Allure Ultra Vinyl Laminate Install

[OGTerror]

Excellent work, nice write up and thank you for sharing. Hope you enjoy it for years to come.

[Dunnpe]

Ole, I just completed the removal of the carpet and the tile squares and your idea of covering the sticky gooo left from the tiles with aluminum foil worked perfect. That sticky stuff grabbed ahold of my shoes sooo fast. Now its not a problem. Now on to laying the laminate flooring.
Thanks again for your write up and pictures. So far it looks exactly what I am running into.

[CJ7ole]

Glad to help. Feel free to add your ideas as you proceed.

[DavidC1225]

Great job. We recently installed Allure throughout our 07 Adventurer, using the adhesive style instead of the interlocking kind. Doing it over, we might have elected to use the interlocking Allure, although we are pleased with the floor we have. It is so far superior to carpet that it is difficult to imagine why carpet is even installed in recreational vehicles anymore. I suppose it all comes down to cost.

I do not hesitate to recommend Allure to anyone wanting to replace flooring in their RV, and it really is easy to install with a little planning and care during installation. As you mentioned, it is very important to prepare the subfloor properly before installing any new flooring material.

I agree that this thread should be either maintained as a "sticky" or someplace where it is easily accessible. It really is the definitive "how to" on floor replacement.

Well done.

[Belgique]

I hate this thread. DW will see it and shame me into getting off my behind and getting to work on ours. Fantastic explanation. Bravo.

[bigenna]

Took about a year of talking and convincing, but we finally ripped out the old carpet and installed Allure. What a huge difference. I am one happy camper!!!!!!
Your instructions and photos were a godsend. I honestly don't think DH would have ever tackled the job if I hadn't showed him your post and pics several times a year. Guess he finally got tired of my "gentle urging".
Thanks again Ole.....
Anne

[CJ7ole]

I went to get Wanda out of storage one very cool (40ish) September morning and noticed that a couple of the end to end joints had separated as much as 1/8", very noticeable. But when it warmed up, they almost returned to the proper position. The long joints were fine. If I were doing it again, I would superglue the end to end joints. Still very satisfied with the project.

[LibbyLA]

I don't think that super glue would help (have just been through the same thing with our install). First, make sure that all the joints are clicked and locked. Second (and most important), make absolutely sure that the entire floor floats. Anything that holds an edge in place will keep it from shrinking, which makes for those open cracks.

Yesterday, I pulled up some of the quarter round and use a small pry bar on the long ends of several "plants" to shove them to close the gaps. Hard work, had to wait until things warmed up and had to use a lot of pressure in some places.

I think that 1/4" to 3/8" gap (which is more than covered by quarter round) is probably about right. We tried to get a very small gap and that makes it difficult, if not impossible, to avoid catching the plank with the nails in the quarter round.

liz

[max49]

Great job CJ7ole. I just put this same flooring in my kitchen , in my stick house. Let us know how it holds up in a MH moving down the road. Did you have to take the toilet out to do the bathroom?
On my floor, I'm not sure if I did not get a good tight joint or if it came apart afterwards, but I had a tiny bit of gray showing in one joint. I ended up taking about 3' out, to the wall and doing it over. Now I found one more that's under the fridge except for about 6". You can barely see it but after knowing how tight the joints are when properly seated it's gonna bug me til I fix it. May I'll try your rubber mallet and board trick, I just don't want to mess up or deform the edge so it never seats.
Thanks again for this write up and pictures and again, it sure looks like you did an awesome job, it looks great.

[jimmccreary]

I dont want to preempt a reply from CJ70le, but I have done the same carpet replacement in my 04 Journey 34H but I used the vinyl tile. To answer your question. Yes, you must remove the toilet if you want the best appearance possible. In this way the new vinyl tile can be inserted under the white plastic floor collar for the best looks. The white collar cannot be removed because the black ABS pipe is glued to the tank below (I presume, because I could not remove it). However, the white collar and black pipe can be lifted about 3/4" allowing the old vinly to be removed and the new vinyl to be inserted. It can be lifted enough for plank flooring to be inserted as well.The vinyl of course could be trimmed to fit around the collar but I didnt think that I could perform a nice circular cut as the vinyl was somewhat difficult to trim precisely. See attached photos.
hope this helps,
jim & debbie, 04 Journey 34H

[CJ7ole]

I didn't have an issue with the appearance of the original vinyl in the commode room or in front of the shower as I did with the carpet, so I simply left it in place. As to the superglue on the end joints, well, I sometimes like a belt and suspenders solution.

[CBChief]

I am ready to install my Allure tile flooring. My planks are 1' x 3'. Will it make any difference if I run the planks crossways or lengthwise? I am planning on doing the bathroom in the tile also, any hints for that area?

Your description and photos are great. I hope other RVers are able to read about your project. Excellennt work.

[Peter_Crowl]

And I have had adhesive Allure on the shelf since last fall (I thought I'd be a lot further ahead :~( ). My floor is wide open and the toilet is out. I plan, though, to wait until Spring to do the installation.

My question/comment/concern/ is about the shrink/expansion issue. When looking at new rigs I see the use of textured sheet vinyl. Good grip...nice look...I presume no expansion issues. I've tried to find it but a source but only came up with Camping World and they don't stock it so I can't see it.

Has anybody gone this route?

Peter
in Denver

[CBChief]

CJ7ole

I was originally going to install the Allure tile flooring until I read your story here. I have changed my mind and now I am using the same material that you used.

As I was reading about your install, about half way through I realized that you and I have the same year and model, with the same interior MH. This is going to make my job so much easier.

A few questions though:

1 - Would you recommend starting at the rear of the coach and work forward?
2 - Did or would you recommend using super glue on all of the short ends?
3 - What did you do about securing the floor registers?
4 - In case I missed it, what did you do with the glides that are at the foot of the bed?

Reading about your project and viewing the pictures is going to be a great help for me. You need to be commended for the way you presented your project. Anyone who is looking into doing this sort of project needs to read your story.

Again, KUDOs to you.

[CJ7ole]

Originally Posted by CBChief

A few questions though:

1 - Would you recommend starting at the rear of the coach and work forward?
2 - Did or would you recommend using super glue on all of the short ends?
3 - What did you do about securing the floor registers?
4 - In case I missed it, what did you do with the glides that are at the foot of the bed?

Thanks for the kind words. Good luck with your project.

1. It probably doesn't make a difference where you start as long as you run a chalk line down the coach. It is not like doing a square room, as you will have to work around the shower.
2. I have mixed feelings on super gluing the ends. Doing that would make it much harder to pull up a previous section to fix an error. But I would be even more careful to make sure they were very tight before moving on to the next piece.
3. I just let the registers float unsecured. I wouldn't mind replacing them, but I couldn't find standard registers to fit, so you have to go back to Winnebago parts and that is expensive.
4. I just left the glides in place, but I put down scraps for them to glide on when retracting the slides. If you are ingenious, you could cover or replace them with felt or carpet.

[DAN L]

Originally Posted by CJ7ole

Thanks for the kind words. Good luck with your project.

1. It probably doesn't make a difference where you start as long as you run a chalk line down the coach. It is not like doing a square room, as you will have to work around the shower.
2. I have mixed feelings on super gluing the ends. Doing that would make it much harder to pull up a previous section to fix an error. But I would be even more careful to make sure they were very tight before moving on to the next piece.
3. I just let the registers float unsecured. I wouldn't mind replacing them, but I couldn't find standard registers to fit, so you have to go back to Winnebago parts and that is expensive.
4. I just left the glides in place, but I put down scraps for them to glide on when retracting the slides. If you are ingenious, you could cover or replace them with felt or carpet.

one thing that i can add here is that we used double back carpet tape instead of glue to secure our allure floor at the forward end of the moho and around the stairwell. we left about 1/8'' gaps elsewhere, covered by 1/4 round moulding air nailed to the wall, not the floor.
our installation is over 18 months old and is still looking good. we live in our moho full time.
one more thing: i wish i would have prepared the floor better before putting the allure down. every small defect in the floor prints through. i should have done a better job of sanding the high spots flat.
i made a post with pictures when i did the job. i cannot find the post now.
we replaced our registers with registers with dampers from home depot. they come without screw holes. some i taped down, some i drilled and installed screws.

[LibbyLA]

CBChief,

If you lock the joints together properly and do not prevent the floor from floating, you do not need to glue anything. Not only is glue messy, you'll need a lot of it, and if the flooring contracts, that glue isn't going to keep the joints together if they're going to separate in the first place.

As for the floor registers, if you screw them down, just cut a small notch out of the Allure plank where the screw goes so that the screw doesn't go through the flooring.

Try to start in a corner with a long, straight run, like in front of a slide and try to work forward (which in our case was actually toward the rear) and to the left. We started on our slide at the entertainment center and worked toward the back. We were able to work left into the kitchen and on the other side of the kitchen counter, left towards the door.

If you're using the Allure with adhesive, the direction may not matter so much. With Allure Ultra that locks, the direction does matter because of the direction you have to slide one piece into the next to lock it.

Do a mental walk-through of the installation.

liz

[RoadRohrers]

Thanks for the info. Getting ready to put this material in our kitchen at home. Then I tackle the motorhome.

[jdecastro]

We have a 2000 Monaco Diplomat with slide rollers. Does anyone think Allure could be laid and let the rollers roll on and support the Kit. slide with out problems? Thanks.

[Dunnpe]

I did a laminate flooring in our rig that has slide rollers with no problems, the laminate flooring was thinner than the carpet and pad. We just make sure that we sweep the floor before closing the slides so the rollers don't pick up something that could cause a problem.