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New Member - Question on Flooring Replacement
Hello, my partner (Amy) and I are new to the forum, but full-time Airstreamers for 6 years. We are now replacing our flooring and have questions regarding the proper treatment of the staples which join together our subfloor panels.
Since the floor is bolted down, are these staples (which span the seams between plywood sheets) necessary? They seem to have been put there to hold the edges of the plywood tightly together at the seam. How should I treat the seamed area so that the staples, if left in place, don't show through the vinyl flooring? I plan on using floor leveling compound over all the bolt heads. With regards to the staples, should I just pound them down into the plywood with a hammer and then use floor leveling compound, or should I remove them?
I've torn out the old carpet and found a few areas where water had penetrated, but nothing rotted. One wet area under and around the kitchen cabinets was, I believe, due to a damaged wheel well on the kitchen side. I can see the plywood subfloor from outside the Airstream when I like just anterior to the front tire on the kitchen side. The damage came from a tire blowout that also damaged the trim along the wheel well. I took the trailer to Jackson Center for repair last year, but they missed the gaping damage to the wheel well!!! As a result, every time we drive in the rain it throws water up and we've been having wet carpet in the kitchen area. I just found the damaged area on the wheel well myself. I'm hoping that fixing the wheel well will resolve this problem.
The other area that has some water staining is around the side of the refrigerator facing the living area (we have a rear twin). We've noticed some dampness here at times. I looked at the refrigerator drain, which has small holes through which the water is supposed to drip. Most were clogged up. Took this small plastic fitting off the drain hose, cleaned it out, and reinstalled the fitting onto the hose. I hope this takes care of the problem, but are there any other potential causes in this area that I should check for?
I've read a lot of the forums on flooring choices, and have decided to go with a commercial-grade Allure tile from Home Depot. The commercial has wider, heavier planks than the standard Allure tiles (12" vs 6") so I figure I'll have fewer seems to worry about separation on. I plan on putting on several coats of epoxy to waterproof the subfloor prior to installation of the tiles, then use the leveling compound as described above. I'll acclimatize the tiles for 3 days prior to installation and use a 100 lb roller as suggested by the manufacturer. Hopefully this will do the trick.
Thanks in advance for your advice regarding the subfloor seams.
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