Possible damage to vinyl or laminate floor from slides

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
John Stephens

John Stephens

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 27, 2015
Posts
1,004
Location
Cape Coral, FL
We are wanting to replace our 15 year old worn out and discolored carpet with something new. Going with more carpet would probably be the cheapest way to go, but we are interested in getting either a laminate or vinyl plank providing a wood look. I'm not sure which will be better - a sheet of vinyl or actual planks and am interested in advice from those who have done this.

But more importantly, I am interested in finding out if the slides will damage or leave marks on a vinyl or laminate floor. Our slides leave visible marks in the carpet and I am afraid it will do the same on any type of floor. My mechanic tells me the slides will scratch and destroy any floor other than carpet, but I have found he doesn't know what he's talking about half the time with my coach. I have seen others do what I am thinking of and posting pictures of the finished product that looks outstanding, but you never hear from them after they have used the coach for a season to find out what the slides have done to the floor, if anything.

So I'm looking for answers from people who have installed something other than carpet that have slides run over it. What, if anything do the slides do that shows wear? Do they scrape or scratch the flooring, or do they clear the floor and do nothing at all?
 
I replaced carpet with the higher grade Allure (in my previous coach) and it worked out very well. As to the slides, one did tend to drag a corner. I just got a clear vinyl hall runner about six feet long and placed it where it dragged - worked perfectly. Kept it rolled up behind the couch.

Ernie
 
Hello  :D , I installed laminate in the living room and kitchen area, 32 ft Class A. Mine definitely left black marks on the surface. Also make sure you don't leave any metal object like a screw on the floor when bringing the slide back in. I did and it left a 6 inch scratch  :mad: on my new floor. I covered it up with a throw rug. Otherwise laminate, to me, was a good choice.
 
John, your mechanic should stick with turning wrenches and leave the flooring to a pro-like me. I use some vinyl planks under the slides to help them come in with great success.
 
I think the point here is that odds are strong that the slide will scratch or dent the flooring UNLESS you place some barrier in-between when moving it in or out.  So, YES it scratches but you can prevent it if you take some care. Not everyone is assiduous about that, though.
 
I replaced the carpet with vinyl tiles in our 99 Brave. I left carpet up to the point where the slide stops. I am thinking of putting in vinyl plank in our 03 Adventurer. The Brave slide is not a flat floor slide like the Adventurer, so it might work better in the Adventurer. I am somewhat worried about vinyl plank in cold weather shrinking. When we got home to North Dakota from Arizona in March, some of our vinyl plank had separated. We kept the house at 50 F. When the floor warmed up they went back together.

The plastic shoe at the front of a motorhome with carpet can be replaced with a shoe with carpeting on it for vinyl floors.
 
John, I have the same coach as you have and am getting ready to install vinyl plank also.  Did you do your project and if so, how did it work out?
 
gthomas said:
John, I have the same coach as you have and am getting ready to install vinyl plank also.  Did you do your project and if so, how did it work out?
Click to expand...

I heard more cons than I did pros to go to vinyl flooring. In particular, we were concerned with our three large dogs and what kind of injuries they could suffer while trying to play on a vinyl floor as opposed to carpet. For that reason among others, we chose to simply replace the carpet with a different color and grade of carpet throughout the entire coach. We kept the vinyl tile in the kitchen and bath, but the living room, driving area and bedroom were all redone with new carpet.
 
I have a linoleum floor, and it's a nightmare. Constantly changes shape, quickly wears out, and changes color. I want to put vinyl laminate flooring. So far, I've put a carpet on the linoleum. I can not decide on glue, as I know that there are many problems with this. I plan to use vinyl mastic for the time being. I even started to think about finding a good quality linoleum, and maybe I got a bad quality. I want to do this time for a long time and not worry about it already. Does anyone know about this? Would you like to compare?
 
Sounds like it was cheap linoleum (which is now actually vinyl sheet rather than the old style product). Vinyl plank or tile isn't a laminate - that's a different type of flooring product. Laminate is not a great choice for an RV because it is sensitive to humidity & temperature. The better grades aren't too bad, but vinyl plank or tile is a better choice by far. The most stable is engineered wood. Or carpet.
 
Last edited:
Whatever you put down, the old needs to be removed. Winnebago used the most sticky adhesive known to man up front by captains chairs. Good luck removing that stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 671 (members: 9, guests: 662)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,954
Posts
1,388,147
Members
137,707
Latest member
Opal6502
Back
Top Bottom