Laminate Flooring Job Is Finished

[GaDawgFan]

After many posts here and lots of great advice, I finally finished the floor. It took three weekends of work but it was well worth it. The motorhome is so much brighter and has a larger "feel" to it now. Best of all, we took the kids caming for the three day week end, and I did not care what they tracked in, nothing that a broom and a damp sponge could not handle. Thanks again to all that provided the great advice. Here are the pictures:
Laminate Flooring

[GaDawgFan]

After many posts here and lots of great advice, I finally finished the floor. It took three weekends of work but it was well worth it. The motorhome is so much brighter and has a larger "feel" to it now. Best of all, we took the kids caming for the three day week end, and I did not care what they tracked in, nothing that a broom and a damp sponge could not handle. Thanks again to all that provided the great advice. Here are the pictures:
Laminate Flooring

[Richard 34A]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by GaDawgFan:
After many posts here and lots of great advice, I finally finished the floor. It took three weekends of work but it was well worth it. The motorhome is so much brighter and has a larger "feel" to it now. Best of all, we took the kids caming for the three day week end, and I did not care what they tracked in, nothing that a broom and a damp sponge could not handle. Thanks again to all that provided the great advice. Here are the pictures:
Laminate Flooring </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Wow! Looks great; how long do you think it will take you to do my MH? And how soon can you get started?

[teeman]

WOW thats GREAT you did a nice job. Like richard when can you start mine.

[Belgique]

Very nice

Some questions because we have to do this too...3 dogs and a carpet are not made for each other!

Are you a skilled woodworker? This job sure looks like you are so wonder if this wood butcher can handle it.

What brand etc of laminate did you go with. On the other forum there is often hand wringing over the laminate getting wet and poofing up.

What did you put down in the galley? Looks different. (But great!)

Slides!!! I think they scare me the most on starting this.

Others have said that getting the carpet up was hard too.

Thanks for the posting and pix! Steve

[GaDawgFan]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Belgique:
Very nice

Some questions because we have to do this too...3 dogs and a carpet are not made for each other!

Are you a skilled woodworker? This job sure looks like you are so wonder if this wood butcher can handle it.

What brand etc of laminate did you go with. On the other forum there is often hand wringing over the laminate getting wet and poofing up.

What did you put down in the galley? Looks different. (But great!)

Slides!!! I think they scare me the most on starting this.

Others have said that getting the carpet up was hard too.

Thanks for the posting and pix! Steve </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

First, no, I am not an experienced wood worker. 90% of the cuts I had to make were just straight cuts. I used a cheep Black and Decker jig saw to do all of the cutting. The most important thing to remember was to leave a 1/4 inch around all of the sides for expansion. I then glued quarter round down to cover the gap.

I used a product made by Mannington it is called Centerville Oak. Honestly, I was going to buy from Home Depot and just happened to go into a local flooring company that was a lot more expensive but as I was talking to a salesman he showed me this flooring that he has left over that he could not reorder. Long story short, it was not enough for them to sell for a regular job, so he sold it to me for 50 cents/sq ft just to get it out of his warehouse. Needless to say, I accepted his offer! I would not worry too much about the water issue. In the area around the shower, sink and kitchen I used a silicon sealant around the edges and in the 1/4 inch gap to prevent water from seeping in. I will keep an eye on this an make sure that standing water gets wiped up after showers..etc. I also have a few extra pieces of the wood just in case I do encounter a problem down the road.

The galley originally had vinyl tile that I replaced with some new tile from Home Depot (99 cents a square). The original tile was stick on as well so all I had to do was heat it up a little with a heat gun and it peeled right up. I then just peeled the paper off of the new tile and stuck it down where the old tile was. I used a razor knife for triming and then but down some reducer pieces of flooring to make the transition from the wood floor to the tile.

The slides were really not that bad. In my Itasca, the slides do not slide over the floor, which might have scratched the flooring. Instead, the slide seems to come in and then when it "seats" seems to then settle and rest on the floor. There is no rubbing and after driving through the mountains of North Georgia this past weekend there is not a scratch on the floors from the slides. I just pulled up the carpet and then used a razor knife to get as far under the couch as possible I then was able to get just enough of the edge of the flooring under the slide as to hide it. It looks as though it was factory installed.

Overall, while it was time consuming and challanging (I had to remove the drivers seat to do that area) it was well worth the time I invested.

[Belgique]

Thanks for the great answers! I'm getting my courage up. One last request. Sometime could you take a pix of the slide detail in both extended and in? I'm unsure how you finish that off. I think my 2001 Itasca 35U uses the same slides (from HWH)so those pix would be very informative. Thanks again. Oh, by the way, I'm a Gator Steve