Wow, it has been over a week since I blogged. Surely this has been the longest lapse between blogs since I started it many years ago. Why the lapse? Twofold… one is that I came down with a nasty cold/sinus infection and haven’t felt like penning a blog. Also, despite fighting illness I have still been plugging away at our flooring project.
First I researched types of flooring to help us decide what was best.I discovered there were lots of choices and the predominant favorite of many RV’ers was Allure Flooring. However, with the recent improvements in Luxury Vinyl Flooring we chose to go with this product for our floors. Specifically we selected CORETec Plus from US Floors.
We chose this product for several reasons. Most important was the fact that this flooring is 100% waterproof! Furthermore COREtec Plus is inert and dimensionally stable thus it will not expand or contract under normal conditions. Also by going to a floating floor instead of a glue down floor there will be no off-gassing which can make life in the RV a bit unbearable during curing. Each COREtec Plus plank has an attached cork underlayment for a quieter, warmer vinyl floor and as a result needs no underlayment.. It is also naturally resistant to odor-causing mold and mildew. Lastly this product was exactly the thickness of the flooring we removed meaning our slide out rollers should function the same as before.
So how easy was it to install? Pretty much it was a snap! Each tile locks into the adjacent tile by holding it at an angle then laying flat. Then to lock it into the adjacent tile I used a rubber mallet to tap the laminate tile tool (a must have tool) until it locked the tile into the rest of the flooring. This was actually the easiest part of laying this flooring.
The real work in laying new flooring in an RV is in the vast number of angles and cuts required on each piece. This was complicated by the fact that our tiles were large – 18” by 24”. This meant we actually laid down very few whole tiles. I found using paper, tape and scissors to make templates worked real well with tiles requiring several cuts as per the photo above.
Since it is a floating floor there is a requirement to leave a 1/4” to 3/8” gap around the perimeter. I will also apply a bead of silicone caulk around this perimeter to keep water from working its way to the sub-flooring. After that I will figure out what type of floor molding will be required to cover the remaining gaps.
It took a while to finish the flooring (pictures below and the header picture) since I was sick (still am, actually) but it sure looks great. I still have the finishing detail work to do and have to solve what type of floor molding I will need but at least the lion’s share of work is done! I contacted Tiffin who told us they sell trim so our planned trip to Red Bay for warrantied repairs will allow us to shop for trim while we are there! Now if I can only shake this dreadful sickness…
Your floor looks amazing, we are thinking of doing ours as well, so will look into your product.
ReplyDeleteThe floor looks awesome. Cutting all those angles had to be a challenge. Great job, John. We hope you are feeling much better very, very soon.
ReplyDeleteWOW it looks great. Job well done. Hope you feeling better.
ReplyDeleteYour floor is beautiful! Your ability to install the flooring is impressive. Sorry to hear about the sinus problems, they're just miserable.
ReplyDeleteJohn, your DIY skills are so impressive. This floor, which is gorgeous, and I'm thinking of the body damage you repaired so beautifully last year. I hope you're both over being sick. Will you stop by Betty's on your way to Alabama?
ReplyDeleteNo Betty's this spring as we really need to get the repairs to our framing at Red Bay AL... hopefully in the fall though
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