Flooring Question

Keith K · 12-10-2010, 10:17 AM

I'm considering replacing the carpet and tile on our 2006 Ellipse with one of the laminate flooring products. My only real concern is thickness - has anyone used an 8mm-thick product, and if so, does it have any impact on the slides? Appreciate any advice.

bachler · 12-10-2010, 10:56 AM

We done that on our Vectra; One trip across country We had a carpet made to cover the flooring up. It looked nice . But it was so cold weather traveling or walking on it. Course we Never wore shoes in our coach,

RickO · 12-10-2010, 11:09 AM

We installed Allure nose to tail in our 07 Ellipse. Although we're glad we did it, we've had problems because of just your concern. To make the entire floor "flat" I used 1/4" plywood underlayment where the carpet had been. This provided a nice flat look to the floor thoughout the whole coach but it turns out that it's just a bit too thick and has gotten scratched in places by the slides retracting.

I think I'll need to have the skids on the slides replaced with those designed for sliding over a hard surface rather than carpet.

I still think our strategy was a good one though. We bought matching throw/area rugs from WalMart and use them over the Allure and replaced the old carpeting on the slides and the area in front of the rear closet by cutting them to size and holding them down with staples and carpet tape.

Good Luck...

Rick

DAN L · 12-11-2010, 02:29 AM

we used allure from home depot from the doghouse to the back of the bedroom including the stairwell about a year ago. it is holding up very well. we have had no problems from heat and cold expansion and retraction.
the cold floor is not really a problem for us as we wear slippers in the moho. we also use small throw rugs in strategic places like the bathroom hallway, bathroom floor, around the bed, top of the stairwell, and in front of the kitchen sink.
the first time we retracted and extended the slides, there were some minor scratches on the flooring from the front slide. we use 8 scrap allure strips to lay on the floor before we retract the slides now to keep the scratches from getting worse. this is working well for us.
see my previous post in the end of nov 2009 for pictures. (page 10 of all my posts) that page # is subject to change soon.

Jbmsr · 12-12-2010, 08:59 PM

(Hope this helps)
Hi all
We bought our 2001 Winnebago Adventurer 35u at a great deal and loved it. It is our first coach. The previous owner tore out the living room carpet and replaced it with stick on wood planks and it was never completed. We wanted to replace the flooring with vinyl to make it easier to maintain and keep the dust down. We did carpet in the bed room and at the front. When I dine the tear out I had to pull the remaining carpet that was left under the slide that the other owner left. That was the "oh ****" moment. It turned out that when Winnebago built this couch they first installed a 1/4 inch plywood strip the length of the 13' slide about 3 1/2"s wide. They beveled the edge and stapled it to the wood floor so that it would act as a ramp for the slide to glide up onto so that when the slide was extended it would raise the last 3 1/2 "and help seal the slide at the top. Then they installed the carpet onto it. I realized this was a manufactured ramp that the metal /plastic shoe under the slide would ride on (= plastic sliding on carpet which works well even under pressure.) Ok now I just pulled the carpet off the wood ramp which changed the height of the ramp and the ramp protection. I could not see paying the kind of prices that the dealer wanted to do the job correctly in full. One guy told me to extend the slide out, then bring it in 6 to 8 inches, then I could raise it enough to work on it. He was wrong, there was no room to work at all. I called Winnebago support and the guy I talked to said that he used to do this and that he knew that the slide would go out far enough for me to do the repair. At this point I was determined to do the job. I would fix it or ruin it but I wasn't going to cave to the dealer. I then extended the slide out all the way and took the screws out of the frame around the slide (remember where the screws come from as they are different sizes). I then extended the slide another 4" to 5". That was not enough because the slide floor under the booth was deeper. I knew that I needed it to go out at least another 8" to be able to get under the coach to remove and replace the slide shoe. I looked at the aluminum slide beams the slid into the metal frames under the coach and determined that if I could figure how to slide it out another 8 " that the beams were long enough to continue to support the slide out at the inner side. But I was worried about the weight of the slide resting on only a small amount of beam in the frame after extending that much? My brother and I placed a 4'x8' sheet of 3/4" plywood under the slide on the ground to act as a smooth floor to slide a floor jack on. This coach has cargo compartments as a part of the lower slide. I didn't want to bend anything so we got a straight 4"x4"x8' wood post and a placed it under the slide out towards the outer side. This was to take some weight off of the beams as the slide was pulled out more. Then I knew we would need to disconnect the hydraulic rams to be able to pull the slide out further. There was two beams holding my slide and two beveled headed screws at the outer end of each beam connecting the hydraulic rams. I removed them. Then as my brother held the handle of the floor jack , my friend and I each put our back against the coach and pushed the slide out with our feet evenly. This worked well. Now I could work on the floor inside the coach and the slide shoe under the slide as well. It was at this point I felt victory in that I knew we could do this without damaging the slide! We now needed to install a new ramp for the slide shoe to glide onto. We used plastic polymer 3 3/4"wide x4'long x 5/16" thick. We beveled the edge to replicate what was there originally and screwed it to the floor, overlapping the new vinyl. We used beveled headed rustproof decking screws and countersunk them. We then removed the metal shoe under the slide out. The shoe was 13' long. We went to Lowes and bought a strip of 1'x 13' carpet and a can of contact cement. We sprayed the contact cement onto the slide shoe being sure to cover both sides well. We also sprayed the backside of the carpet and let the glued surfaces tack so that when we attached them together they would bond well. We wrapped the carpet completely around the shoe leaving the seam where after installed would be sandwiched against the bottom of the slide to assure it would stay intact under pressure. We drilled the carpet (use the drill in reverse in high speed to somewhat burn the hole in the carpet so that the carpet fiber won't frazzle ) where the original screw holes where so that the head of the screws would be counter sunk and would not damage the new vinyl. After we installed the carpet covered slide shoe we pushed the slide in and reattached the rams. Our slide works very well now and we don't have to worry at all about our new floor getting scratched. I regret that I didn't take more pictures. I only have one that shows the slide out of the coach and I could take a picture of the completed job is someone would like. This forum has help me. I hope this will be some help to someone else.

Quote:
Originally Posted by gopedal

Jesse,

I'd like some more information about how you did it. I just bought a Winnebago Journey and the carpet cleaned up well but vinyl or other hard flooring is in the near future. I just joined and I think you can get to my email as I approved forum members to get to it. If not, let me know and I'll give you a phone number from work. Thanks.

Attached Thumbnails

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith K

I'm considering replacing the carpet and tile on our 2006 Ellipse with one of the laminate flooring products. My only real concern is thickness - has anyone used an 8mm-thick product, and if so, does it have any impact on the slides? Appreciate any advice.

RickO · 12-12-2010, 09:55 PM

Jesse... you are one brave dude!

Great job and thank for sharing.

From what I've read, you might have the makings of a nice little business there.

Rick

steelheadbluesman · 12-12-2010, 10:15 PM

Jesse - Nice (and detailed) explanation of a difficult repair. I will remember it for when MY time comes.

Thanks for the effort.

Keith K · 12-13-2010, 07:45 PM

Wow - Thanks Jessie, for the detailed response. Suddenly, that old carpet is starting to look better....
Keith

MaverickBBD · 12-14-2010, 10:11 AM

Fantastic job! I would be very interested in seeing pictures of the completed job.

M&Aeller · 12-14-2010, 03:44 PM

We have an '05 Journey and we replaced the carpet in our living room, bathroom and kitchen with "simulated" tile. The only carpet remaining is under the drivers seat, in the bedroom and on the street side slideout. I took the moho to a local flooring company here in Houston and they did a super job. We put in Karndean flooring (Karndean US Residential | Welcome) which looks exactly like tile. It even has "grout" strips between the tiles. They make all kinds of simulated flooring - slate, marble, stone, wood, etc. It turned out so nice that we installed Karndean wood flooring thruout our new house. It is only about 1/8" thick and since it is a vinyl product it is ideal for RVs that flex as they go down the road.

I did have scuffing occur from my slide so I contacted the Winnebago tech guys and they told me that I needed to replace the hard plastic leading edge on my slide with a carpeted leading edge. They sell the replacement piece just for these modifications. So I had our local Winnie dealer order the part and took in the moho when it came in. They did not have to remove the slide but were able to extend it and tilt it and change out the leading edge in about 2 days. Now the slide glides right over the new tile - no problem.

If you dont make this change, then you will gouge your hard flooring over time and it will look pretty bad. Also, you cannot install thick flooring because the slideout will catch on it when it comes in and pop it up.

Jbmsr · 12-15-2010, 07:55 AM

Sending 8 pics

Quote:

Originally Posted by MaverickBBD

Fantastic job! I would be very interested in seeing pictures of the completed job.

Ernie Ekberg · 12-15-2010, 01:41 PM

scratches occur from either a roller that has been damaged or dirt that is stuck to the roller. Harbor Freight has a fibre optic camera 1/2 off in price. I bought the full price model- duh- but you can see under the slide and get all the trash out before you install new flooring.

Jimmyzw22 · 12-15-2010, 05:42 PM

I know I don't have a Winnie but my 02 Holiday Rambler had the same issues. I gutted it and replaced the flooring to laminate, installed a full sized house shower among other things but on the slide, the kitchen slide had adjustable rollers on it but the driver side slide had adjustable rollers in the floor. I could only adjust them so far and the slide would have ended up scratching the new floor. So what I did was to go to Tap Plastics and get some thin cutting board material, cut it into strips and beveled one end and mounted three 1 inch wide by 16 inch strips under the slide. Now when the slide comes in the cutting board material slides on the laminate floor and leaves no marks or anything. Worked out great.

rebel4963 · 01-07-2011, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimmyzw22

I know I don't have a Winnie but my 02 Holiday Rambler had the same issues. I gutted it and replaced the flooring to laminate, installed a full sized house shower among other things but on the slide, the kitchen slide had adjustable rollers on it but the driver side slide had adjustable rollers in the floor. I could only adjust them so far and the slide would have ended up scratching the new floor. So what I did was to go to Tap Plastics and get some thin cutting board material, cut it into strips and beveled one end and mounted three 1 inch wide by 16 inch strips under the slide. Now when the slide comes in the cutting board material slides on the laminate floor and leaves no marks or anything. Worked out great.

Super wow. I'm new to this. I have a few questions. Did you just go to a local plastics factory? How did you attach it to the slides? I have six rollars on mine. Do you need to watch that they are clean before every slide in. Can you give me an idea on the cost of the plastic. What a great job. Thanks Beth

RTegarini · 01-12-2011, 06:30 PM

Saw this in a previous flooring thread; would something like this work? Anyone have these and could tell us more?

Thank you -RT

Camco RV Slide-Out Slickers - 40" Pair

DAN L · 01-12-2011, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RTegarini

Saw this in a previous flooring thread; would something like this work? Anyone have these and could tell us more?

Thank you -RT

Camco RV Slide-Out Slickers - 40" Pair

the camco slickers will probably work very well.

we do something similar by using 8 ea 3''-4'' wide by 36'' long strips of allure planks to keep our 15 month old allure flooring from being damaged when we retract our front slide.

our rear bedroom slide is ok, it does not need this protection.

there are pictures of our allure flooring installation in the archives of this forum.

Davel · 01-14-2011, 06:54 PM

We had out flooring replaced by Precision RV Services, Elite RV Services Elkhart Indiana 46514 Toll Free: (877) 457-4296 Complete Service and Restoration Center , and they provided these for us. We have no scratches or marks on our floor at all. The only issue is you have to remember to put them down....don't ask. The slide only came in a few inches before we noticed.

Good luck,
Dave