Walls attached to floating laminate floor?

[Wsmith]

Originally Posted by Bowmans

I have seen some posts where people have used trim and the ones I have seen use a glue of some sort and attach it to the walls (not the flooring). Some used quarter round, others have used the rubber trim like office buildings have which is more flexible for the curves. We didn't leave a gap at all on ours because I didn't want to have to trim it out (I know we probably should have). I figure it it starts to buckle, I could trim later. No buckling or gaps yet in over a year. The only issue we have is we do get some squeaks walking close to cabinets where it rubs slightly but I can live with that.

@reinergirl - I agree as well on flooring after cabinets. We used a floating floor and I want to be able to replace it easily if needed and also pull it up if we find leaks. We also coated the under floor on top with epoxy to seal it off.

Here is a shot after epoxy:


Here is one with the flooring down:

I doubt if you will ever have a buckle especially from side to side. You are only dealing with 88" at the most. I imaging the 1/4" suggested edge gap is taking into consideration floor runs of 50-60'

Your floor looks great.

[Bowmans]

Thanks! That was my thinking as well. We ran the panels (3 tiles across made a panel) width-wise. At the widest spot, there are only 1 and 2/3 panel across.

[shadrick5]

Originally Posted by reinergirl

I'm a long way from doing the floor in my trailer but I've thought about it a lot. IMHO it's easier to make changes later if you put in the cabinets and walls first.

You may not think you would ever want to change the floor again but what if water gets in between the finished floor and the subfloor? What if the material is defective and it curls, marks, shrinks, fades from the sun..... It's a straight forward switch-out if its not under the cabinets. Plus you have the added benefit of being able to see any water damage. My dad was am accomplished woodworker and I remember him saying that wood getting wet was not a problem. Wood getting wet and not being able to dry out WAS a problem. I think epoxying the subfloor before laying anything is an excellent idea.

I HATE the look of shoe molding too, but I think its the lessor of two evils here. I'm hoping to find some sort of cool aluminum trim instead!

I was thinking rope lighting in either LED or standard might be an option for the expansion gap.....

[2vets]

Originally Posted by Bowmans

I have seen some posts where people have used trim and the ones I have seen use a glue of some sort and attach it to the walls (not the flooring). Some used quarter round, others have used the rubber trim like office buildings have which is more flexible for the curves. We didn't leave a gap at all on ours because I didn't want to have to trim it out (I know we probably should have). I figure it it starts to buckle, I could trim later. No buckling or gaps yet in over a year. The only issue we have is we do get some squeaks walking close to cabinets where it rubs slightly but I can live with that.

@reinergirl - I agree as well on flooring after cabinets. We used a floating floor and I want to be able to replace it easily if needed and also pull it up if we find leaks. We also coated the under floor on top with epoxy to seal it off.

Here is a shot after epoxy:


Here is one with the flooring down:

What kind of epoxy did you use? That looks great!

[Bowmans]

We used an epoxy called Tile Clad (1 gallon part A and 1 set gallon B which did 2 coats) from Sherman Williams. They can color it as well so we went with a tan color. I only shows under the bed storage and base of cabinets. It covers really well and dries creating a hard shell which will not let water penetrate.

[casa3805]

And...we begin. For a while I thought we were going to have about 50% wasted boards, but we started getting better...

[casa3805]

Floor is down, except for the bath. Still need to install trim and mount the converter. New chairs replace the old sofa. Cork contact paper on the front lower wall. Now...how to secure the Chairs?? One thing at a time I guess. It is all fun...
Note the Highland Lakes Unit Directory on the little table. Our Unit. I feel like calling them all one by one and telling them "This is not as easy as you said it would be!" Kidding. It looks so much better without the old carpet and many of the members encouraged us to take the plunge. So glad we did.

[Bowmans]

That turned out great!