Community Forums

klompen · 03-21-2022, 11:43 AM

Good day to y'all. We have a 2004 National RV Tropical - 37' Class A. The original beige carpets are old and need replacing. Have any of you replaced carpets and how difficult is the process? I would like to put in vinyl, but the main lounge slide will roll over it and I am concerned there will be damage from the slide base bouncing on the new flooring, causing damage. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

FIRE UP · 03-21-2022, 02:31 PM

Well Sir,
It's a different coach than yours, an '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the CAT C-7 330HP but, yes, I did a full carpet replacement. We toyed with the idea of doing a different type flooring such as wood, faux wood, plank type stuff and more. But, I couple of thoughts here. One, like your thoughts on potential damage to any other type flooring, we too thought there might be some affects on a new type floor other than carpet.

And Two, we both still really like carpet, in spite of the entire earth installing all kinds of different types of flooring in both RV's and stick and brick places. We like it because it's QUIET, it's soft, it's also very noise suppressing, it's warm and, for just us two, it's very easy to maintain. We run a vacuum over it every now and then, done.

It wasn't all that hard to actually re-carpet. I basically gutted the coach in respect to everything that could be removed, was. That is except for one couch which, I broke into two sections and move it around while the installer did his thing. But, let me give you what I think is a very important piece of advice.

I don't think it matters WHICH kind of flooring you're going to install, you need to do THIS! And that is, if you plan on doing as complete of a job as we did, you will need to remove all furniture, both front seats (if the carpet is under them), dining sets, couches, bolted chairs etc. When all those are removed and all the old carpet is removed and the floor is clean, you need to make a road map of the entire floor plan of the areas where all those items that were bolted or screwed down were.

On that map, you measure EXACTLY to each and every single screw/bolt hole from two directions, i.e. back wall and side wall. And if you have to, do it twice. Now, when the new carpet is installed, you will have absolutely ZERO idea where all the bolt and screw holes that are needed to bolt and screw your furniture down. The map you created will show exactly where they are.

Sooooo, when the new carpet is installed, you simply refer to your road map and find each bolt and screw hole and, with a razor knife, you cut a small patch out of the new carpet to reveal each hole. Now, when you begin to place all your old furniture back, it will be right on top of the holes, see what I'm getting at?

This will save you a ton of frustration in trying to pin-poke the carpet, trying to find even the first hole, for the first piece of furniture. Re-installing all our furniture was a breeze due to my road map. Otherwise, it would have been a NIGHTMARE.

My wife and I were called to visit a friends motorhome that had just been re-carpeted. We buzzed up to their place and hopped up into their coach. Man, did it look great. And they said it took the installer about a day or two, max. And, it was a mere $2000 for the whole job. We said WHATTTTTT? ONLY TWO GRAND????

We left their place and drove straight to the carpet place they dealt with. We got the owner to come to our coach and give us an estimate. I think ours ended up being $2200. He said he could start on it the next day. The CEO picked out the color (I just break out the credit card, I don't choices like that)and the owner appeared the next morning and went right to work, ripping out the old stuff. I was about 2/3 done in gutting the coach when he came.

His installer was SEVENTY SEVEN years old!!!!!!!!!! Yep, that old and still installing carpets in motorhomes! He did and outstanding job. We couldn't be happier. It's as stated, quiet, warm, easy on the feet, quiet when traveling, and all that. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
Scott

P.S. IN the pics, you'll see the old carpet, a bare floor and some furniture removed.

FIRE UP · 03-21-2022, 02:36 PM

Here's a few more pics,

-Gramps- · 03-21-2022, 06:32 PM

We pulled up all our carpet and installed LVP (luxury vinyl planking, glue down) from Earthwerks. No more expensive for us than new carpet installation in a motorhome. If you did the same the slideout coming in should not be an issue unless the rollers come in with it. The carpet is thicker than LVP so the slideout should come in over it. We move our bedroom carpet runner to the living room floor for the slideout to rest on. Oh, we did put a new section of carpet in the main slideout under the couch. We also installed a large commercial-grade carpet square in the driver area. There is a hatch under it that LVP could not go over.

BCam · 03-21-2022, 06:43 PM

When we recarpeted, we used commercial grade carpet tiles from S&G Carpet. They're low nap, easy on your feet, easy to keep clean, stain resistant and, if damaged the damaged tile can be replaced (buy extra). I think our's are 20" square. We installed them with double sided carpet tape instead of mastic so they'd be easy to remove and replace. I think they've been installed for three to four years without any problem. They've come a long way over the years in terms of colors and patterns.

They're easy to install since you don't need to cut and fit a great big piece of carpet.

Dutch Star Don · 03-21-2022, 06:46 PM

I recarpeted our Class C. I removed the front seats, barrel chair and dinette table pole mount. That was all there was to remove. Many RV's the carpet is installed before the cabinets are installed. There is no way you can get that carpet out from under the cabinets, so just use a razor knife to cut along the edge of all the cabinets.

I saved the old carpet piece as a template for a new piece. Typically, they use about 1000 staples to hold the old carpet down.

I spent quite a while with a small screwdriver and side cutters pulling all the old staples.

The biggest improvement when I installed the new carpet was using a better, not necessarily thicker padding. It really reduced the road heat, felt better and made the coach quieter.

I glued down the padding and then installed the carpet. I used staples to hold it down, just not as many as they did. I used them around the outer edges.

Overall, it's not a hard job, just a lot of work on your knees. I never did a linoleum or laminate flooring in an RV.

426smartin · 03-22-2022, 01:27 AM

Tip on the staples ----use a flap wheel on grinder ---open all windows, use a fan and wear a mask. Less than 1 hour on my 40-footer.

klompen · 03-22-2022, 08:36 AM

I am understanding that it should be easy enough to replace the carpet with carpet.

I had hoped to replace it with wood grain looking vinyl. My main concern is putting it on the slide where there presently is a 3" piece of carpet that overhangs and moves up and down when the slide is moving. When the slide is in, it settles down on the main floor carpet. We walk over it when stopping during our travels. How will it work with the vinyl hanging out?

Does anyone have experience with this? If so, we sure would like to hear your thoughts on this.

Kathy

MSHappyCampers · 03-22-2022, 02:01 PM

We replaced the old carpet several years ago. We installed 12" squares of premium vinyl tile on most of the floor, with carpet on the main slideout and the cockpit area. The link below might give you some ideas! Look at post #75.

https://www.irv2.com/forums/f258/ano...-213472-6.html

-Gramps- · 03-23-2022, 05:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by klompen

I am understanding that it should be easy enough to replace the carpet with carpet.

I had hoped to replace it with wood grain looking vinyl. My main concern is putting it on the slide where there presently is a 3" piece of carpet that overhangs and moves up and down when the slide is moving. When the slide is in, it settles down on the main floor carpet. We walk over it when stopping during our travels. How will it work with the vinyl hanging out?

Does anyone have experience with this? If so, we sure would like to hear your thoughts on this.

Kathy

We have the same thing, plastic hangs over the floor. It has not been a problem so far. You can see it in the pictures I posted. The sildeout itself is carpeted with about 3 inches that hangs over the floor. The slideout sits on a carpet runner while traveling which makes it easier to walk on. We choose the carpet on the slideout because LVP would not work on the overhang. The flooring company that did the install had the new section of carpet bound and installed as part of the overall job.