fixing floor minor questions

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Dreams

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Joined
Nov 6, 2018
Posts
14
Location
Pacific Northwest
On our 76 superior the floor was one of those things that the farther you get the more you say "did they really do that? Really??

First I took up the t&g wood laminate floor. Under that was the "really?" part. On the plywood subfloor they had painted over top of pieces of carpet padding, rusty nails and screws, a lot of carpet staples, and in a couple places they had even painted a chunk of newspaper.

I removed all the wonderful surprises and scraped off any loose paint. Scrubbed it down good and was surprised that no rotted places.

Now I want to put in a layer of 3/8 plywood just to cover the uneven areas and probably put the laminate back down. I just want some advice on if I should glue or not and what the best screw/nail would be and do I leave 1/8 between edges and caulk? The original subfloor is either 3/4" or 1" plywood and it looks like it has a coating of tar or something on the underside. Only problem areas would probably be the bolt holes from the furnature that used to be inside. The plywood is good and no rot that we have found.

Any advice will be great, thanks in advance...Jen
 
If you can get all the imperfections taken care of, such as high spots etc., I would just use luan, then Allure flooring.
 
I'd use would filler on the uneven places and then screw down the plywood overlay.  Durham's Rock Putty or similar is a good choice for a filler.  After, you can cover/fill the screw heads if they are not flush.  The plywood does not need expansion gaps at the edges.

Most laminate floors are designed to be floated and need expansion gaps, but you can glue them down if you want.  Most RV floors are wide enough to need much expansion space, but some brands of flooring (whether laminate or vinyl) expand more than others with either temperature or humidity.  The better grades are fairly stable dimensionally, but some of the cheaper ones are not.    I'd leave a small edge gap, but then you will want a molding in the visible areas.  I've helped a buddy glue down Allure Ultra vinyl plank and have installed a small area of floating Pergo laminate (with a gap) in my own rig. Both methods worked fine.
 
Sounds good to me. Still wondering should I glue between the plywood? Some say yes for strength and others say no glue so the overlay has some give separate from the subfloor that is attached to the metal joist. 

Also do I need some type of water barrier between the plywood and flooring or is it OK to just lay right on top of the plywood?

Stick houses are easy but rv has a different type of life. 

Thanks again...
 
If you put a waterproof layer down, you can't glue the floor covering to it. I suppose you could put one between the new plywood and the old subfloor, but I wouldn't bother.  I also wouldn't bother gluing the plywood layer. You are installing it to get a clean & smooth surface for the floor covering, not to strengthen the subfloor (which you said is in good condition).
 
Ok, yes just want a good surface. Thanks for confirming it for me. There are so many opinions out there contradicting each other. I figure you know how rv floors should work.

Thanks again... Jen
 

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