Replacing Carpet

[scotsman1]

We have a 2005 Dolphin 5355 and are considering replacing the carpet with vinyl. We would appreciate hearing from anyone who has had this done. The floor area around the kitchen sink, stove, fridge and the bathroom area is vinyl with the rest carpeted. We would have a shop do the work but wonder if there are problems unique to a motorhome that we should bring to their attention. Also would they have to tear out the vinyl as well as the carpet?

[scotsman1]

We have a 2005 Dolphin 5355 and are considering replacing the carpet with vinyl. We would appreciate hearing from anyone who has had this done. The floor area around the kitchen sink, stove, fridge and the bathroom area is vinyl with the rest carpeted. We would have a shop do the work but wonder if there are problems unique to a motorhome that we should bring to their attention. Also would they have to tear out the vinyl as well as the carpet?

[Never_be_Rich]

We replaced the carpet on a 1997 Dolphin 536S with laminate. The major problem was getting all the staples out from under the slide. The second problem (that you should not have with vinyl) was trimming the edges of the liminate. Many of the corners in the motor home are rounded rather than square.

[jerseyjim]

My 2001....when asking the dealership mechanic about replacing the carpet with laminate...he said not to...or be real careful. He claimes the slide out can scratch the laminate (wood) flooring. Pulling the carpet and getting laminate is something I'd like to do, but.......

This true?

[H. Dossett]

Jersey,

I replaced the god awful carpet in my '01 with a 6"x36" lap glued planked vinyl (trade name Traffic Master) from home depot. It was a big job removing the carpet, must have has a ton of staples in it. Took me about two week working two to three hours a day. Where there was already sheet vinyl, I left it in place just trimming and cleaning the edges and used a cement base leveling mix and feathered it out about a foot. It is a tough vinyl that seem to be standing up to the slide. I do try to put something under the slide to help it along. I don't think I would put wood or laminate, or sheet vinyl under the slide because if a little rock or such gets under it it would gouge the wood or sheet goods.

After all said and done, it turned out great. Best upgrade I could have made. Wish I had had it while full timing but tools and a place to live while working on it were not available.

I could post a photo if I only knew how.

[GraciesMom]

We're tearing out the carpet tomorrow. I'm putting down composite vinyl squares but I'm going to carpet the slide, the area around the captains chairs, and the sides of the stairs. I am not looking forward to this. A friend that is a maintenance supervisor and has done vinyl and carpet forever is helping me, but he's never done an RV. I'm going to put a rug in front of the sofa. Now I'm concerned about the vinyl getting scraped . . . any way to prevent that?

[Zogman]

How do you get to the carpet that is underneath the slide?

[Never_be_Rich]

On my Dolphin, there is a metal/ rubber seal that runs the full length. With the slide extended, you can remove the seal and pull the remaining carpet. I used a pair of 11 inch needle nose pliers to pull staples and bits of carpet.. My unit has a rack and pinion slide mechanism, so I pulled the slide in a foot or two and was able to lift it an inch or two from the inside and get under it for remaining staples. The carpet and padding under the rollers were a problem ... just had to keep at it a bit at a time. Putting the laminate under the slide was easy, put a few sections together and sled under it.