RV Flooring Replacement–Tools Needed…

One of the main reasons we booked a month in our former home town in College Station, Texas was that we planned to remove our old flooring and install new flooring. I have experience in laying flooring so I was up for the task even though I knew the RV flooring would be quite challenging due to how the flooring was initially laid and because of all the intricate cuts required.

Why are we replacing our flooring? Well we  are replacing our flooring to address three different issues.

1. When we first bought the RV there was evident water damage in our hallway because the previous owner apparently left the windows open during a rainstorm. We had replaced the rippled wall covering some years ago with some wainscoting while in Red Bay Alabama. We were certain there was also some water damaged wood below those two hall windows.
2. We have one engineered tile in our hallway that had “domed or bubbled up” that really needs to be replaced.
3. We have several places that “creak” when we walk on the floor which needs to be addressed.

Our current flooring has been discontinued so there went my idea of working in only the hallway to replace the flooring with its exact style.. So we will replace all our fabricated wood flooring and while we are at it we will remove a lot of the carpet and convert it to fabricated tile flooring as well. This will make Sharon happy as she hates the carpet. I felt mixed about carpet as I love it in the bedroom but could certainly be happier with less of it in the living space.Phase 1 will be replacing the flooring and phase 2 will be carpet replacement (which we will do another day).

As most of you may know, flooring in an RV is laid down on the floor before any of the interior cabinetry or furniture is put in. Some people simply install new flooring overtop the old flooring but this would not only add additional weight to our RV it also wouldn’t solve the wood rot or creaking sounds in the sub-floor.Therefore we decided to rip out the old flooring to reveal what lies beneath it…

Accomplishing the job can be done much more efficiently with the right tools and I certainly didn't have all I would need. I figured my options would be to rent the necessary tools or purchase some to do the job right. I will explain how I used these tools later on. I ended up buying the two tools below as rent options were overpriced or in the case of the toe kick saw not an option. .

• Toe Kick Saw – used to cut flush against the existing walls and cabinetry
• Multi-Tool – used to cut corners and other difficult to cut areas as well as utilizing it for its oscillating scraper capabilities

Other tools that I have that are going to be needed are:

1. Rubber Mallet
2. Pry Bar
3. good quality 6 inch joint knife
4. Large Pliers or Capet Staple Remover
5. Phillips Head Screwdriver
6. Electric Drill
7. Specialty bits for extracting specialty screws/bolts
8. Skill Saw with carbide tipped blade
9. Extra cutting blades for the multi-tool
10. 2 or 4 foot level (I had both already) – also serves as a straight edge
11. Box Cutter with extra blades 
12. Chalk Line
13. Tape Measurer
14. Dust Mask and Safety Goggles

This blog is long enough so I delve into more details in the next blog or two explaining why I needed these tools and how they were useful. I realize it will be tedious back breaking work but I feel it will be worth it in the end!

NOTE: We are currently in our former home town, College Station until May 7th. My plan is to replace our flooring and have a little fun along the way…