Have you replaced your carpet with vinyl plank or tile?

[RollingJones]

Looking for some advice from Excel owners who have “been there.” We’d love to know your experience, good or bad. (We have a 2014 31IKE.)
1) What brand/style flooring did you use? Did you glue it down or float it?
2) The sheet vinyl in our kitchen doesn’t go all the way to the rollers on either side. Instead, there’s a 6” strip of “transition” carpet that is tucked under the carpeted edge of the slides when extended. How necessary is that strip of carpet, given that our slides don’t appear to come in contact with the main floor when retracted (just float above it)? Can we install vinyl up to the edge of the roller mechanism (minus any expansion gap) or do we need to worry about damage to the vinyl when retracting/extending?
3) I’m stumped by the slide/floor transition. We want to eliminate carpet altogether, but when we retract our slides the carpeted edge bends when it hits the kitchen island. Any ideas? I’m thinking about a 6-8” strip on the edge of the slide made of a flexible but durable material (like commercial carpet, woven vinyl, rubber/foam boat decking) in an accent color that matches the valances, pillows and towels. Sort of like a floor with an inlay border.
4) If you had to do it over again, what would you do differently?

Thanks in advance for any insights you can provide.
Steve

[Masch]

I have not replaced my carpet, so really am not much help. But I can talk about the slide damaging the floor. My Excel came with a wood floor in the kitchen area. I think it is "floating" as the care instructions (that came with the other 100 manuals) state that it is not glued, and to replace a board, start on one side and pull them apart.

Aside from that, it has numerous scratches, some fairly deep, on the dinette slide side. I have had the slide adjusted and it does look like it never touches the floor but it must at some point. I sweep it before retracting in case there is anything like a small rock or sand that may cause it, but it continues to scratch the floor. I have resigned to buying a stain pen and staining the scratches the same color as the rest of the floor.

And there is the strip of carpet you spoke of, just under the edge of the slide. It came this way from the factory.

[Masch]

Originally Posted by masch

i have not replaced my carpet, so really am not much help. But i can talk about the slide damaging the floor. My excel came with a wood floor in the kitchen area. I think it is "floating" as the care instructions (that came with the other 100 manuals) state that it is not glued, and to replace a board, start on one side and pull them apart.

Aside from that, it has numerous scratches, some fairly deep, on the dinette slide side. I have had the slide adjusted and it does look like it never touches the floor but it must at some point. I sweep it before retracting in case there is anything like a small rock or sand that may cause it, but it continues to scratch the floor. I have resigned to buying a stain pen and staining the scratches the same color as the rest of the floor.

And there is the strip of carpet you spoke of, just under the edge of the slide. It came this way from the factory.

Attachment 1

[RollingJones]

Thanks for the reply and the photo, Mike. It was very helpful. Sorry to see this is happening to you. Weird. I certainly wouldn’t have expected scratches so far from the rollers because where you have scratches my slide appears to float at least 2” off the floor. And my vinyl doesn’t have any marks, even though I don’t take any special precautions before closing the slides.

For what it’s worth, I’ve seen some people put down stiff plastic (like placemats or hall runners) before retracting their slides to protect their wood floors. Common sense would tell me if the slide is already touching the floor, it would just push any plastic out of the way, but I guess it works for them.

[Rburke8]

We did replace the vinyl and carpet in the main section (not slides) and in the bathroom of our 41 GKE Wild cargo with vinyl wood planking. We did this 5 years ago and have not had any problems running the slides in and out. No scratches or binding. Best thing we did for our interior.

[ArtJoyce]

Originally Posted by RollingJones

Thanks for the reply and the photo, Mike. It was very helpful. Sorry to see this is happening to you. Weird. I certainly wouldn’t have expected scratches so far from the rollers because where you have scratches my slide appears to float at least 2” off the floor. And my vinyl doesn’t have any marks, even though I don’t take any special precautions before closing the slides.

For what it’s worth, I’ve seen some people put down stiff plastic (like placemats or hall runners) before retracting their slides to protect their wood floors. Common sense would tell me if the slide is already touching the floor, it would just push any plastic out of the way, but I guess it works for them.

I had a Jayco trailer, I think it was a 2001. It came from the factory with two pieces of thin plywood maybe 1/8 to 3/16" thick. I would put them down before sliding in the slid. They were maybe a foot wide and maybe 6 inches longer than the wheel path.

I aways figured it was so the vinyl would not deform from the weight of the wheels when it came to rest. But maybe it was there to prevent scratches?

[Nomadiz48]

I have been reading several of your posts and they are very interesting. One thing I noticed is the reference to the abundance of manuals. I have a 2008 Excel Limited M-33SKO and I am going nuts trying to find any manuals. Can anyone advise me where to look to find a service or owner's manuals.

[rockintom]

Nomadiz48,

Welcome to the forum. Excels service or owner manuals are just about worthless. They don't have a lot of info on the year model you have. They have mostly stuff that pertained to a couple year back, ie quite dated. I do have a 2007 Excel Owners manual and also a 2008 Excel Sales Catalog, both in PDF formant that I gladly would send if you like. Just don't expect to learn much from the owners manual. Just send me you email address and I'll shoot them to ya.

[Nomadiz48]

Wow, that would be great. Here is my Email: nomadiz@yahoo.com. I realize that they might not be that informative, but something is better than nothing.
If you need help with anything, just ask and if I can I will do what I can to help.

[rockintom]

I sent them. Let me know you got them! You're very welcome.