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FreshAir · 06-07-2010, 12:51 PM

I have taken photos of the finish up process....so far. I did not photo record the start of the cork plank floor installation in our '66 Trade Wind, 24'. The PO had installed the sticky back floor tiles and they were getting unsightly with the tiles shifting a little when warm and the glue creeping along the seams and attracting dirt. Fortunately the PO had removed the old original asbestos 'laced' tiles up to the cabinets. I began removing the sticky tiles with myself sticking to the residue left on the flooring. I researched online on how to remove the glue and became discouraged to the tedious job it would be. I then decided to leave the tiles but better judgement took over and removed these sticky tiles. The floor was so sticky it began removing my shoes as I stepped around. One of the reasons we opted for the 'floating' floor was to allow for expansion and flexing but laying the cork on this glue would not only defeat this but would have been a hullava job. I bought plastic moisture barrier material and laid that down first. That's the blue plastic in the photos. PERFECT solution!
The photo are some what self explanitory. However the do have to be installed left to right, back to front. So I had to start in the rear bath and lay one row then the next, etc. It takes time to cut around cabinets and so. The instuction say to leave a gap of up to 1/4" inch at cabinettes and such for expansion then instal a molding anchored to walls and cabinets leaving the flooring to 'move' under it. A contractor who has laid such flooring says he didn't think the 200 sq feet that I was cinstalling didn't require that much tolerance, so I haven't paid 'that' much to leaving that tolerances.
Neil.

FreshAir · 06-07-2010, 12:52 PM

Yeah, it's lunch time. I'll have more piccys of this install soon.
Neil

FreshAir · 06-07-2010, 01:55 PM

As mentioned I had not planned a photo documentary of this installation but several of you said that you would like my imput. The only install that I had left to do was at the entry. So these first few photos show the way this floor 'clips' together. Other than cutting around 'obstacles' it goes fairly easy. However, if you discover a boo boo a little back in your installation you have to undo your planks installed back to that repair.

The last 2 photos in this post show 1) the way I'm thinking of bordering the edges where I need to cover the gaps at the perimeter. I only placed the molding that you see as an example. What I will use is trim that I will shape myself and stain to match the wall molding and 'pocket' boxes above our beds...last photo.

A couple of more piccys to follow.
Neil

FreshAir · 06-07-2010, 02:05 PM

Well, I have only one piccy left and that comes with a request for guidance here. A molding over where the floor meets the tub has me be-fuddled. I can't use a wood curved one. One suggestion is a plyable caulking to fill this gap. But such caulk attracts and holds dirt. A thin bead of black caulk 'may' work. Waddyou think? I have a similar problem along the storage doors beneath the beds. The doors are hinged at the floor and negates the placement of a molding there. Any ideas.
Neil.

ck21084 · 06-07-2010, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FreshAir

Well, I have only one piccy left and that comes with a request for guidance here. A molding over where the floor meets the tub has me be-fuddled. I can't use a wood curved one. One suggestion is a plyable caulking to fill this gap. But such caulk attracts and holds dirt. A thin bead of black caulk 'may' work. Waddyou think? I have a similar problem along the storage doors beneath the beds. The doors are hinged at the floor and negates the placement of a molding there. Any ideas.
Neil.

My idea would be to purchase some corner round from lowes and nail it in place. You can get some that is made of plastic covered vinyl and use a saw to make relief cuts in the back so that it will bend around the tub.

As for the other situation I am not sure it will work but you could try a flooring transition. these are typically very thin and would cover the gap well.

FreshAir · 06-07-2010, 02:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ck21084

My idea would be to purchase some corner round from lowes and nail it in place. You can get some that is made of plastic covered vinyl and use a saw to make relief cuts in the back so that it will bend around the tub.

As for the other situation I am not sure it will work but you could try a flooring transition. these are typically very thin and would cover the gap well.

Thanks, I know what you are talking about. Any trim around the tub would have to be afixed to the tub not the floor. I could probably screw or rivet the trim to the 'plastic' tub. I am going to Home Depot tomorrow and will check it out.
Neil.

stephenh2 · 06-08-2010, 08:06 AM

There are trims available that are very flexible. I have seen some in a house that ha about a four foot diameter circle in the ceiling that was completely trimmed out in the stuff. We're talking some 6" crown moulding formed into a circle. It is like a flexible foam type plastic with a finished surface. I haven't seen any of it in the big home centers, but Google resulted in good results.

Stephen

FreshAir · 06-08-2010, 04:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephenh2

There are trims available that are very flexible. I have seen some in a house that ha about a four foot diameter circle in the ceiling that was completely trimmed out in the stuff. We're talking some 6" crown moulding formed into a circle. It is like a flexible foam type plastic with a finished surface. I haven't seen any of it in the big home centers, but Google resulted in good results.

Stephen

Just returned from Home Depot. Yur right, they aren't that specialized. We just had all the windows in our home replaced. They used plastic trim for the finish. Looks good. I wished I had paid better attention during the installation and asked some questions. Next trip down the hill to Sacramento I will check with finish carpentry suppliers. Thanks for the tip.
Neil.

Pomfritz · 07-30-2010, 02:20 PM

I love the look of the cork. I had never heard of this as a flooring material before. I went to a flooring store to check it out. 3.99 a sq ft and 1.99 to install. Seems pretty reasonable.

My concerns about this or any similar floor is:

How does it hold up with a dog living in the trailer full time? Looks like you can lay more poly on the floor if needed or they have putty sticks to hide scratches, also you can sand down damaged areas. I would jsut hope it doesn't scratch too much to not worry about how to fix.

I don't want to lay quarter round all over the place especially by the cabinets and walls as there jsut seems to be too many jogs and stuff. I don't want to uninstall everything so I'm thinking may be I could undercut the cabinets for the height of the floor and kind of tuck it under and leave a gap under there if still needed. This way it would give the appearance of the cabinets laid on top of the cabinets.

Not sure how this might work in real life as I don't have my moho yet and have never been inside one. Just planning ahead for all the projects this beact will give me but ripping or the carpet is very high on the list after the mechanicals are in good order.

Ophir · 07-31-2010, 09:32 AM

Putty and sanding don't work on a cork floor. What does work is to grind up left over tiles into a dust and then add glue to make a patch. They don't scratch too easily but if you are going to heavy traffic and/or dogs with long claws then it may not be the best flooring for you.

I have learned a lot after this install. I love the product and the feel but the floor of my AS is very dynamic and therefore all the tiles have flexed and opened up a small gap on all sides so you can clearly see the outline of all the tiles. To the untrained eye this is normal but they are supposed to seam together and look, well, seamless. If I had to do it all over again I don't know that I would put this product in here. If I could start from scratch and take everything out of the AS I would put in a click together cork and go edge to edge with it.

jtnichols · 08-01-2010, 11:56 AM

Ophir,
Great job on the floor. Looks awesome. How do you clean it? Do you just sweep it?
JT

bolerama · 08-02-2010, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pomfritz

How does it hold up with a dog living in the trailer full time?

We have a floating cork floor in one of our bedrooms in our house and had it in one trailer, and just installed it in another trailer. We have 2 dogs (see avatar), and the cork stands up well to their claws. Because it is marbled and textured, I can't even tell if they have gouged it. It looks great. The floating floor has cork on the underside, a rigid center layer, and a cork top layer.

Lisa

oh2bcarefree · 05-01-2012, 07:54 PM

Cork Flooring...

Hi, I know this thread is a couple years old, but I couldn't find another one with my question/answer.

We ordered our cork floating floor tonight. After installation, has anyone put any type of sealer over the top of the cork? If you did, how did it do?

Thanks!

Tina

soldiermedic · 05-01-2012, 08:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oh2bcarefree

Cork Flooring...

Hi, I know this thread is a couple years old, but I couldn't find another one with my question/answer.

We ordered our cork floating floor tonight. After installation, has anyone put any type of sealer over the top of the cork? If you did, how did it do?

Thanks!

Tina

I asked Uwe the same thing about the floating floor cork he had installed. He told me that they could be sealed, but didn't have to be.

InsideOut · 05-01-2012, 08:22 PM

I just got done with installing cork flooring in my SOB Scotty. I put Minwax Polyurethane for floors on it to seal it. I chose the gloss, but it also comes in a semi-gloss. You can see it here: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f417...ml#post1140120

The good thing with an Airstream is the floor is flat, no reason to do all the metal trim.

Shari

InsideOut · 05-02-2012, 12:04 AM

Short post from my iPhone earlier...here's the rest of my thought ~

Quote:

Originally Posted by soldiermedic

...they could be sealed, but didn't have to be.

My cork is glued down - not floating. So I decided to seal it because it would be harder to remove & replace a stained tile - and I've seen what corks look like when soaked in red wine - not the look I am going for! I'm not so worried about the pre-finished surface, more about the seams ~ I'm so used to the seamless Marmoleum floor in our Airstream.

Here are a couple of pics ~

Shari

oh2bcarefree · 05-04-2012, 08:03 AM

Thanks Steve!

Thanks Sheri!

I know, the seams are what I am worried about too. We ended up going with floating as we aren't taking everything out and just replacing a section of floor and it is not flat enough to go with glue down and look pretty. So we didn't have the nice big open space like you had when you did Maxwell and Birdy. Maybe with floating being click together, if we have extra and there is an "accident" we can replace it with some leftovers...

Thanks for all the photos and info!

Tina

FreshAir · 05-05-2012, 08:30 PM

Okay, we've had the cork floor a couple of years now and love it. I did coat it with Minwax polyurathane after the install and it's holding up well. The manufactorer recommends NOT mopping it. However I do damp mop it. Several dropped items have dinged the cork but it looks.....well like cork. The only 'defect. is the color has faded at the door. A door mat there...edge to edge...should help prevent that. Worse to worse they are the last 'planks' that I installed so if it bugs me too much I have leftover 'planks' to replace the faded ones.

Neil

oh2bcarefree · 05-06-2012, 08:04 PM

Thanks Neil. That is great information. I was concerned with a floating floor the coating would chip/peal where the planks meet, but it doesn't sound like it. I think we'll start out with a throw rug by the door based on your experience.

Thanks again!

Tina

FreshAir · 05-06-2012, 11:31 PM

As for replacing the clip and lock planks that you've damaged remember that the first plank installed will be the last that you can remove. I kinda thought of that and began laying the floor begining in the rear bath and the last was at the entry. I figured that the entry would be the most likely to get damaged......unless you have water damage....that can happen anywhere in the coach.

Neil