Best new flooring???

[Suzzeee]

We love the look of our new Marmoleum. We had the sheet type installed at Avalon RV. It's pricey but I like that its durable, green and gorgeous!!

[Bluto]

Originally Posted by TouringDan

egad

Glad you are rethinking your floor plans. I am out of town now, but will post a photo of the tool when I get home Monday or Tuesday.

Dan

Dan,
If you could still post a pic of the tool that you used, I'd like to see it.
I missed reading this thread back in Oct., but I am really enjoying seeing all the different solutions to flooring in trailers.

[TouringDan]

Bluto

The tool I used is called a "pull bar". A picture has already been posted in the second photo by ddruker in post #36. You really need the pull bar to click the flooring into place when you get next the a wall or cabinet. I think it was about $10 at Lowes. Please let me know if you would like more information.

Dan

[Bluto]

Thanks for clearing that up Dan. Yes I saw the other post, but was not sure it was same tool as you were talking about.

[Fishbowl]

Our choice of material was 2' square rubber underlocking tiles over 1/8th" cork underlay. The total height came to just a hair over original carpet height. This facilitated reinstalling removed interior salon and kitchen furnishings.

This installation was relatively straightforward and has far exceeded our expectations concerning insulation, comfort, durability and eye appeal. The removal of 40 year old carpet and cabinetry, gauchoes and other accessories took 1 1/2 days. Removing the deteriorated black backing of the carpet from the floor was really tedious with a paint scraper. The rest of clearing out the shell is pretty much unscrewing and carefully moving out stuff (furnace, fridge, dropleaf table gauchos and cabinets).

Once cleared out, we scribed tar paper everywhere from tongue end rearward to the inner skin around the wheel wells under our kitchen bulkhead where we had removed the carpet and tight to the bathroom and vestibule cabinetry. We did not remove intact factory carpet in the rear storage and utility compartments. We did remove the toilet which wasn't difficult but required my wife's hand's to unscrew plumbing.

Armed with our template in tar paper we worked in comfort out of the trailer cutting the cork underlay and laying out the rubber tiles and cutting to the scribe lines. Skill required a steady hand, good exacto knife and faith in your scribe line. We virtually built the floor outside the trailer and it fit like a glove. There is no adhesive, in theory the floor "floats" but in fact it isn't going anywhere. The joints have remained tight over rough roads, heat, cold and time. The cabinetry screwed in place serves to lock the already tight configuration and the suppleness of the natural rubber is very desirable in a travel trailer. The product is really tough. It is heavy but the weight is well distributed as it covers the entire interior. Cutting and fitting took 1 day.

Reinstallation of all the bits took a concentrated 3 1/2 days. The effect is neutral and clean. We brought the floor alive with area rugs.

[Aage]

Originally Posted by Fishbowl

Reinstallation of all the bits took a concentrated 3 1/2 days. The effect is neutral and clean. We brought the floor alive with area rugs.

Am I missing something here, or will you be showing us the completed floor at some point?

[Fishbowl]

If you click on the Airstream icon to the left you'll see the end product. Sorry about that but I'm just learning how the site works.

[Aage]

OK, now I can see a couple of shots of your floor in your registry photos. Looks very pleasant, and with the underneath you put in, it should be very comfortable as well.

[Steve Bryant]

Originally Posted by Fishbowl

Once cleared out, we scribed tar paper everywhere from tongue end rearward to the inner skin around the wheel wells under our kitchen bulkhead where we had removed the carpet and tight to the bathroom and vestibule cabinetry.

Armed with our template in tar paper we worked in comfort out of the trailer cutting the cork underlay and laying out the rubber tiles and cutting to the scribe lines. Skill required a steady hand, good exacto knife and faith in your scribe line.

Fishbowl,
How did you attach multiple pieces of tar paper together in order to span the entire width of the trailer. Also, where the tar paper is taped to the floor covering, how did you know what to do in the back corners of the trailer since the tar paper does not extend that far?

Thanks,

Steve

[Fishbowl]

The tar paper was joined with gaffer tape but gorilla tape would also do the job. What is brilliant about tar paper is that it lends itself well to the job of scribing, not to flimsy not to stiff. If you take your time the floor coverings will lay exactly to the internal skin or whatever you are scribing to. To answer your second question you can see in the layup photo that in fact the tar paper was scribed to the interior side of the thermoplastic sink/bathtub assembly. The bathroom was not disassembled apart from toilet removal. The brown cork underlay shown in the photo doesn't extend to the full dimension of the tar paper and that is because a salvage off cut of cork completed the underlay pattern at the back end of the template.
The very same process was used for the actual rubber tiles, laying then up as desired and cutting to the scribed tar paper template. Cut variance on the internal skin is negligable. Rubber is extremely elastic and tough which makes it a good choice and there have been no noticeable seam gaps. There was no adhesive used.
Thanks for your interest and good luck if you have a project !

[Steve Bryant]

Fishbowl,
Thanks for your response! I now better understand how you did this and I'm going to give the tar paper approach some more thought. Yes, I do have a project...you can see what I'm into here if you like http://www.airforums.com/forums/f36/...-85517-19.html.

Regards,

Steve

[KJRitchie]

I'm looking for a preowned AS so if I find one that needs a new floor I've beginning to search for examples of floor replacements such as this thread, but I have a few questions.

Aren't these floor systems from Home Depot etc heavy? Are there different thicknesses?

How thick are the pieces? If the floor gets raised a little bit more isn't there an issue fitting it to the door threshold? What about where it meets some carpet that doesn't need replacing?

I don't have the tools nor a space where I could do something like this or even any experience installing floor in a residence but I'm handy with tools. Can a good flooring contractor do this, even though they probably have never worked on a trailer? Seems it could be very expensive to hire out due to the labor time involved.

Do most people remove couches and dinettes and leave kitchen cabinetry, wardrobes, nightsides alone and put floor around it and leave the existing floor that remains inside the cabinets?

I just want to understand this whole process and possible expense if I find one that needs the flooring replaced.

Thanks

Kelvin

[Hoppershot75]

I just laid a floating hardwood laminate in my Avion last weekend. I cannot personally comment on how well it will hold up but from what I have read it should be a good choice. It is reasonably easy to install assuming you have a few tools (miter saw, jig saw, hammer, installation kit, etc.). I did not put it under any of the cabinets and just left a gap around the parameter using the spacers provided in the installation kit. I am going to install the trim this weekend. My 25' camper took around 85 sq. ft. of flooring this does not include the bathroom. I tiled the bathroom.

[Suzzeee]

Nice floor Hoppershot!!

KJRitchie -- we don't really have anyplace to work on our Airstream (nor the skillset for the most part) and we've been fortunate to find an awesome guy to do most of our work... we had our floor replaced with Marmoleum recently and the installation cost was as much as the materials... for our almost 22 foot AS it was a little under $2k total. The trailer originally had carpet but the PO had installed a floating type floor over that - our guy took all of the flooring out and also took out the sofa so he could lay the floor end to end -- I don't believe he took out any cabinets on the side however -- he did replace the original wood molding with aluminum trim (at our request). We're super happy with the results and think it was money well spent!!

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by KJRitchie

I'm looking for a preowned AS so if I find one that needs a new floor I've beginning to search for examples of floor replacements such as this thread, but I have a few questions.

Aren't these floor systems from Home Depot etc heavy? Are there different thicknesses?

How thick are the pieces? If the floor gets raised a little bit more isn't there an issue fitting it to the door threshold? What about where it meets some carpet that doesn't need replacing?

I don't have the tools nor a space where I could do something like this or even any experience installing floor in a residence but I'm handy with tools. Can a good flooring contractor do this, even though they probably have never worked on a trailer? Seems it could be very expensive to hire out due to the labor time involved.

Do most people remove couches and dinettes and leave kitchen cabinetry, wardrobes, nightsides alone and put floor around it and leave the existing floor that remains inside the cabinets?

I just want to understand this whole process and possible expense if I find one that needs the flooring replaced.

Thanks

Kelvin

I think most floating floors weigh about the same and most are about 3/8-1/2" thick. I think that you would not want to put underlayment under the floating floor because that would make it too thick and would cause problems at the door and the refrigerator.

I think it is usually best just to go around furniture and cabinets because it is to much work to remove them and also raising them by 1/2" may cause other problems. However if it is easy to remove an obstacle then do this; do whatever works the best.

I think that attention to detail is important. I think that doing a nice job on the trim is important. If you don't do a nice job on the trim, it reflects badly on how the floor looks.

I do think you need to be handy and have the right tools to do a nice job of installing a floating floor.

I installed cork in my 66 Tradewind. I am very happy with it so far. It is a floating floor. If it does not work out, in a few years, it will be easy enough to remove and replace with something else. Here is a link and photos to what I did (post 3-7):

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f116...nts-94152.html

I think that changing the flooring is a great way to improve any Airstream that you get and it allows you to personalize it. Cost for materials was about $300.

Good luck, Dan

[Air Cruiser]

Hi Suzzee, nice flooring! Is that Marmoleum "Sahara"? That is the one I think we are going with for our Bubble, and it's difficult to tell just how dark/light it is from the online samples. Of course I'll go in person to make the final decision prior to ordering.

Thanks.

Deb

[Suzzeee]

Thanks Air Cruiser! It's Shiitake I think we also got the Sahara sample and a couple others and this one was the winner. It went really well with all the oak and all of the other colors we have layered into the design. You can get free samples from the Forbo website - I agree you really need to see the patterns and colors to choose - the website pics aren't that great.

[Momoffive]

Finally put the new rear floor in this weekend.

We'll be laying home depot allure ultra in clear cherry. This stuff is 100% waterproof, has minimal expansive qualities, clicks together, and carries a 10 year commercial warrantee. It can be cut with a utility knife and requires no special tools. It is only 0.197" thick - so no clearance issues.

I'm really excited to see how it holds up against the 5 children it will be pitted against. I'm going to try to get out there tonight to screw down that new floor and get busy with the final rear room stuff. Will post photos, once further along.

Cristina

[Aage]

Originally Posted by Momoffive

clicks togetherCristina

Well that's new. I thought all the Allure used the "Grip strip" method, where two sides had a one-inch sticky area that gripped the next tile.

In any event, it is great stuff in our home, and we are going to use it in one room this summer to see how it makes it through the winter here.

Love to see your photos when it's done!

[scooterbug76]

We just bought the Allure flooring for our 27" Overlander this week.