This Weekend's Project - Laminate Floor Installation

Cyclonic

This weekend's project; I am adding laminate flooring. I read of someone else doing this, and it seemed like a great idea to solve the problem of the soft floor, which in my T@B is not a water problem.

After talking to Scott Hubble of Little Guy, he told me it is a problem that they are still working on solving. I had thought that the floor is made up of a heavy sheet of plywood, but it is not, it is layers of foam and wood, and it sometimes just has soft spots. Little Guy did reinforce my floor last year with some angle iron, but now it is just soft around the reinforcements.

I figured the laminate flooring might work to give a good base to spread the weight out. Scott seemed to think that was a good idea, so I am giving it a go.

Still have to finish putting some base board in, ran out, but so far this is looking pretty good.

        

RZRBUG

Looks great.  Might have to give that a try myself, but it will be AFTER temperatures drop below 100 degrees.

Lisa33

Nice work! Looks really good. I might have to tackle something like that in my T@DA someday, just for appearances.

radren

Beautiful, how much added weight do you think it added?

Michigan_Mike

Wow, makes a huge difference!   Looking good Nate!  

Well done!

CodeJunkie

Beautiful wood grain ... I love the look! Nice work on the installation.

Cyclonic

I have to check on the weight, but I figure somewhere between 20-30 pounds added.  It is about 13 ft².  It adds ½" to the height of the floor, but very little adjustment was needed, the cabinet doors and all fit back in with no trouble.  I will have the adjust the height of the bed slats I added, and maybe the bench tops, but it will do for now.

Wanderoo

You are SOOO talented!!!  I wish I had the skills and tools to do the things you do.  Becky is very lucky.  Nice job. ;;)

irvingj

Just found this forum. Very interesting problem, I seem to have the same thing -- a very soft spot in the floor, which I thought was perhaps waterlogged plywood. Interesting to read this thread; I had originally thought to reinforce the floor from below, but didn't know a) if that would even help, and b) how the floor was made.

I've sent a comment to the T@B folks asking about it, but does this seem to be a relatively common issue? (Anyone else out there have this issue?) Cyclonic, did the laminate flooring make for a good fix? Also curious why you laid the boards crosswise rather than lengthwise. I would have done the latter….

Thanks, and glad to have found this site!

Cyclonic

It seems to have really helped the floor, feels much stronger now with little give, though it does creak a little bit.  The soft floor seems to be a common problem.

I laid them crosswise because I liked that look better, I don't think it would matter one way or another.

I had to raise the bed rails because we have a collapsible table that the bed rails simply help support.  I also have to raise the benches in order to level out the bed, or there would be a lump from the table part.  This was done by placing some of the extra flooring on the support rails under the benches.

All in all, it seems to have been pretty effective.

Nomad

Concerning the creaking - I redid my kitchen floor with a similar type of laminate but there was a rubber membrane that was laid down first. There also needed to be a slight gap all around that was covered by the shoe. This allowed the flooring to expand/contract.

Wonder if the creak is from the panel joints themselves or coming from interacting with the old floor.

Cyclonic

It is from the old floor, as I did not add a rubber membrane.  I am not really concerned with that because it is not like it gets walked on much, there really is no where to go :-D.  I was also concerned that the membrane might lift the floor too high forcing me to move other things, like the Carbon Monoxide detector.  As it is now, the floor just slid under everything and I could put everything right back where it was.

irvingj

Thanks for the comments, Cyclonic. May I ask how thick the flooring was that you used?

Thanks,  irvingj

geromo

  just finished the same project except i laid the floor in the other direction (l-r looking in the door). I too had soft spots in the floor. Very pleased but but had several small problems. My 2011 U-floor plan was not "square". As you looked into the door at the Cool Cat unit the left side was 3/8 inches closer to the door that the right side. the U-shaped foot area was over a 1/2 inch off square. This is a great project but check your numbers carefully before you cut the material.  As they say "measure twice--cut once". It made a great difference in the appearance and i would recommend that LG consider using it rather than the basic floor covering. My material was 10mm thick and has no noticeable differences in floor elevation.I do have to finish installing the trim but that is an easy job.

irvingj

Thanks for the info, geromo. How did the 10mm boards work as far as stiffening the floor?

As an aside, I repaired two window struts yesterday; I now know how they come part and how they operate, if anyone is interested. I had some mud wasps build their egg sacs beneath the spring steel working piece. Had to unscrew one end of one strut and swing the strut inside while camping before I could close the window- the strut was stuck in the open position and wouldn't release.

irvingj

geromo

floor feels much better--firmer all around. the 10mm laminate includes a thin pad  that i put down first--may not be needed as the floor space is small--not like in a room in your home which would require it.

Cyclonic

The laminate I used was ½" thick.  I was in and out of it a lot the other day doing some cleaning, and it is definitely firmer.

RZRBUG

Well, my weekend project turned out to be three days (result of my not knowing what I was doing), but it's finished except for some touch-ups.  I tried to find a floor that sort of matched the countertops with the cabinets as a contrast in between.

Verna

RZRBUG said:

Well, my weekend project turned out to be three days (result of my not knowing what I was doing), but it's finished except for some touch-ups.  I tried to find a floor that sort of matched the countertops with the cabinets as a contrast in between.

Looks good, Larry.  Looks like it was always there.

RollingLagrima

I love it Larry.  Rustic looking.

Mouseketab

Verry nice!, both of you!

RZRBUG

Thanks for the comments.  I put the finishing touches on it today...then covered it with throw rugs.    Also did some rearranging, and removed the microwave that I have never used to help make up for the extra weight of the floor.

Nomad

What I want to know - Did Booger approve and sign-off?

Verna

I hope Booger didn't give his "signature" of approval

Nomad

Verna - I even get that :-)
But wouldn't that be a vote of disapproval?

RZRBUG

Don't you have to have snow to sign your name?  Of course, he approves of anything as long as I'm there. 

RollingLagrima

Fact, Larry!!!!!!' >^..^<

irvingj

Since last year, my wife finally convinced me to bite the bullet and buy a self-propelled camper. We recently returned from an 11,000 mile tour of the US, beginning in NH, across the top to WA, down to LA, backup through the southwest canyon lands and eventually back home. Two months from start to finish; whew!

Back to our T@B: finally started reinforcing the floor. I used an aluminum grate material on the main portion of the floor (inside the frame rails), using 1-5/8" Unistrut bolted to the frame rails to hold it tight against the underside of the floor.  Found later that the worst spot was immediately inside the entry door, outside the frame rail. I also discovered moisture & rot under the linoleum in the little storage compartment beneath the refrigerator.

Sure looks like water intrusion to me. Have now removed the right front stabilizing/leveling "foot" and have a plan to reinforce the floor in that area, which is outside the right frame rail.

Where's the water come from? My theory right now is the seal between the curved front and the floor, under the aluminum trim strip that runs across the front and goes behind the propane & battery storage area, but I'm really not sure; it could also be coming in around the gas vent for the stove & fridge on the front surface. I really don't want to pull appliances out of the front if I don't have to. (Another possibility is the seal between the plastic fender wells and the floor….)  

Ran a small fan in the storage compartment for most of yesterday and it has dried out pretty well, but the outboard forward stud that attaches the leveling foot sits in floor material that's so rotten it just spun when I tried to remove the nut from beneath. I'll have to devise a different system for that one when it goes back together.

Has anyone heard if/how T@B has taken steps to prevent this in the future with new models?  I still love that little camper; when we bought our small RV we planned to sell the T@B, but I'm just not quite ready to part with it!

irvingj

Oh, yeah… what did we buy? A RoadTrek SS Agile, based on a short-wheelbase Mercedes Sprinter van. Of course it's diesel: we averaged 19.66 mpg on the whole trip, not bad for 8000+ pounds and the ability to climb hills like a homesick mountain goat!

ChanW

Nice!

My DW was eyeballing those Mercedes 'campers' before we got the Tab. The badge on the grill convinced us we couldn't afford it ...

How's the build quality, compared to the Tab? Appliances any different, etc?

RZRBUG

From the pictures, I'm pretty sure it is a DM T@B, so I'm not sure it would be accurate to compare the build quality with the LG ones.