DuChateau LVT Planks - anybody seen these?

[pago cruiser]

We have bounced around from sheet vinyl, to vinyl squares, to carpet squares, to cork, and are now looking at (per the dealer) an upper end LVT plank from DuChateau. About 2X the price of a quality sheet vinyl; but it sure looks nice. Oddly, a search on the site, or a couple other RV sites does not come up with this name of product.

This would be glued down. The finish is described as "Prime urethane and ceramic bead coating with anti-microbial nano-silver particles". I know most of those words... , but have never seen them strung together exactly like that...

But they must have some validity: the manufacturer warranty is 20 years residential or 10 years commercial.

Planks are 1/8", with a 22 mm wear layer.
Here is a link to the product,
http://duchateau.com/product-categor...ic-collection/
Not that it matters much... but wifey likes the "Olde Dutch" color. Me? I like what she likes...

and here is a link to the install instructions:
http://duchateau.com/app/uploads/201...ation_2013.pdf

Anybody used them? The dealer has a big old Mallard that is really cool, and is using this product, and he also does the installs himself. We talked awhile and he stressed the importance of sub-floor prep. It seem she has covered all the bases - I just wish I could find ...other comments about the product.

[Jim & Susan]

Not familiar with that company, but their website reads like they are on the high end of the product line (maybe expensive?).

There are many manufacturers of LVT, and many different types & styles of LVT. Some don't need to be glued down, they just snap together. Some can be glued and then grouted to give a tile look.

Check with Home Depot or Lowes to get some price comparisons. We're going to be doing our kitchen in LVT this year (in the house). I did sheet vinyl in the kitchen back around 2003/2004. I will never make that mistake again. LVT can be installed directly over sheet vinyl (usually) without going to the hassle of first removing the vinyl.

Jim

[pago cruiser]

Does not seem much more than other similar stuff: about $3.50/ sq. ft. About the same as the Traffic Master Allure Ultra.
The sheet vinyl we were looking at was $1.95 sq. ft. And since we are only looking at maybe 160 sq. ft. or so, quality, durability, and longevity is of more concern than price.

We REALLY like the cork; but after talking to the same vendor (who had cork in his own Motorhome), it seemed like the maintenance could be more than we wanted - or could always remember to do ALL THE TIME, WITHOUT FAIL. It gets so dry here, that without some humidification, the cork drys and splits. The vendor solved this (mostly) by always keeping a couple buckets of water in the motorhome when not being used, with an AC floor fan continually circulating the air. Not hard, but forgetting to do it, or doing it and forgetting to move a bucket before you take off somewhere, would not be beneficial to the floors longevity.

The DuChateau installation literature does NOT have the general exclusion I have seen for some of the products of this ilk: product must be used at temps between 55 and 85F. Dang. That stuff could only marginally be used in a stored motorhome in San Diego, at the beach, with one of the most benign climates around: winter design 42F, summer 84F. I fail to understand how this could be considered an acceptable product if this were true. It would seem like the lawyers wrote this, as lots of folks seem to have this product with few, or no problems - and I would be they are not all in Sandy Eggo.

We are at 4000' elevation, and typically run about 10F cooler than Tucson; great in summer, not so much in winter. Which means we will see temps in low teens in winter, and break 100 a few times each summer.

At any rate, the DuChateau install literature DOES talk about expansion:
"Like hardwood, vinyl does expand and contract with environmental conditions: "Please note that up to a .2mm gap (edit - yes, 0.2) between tiles is acceptable."

That converts to about 0.0078, or appx 1/128", or about 2X the thickness of an "average" human hair, and slightly less than the diameter of a grain of salt (0.3mm).

That's a pretty definable value. That also seems acceptable to us; as I cannot find this type of detail on other manufacturer's sites.

[ROBERT CROSS]

.....I do nothing to 'improve' homes, when something breaks...I or someone fixes it.

But LVT....I had to look that one up.

Vinyl is for music, that is until folks realized it could be a cheep alternative to warm wood, now we have Luxury Vinyl that looks like wood.

meh....our kitchen vinyl is retro-sheek, it's SO ugly it's Kool.


I have to go now, I need another glass of altitude improvement .....

Bob

[Wayne&Sam]

Originally Posted by pago cruiser

Planks are 1/8", with a 22 mm wear layer.
.

Does not compute.....

[pago cruiser]

Good catch.
Make that 0.55 mm (22mil) wear layer.
I hate it when that happens....

[eggman]

a flooring dealer convinced me to be sure to use solid vinyl plank rather than vinyl laminate if I was concerned about moisture. the fibrous particle board like substance the vinyl is laminated to will expand if moisture should get between the cracks of the planks.

[comprose]

Not familiar with the DuChateau brand, but right now we are having LVT installed in our motor home, replacing tired carpet. Purchased the flooring from Great Floors and having it installed by Wescraft RV in Fife WA. All said do glue down; too much movement for snap-on. Will have to re-weight the rig as the new flooring will add around 200#. To get a thorough job done we opted for a profession outfit as there's a lot of heavy lifting involved removing chairs, couches, and even the whole dinette. Might be able to post some pics when we get it back this week and get ready to take off for southern CA, AZ, NM, heading for Nashville, then Lincoln NE, and back to the Northwest - - about five or six weeks.

[Larry C]

Originally Posted by pago cruiser

We have bounced around from sheet vinyl, to vinyl squares, to carpet squares, to cork, and are now looking at (per the dealer) an upper end LVT plank from DuChateau. About 2X the price of a quality sheet vinyl; but it sure looks nice. Oddly, a search on the site, or a couple other RV sites does not come up with this name of product.

This would be glued down. The finish is described as "Prime urethane and ceramic bead coating with anti-microbial nano-silver particles". I know most of those words... , but have never seen them strung together exactly like that...

But they must have some validity: the manufacturer warranty is 20 years residential or 10 years commercial.

Planks are 1/8", with a 22 mm wear layer.
Here is a link to the product,
http://duchateau.com/product-categor...ic-collection/
Not that it matters much... but wifey likes the "Olde Dutch" color. Me? I like what she likes...

and here is a link to the install instructions:
http://duchateau.com/app/uploads/201...ation_2013.pdf

Anybody used them? The dealer has a big old Mallard that is really cool, and is using this product, and he also does the installs himself. We talked awhile and he stressed the importance of sub-floor prep. It seem she has covered all the bases - I just wish I could find ...other comments about the product.

The first question I would have is how can a material thickness of 1/8" have a wear layer of 22mm? Either there is a decimal point in the wrong place, or the thickness of the material in more than an inch thick....
For whatever it's worth, 1" is near 25 mm....

Larry

[comprose]

Should have added that the price (above) from Great Floors was $3.19 sq. ft. We required 142 sg. ft. Adhesive was $43.50 for the gallon.

[pago cruiser]

Corrected 2 posts up: indeedy, 22 mil wear, .55 mm
I tried to edit the original (like you can do on other sites) but did not see how to do it here.

[Jaxon]

Originally Posted by pago cruiser

The finish is described as "Prime urethane and ceramic bead coating with anti-microbial nano-silver particles". I know most of those words... , but have never seen them strung together exactly like that...

.
Made my day...
.

[DavidsonOverlander]

Originally Posted by Larry C

The first question I would have is how can a material thickness of 1/8" have a wear layer of 22mm? Either there is a decimal point in the wrong place, or the thickness of the material in more than an inch thick....
For whatever it's worth, 1" is near 25 mm....

Larry

Right. This was corrected in post #6.

[rodsterinfl]

Hmm. I am digging through the "flooring" threads today as I receive my IVC plank tomorrow and will be prepping to install it. It is lock-type and I plan to lay it over the vinyl. Do you think it will have to be glued?