Community Forums

Greg5OH · 08-23-2019, 09:56 PM

The rot is not so bad, as in its not all pulling out as a rotten mess. As in it takes some force to actually splinter and lift the wood. Normally I would start cutting and lifting it all out, But i cannot access about half of the carriage bolts from underneath due to all the holding tanks etc.

The goal is to lay tile in all the coach. WHich will require a hardy backer board, and a sound substrate. I am trying to minimize excessive floor thickness buildup.
I am 6'3", clearance height with the old floor was 6'5"
Should I just use a wood petrifier/epoxy, or go through actually pulling up as much of the subfloor as possible?

Greg5OH · 08-23-2019, 11:31 PM

Actually i just though of this:
Could i cut the heads off, pull the planks up, and just use multiple trailer decking screws to hold the new plywood down?

Wht should i do about the luan wall cladding? its not visible but also dont want to do a half ass job...but also dont want to be pulling the entire side of the RV off to completely replace the luan panels...
Knock off the brittle dry rotted stiff, treat it all with epoxy and slap a cover plate on it? None of that area is visible, its all behind counters

Dav L · 08-24-2019, 06:57 AM

Tile / backboard...lots of weight...can your rig handle it? And still have capacity for normal stuff (people, food, clothes?)

The carriage bolts - aren't they holding something Up below deck? ie: you can't cut the heads off and remove them. And, they need to be tightend up against the new floor. Do you really need to tile in those spots? or can you tile around that piece of plywood that is carrying the bolts? Side benefit is less weight.

Luan: are you speaking of interior Luan or exterior (laminated to the fiberglass filon wall?) You certainly should not be messing with the exterior. That would be a big project to do anything with. The interior is no big deal. Just remove all stuff on the wall, cut a parting line in the board, and yank it off and replace it. Ideally you can reuse the old board as a template for the new if the parting lines are complicated (jog around stuff).

sounds like a neat project. Be sure to take pics and document and post!

Greg5OH · 08-24-2019, 07:56 AM

Carriage bolts are sandwiching floor to the steel frame, so not holding anything up rather pinning the chassis down.
The ones that i can access from below ill take the nut off and pop the bolt up, but im thinking for the ones i cant-cut the head off and replace with multiple trailer decking screws.

Regarding weight-it already had tile in half of the rv, so im only adding maybe another 2-300lbs over the engineered hardwood that im replacing.

Im actually about 20mins south of you in Ortonville!

crb478 · 08-24-2019, 08:11 AM

Your floor actually doesn't look that bad. If it is basically solid except for a few spots I would use epoxy or wood restorer to fix the problem areas. I would also tend to stay away from the tile , mainly because of the weight but also since any flexing will tend to make it crack and fail. I would lay down an additional 1/4 inch sheet of underlayment (glued and screwed) and put either vinyl tiles or plank flooring on top of that.

As for the walls try to cut the rotten areas back to the nearest studs only as high as you need to go. Get some thin aluminum to span between the studs behind the luan to span both the old and new edges. Fasten it to the studs and then fasten the new luan in place also glued/screwed/nailed.

arcaguy · 08-24-2019, 08:20 AM

In order to harden up the soft spots you might look at a product called GitRot. It's a water thin epoxy sold at boat shops. It's not cheap but it works. I have used polyester (fiberglass) resin thinned with acetone to do the same thing. Just make sure everything is dry before you start for best results. I'm with the other posters as far as tile goes, but is you really want to use it type 1 adhesive may be better than thin set as it is at least a little flexible. Good luck.

jacwjames · 08-24-2019, 08:31 AM

If you do go the epoxy route make sure to cover everything you can reach underneath that area of the floor. The epoxy will run everywhere and find any voids or cracks and you'll end up with a mess underneath if there is an avenue for it to run.

I used epoxy to strengthen a large slab door (7' X 44") I built out of spalted Sassafras. Before I used the epoxy I could have broken the slabs apart by hand, afterwards it was strong and held everything together. I even filled some large voids. Worked great and fast.

153stars · 08-24-2019, 08:55 AM

All in all doesn't look too bad. I would give a good machine sanding,any small high spots will show through LVP or mess with tiles worse than a few gentle waves under. Maybe epoxy coat whole floor.
If you use a heat gun with epoxy it will go thin as water and wood will suck right in. I had some spongy OSB on TT, it turned hard as rock. I spread it , heated spread again, repeat. Similar methods used for hardening soft planks on wooden boats. I had a true variable heat gun set medium high ,ton of ventilation and vapor mask. Some of those divots could be filled with bondo after a quick coat epoxy and some sanding. Unless natural finishes,Bondo is great wood filler IMHO.

Greg5OH · 08-24-2019, 09:13 AM

So the consensur seems- cutting and replacing the wood isnt necessary, rather sand it good, epoxy it well, and possibly add 1/4” plywood glued and screwed to take up any wavyness?

RKins · 08-24-2019, 10:03 AM

Do you have a slide out? If so, you need to keep the total thickness down to maybe 5/16" or the slide rollers will struggle getting over the lip?

Greg5OH · 08-24-2019, 11:21 AM

No slides on it.
89 monaco crown royale

BonS · 08-24-2019, 08:48 PM

Skip the Hardibacker or Durock all together. Use Ditra. It's available at Home Depot. Thin, light, it does a great job of isolating the tiles from the stress of the floor flexing, and you cut it to fit with scissors. Simple, fast and awesome. I've laid a lot of tile and have been using Ditra for two decades. Great stuff.

Greg5OH · 08-24-2019, 09:50 PM

Thanks Bon. Its Shluter product, i would trust my life to Shluter stuff.
I was thinking of using an uncoupling membrane. Especially as its a 12x24 tile.
Would you recommend a polymer modufied thinset between tile and Ditra, or an adhesive?

BonS · 08-25-2019, 10:49 AM

I always use a modified thinset. Soupy mix underneath the Ditra and regular mix on top. I only use adhesive on backsplashes so I don't have any experience using it on flooring.