Floating or Glued Flooring in Class C

[RobReab]

In the process of renovating my 2006 Class C HR Atlantis.

Thoughts on flooring types would be appreciated.

Right now, I'm planning to use waterproof LVT and floating it.

[waco kid]

The advice I got from a RV flooring pro (Ernie Ikberg) was to use LVT or engineered hard wood, and to glue it down. I glued down engineered hickory*in mine, and came out great.....Bruce

[okcnewbie]

It really depends on how much money you plan on spending.

Here is a thread with a great example. Ernie Ekberg is an expert and you could search for his input on past threads.

http://www.irv2.com/forums/f103/hard...re-289619.html

[Bill Gail]

We replaced the carpet and sheet vinyl in our Tioga with LVT planking . What made us decide on the LVT was the light weight ,the fact it is water proof , the color running through the material so scratches aren't visible and ease of installation , since we were DIY.
Regarding the glue or float , when the existing flooring was removed there was the original adhesive that remained and was still tacky.
We laid over the existing glue and secured the edge pieces with 3M 90 spray contact adhesive .We did maintain a 3/16" expansion gap at the perimeter and finished with a quarter round base.
The flooring has been down for 3 years and 16K miles with no issues .
We couldn't be happier with the finished product.

[Podivin]

We put down a floating floor, but glued it in the area where the slide tracks over it. The intention was to prevent the slide from working apart the 'snaps' along the sides of flooring pieces. It's been over a year and so far it's working just fine.

[baraff]

Looking at doing this too. My concern is winter storage in very cold climates. We lost our factory vinyl floor to the Polar Vortex last winter; it got down to -25º for about 36 hours and the vinyl just split down the middle.
I bought some LVP that's rated for -20º but have not installed it yet. My concern with gluing it down is finding a mastic that is rated to that temperature. If the glue fails, having a low temp rated flooring isn't going to be much of a benefit if it all comes loose.
On the other hand, floating it with a slideout could be problematic as well depending on whether the slide drags the floor around. Instructions require a 1/4" gap on the perimeter.
I have more research to do.

[sibe]

In my shortbus shuttle to RV conversion, I did a float floor and when around the cabinates, benches etc... did a moulding ,, worked well, 3 years and still looks perfect..
But IMO a pain in arse to install, 12x42 pieces...and lock them.

My Minnie Winnie need a refurb this winter, taking out the rug in dinette area....

I plan on taking out dinette and couch , the kitchen cabintes, have to stay....
Rug goes and I will try to blend some luan over into the kitchen/bath...then put down something in strips/vinyl ???

I am looking for options also...

[tim1755]

I'm also looking to replace the floor in my Sprinter. The problem is finding a floor which will take the temperature swings. A lot of manufactures state that there products need to be in a controlled area and not for RV use. I can't use a floating floor due to curved cabinets and some draw fronts are less then a 1/2 in. off the floor for placing molding.

[Excesses]

We installed some luxury vinyl tile and glued it down with a releasable adhesive recommended by the vendor.
Ease of installation +++++. Cut with a heavy duty knife (2 slices was cleaner) and the snap like drywall and back cut.
The vendor and I discussed temperature variations and he said that he’d sold this LVT to dozens of RVers who winter in Mexico with no problems and others who have winter camped. No problems or complaints.
Here’s our results. Sorry, have no idea why this site auto rotates pictures.

Cheers 🍷

DJ

[tim1755]

Floor floor looks great....Can you tell me the product manufacture of your floor..TIA

[sibe]

Originally Posted by tim1755

Floor floor looks great....Can you tell me the product manufacture of your floor..TIA

yes please

[RobReab]

Originally Posted by Excesses

We installed some luxury vinyl tile and glued it down with a releasable adhesive recommended by the vendor.
Ease of installation +++++. Cut with a heavy duty knife (2 slices was cleaner) and the snap like drywall and back cut.
The vendor and I discussed temperature variations and he said that he’d sold this LVT to dozens of RVers who winter in Mexico with no problems and others who have winter camped. No problems or complaints.
Here’s our results. Sorry, have no idea why this site auto rotates pictures.

Cheers 🍷

DJ

Nice!

What was the thinking leading to installing the floor across as opposed to length wise? Was it easier or more difficult to install?

Re: rotating images, I would guess that your images are stored in the same orientation as the downloaded images. The image viewer on your PC is likely auto-rotating the images when you view them.

Interested in more info on your flooring, type, installation etc.

Thanks

[Excesses]

Hey Rob

We installed the LVP in the side to side orientation because:

A) it looks really nice . Our friends did it a couple years ago, and we liked the look.
B) it makes the rig look wider
C) the RV probably flexes more side to side rather than front to back. Due to the fact that there are fewer joints in the 48” planks run in that orientation, we expect fewer problems in the long term.
D) we eliminated the need to do long lengthwise cuts (had we run the planks the other way) . Depending on the width of the coach and the width of the planks, one could end up with a 1”, 2”, 3” etc side strip.
E) I put the lvp on board and set a small heater to bring the RV and the planks to 72 degrees constant temperature for 48 hours or so. Starting at the rear near the bedroom, we went into the bathroom, then worked our way backwards towards the front. The glue should set up for a couple of minutes before you lay the planks I got about 5 planks per glue application, which is done with a 1/16” glue scraper/applicator (serrated edge type). Did not leave any room for expansion or shrinkage as the lvp we used does neither due to the method of construction. The planks are easy to move for about 15 minutes, so be careful. After about 7 rows, I used a 24” long piece and marked out the rest of the rows to the front. This gave me an idea of the endpoint with a full piece, and where the carpet/plank transition would be. We have a step just past the engine doghouse and it worked out that I ended up with ~ a 6” piece of carpet where the metal transition strip will adjoin the carpet and lvp.
F) we reduced waste considerably

We used 5 boxes (23 sq ft/box) to do our 34’ rig, including the stairwell. We glued it in the horizontal aspect. Looks great. We have about 3 full pieces left in case we need to replace one.



Cheers ��

DJ & BJ

[grindstone01]

We installed a wood laminate floor in our fifth wheel, no glue used and wedge the boards tight to the cabinets and walls. That was 6 years ago and it was a easy job to replace a couple of boards that later were scratched by the slide out. My theory is that the RV is so small that it will contract and expand along with the flooring, unlike a large stick built house.
Note - If you do go with a floating floor, go tight to the wall with no gaps.