Vinyl Plank Flooring

[aknavy]

Originally Posted by jdpm

Its not the edges that sound like the issue but all the joints. I have read that the planks will separate at each joint and then do not go back together due to the locking "device" being damaged as it pulls apart.

This is exactly what happens. While we want to make a floating floor, it's really hard to accomplish in an RV due to all the small cutouts and spaces.



And, when it expands and contracts, it doesn't do it equally, nor do you get to choose where it does it. If your gonna go with vinyl plank, glue it down. Then accept that there will be gaps, depending on the temp. But at least with glue down, you don't have the click log portion breaking and giving you a headache.



The edges - no issues whatsoever. It's always a couple planks in, so that you have to work to fix it!


If I were to do it again I'd go with a high end sheet vinyl and not glue it down - same way the manufacturers do. Or I'd use glue down tile. Depends on how much I feel like dealing with the island.



Interestingly enough - the slides didn't have many issues with separation for click lock. Just had to deal with the transition. Most of my issues with separation have been on the main floor.

[ThomB]

I'll add my thoughts on the Allure (glue edge) that I used. I was able to get the run from front to back through the short hallway that we have between the front and back area of the rv (including into the bathroom). We experienced separating on the short end of the planks with no separation side to side after 2 years. The separation happened in the hallway on the 5 planks between the 2 wider sections of material. I think the correct way to have put this down would have been to lay transition strips between the 2 larger areas (basically isolate the hallway from the 2 larger sections. and I would have been fine.


I was able to just caulk the gaps so they're not as noticable.

[mjdenn]

Originally Posted by AtomicRT

There's a reason why carpet and sheet vinyl were used for decades, before the trend to mimic stick-built homes There are some really nice sheet vinyls available these days and that's the trouble-free way to go. I saw this incredible New Horizons at the Tampa RV show Tues. Wish now I would've looked closer at the flooring. But, as shown, even NH uses carpet on the slides.

The wood in the NH trailer is quite thick and heavy. Wood in the slide is an option.

[Rhagfo]

Well we full time and DW wanted to replace the carpet with vinyl plank flooring. We found some nice snap lock at HD that looked very nice. I looked at the box, "Not Recommend for RV"

Well because we full time and the space is always heated we chose to go with it. Instillation was pretty easy cut with razor knife.


This is what we used.





Old Floor out, getting ready to install new.



Needed to work backwards into kitchen.





Trim is oak screen molding, didn't want heavy 1/4 round.

[jdpm]

Thanks for sharing Russ. Excellent choice and it looks great. Good job! l

[astrnmrtom]

I Used the original Allure planking in my last rig, a '96 bounder and it was great. No problems at all and I didn't experience any noticeable separating even when it was in unheated storage in below freezing temps. I installed it right over the original sheet vinyl as a semi-floating floor. I say semi-floating because I did remove the dinette benches, installed the floor and screwed the dinette benches down over the top of it. I left a 1/8" gap everywhere else and covered that with baseboard. I installed it at around 70 degrees F. One thing to note is the kitchen in that rig isn't very big and the "hallway" was only about 3 feet long.

This wasn't my first install. I have used it in my home kitchen and front entry, and learned a method of sticking the new plank down that insured there edges were tight together, After install, I rolled the floor with a 100lb roller to assure a good bond. I also made sure the flooring was acclimated to the install temp.

One thing to note is the wear layer on the cheaper planks is thin, and it does scratch fairly easily. If you have big dogs and they track in grit, you may experience scratching. Same with where you slide chairs back and forth. Felt glides help with the chairs.

Now while I had good luck, there were a number of reviews from people on the Home Depot website saying they hated the stuff and they had separation problems. I suspect a lot of these were caused by installation errors. Either not acclimating the product, not rolling after, or improper techniques when sticking the planks together. On this last one I discovered that the glue has, for lack of a better term, a rebound property to it. By this I mean, if you start to stick the next plank down, and there's a slight gap that you try to push closed by putting sideways pressure on the planks, the glue stretches a little, and before fully bonding, it relaxes back after a while which opens the gap.

I found I got the tightest fit if I started laying the new plank held up at an angle starting with the end seam first and flexing the plank and holding slight pressure toward the side seam, rolled the seam down into place. As you are rolling it down into place you are still holding the free end up so the plank bows down and makes contact. With a little practice the seams are tight and invisible, and don't rebound apart.

[rodekyll]

I installed vinyl plank throughout my 40' rig. My big lesson learned is that flooring salesmen will tell you whatever you want to hear to make a sale. Don't rely on their judgement alone -- check what they say against other sources. My second lesson is that there are a lot of details to understand regarding floating v fixed flooring, backing v underlayment, moisture barrier v bare install, leveling, sealing, expansion, etc. I studied and asked questions for weeks before I got on board (pun intended).

Even so I made purchase and installation mistakes. I learned that bevel-edged planking is horrible to work with and quite restrictive to place. I went with 6.5mm thick stock. I installed square edged plank in the back bedroom and it wasn't very difficult. It locked up well, went tight when tapped with a mallet, and I was able to butt-fit scrap to length.

In the interest of cost, I installed a different, bevel-edged plank through the remainder. The bevel makes for a thinner locking area and I ended up breaking a fair amount of the brittle locking ridges with the simple act of mating the pieces. I had to glue some planks together to keep them in place as the rest of the floor was laid. I'm a bit disappointed with the final product. The bevel also means I needed to be very careful of my cuts. Since I couldn't butt two pieces together -- looked unnatural -- I could only use trimmed pieces at the ends, and the piece I trimmed needed to mate to the beveled end of the flooring. So any "center cuts" or false cuts were wasted, and it was awkward to notch and fill around doorways and cabinets.

If I had it to do over again (and I sincerely hope I don't) I'd not use beveled plank, and I'd try to keep in the $4/ft minimum price range.

[bddadles]

I did the same thing that Russ described. Be sure to study the install and start in the proper place or you will have to do the locks backwards and this is harder to do. We also full time so we know the joints open slightly and it is not always in the same place. The floor moves a bit. If I was going to do it again I would change the direction I laid it so the short edges would go under the kitchen slide instead of the long edge. That edge has separated a bit because (I believe) the slide droops a bit and since that is a short edge for the planks it will open that joint.

That is the only thing I would do differently. We like the floor. Oh when choosing the flooring look at the thickness of the color layer.

[clifford j]

Evidence shows that vinyl planks expand and contract more in their length than cross dimension. A typical floor that runs front to back of the RV is more subject to 'gaps' length wise. Although more work I'm wondering if a chevron pattern when laying planks would reduce planks 'gapping'. Just a thought.
I've replaced my flooring with click planks that float 2 yrs ago. In my 5er the flooring is in the entry/kitchen area so not any long runs. I haven't experienced any gap's so far.

CLIFFORD