Removing carpeting, replacing with ?

[99Limited34]

We're tired on trying to keep the carpeting clean in out 1999 34' Limited... We want to remove the carpeting in the living area and from under the dinette and then replacing it with either linoleum, floor tile or hardwood flooring.. How tough of a project is this? Airstream quoted us about $2400 to do the job....We're thinking of doing it ourselves to try and save a few bucks... Good idea or bad?

[Airstream01]

Great idea. See what I did, HERE

I replaced carpet with cork. Best thing I've done so far, and has held up well(I fulltime). There were concerns voiced that towing and such would cause problems with the glue down tiles, but in over 5k miles of towing, no issues have surfaced.

[jdalrymple]

We used a wood grain vinyl from Lowes. No glue, just rolls out and lays flat. They also sell a 1/4 round trim to go around the edges. EASY to do, costs about 250.00 and has fooled several that it is real wood. We love it.

[fotochop]

..I used VCT tiles..glue down..looks 'period correct' in my '69 (looks just like linoleum, fraction of the cost)..very durable, no issues, easy to keep clean, wide range of beautiful colors...cost me a hundred bucks to do a 23 footer...but you need to make the subfloor VERY smooth, use filler & sand..any bumps or dips will eventually show up in floor..

[mouth012006]

This is what we just finished up in our camper.....it is laminated flooring...I still have to do the trim but that will take a while.

[99Limited34]

Originally Posted by mouth012006

This is what we just finished up in our camper.....it is laminated flooring...I still have to do the trim but that will take a while.

Looks nice...We'd like to do something like that.

[Steve Heywood]

Wow I am having flashbacks.... a project so worth doing, not that hard, although time consuming, I mean we removed EVRYTHING but the fridge and the shower. Would we do it again? yes, now when we did it before it was a glue-snap together floating floor that we got for $.25 a square foot and it looked ok with the oak cabinets, but it chipped when we put the sofa back in We'd still replace the floor but we would do something with less weight and less chip-factor. Lowes has a glue down vinyl that comes in strips some looks like wood some looks like stone but it's thicker and better made then your average peel and stick cheap squares. If you are going to do the work think seriously about the kitchen and bathroom too, you only want to do this project once and those are high traffic high oops areas.
Steve's Wife Amber

[RangerJay]

We have a 19' Bambi and we too wanted to freshen up what had become, quite literally, tired and stale carpet.

We opted for a floating laminate flooring with its own backing - mainly because it was relatively inexpensive, easy to install and easy to replace if it didn't work or we got tired of it. We were warned about some of the downsides of laminate - vulnerable to swelling upone prolonged exposure to water - vulnerable to swelling and shrinking with variations in humidity - and it may show scratches (we have a dog).

Well - it's been exactly a year - 60 nights of camping - 1 northern winter in hibernation - and the floor still looks great - so I don't have any hesitation in saying we're happy with our decision.

The product is a higher end Dupont flooring - with its own backing. It was a conscious decision to stay away from a woodsy look (the rest of the trailer is woodsy enough) and select a relatively neutral flooring that would not show the dirt and grime of camping - that part of the selection process was my wifes department ..... she's good at it.

Installation of the actual floor was fairly easy - the trim was a bit more of a challenge. We had also purchased the floorings matching trim pieces but found them to be a bit over the top so I made my own out of oak to match the rest of the trailer - the challenge came in piecing the trim - airstream cabinetry installed over carpet does not lend itself to easy fitting of any kind of trim - the job got done but it was time consuming.

At the same time I also installed two small 120V baseboard heaters (just 400 W each) linked to a digital thermostat that has an accuracy of +/- .15 degrees C. This was a great addition - on cool nights (above freezing) the temperature of the trailer is virtually constant - there is no getting chilled waiting for the furnace to kick-in and then sweating waiting for it to cycle off. Even on cold nights (below freezing) they cut down on the furnace use a huge amount.

I don't recall the exact cost - but I'm certain it was no more than $500 for everything (including the electrical) - and that might be a bit of a stretch. We're both happy with the end results - and the whole project was inexpensive enough that when we get tired of the floor it will be easy enough to do over (remember - we have a Bambi).



Jay