New flooring?

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
Msbudlite

Msbudlite

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 6, 2014
Posts
78
Location
Montreal, Quebec
We replaced the carpet/lino with a vinyl tile that was supposed to be OK with heat and cold.  NOT. It buckles and moves and it's not glued down and it's not supposed to be glued down.  We would like to replace this tile with the new flooring we see in the new motorhomes.  It looks like a ceramic 1/4" thick.  Where can we find this?  It's not a cheap job or easy job so we really don't want to do it a 3rd time.  We like the look of light colored tile so we aren't going with the laminate/wood flooring or carpeting.  Thanks.
 
Hopefully Ernie, our flooring pro, will see this and jump in.
 
Armstrong, Mannington, have lots of tile samples- go to Tile magazine and search through their ads. you may find what you are looking for. They have installation instructions on line, also
 
Most of the big box stores have tile on sale, all the time.
My local Lowe's always have light colored 12x12 tile on sale for $0.60-$0.80 each. The problem with tile is a flexing floor. If the floor flexes, you will pop the tiles free. You may be able to use construction adhesive that will give some give for flex. Have you considered the added weight of tile? Especially if you use cement board and mortar to hold it in place...
 
The commercial tile the box stores sell require a pressure sensitive adhesive. This adhesive needs to be spread with a trowel with small notches. A little of this adhesive goes a long way. I know, I installed truck loads of this vinyl composition tile in schools, churches, etc over my 44 year career in flooring
 
We love the look of ceramic but the tip out rollers already touch thin tiles.  Plus there is the weight factor, cost and installation (we do it ourselves).  When the bus flexes what happens to the tile?  We installed a new click click tile product that shrinks with the cold and expands with the heat.  It doesn't go back into place when it expands and you have tile bunching up a little, not laying flat.  I believe it's the product but we were told it was fine for the Motorhome.  Not!  So we are looking for a good tile that we will glue down.  We don't want to do this a 3rd time.  Thanks for everyone's input.

We put very cheap sticky tiles on the bathroom floor....big mistake.  This will be updated when we do the living area.
 
I know you said you prefer tile over engineered wood, but you might want to take a look at Ernie's website to see examples of what can be done with wood.  I am eventually going to replace the wood-look laminate in mine with engineered wood.  I think with careful study of his step-by-step photos I'll be OK to tackle it myself.  Ernie has answered a lot of questions for folks.  I would feel guilty about using his advice rather than just paying him to do the work, but Ernie stays booked about a year in advance.  :)
 
When the bus flexes what happens to the tile?
Click to expand...

Hard to say. Hope this doesn't sound too snobbish, but lower-end models typically have a lot more twist & shift than higher end rigs. The frame is less rigid and the subfloor and its underlying metal structure of lower quality construction.  I've had two coaches with ceramic tile and no problems at all, but have seen others that cracked or broke loose. Newmar, American Coach, & Monaco have used a lot of tile flooring with no significant problems.

Likewise the click-lock vinyl or laminate stuff works well enough if you buy the better grades. I'm not talking ultra-high end either, more like $2.50-$3.50 per sq ft. There are not a lot of sq ft in any RV, so it's not cost prohibitive to use better quality stuff that locks well and doesn't expand/contract as much.  When you consider the amount of labor involved vs the cost of materials, it makes sense to use better grade flooring.

The "engineered" wood that Ernie uses is probably the most stable of all, Bamboo tiles or planks should also be very stable.
 
I have more than one question on this topic.  First, with the metal floor, and heavy slide, what happens to ceramic tile when the slide is put in and rides on the tile?  We have an 2000 Newmar with original carpet on a metal floor, which is still in great shape, but we would prefer tile, thinking it would be easier to maintain, in regard to pet hair and campground tracking in.  We spend a lot of time outdoors, and seem to track in a lot of debris in rainy weather or in the desert.  Can ceramic tile withstand the slide weight moving in and out, and the flexing and twisting?  Second, the bathroom is tiled, and  we notice that after a rough road trip grout crumbles out in chunks. It is probably not original Newmar work so may have been installed by the previous owner.  Is it necessary to use a special adhesive and grout when setting tile in a motorhome or is a certain amount of cracking along grout lines normal?  Would engineered wood stand up to slide weight, flexing,  and campground grit?
 
We are installing vinyl tiles.  Not the floating ones as I normally refer to as click click tiles.  And of course we are glueing it down.  The store said we could do the "flexible" grout line?  I don't want to replace the tiles a 3rd time!  What is the chance the grout or tile will move?  Thanks.
 
Can ceramic tile withstand the slide weight moving in and out, and the flexing and twisting?
Click to expand...

I don't think anybody else can answer that for your particular coach, since slide construction, chassis rigidity, and subfloor all have an effect. My coach is about 35% tiled (galley, central hall, & bath area) and we have no problems at all. The galley slide rides mostly above the tiles (it's not a flush type slide), but the slide does have rollers that stabilize it when retracted. However, our flush floor slide goes over carpet and that definitely rides on the floor surface and puts a lot of weight on the floor when retracted. You can see the dents in the carpet!

I don't know any details about how your coach is built, so can't really offer any meaningful advice about using tile in your rig. Can only tell you what works in mine. It seems, though, that carpet or quality grade of engineered wood or vinyl plank would be a safer choice since you already have some indication that tile gets disrupted by travel.
 
I believe it is standard urethane flooring adhesive.  He applies it to the flooring piece (not the floor; that makes it messier) with a notched trowel. I'm sure Ernie will be back to weigh in. I'm just pretty familiar with the process because I've studied Ernies work so I can do my own.
 
We met a flooring contractor out of El Segundo, CA who has an Alfa who had replaced the carpeting. He installed "commercial" grade Luxury Vinyl Tile (LVT) planks. He says if it is not a commercial grade and installed properly is will not hold up in a motor home application.

We are meeting up with him this weekend as he will be replacing some, but not all, of the carpeting as our new to us Siena is 100% fully carpeted. I think we need about 135 sq feet with total cost including demo, prep, material and labor of roughly $1100. Should be a nice improvement.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 1,005 (members: 28, guests: 977)

Forum statistics

Threads
132,139
Posts
1,390,928
Members
137,859
Latest member
Foogie
Back
Top Bottom