Installing new floors 06 Diplomat, does it create slideout issues ?

[tc914-8]

I am planning on replacing my carpet with Pergo laminate flooring. I was told by removing the carpet I will have problems with the slide outs coming back in. The person giving me advise has worked at a local RV shop since 1990(met him at my wife’s work party) I trust his opinion but just think the slides shouldn’t use or rely on the carpet to help stabilize the movement.
Any comments or opinions welcome,
Thanks !!!

[Chargerman]

It is possible that adding new flooring may affect your slides but it's moe likely that it will not. It will depend on what type of slide you have and with that what type of rollers are with T the slide. If you are just considering adding new flooring in the living area you will likely only need to be conserved on where or not you have a kitchen that has a peninsula area in the kitchen. In other words, an area of cabinets that juts out into the room. If you do there will be a roller under that area that will need to be adjusted. It will be accessible by removing the floor of the cabinet in that area. It is likely that all other rollers in the front are stationary rollers that are attached to the floor of the coach and therefore do not move with the slide. I have not dealt with replacement in the bedroom but I'm sure that there will be rollers under the bed to be delt with. I'm sure someone will chime in with direction in there. Likely they are adjustable if needed and under the bed. In my case I have tile and carpet to deal with. I tried to choose a laminate that was close to the tile thickness to minimize any needed adjustments. I have not adjusted a stationary roller and am not sure if they are adjustable but you can move your slide in about 8" or so and then jack the slide up some from the outside to further investigate. Be sure to use a 2x6 or wider piece of board at least 2 feet long to distribute the load on the bottom of the slide.

[hardy1000]

[K7JV]

We have a laminate floor in our '06 Dynasty, installed by the factory at manufacture. It is great! Easy to clean and maintain, and good looking. In the winter, in the front and rear sections that don't have a basement under them, it can be a bit chilly on the bare feet, but other than that, it is great!

They could NOT put the Pergo type flooring on the slides, however. That is because when our front slide is in, that would leave the long edge off of the main floor and unsupported for a few inches and highly vulnerable to breakage, and when extended, would create an unacceptable vertical break at the edge of the slide floor. So they installed the normal carpet on the slide floor. But it looks good and works great!

As for rollers, I don't know that answer. But wouldn't a person think that if there were rollers of any kind on the bottom of the slides that would truly roll on the carpet, there would be indentations of some kind when the slide is extended that would show the roller "tracks" in the nap of the carpet, especially at the spot where the rollers would rest when fully retracted? So is there any contact between any rollers and the carpet. If not, the laminate flooring shouldn't be any thicker than the carpet, should it? I don't know this answer, but it makes sense to me. On our coach, there is no indication of trouble on the laminate from 13 years of the slide being run in and out.

I think you will really enjoy your new flooring.

[Smhutto]

Originally Posted by tc914-8

I am planning on replacing my carpet with Pergo laminate flooring. I was told by removing the carpet I will have problems with the slide outs coming back in. The person giving me advise has worked at a local RV shop since 1990(met him at my wife’s work party) I trust his opinion but just think the slides shouldn’t use or rely on the carpet to help stabilize the movement.
Any comments or opinions welcome,
Thanks !!!

You might try getting in touch with Ernie Ekberg. He is one of the best known RV flooring installers and doesn’t mind answering questions for DIY’ers. You can search for him on IRV2 as “Ernie Ekberg”. He’s now got a page on Facebook where you can direct message him. If all else fails you can also Google him.

[DennisZ]

I have an appointment with Ernie in 4 weeks to have the carpet in my bedroom replaced with wood, he will only use engineered hardwood, 3/8” is prefered to 1/2”. He’s done many coaches, nobody has complained about hitting issues from all the posts I’ve seen.

Dennis

[tc914-8]

Thanks, I was thinking the same thing about the rollers leaving
Tracks or ruts in the carpet. I’m thinking the guy I was talking to didn’t understand I had a Diplomat.

[Smhutto]

I haven been working on the front drivers side slide on my 06 Diplomat 40DST today. On mine... no rollers on bottom of slide (i.e., that would press flooring) . Rollers are attached to the coach and the slide sits on them. When my slide is brought in the slide bottom does not touch the flooring.

[ivykrewe]

I replaced carpet on my 2001 Dynasty with Brazilian walnut with no problems. Replaced carpet on 2007 Dynasty with ceramic tile with no problems. My wife loves the tile. If she is happy i am happy.

[rlbow43]

Originally Posted by K7JV

They could NOT put the Pergo type flooring on the slides, however. That is because when our front slide is in, that would leave the long edge off of the main floor and unsupported for a few inches and highly vulnerable to breakage, and when extended, would create an unacceptable vertical break at the edge of the slide floor. So they installed the normal carpet on the slide floor. But it looks good and works great!

I PM'ed Ernie Ekberg about this issue not long ago. I had the same concern. He told me that for flush floor slides that tip up and ride above the floor of the coach, he advises his customers to use pool "noodles" [those long foam things you can play with in a swimming pool] to place under the lip that is unsupported to protect it. Sounds like a plan. I'm in the middle of a floor replacement and am trying to decide between hard surface and carpet on the slide for this very reason. I figured you need 3/8" plywood to extend over the slide transition area [what you're trying to hide], but Ernie said he uses the 1/4" [actually 5 or 5.2 mm] plywood. Must be stronger than it looks with the engineered wood flooring glued to it. I'm using luxury vinyl plank [LVP, 8 mm] and its pretty solid on the floor, but it is flexible enough that it probably isn't near as strong as the engineered wood Ernie uses. For the slide overhang that might be enough to go with carpet instead of hard surface if LVP is being used. It did cross my mind to use a piece of metal for the overhang, but didn't think that was probably the thing to do - weight and all.

Just another opinion. Hope it helps someone.

[RileyCaton]

We replaced the carpet with vinyl plank flooring in the living area of our 06 Diplomat 40PDQ. Our Dip has a floor level slide on the driver side and a slide on rollers on the passenger side. We set the flooring at the same level as the kitchen tile. We had to add plywood to raise the floor to that height. I beveled the plywood so the floor level slide wouldn't snag when it came in.

We installed Guardian Plates on all of the slides and use use Slide-out Slickers on the floor level slide to raise it slightly to prevent scratching when it is retracted.

[tc914-8]

Thanks Riley, I think it makes sense now. I looked at my drivers (road) side and do not see a problem. If the curb side has rollers I will make provisions for the proper heights of the tile. I’m sure I can make it work.

[tc914-8]

Hi Riley,
I pulled the Dip out of the RV cover and extended all the slides. Yes the road side has a “ramp” that pushes the slide up as it retracts. I see huge gouge marks from where the couch bolts dug into the nylon ramp, and I see the bolts have been backed out or pushed out. I’ll fix all that during the “remodel”. The kitchen side has fixed rollers keeping the slide above the carpet.
I think I have a handle on it. I’ll post some before and after pics soon !!!!
Thanks for the info,
T&C

[RustyTools]

Riley -
Please tell me more about the 'Slide-Out Slickers' you mentioned. Looking at them online and I have a question. How are they different than similar-size pieces of flexible cutting-board material (maybe teflon)? Not dissing you, just trying to get a comparison because they seem to cost a lot more. Thanks.



{I hope this isn't too far off-topic }