Best place to get carpet in RV replaced

[daveinaz58]

Our "new to us" 2004 Adventurer 33V has had the main part of the floor replaced with VPF but the bedroom, living room slide, and area in the cab still have carpeting that needs to be replaced.

Should I take it to an auto upholstery shop or RV place or carpet place?

Any recommendations for a place in the Phoenix area that could do this?

Thanks.

[bigb56]

I need some carpet as well and I thought to call a carpet store and ask, subscribing to see what you decide. Since the carpet is installed before cabinets I'm assuming they'd cut it at the cabinet base and use tack strips instead of removing cabinets which would not be in the scope of a carpet installer.

[Jack Klompus]

Subscribing as well ... I have the general question of how hard is it to replace carpets both on and off flat slides, as well as replacing carpet with vinyl plank both on and off slides. (I have laid residential vinyl plank flooring before, are there gotchas in an RV?

[153stars]

Call private carpet layer businesses ask if they want to do it. What's nice now is you can probably send them pictures or a quick video for them to give you an idea and the price. Or if they want to handle it or not. . The removal of rv carpet is the worse part ....like they paid by the staple. It's hard to pry up and on a ton of staples to remove and or grind flat..

[Old-Biscuit]

After a flood......YIKES!!!!
We had to have carpet replaced in living room and both slideouts

We went to a Carpet Store....picked out our carpet and got names of independent installers they use
Couple of them said "No we don't RVs. Too labor intensive with the cutting/fitting etc"
Find a guy that was willing to come and see what was needed.
He said the slideouts would be the hardest and would require cutting old carpet/padding out along the base of cabinets, cutting new carpet to fit then take it back to shop to add 'binding' along the edges that hang out over the slideout. Took a couple days to get the carpet/padding. Took2 guys about 3 hours to remove prep the subfloor........STAPLES!!!!!
(I had already pulled the carpet/padding when the flood occurred). New padding/carpet in living room done.........slideouts carpet/padding removed, subfloors prepped and new carpet cut/fitted. Week later they came back after adding the 'binding' along the edges and installed it.

RVs are labor intensive so figure that into pricing.
Check with Carpet Stores for Installers and get with them.
Forget RV places (inexperienced floor jockeys), auto upholstery for redoing seats/sofas but doubtful about RV carpeting

Home Depot/Lowes uses Independant Installers.....check for references.

Good luck.......just remember you can do a S&B recarpeting cheaper then an RV ----LOL!

[l1v3fr33ord1]

David-

I used a local flooring sales/installation company. I was surprised when the owner said he had no problem taking on an RV installation; of the other (and few) local places he was the only one who went beyond "No!" for answer. He subcontracted the work to a couple men whom he trusted. They did a great job.

I'm picky, so I did the prep work myself:
1) Removed front seats and pedestals
2) Opened up the dashboard (needed access to the front end of the doghouse)
3) Removed furniture from the slide
4) Removed bedframe and bedframe floor rollers
5) Removed padding and carpet in bedroom, on slide, in front and in stairwell
Meaning, all carpet not located under walls or cabinets. Removal required a lot of sharp knife blades, care in cutting, and several hours of careful staple removal. Caution: Find a way to mark the location of bolts and screws that hold items to the floor, through the carpet. I didn't, and that caused problems later.
6) Repaired subfloor wood rot damage in three locations

The subcontractor:
1) Removed the linoleum, except in the bathroom (I asked them to retain that portion)
2) Checked for clearance under the slide
3) Installed additional subflooring
4) Installed Karndean LVT in the main area (except forward of the stairwell) and back through the entire bedroom
5) Installed padding and carpet on the slide, forward of the stairwell and in the stairwell, and over the doghouse (one piece without seams for the doghouse- quite a feat)
6) Installed all nosings, transition pieces for carpet and applied a thin line of sealant between LVT and cabinetry as needed

The owner of the flooring company did all the carpet binding on site, with a portable binding machine.

Total cost for materials and labor was around $6,000 in 2020.

I reinstalled the furniture, seats, bedframe rollers and bedframe to complete the job.

The only thing I would have done differently would have been to work out a way to eliminate the carpet forward of the stairwell, which means in the front seat area. That would eliminate shoe "grunge" on carpet. Once I pulled up the old carpet and padding I saw how uneven the floor was there. It would take some time to get the floor level for some kind of industrial floor material. There are were other issues there:
1) What to use besides carpet on the doghouse, which has a rounded profile
2) Concerns about heat and cold coming through the floor without carpet
I ran out of "thinking time" to work through the alternatives. As a result, I had to use small rugs (more like bath mats) to keep the new carpet clean in that area.

[daveinaz58]

Originally Posted by l1v3fr33ord1

David-

I used a local flooring sales/installation company. I was surprised when the owner said he had no problem taking on an RV installation; of the other (and few) local places he was the only one who went beyond "No!" for answer. He subcontracted the work to a couple men whom he trusted. They did a great job.

I'm picky, so I did the prep work myself:
1) Removed front seats and pedestals
2) Opened up the dashboard (needed access to the front end of the doghouse)
3) Removed furniture from the slide
4) Removed bedframe and bedframe floor rollers
5) Removed padding and carpet in bedroom, on slide, in front and in stairwell
Meaning, all carpet not located under walls or cabinets. Removal required a lot of sharp knife blades, care in cutting, and several hours of careful staple removal. Caution: Find a way to mark the location of bolts and screws that hold items to the floor, through the carpet. I didn't, and that caused problems later.
6) Repaired subfloor wood rot damage in three locations

The subcontractor:
1) Removed the linoleum, except in the bathroom (I asked them to retain that portion)
2) Checked for clearance under the slide
3) Installed additional subflooring
4) Installed Karndean LVT in the main area (except forward of the stairwell) and back through the entire bedroom
5) Installed padding and carpet on the slide, forward of the stairwell and in the stairwell, and over the doghouse (one piece without seams for the doghouse- quite a feat)
6) Installed all nosings, transition pieces for carpet and applied a thin line of sealant between LVT and cabinetry as needed

The owner of the flooring company did all the carpet binding on site, with a portable binding machine.

Total cost for materials and labor was around $6,000 in 2020.

I reinstalled the furniture, seats, bedframe rollers and bedframe to complete the job.

The only thing I would have done differently would have been to work out a way to eliminate the carpet forward of the stairwell, which means in the front seat area. That would eliminate shoe "grunge" on carpet. Once I pulled up the old carpet and padding I saw how uneven the floor was there. It would take some time to get the floor level for some kind of industrial floor material. There are were other issues there:
1) What to use besides carpet on the doghouse, which has a rounded profile
2) Concerns about heat and cold coming through the floor without carpet
I ran out of "thinking time" to work through the alternatives. As a result, I had to use small rugs (more like bath mats) to keep the new carpet clean in that area.

thank you for that detailed response!

[2004Horizon]

$6,000 sounds way too high. I'm thinking sub $3000 in today's market, but I know nothing!

Call these companies who I have keep in my rolodex, and let us know what they quote:

Discount Direct Floors
Lake Havasu City AZ
Tim Rhymer
928-733-0897


Josh at Unlimited Collision
The office is 623.979.7565. His number is 602.885.1368. Worth a call
(623) 979-756560
30 N. Litchfield Rd #2, Litchfield Park, AZ 85340

Also, just over the boarder in Rocky Point, they have excellent RV services, but I don't have a line on any floor installers. So, if you find one there, please let us know.

I would like to also get my carpet replaced or put in a vinyl floor. This is next on my to-do list. In the meantime, buy a 5x7 rug and cover your old carpet. I just did this an what a difference. It makes me rethink my plans to recarpet or put in a vinyl floor.

Keep us posted.

[bentjm]

I had all of the carpet replaced in our 2005 Mountain Aire by Classic Coach Works in Ormond Beach FL February 2023.

It was $5,000 for the whole coach. It was about half labor and half material.

[eddndee]

I put new vinyl flooring over the existing and shampooed the carpet. $200 material and $300 labour.

[2004Horizon]

eddndee: Can you post some pictures of your idea?

Did you have any trouble with your sides scratching the new floor?

[eddndee]

Originally Posted by 2004Horizon

eddndee: Can you post some pictures of your idea?

Did you have any trouble with your sides scratching the new floor?

No trouble with slides scratching as they are still carpeted.

[2004Horizon]

eddndee: Thanks for the pictures!

To reconfirm: Are you saying you just laid the vinyl floor over the carpet, and created a "hard floor channel" to walk over? ...And it just sits on top of the carpet??? ...With no carpet cutting???

I have a diesel, and I will have to give some thought to this idea, which might work and look good if I pull out the captain chairs and redo the entry steps. Hummm.

[majicchuck]

Originally Posted by 2004Horizon

eddndee: Thanks for the pictures!

To reconfirm: Are you saying you just laid the vinyl floor over the carpet, and created a "hard floor channel" to walk over? ...And it just sits on top of the carpet??? ...With no carpet cutting???

I have a diesel, and I will have to give some thought to this idea, which might work and look good if I pull out the captain chairs and redo the entry steps. Hummm.

It’s more work but I’d spend time pulling carpet out and replacing with LVP. I have diesel as well and pulled all carpet. It made a world of difference. I recently pulled carpet from underneath the slide (the hardest part) and put new vinyl under it. You’ll save big if you can do it yourself.