Community Forums

Banjoman · 02-10-2009, 02:47 AM

I purchased a used 1999 Diplomat last year and am considering replacing the carpet and tile in the coach. The Diplomat has one slide. I am looking at using laminate flooring. I have seen several post where people have already done this but no information is posted on how to run the flooring under the slide. Do the kitchen cabinets have to be removed or can the slide be jacked up for more clearance during floor replacement? I am new to the forum and any help will be appreciated.

walt2137 · 02-11-2009, 02:09 PM

My wife and I replaced the carpet in a 99 dip in 02, was not to hard dont know how the laminated floor would come out but it should not be a real hard job to remove the tile under the cabinets in the kitchen or the carpet in the living room, I will post how I adjusted my kitchen rollers on the 99 dip and then you can just jack the rollers up out of your way with the slide out, be sure to note where 12 to 13 inches on the slide out is. Run the slide out 12 to 13 inches and if you will look in the bottom of the cabinets you should see where you need to remove the cabinet floor to get to the rollers, loosen the lock nut on the roller (each end) back both adjusting screws off until loose (both rollers) then retighten the adjusting screw until the rollers touch + 1/2 round, I used thread lock plus the jam nut. in the living room under the couch there is one roller but it wont be in the way as it is not attached to the slide it is attached to the RV looking up. We removed the couch, drivers side panel (jacked it up), center drawer, seats and slide for the steps.

Walt

Sixpack98 · 02-12-2009, 03:17 PM

Your slide operation sounds like it may be different than our '06 Endeavor. On our coach the lower inside portion of the slide is much higher during the out travel. Just before full extension the bottom of the slide moves into its final position after the top has stopped. Then the bottom of the slide will move into its final position. This allowed access to the area below the cabinets and couch.
I just replaced the carpet with Konecto planking and the slide operation mentioned above really helped fit the planks under the slide with ease. I knew where the planks needed to be and marked a line as a guide. I was surprised how little relief was needed to hide the end of the planks.

Thank the Lord the carpet is gone. Horrible stuff to keep clean in a MH. During the flooring installation I realized why carpet is used in MH's - it hides all kinds of stuff. Much greater care and attention to detail is required with tile and/or planking and carpet is much more forgiving and sloppy installation is forgiven. I left the ceramic tile in the entry, kitchen and bath area. After 3 years it is still in great shape with no grout or tile cracks. Also, it would have required a huge effort to remove plus the cherry planking really compliments the interior of the coach.

Good Luck!!

Garranch · 03-01-2009, 03:29 PM

In our 01 Dip the tile goes completely under the walls. In order to remove it would be a major pain-n-the-a**. The grout is cracked and a few of the tiles are comming loose. We'd like to do something different, but don't want a major project. Any ideas?