Community Forums

shadrack · 01-30-2010, 07:11 AM

Thanks for the compliments. My DW is who came up with the arrangement and colors, since I am color blind. Some of the other threads about replacing carpeting with tile came up with quotes as high as $10,000 to do it. I have probably a thousand dollars plus about 35 or 40 hours labor into the project. That said, this was a major project. Little more than a year ago I replaced the 32" over the dash TV with a 40" HDTV after rebuilding the cabinet. This past spring I replaced a burned up NorCold refrigerator (another story) with a 23 cu.ft. residential one in which I had to rebuild that cabinet. Both of those projects added together do not add up to this ceramic project. I would NEVER hire myself out to someone else to do this. But I would do it again even knowing what I was getting into. Cutting the tile and replacing the rollers was the hardest part, by far. I anyone starts this, have patience, measure twice and cut once, and be prepared to throw away your mistakes.

tmitchell · 01-30-2010, 07:43 AM

We will definitely copy your method, if we go full tile. Could you explain the hassle of replacing the rollers. I thought all you had to do was open the slide part way. Then manually tilt the top further outward until you could put some lumber under the slide floor. Then unbolt the rollers and add the new ones.
Although it sounds fairly simple, ha,ha, what problems did you encounter?
Does the slide operate with the same ease?
Thank you for all the valuable information.
My wife would also have to pick out the color of the tiles, that would look good, since I am also color blind.
Tom

Ernie Ekberg · 01-30-2010, 06:27 PM

although I don't install tile, I do install wood and luxury vinyl tile

shadrack · 01-31-2010, 10:17 AM

Replacing the slideout rollers (5) is the hardest part because I haven't accomplished it yet. The first set of rollers I got from Newmar were the wrong ones. After speaking with Jeff (service) and Christy (parts) I now have the correct ones. I hope. I have lifted the slide with two wheel borrow inner tubes. That raised the slide about 2 inches. Not enough. So I purchased a third tube and was going to try today. But the weather went south, so I'll give it a shot Wednesday. The most you can lift the slide is about 4 inches due to running into the ceiling. So, there's not much working space to get under there to remove the screws. I hope that it may be possible to just remove the axle the rollers ride on and then replace the rollers. It's just another one of these snags or obstacles that we run into in our endeavors. Newmar Jeff described how they change the rollers. I would never try their way myself. I'll let y'all know how it works out with the change. Wish me luck.

tmitchell · 01-31-2010, 11:20 AM

Wishing you good luck in having an easy time replacing the rollers.
When you put the tubes under the slide floor is the slide partially extended and does it tilt the upper part outboard?
What was Jeff's method?
Tom

Ernie Ekberg · 01-31-2010, 11:58 AM

How about posting some photos of your rollers.

shadrack · 02-04-2010, 04:18 PM

Below are, I hope, photos of the rollers. The white are the new roller, the dark the old ones, (both shown installed) and the pair on the table show the difference in size. The new rollers are 3/8" smaller diameter and about 1/2" wider. Which really caused some problems. After I changed all five, the slide would not close. It hung up on the ramps. So I had to rework the ramps which about ran my patience out. I didn't realize 3/16" would mean so much. All in all, the project turned out really well but I'm not sure I would start it again knowing what I learned just replacing some carpeting with tile.

tmitchell · 02-04-2010, 04:24 PM

What do you mean by "rework the ramps"? Did you have to use some type of compound so there would be a smooth transition for the rollers to climb onto the tiles?
Thanks for all the useful information and pictures.
Tom

shadrack · 02-08-2010, 08:23 AM

The ramps that the rollers "ramp up on" when closing were adjusted and the right length for carpeting when the coach came from the factory. But when I had to put in a 3/8" subfloor and then the tile on top of it, they were at the wrong angle and too short to reach the top edge of the tile. I had to lengthen the ramps and kind of change the angle of slope on them. I tried three or four different ways. The problem was that I had to change all five ramps at a time before I could try the slide. And if it didn't work, then take apart five slide changes and try five different ones. It's time consuming and very aggravating. Thank goodness it's done because now we have a 2 1/2 year old Splendid washer that went south, with a big clunk, last Friday. But that's another story.

Gaetan Lavoie · 02-09-2010, 11:01 AM

Shadrack,

You have provided very valuable information so far that will make the job a lot easier for those of us who are considering replacing the carpet with tiles. However, unless someone has gone through something similar to you with a new floor, we have very little understanding about these ramps. Are they made out of metal, wood or whatever? Do you still have one of these ramps that you could take a picture of? If you do, we could possibly have a better appreciation of what is involved in reworking or fabricating new ramps.

Once again, thank you for all of the info.

shadrack · 02-12-2010, 08:16 AM

If you lift up the edge of the carpeting on the flat floor slide, you can see the metal ramps that I'm speaking of. They are holding the carpeting down . In order to have a flat tile surface you have to lay a 3/8" subfloor before laying the tile. The ramps in the coach will not reach tothe top of the new floor. Ergo, extend the ramps. I ended up using flat aluminum plates. It was a headache until I got it right. If you do this, good luck.