliminated trying to attach a new piece of plywood and pulling the sag up or otherwise, we went with buying 16 gauge 1” square metal tubing and had 14 pieces cut to 40”. Got them pretty cheap at https://www.onlinemetals.com/en/buy/carbon-steel/1-x-0-065-carbon-steel-square-tube-a500-a513-hot-rolled/pid/10301

we attached them 12” apart to 3/4” sande plywood which wasn’t cheap at Home Depot but the cut it to 4x 40.5 inches for us. We intended to glue them so we could flip the board and they would hold in place to screw from the top, but we found this fantastic glue, Fuze It by Liquid Nails, and it stuck so well we decided we didn’t need to scree them also. Here is the glue; https://www.homedepot.com/p/Liquid-Nails-Fuze-It-9-oz-Gray-All-Surface-Construction-Adhesive-LN-2000/206736831

we used 8’ and 4’ pieces of plywood and fit them together  Now we have a level floor  All that is left is to carpet it  

Pictures To follow  

 

[Angie M]

We also added foam board insulation to the underside and bubble insulation to the top of the old floor. And put expanding foam in end of tubes just to keep bugs and dust out. 

[Angie M]

What happened?  The option to add a photo has disappeared. Only allows me to add from a url. 

[Kirk W]

4 minutes ago, Angie M said:

What happened?

Nothing has changed. The forum is the same as it has been since it moved to the present host.

I am glad to hear that you found a solution and sure would like some pictures.

[Angie M]

10 minutes ago, Angie M said:

What happened?  The option to add a photo has disappeared. Only allows me to add from a url. 

Apparently there is a limit of 1000kb in attachments. I have reached my limit. I’m trying to figure out if I can delete some. 

[Kirk W]

There is a limit to what you can store on the forum host but if you store your pictures on any of the free photo storage sites you can post them via that url as much and as many as you wish. 

• Photobucket.
• Shutterfly.
• Adobe Creative.
• SmugMug.
• Flickr.
• 500px.
• Dropbox.
• Google Photos.

[Angie M]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/JXQNwTZe1CLG5KBWA

 

i hope that works for everyone 

[Kirk W]

It would be fine if you were to post them.

Just use the other media tab in the lower, right corner of the posting window. When you click on it there are 2 choices. If you use "insert from url" paste the address you get these results.

How much higher is the floor in the slide now? It looks like a couple of inches. 

Edited March 11 by Kirk W

[Angie M]

8 hours ago, Angie M said:

Update:  the floor is finally level and strong!

since it became apparent the slideout floor would never bend back into position, which eliminated trying to attach a new piece of plywood and pulling the sag up or otherwise, we went with buying 16 gauge 1” square metal tubing and had 14 pieces cut to 40”. Got them pretty cheap at https://www.onlinemetals.com/en/buy/carbon-steel/1-x-0-065-carbon-steel-square-tube-a500-a513-hot-rolled/pid/10301

we attached them 12” apart to 3/4” sande plywood which wasn’t cheap at Home Depot but the cut it to 4x 40.5 inches for us. We intended to glue them so we could flip the board and they would hold in place to screw from the top, but we found this fantastic glue, Fuze It by Liquid Nails, and it stuck so well we decided we didn’t need to scree them also. Here is the glue; https://www.homedepot.com/p/Liquid-Nails-Fuze-It-9-oz-Gray-All-Surface-Construction-Adhesive-LN-2000/206736831

we used 8’ and 4’ pieces of plywood and fit them together  Now we have a level floor  All that is left is to carpet it  

Pictures To follow  

 

I got in touch with Escapees and they said they made changes and I can post pictures now. So here goes. The flore is 1.75 inches higher but it had a 1/2 lip along that shouldn’t be there so 1.25 higher for us to deal with. But I love it. 

[Angie M]

thank you everyone for your input. It was all a great help to figure this out. We are happy with the outcome. Maybe someday we will be in one place long enough to have the floor properly replaced, but we are very happy with how level and sturdy the floor is now. 

[lappir]

13 hours ago, Angie M said:

I got in touch with Escapees and they said they made changes and I can post pictures now. So here goes. The flore is 1.75 inches higher but it had a 1/2 lip along that shouldn’t be there so 1.25 higher for us to deal with. But I love it. 

Nice job with the repair. I went with raised floor slide outs in my home to have better sealing when they were extended. With that lip you have created it might serve you well to put a bit of soft flexible material that can be squished into the gap with the slide open. 

Good idea with filling the metal with foam. You will have to update us next winter to see if you can tell where the metal supports are and are not. 

 

Rod