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So, my wife is a dog person and we've traveled with dogs in every RV we've owned. She insists that the dogs be crated so we've had dog crates secured in one form or fashion in our Class C and now the DP. Always in the same place.
I replaced the carpeting in our DP back in 2009, carpeting and dogs don't go together so I replaced with laminate floating floor. All was good until I felt a soft spot in the floor just in front of the crates. I suspect that years of water dish spilling and/or wet dogs coming in caught up with us.

So since I've been in the middle of FIXIN stuff I decided to tackle this issue. Ripped up most of the laminate in the front portion of the LR and yup, I have to replace the subfloor and in some areas both layers.

So if I am going to this I'm going to do it right. So here are my questions.

  1. Whats a good flooring that can withstand the abuse the dogs will cause (wet, scratching from nails etc).
  2. I'm contemplating ripping up the ceramic tile in the kitchen and bath area. For those of you that have done it, how hard was it to get the tile up. My kitchen cabinets are in the slide. How do you get the tile up from under the cabinets and slide?
  3. Any prep work required to the subfloor. Would it pay to use some sort of water barrier like Aqua Defense and/or Red Gard.
  4. I know that I will have to replace a portion of the first layer of subfloor, the part exposed to the weather under the coach. There is currently a plastic sheeting as a barrier, what's a good option on sealing this >>>> FlexSeal spray??
  5. Is it worth pulling the coach off the slide platform, ripping up the carpeting, and putting flooring on that.

Lots to think about, luckily I've got a garage to work in, all the necessary tools, and am foolish enough to tackle this project

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I completely replaced an Airstream floor years ago from the frame up. The partical board that was there surprised me for such an expensive trailer 

I uaed marine plywood as a base it can take the dampness better than anything.  A little expensive but worth the extra.  With a base like that you do what you want, I did blonde hardwood t&g.  Looked great & was solid. 

Good luck with your project, maybe a pan under the crate like those used for attic A/C units or 2nd floor washing machine, plug the drain

 

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I replaced my carpet carpet in my 05 sig a couple of years ago. I was going to recarpet but everyone wanted between 5,000 and 8,000 labor plus carpet and wouldn’t tell me which till then were done. I used a good quality vinyl laminate from Home Depot. They have an assortment of trims that work well for the slides .the hardest part is removing the carpet and staples. My coach had rounded corners in the kitchen stone and entry stone. That was also hard to cut them and clean up the thinset. I also had two spots of rot all the way through my subfloor and to daylight on my big front slide. I patched about 2-4’sq areas with 15ply  cabinet grade 3/4” plywood which I water proofed with paint.

I took the opportunity to remove the seats and side consoles which had daylight showing when removed. I primed the floor underlayment a couple of coats of water proofing and installed the plank flooring. I did my slides and used 1/4 “ styrofoam in layers to build up to the height I needed to work out slide. I also removed bed when I got back there and was able to clean everything up nicely. I did my slides and am happy I did. It wasn’t that much extra work and came out nice. Altogether about 2,000 for material. The planking was 1700.

good luck

paulb

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I did all that you are asking. 
 

Tile was  B!+ch. the subfloor was OSB. I used 3 sheets of plywood to replace soft floors. I used I believe ProCORE flooring from lowes, it’s waterproof and been great (4 dogs, 2 in crates)

Did the slides as well, but we have raised floor slides, no chance of slides coming in contact to scratch floor. 

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Edited by JDCrow
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Thanks for the replies and pictures. 

Paulb, thanks, flooring looks great. 

JD, that's about what I am facing in the front LR area but a little smaller area.  Attached is a picture and the worse areas are about where the front of the dog crates would have been.  No doubt water bowl or bottle leaking didn't help.  My wife also put a carpeting with rubber backing under the kennels which didn't allow for any airflow.  I guess the +12 years of doing this caught up with us (me since I'm going to have to be the one to fix it)!  I have no doubt I could put my foot right through the worse part, the laminate flooring was the only thing giving support.

No idea yet what might be hidden under the tile areas if I decide to go there.  The tile does look a little dated and we have ~6 tile cracked.   But if I am going to do this I want it to look good and last, as stated in a previous thread, I've decided to keep this coach for the long haul, already put ~$10K into this year (which included tires) so what's another ~$1500 more😀

Surprisingly the laminate that I put down was in good shape, no rot and still competent.   When I installed it I actually used waterproof glue on the joints, not sure if that was good or bad.   I had installed the plastic/foam barrier under the laminate just like you would in a house, not sure if that was good or bad.  Looking for guidance here as to what is best practice in an RV.

As far as i can tell I have 2 layers of 3/4" subfloor which looks like chip board/OSB, not sure if it was a water proof type or not.  I'll look at options to replace but my biggest concern is the portion that will exposed to road spray as the worse area is ahead of the fuel tank. 

If you look close there is carpet everywhere.  Did you replace the small pieces under the dash.  How did you handle the stair entrance? How did you attach new flooring to the engine hatch covers if you replaced the carpeting. 

But the good news is I have the capability to fix it with a little advice from others.

Thanks for the interest.

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1 hour ago, Ernie Ekberg said:

Thanks. We recommend Hartco Crossover for any vinyl planks. Brent is doing this as I had a heart attack and 5 bypasses on Nov 1. I’ll be back to installing engineered wood in a few months. 
Brents Facebook page - Texas rv flooring and design- 406-539-0943

Thanks Ernie, hope your recovery is going well.

I looked at the website (not a facebooker).  Really nice work. 

What width flooring is the easiest to work with and is the most economic as far as waste.  I see different orientations of the flooring, do you feel one is better then the other. 

Thanks.

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Jim, when I had the carpet in the big salon slide and back in the bedroom replaced I also had them remove most of the extraneous carpet located in various places and replace it with matching oak vinyl planking I purchased from Lowe's. The coach came from the factory with oak plank flooring from the entry way to the bedroom.

They did the bed pedestal, closet floor including the hatch, around the toilet, step well cover and sides of steps. The only place that has original carpet remaining is under the front dash area.

Looks and works great!

 

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Edited by Dr4Film
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Yeah we got rid of all carpet. I used a coin floor in the “cockpit” area and the stair well. I kept the industrial look and went with commercial metal trim and nose in the stair well. It might be a bit much for most, but we are in the dirt camping more than most I figured. 
 

 

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Thanks for the follow up. 

When I first did the laminate flooring I left the stair well and step cover alone.  This time I'm going to replace.   Same with the engine hatch covers, best to do it now and be done with it. 

Whats the best option with the couch, completely remove it for the coach or try move it around and work on the slide that way.  If I do that I may do the slide first, less risk of damaging the other flooring. 

 

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7 minutes ago, jacwjames said:

Thanks for the follow up. 

When I first did the laminate flooring I left the stair well and step cover alone.  This time I'm going to replace.   Same with the engine hatch covers, best to do it now and be done with it. 

Whats the best option with the couch, completely remove it for the coach or try move it around and work on the slide that way.  If I do that I may do the slide first, less risk of damaging the other flooring. 

 

Our couch was well, well, worn out. I unbolted the frame work as it also was attachment points for seat belts. On the new couch I removed the bottom and attached a sheet of plywood, extended it back to hit the wall and drilled holes in the plywood. The holes then held the bolts/nuts from original framework to hold the couch down in the slide 

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JD,

Is the new couch made for an RV or did you just use a regular couch.  It's nice and folds out to provide sleeping area but unfortunately it would be too long for us.  When my wife has the dog crates on the opposite wall there wouldn't be enough room.

FWIW you'll have to get a heck of a lot more dogs then that to keep up with my wife.  Last time she went to a dog show I think she had 5, 2 large and 4 small.  and left 7 at home for me to take care of.  Not my cup of tea but it seems to make her happy ( don't ask how it makes me feel).

I went ahead and removed the rest of the laminate flooring in the front and the couch out of the slide.  I tore up about a 6X4' section trying to find the extent of the floor damage.  It looks like it stopped just behind the passenger seat and goes back to the base wall cabinet in the kitchen.  Haven't determined if it has gotten under the kitchen tile. 

On my large drivers side side there are 4 rollers.  The two front rollers are fastened to the floor under the slide and the rollers provide support on the underside of the slide.  I can put flooring up to the rollers without a problem, that's what I did before.

The kitchen cabinet have rollers mounted on the bottom of the cabinet and roll on the floor.  If I decide to tear up the tile I will have to remove the two rollers to get the new flooring back under the slide. 

How hard is it to remove the tile under the cabinet, which is angled out, not sure how much of it is cantilevered  off the slide floor and how much access I'd have. 

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2 hours ago, jacwjames said:

JD,

Is the new couch made for an RV or did you just use a regular couch.  It's nice and folds out to provide sleeping area but unfortunately it would be too long for us.  When my wife has the dog crates on the opposite wall there wouldn't be enough room.

FWIW you'll have to get a heck of a lot more dogs then that to keep up with my wife.  Last time she went to a dog show I think she had 5, 2 large and 4 small.  and left 7 at home for me to take care of.  Not my cup of tea but it seems to make her happy ( don't ask how it makes me feel).

I went ahead and removed the rest of the laminate flooring in the front and the couch out of the slide.  I tore up about a 6X4' section trying to find the extent of the floor damage.  It looks like it stopped just behind the passenger seat and goes back to the base wall cabinet in the kitchen.  Haven't determined if it has gotten under the kitchen tile. 

On my large drivers side side there are 4 rollers.  The two front rollers are fastened to the floor under the slide and the rollers provide support on the underside of the slide.  I can put flooring up to the rollers without a problem, that's what I did before.

The kitchen cabinet have rollers mounted on the bottom of the cabinet and roll on the floor.  If I decide to tear up the tile I will have to remove the two rollers to get the new flooring back under the slide. 

How hard is it to remove the tile under the cabinet, which is angled out, not sure how much of it is cantilevered  off the slide floor and how much access I'd have. 

Our tile was bonded to a sheet of OSB, we just cut it out and slid it from under cabinets. It wasn’t nailed to the main subfloor. 
 

We’ve had 5 dogs before, we lost 3 last year and picked up the 2 last Dec. What breed does your wife show? 
 

We own a kennel, so always have lots of dogs running around. 

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She has had multiple breeds over the years. 

She currently has a Pekingese and a Anatolian Shepard that she is showing plus a Curly Coated Retriever and eight other Pekingese.  

She has had Golden Retriever, German Shepard, Bull Mastiff, and a couple mix breed rescues over the years.  She (I am) is dog poor😁  

 

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So yesterday I removed the rest of the previously laid laminate in the front of the coach and removed the sofa from the slide.  Lifted the drivers side console and removed the passenger side.  

I removed the first layer of subfloor to try and find extent of damage.  It appears that the flooring is good to the front passenger seat base, at least I wont' have to deal with that. 

But the passenger side of the LR area in front of the slide is pretty much toast.  The second layer of subfloor is also rotted and will need to be replaced.  I have not determined the full extent of the area needing replacemnt but I know I will have to replace both layers in a ~5X7' area (or more). 

The bottom layer of subfloor was installed with a plastic type barrier.  What would be a good solution to this problem.  Some of the area I will have access to from below but some of the area will be above the fuel tank with limited access.  The exposed edges of the good flooring I was thinking about using flex seal to seal it.  The new flooring I can paint/spray with sealer/preservative.  The seams may be an issue, areas that I have access to I can tape/spray.  Not sure on the areas I don't have access to.

This is turning out to be a lot bigger project then what I expected but it has to be fixed and I want to fix it right.   I'm checking on whether any local suppliers have treated or marine plywood for the first layer of subfloor, may have to settle on treated plywood. 

Still don't know if I will have to tear up any tile in the kitchen area. 

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So I was able to remove the bad portions of subfloor. I cut a smaller area first and then worked my way out till I found good wood. Squared up the area so fitting new subfloor should be pretty easy except the it will be wider then a 48" piece of plywood so I'll have to add a smaller piece to fill it out.

While I was cutting I adjusted the saw blade depth to where it was the same thickness as the two layers of subfloor. The original vapor barrier that was attached to the bottom had separated and when I cut the plywood I was able to save the vapor barrier with only a couple of places where I cut the barrier. I will clean more of the old material off the vapor barrier before setting the plywood.  The picture is a little deceiving in that the black portion is just vapor barrier resting on the metal cross members.  

I am going to used a piece of treated plywood, primed before setting it in place. Going to use some sort of adhesive to attach the vapor barrier back to the plywood after it is in place. I'll also seal any cuts and spray with Flexseal. Should be about as good as new.

The second layer of subfloor will be a little bigger then the front with the seams centered on metal framing below.

Floor Prepped.jpg

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10 minutes ago, jacwjames said:

So I was able to remove the bad portions of subfloor. I cut a smaller area first and then worked my way out till I found good wood. Squared up the area so fitting new subfloor should be pretty easy except the it will be wider then a 48" piece of plywood so I'll have to add a smaller piece to fill it out.

While I was cutting I adjusted the saw blade depth to where it was the same thickness as the two layers of subfloor. The original vapor barrier that was attached to the bottom had separated and when I cut the plywood I was able to save the vapor barrier with only a couple of places where I cut the barrier. I will clean more of the old material off the vapor barrier before setting the plywood.  The picture is a little deceiving in that the black portion is just vapor barrier resting on the metal cross members.  

I am going to used a piece of treated plywood, primed before setting it in place. Going to use some sort of adhesive to attach the vapor barrier back to the plywood after it is in place. I'll also seal any cuts and spray with Flexseal. Should be about as good as new.

The second layer of subfloor will be a little bigger then the front with the seams centered on metal framing below.

Floor Prepped.jpg

Interesting. So sandwiched 2 pieces of subfloor. Is your tile attached to another Layer of OSB  as well? And you have no foam insulation? 

Edited by JDCrow
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33 minutes ago, JDCrow said:

Interesting. So sandwiched 2 pieces of subfloor. Is your tile attached to another Layer of OSB  as well? And you have no foam insulation? 

Yup, 2 pieces of subfloor.  Vapor barrier under the bottom and some sort of rubber/tar paper between the two pieces.  No styrofoam, which it did. 

The tile is glued directly to the top layer.  It would be a bear to remove the tile but as of now I don't think I'll have to.  😁

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5 minutes ago, jacwjames said:

Yup, 2 pieces of subfloor.  Vapor barrier under the bottom and some sort of rubber/tar paper between the two pieces.  No styrofoam, which it did. 

The tile is glued directly to the top layer.  It would be a bear to remove the tile but as of now I don't think I'll have to.  😁

Only my tile had the second layer of subfloor. There was a small triangle shaped piece of wood that transitioned to the carpet. And yeah the tile won’t come off easy, so we just grabbed a stone blade and put it on the skill saw and cut two rows out at a time. So I only have 1 layer of 5/8” OSB throughout the Coach instead of just 2 under tile 

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Still trying to determine the best option to try and attach the original vapor barrier to a new piece of plywood. 

I am using treated plywood but will use an exterior primer on it before laying it down. 

Does anyone think that a 3M type spray adhesive might work.  I could place the plywood into the opening and tip it up, spray both the plywood and vapor barrier, lay the plywood down, and then go underneath and use a paint roller to get it to mate the vapor barrier to the bottom of the plywood.  I have access to most of the bottom, tight in some places but enough to get up underneath and press the vapor barrier back in place.

Or I could use liberal amounts of construction adhesive spread out on the plywood, lay it down, and then go under and use a roller.

Any other options??   I don't want to use any type of staples to limit any penetrations

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I think I would go with Construction adhesive for the vapor barrier. Sometimes the spray glue doesn’t hold up well. I removed my tile a few years ago in the galley area. Not fun at all. I ended up beating the tile into submission with a hammer. It was brutal but the good thing is that when beating on it it softened the glue and most of it came off the subfloor easily as I went without damaging the subfloor. At times I still find bits of tile hidden. I was able to get the tile off under the cabinets enough and I took special care to be sure the tile was out from under the rollers to assure the roller always was riding on the new flooring.  Be sure to wear a high quality N95 dust mask if you decide to go for it  and be prepared to do a full clean inside after the fact  as the dust is bad and gets everywhere 

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Edited by Chargerman
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Good point on the adhesive, anything that I've used construction adhesive on has pretty must stayed stuck.   I'll check to see how much I have laying around from when I built the house, I was buying it by the case.  Just have to get the vapor barrier stuck up there so it's not flapping in the wind. 

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