Replacing flooring

[Coach J]

I am looking at changing my Rv floor from vinyl (brand new) with laminate flooring. I have a 2007 diplomat 40SKQ. I am hoping someone on here has put laminate in this exact coach or there is an expert that can tell me if there are any issues , especially with slides, if I lay thin laminate wood. Thanks in advance 

[Dr4Film]

Ernie Ekberg and his son are the resident flooring experts on this site.

[Coach J]

1 minute ago, Dr4Film said:

Ernie Ekberg and his son are the resident flooring experts on this site.

I messaged him. Thank you 

[Bootlegger 659]

I just finished reflooring my 05 Diplomat 38pdq. I used vinyl plank. Turned out beautiful. But... it was a huge undertaking, lots of research on materials. Ernie and Brent Ekberg were great resource and inspiration. It will test your skills. Good luck. Have any questions pm me.

[Coach J]

38 minutes ago, Bootlegger 659 said:

I just finished reflooring my 05 Diplomat 38pdq. I used vinyl plank. Turned out beautiful. But... it was a huge undertaking, lots of research on materials. Ernie and Brent Ekberg were great resource and inspiration. It will test your skills. Good luck. Have any questions pm me.

Meaning a huge undertaking?  Was that because of having to adjust slides, remove carpet or tile, etc?  I ask because mine has already had all carpet and tile removed. It would be a simple lay down over nothing but vinyl. Just wondering what challenges you had 

[Bootlegger 659]

Huge undertaking... let me clarify,  putting the flooring down is the easy part. Preparing the subfloor was my challenge.  I removed my tile and carpet. Also I found two areas with severe water damage. After everything was repaired new subfloor down it went pretty smooth.  I'm 64 I wont do it again!!

 

[Coach J]

40 minutes ago, Bootlegger 659 said:

Huge undertaking... let me clarify,  putting the flooring down is the easy part. Preparing the subfloor was my challenge.  I removed my tile and carpet. Also I found two areas with severe water damage. After everything was repaired new subfloor down it went pretty smooth.  I'm 64 I wont do it again!!

 

Ok. So my floor was fixed and new vinyl put down less than a year ago with the previous owners. So there is no prep for me just to lay the floor.  An you tell me if you did anything to measure and ensure there would be no slide out issues with the new floor. 

[Paul Busch]

I did my sig 3years ago. Use a good quality plank and it goes pretty good. I ran the width of the coach and padded the center up to meet slides without big jump. Lined up the planks nicely. I hade stone at entrance and through kitchen that I squared up lacking flexible matching trim. That was the hardest. The bedroom was as much work as the entry, kitchen and living room.

good luck

paulb

[Coach J]

4 minutes ago, Paul Busch said:

I did my sig 3years ago. Use a good quality plank and it goes pretty good. I ran the width of the coach and padded the center up to meet slides without big jump. Lined up the planks nicely. I hade stone at entrance and through kitchen that I squared up lacking flexible matching trim. That was the hardest. The bedroom was as much work as the entry, kitchen and living room.

good luck

paulb

So no issues with the slide outs not having enough clearance to go over the flooring?

[Paul Busch]

When my slides come in they tip a little. Then the slides are closed they have about 1 1/2” jump but when open with the transition piece there is about 1/4”. I looked at a lot of new coaches and they were putting carpet on the slides to jump over the drop.maybe people have luck with wood but as a retired builder for 45 years I wouldn’t put wood in my coach. All the box stores have some good quality vinyl plank and like I said you can build up the middle to make it work.

The good planks will have a good lock and go together with a rubber block and you will be able to plane the lock off with a little hand plane and use Elemers wood glue to fix in place. The only trouble with good locking is when you get to a wall and no room to lock in place. Cheap stuff will un lock if you pad it up to much. You won’t have any trouble. There is lots of help on this site.

[Coach J]

14 minutes ago, Paul Busch said:

When my slides come in they tip a little. Then the slides are closed they have about 1 1/2” jump but when open with the transition piece there is about 1/4”. I looked at a lot of new coaches and they were putting carpet on the slides to jump over the drop.maybe people have luck with wood but as a retired builder for 45 years I wouldn’t put wood in my coach. All the box stores have some good quality vinyl plank and like I said you can build up the middle to make it work.

The good planks will have a good lock and go together with a rubber block and you will be able to plane the lock off with a little hand plane and use Elemers wood glue to fix in place. The only trouble with good locking is when you get to a wall and no room to lock in place. Cheap stuff will un lock if you pad it up to much. You won’t have any trouble. There is lots of help on this site.

Ok. I think I am going to give it a shot. Thank you 

[Paul Busch]

I wii bet on you bobby j

[jacwjames]

Here is a thread I started in Dec 2021 and finished early last year.  A soft floor forced me to redo the flooring in the front of the coach but decided to just replace all the old flooring plus I did the slide platforms under the couch, bed, and engine hatch cover.  There are a number of pictures plus comments & suggestions from other Monacoers.