Our heads are spinning!!! We are about to consider cleaning the original yellow shag carpet (in excelllent shape) in our 1976 Argosy and keeping it after reading of all the controversy surround virtually EVERY flooring choice!
Can anyone give us a simplified overview of the pros and cons of each option?
I second the Marmoleum choice. We've had it in our GlobeTrotter since 2002 and are getting ready to install it in our Safari shortly. Love it...easy to clean, lots of color options, perfect.
Shari
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Vintage Airstream Club - Past President 2007/2008
WBCCI #1824 - DenCO Unit Past President (2005)
AIR #30 - Join Date: 2-25-2002
Here's a third vote for the Marmoleum for the reasons noted above, and as Shari's photos of Maxwell show, it's a very attractive flooring material.
We've had the following types of flooring in our trailers and didn't like them for these reasons:
Laminate - attractive initially but prone to water damage from wet feet, spills, leaks, etc. and also loud with doggy toenails
Carpet - hard to keep clean, high-maintenance
Vinyl - durable and easier cleaning but does have that "vinyl" smell, vinyl with an embossed pattern of any kind traps dirt, and gouges can go through the top color layer leaving visible scratches
Whichever floor you choose, we would recommend from experience staying away from carpet in any trailer. The hard floors are much easier to keep clean while camping.
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Ben & Molly (but Ben never types, so it's always Molly )
This past weekend I installed Bamboo flooring and could not be happier with the look. We pulled the 70's style shag carpet from our '72 tradewind. The carpet was still in decent shape, but those colors had to go. Being luckiy the flooring under the shag carpet was still solid. I selected the Bamboo flooring they sell at Sam's Club, worked out to be about $2.50 a square foot. I installed it side to side rather than front to back (an idea I got on here). The install went well very little waste. The look is awesome and make the unit seem larger. Living in Florida shag carpet is not a good choice because of rain, and sand. The hard wood floors sweep up in less then two minutes. Went by T.J. Maxx and picked up a couple of throw rugs with a '70s feel to them, and we are some happy campers. I used 3 1/2 cases to do the Tradewind. Happy enough I plan to use it on the other 2 Airstreams. Sam's had the best price on the flooring I found, plus each piece has a pre-installed padding, the interlocking was easy and no gluing or nailing. Once the floor is down, just use some quarter round. Easy weekend project. Only tools I used were a hammer for tapping the pieces together, a screw driver to pry the old carpet tacking, and a mieter saw. Hope this information helps. Keep in mind with carpet you don't see the dirt but it's there, with wood you do see it right away, but cleans up easy, and is healthier and easier to keep clean.
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...one more advantage to Marmoleum is it's very light-weight...no more than what we removed. Maxwell had VAT with lovely olive green carpet over it and Birdie had VAT & vinyl peel & stick tiles over it.
Shari
__________________
Vintage Airstream Club - Past President 2007/2008
WBCCI #1824 - DenCO Unit Past President (2005)
AIR #30 - Join Date: 2-25-2002
I'm curious about your subfloor (plywood? thickness?) and preparation for the Marmoleum. From your photos it appears that you used the glue down product, and not the laminate, directly over the original subfloor.
On the Forbo website installation guide, they stress the importance of a solid (i.e. no movement) subfloor, specifically mentioning a 1 inch thickness. As we know, our trailers are always moving (please pardon all of the puns)! Have you had any cracking/splitting of the flooring at subfloor joints, etc?
In my previous 76 24ft Argosy I installed Pergo glue down laminate (tons of work!!!), before the click-lock product had been introduced - I'm a bear for punishment to get the end result. It was wonderful for the 7 years that we had that trailer with heavy use (kids/dog) .... but not my first choice of flooring (cork or marmoleum).
This time I would like to go with my first choice in our 87 29ft.
Marmoleum totally rocks...IF you can afford it and install it.. it's like 4 bucks a square foot and up.. if you're a total d.i.y. CHEAPSKATE like me, you might want to consider commercial "VCT" tiles that they use in hospitals, schools and other institutions.. you glue them down with Parabond (contact cement) and they are stupid durable (that's one reason they use them in institutions) but you are supposed to seal and wax them periodically... totally OLD SCHOOL (like me..) kinda labor intensive, very retro (they look just like the original AS linoleum floor...flecks and all) I'm reflooring my entire 23' Safari for $140...not a misprint
scroll to the bottom pic here to see the kooky grass-green color I'm using:
I'm curious about your subfloor (plywood? thickness?) and preparation for the Marmoleum. From your photos it appears that you used the glue down product, and not the laminate, directly over the original subfloor.
<snip>
Look forward to your feedback and thoughts!
Cheers,
Shane.
Our '64 GT has the original 11/16" plywood subfloor - it's very solid. We sanded the floor smooth after ripping up the old VAT. Then the installer filled the seams & bolts and glued down the sheet Maroleum. We have never had a problem with cracks or seams from the plywood telegraphing through...even after 6 years of 30-75 days per year use & some pretty rough roads boondocking.
Our '56 has a new 3/4" A/B marine plywood floor. The Marmoleum will be installed the same way by the same guy when we are ready. It is very stable with all the connections to the frame...minimal if any deflection.
At about $4.50 a square foot, it isn't too bad. We only had 70 sq ft to cover in the GT...I think the total (includuing installation) was only about $300-350. The Safari is bigger and we will go wall-to-wall so there will be more material but it'll be a much easier (less cuts) installation.
The 12x12 VCT tiles are nice too...lots of colors, same durability. A bit more maintenance involved but more cost effective - if you can live with all the seams.
Shari
__________________
Vintage Airstream Club - Past President 2007/2008
WBCCI #1824 - DenCO Unit Past President (2005)
AIR #30 - Join Date: 2-25-2002
We installed Trafficmaster Allure (available at The Home Depot) last summer in our 24' Argosy. It's a vinyl, plank-shaped product with 3 available wood finishes (Cherry, Hickory, and Oak).
Only need a tape measure, a straight edge, and a utility knife to install. Adhesive strips connect the pieces. It's very flexible vinyl, which made it quite forgiving when "fitting" pieces in tight spaces.
The floor holds up well to 3 dogs, and it takes about 60 seconds to swiffer out the dirt daily on trips.
The product will expand and contract in temperature extremes. We installed our floor on a 100 degree day, and gaps formed when the temps dropped below 60. We visited the trailer 2 weekends ago on a 75 degree day, and the gaps had vanished.
$140 total for materials -- 3 cases of flooring, 3 pieces of matching moulding, and 1 tube of caulk. 3 hours to install it all once the carpet is out and any subfloor repairs are complete.
We would not have considered any other flooring unless we removed the trailer interior. Our trailer is a living home, not a rolling showpiece or palace.
Good luck with your choice.
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Tim
1976 24' Argosy
1973 International Travelall 1010
1973 International Travelette 1210 4x4
The next project in my Excella is going to be replacement of the brown carpet with pre-finished 4mm glue down cork in a light color over 6mm glue down cork under layer. This will make the interior much brighter. The cork will also handle movement. A work of caution, the snap together floating cork has the same particle under layer as the pre-finished wood floors and would be subject to the same vulnerability to water damage. It also shares the weight penalty.
A work of caution, the snap together floating cork has the same particle under layer as the pre-finished wood floors and would be subject to the same vulnerability to water damage. It also shares the weight penalty.
I always caution people about the use of laminates for this very reason. The MDF backing on such floors does not stand up well to water.
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Cameron & the Labradors
Kai & Samm
North Vancouver, BC
Canada
I always caution people about the use of laminates for this very reason. The MDF backing on such floors does not stand up well to water.
As a matter of fact, it was one of your posts that alerted me to the problem. Thanks for the info. My brother has been talking about putting a new floor in his 30’ Excella so I passed the tip on to him.
I learned of the problem in my kitchen, where the previous home owner put down laminate flooring. The side door to the yard is in this room and between me and my two Labradors a fair bit of water gets brought in on our feet when it's rainy (they don't call it the 'wet coast' for nothing). Even with diligent cleaning and drying, it wasn't long before the MDF backing started to swell and cause the joints to come apart.
I'm glad my own experience has been helpful to others.
__________________
Cameron & the Labradors
Kai & Samm
North Vancouver, BC
Canada
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