Flooring in my 2008 Coachmen Freelander

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karhoot

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Joined
Apr 24, 2022
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Hello!

I'm looking at redoing my flooring in my RV. It had vinyl tile which was ripped out. The subfloor is actually in really good condition, but I wanted a little guidance on which type of flooring to replace it with.
I was tempted to use the vinyl peel & stick tile but wasn't sure if that would hold up with temperatures overtime.

Which would you folks recommend? Do I need any sort of underlayment when installing new flooring?
 
Hi and welcome. I am surprised you haven't had any replies yet as several folks have done this.

Hopefully someone will be along soon with some advice.
 
I would not use peel & stick in any RV. The adhesive in that type of product is nowhere near sticky enough to handle the movement, heat & humidity common to the RV environment. The tiles or planks will shift, leaving gaps between or even climbing over adjacent tiles. Use vinyl plank that has interlocking edges (not the type with sticky tape). The preferred method is to glue that done with flooring adesive, but if a quality flooring is properly installed a floating floor (no adhesive) works too.
 
I rarely disagree with Gary so here goes - LOL...

My floor in my RV is assembled from about 1/8 inch thick vinyl panels about 4 inches wide by 12 inches long. The adhesive is super sticky and in the 25 years it's been there there is no failure of adhesion. There are also no gaps anywhere.

If I were going to redo the floor I wouldn't hesitate to use a really good quality vinyl floor tile.
 
I wouldn't say that it is impossible to get a good floor using peel & stick, but for the average DIY RV owner, the odds aren't in your favor. You cannot skimp on the prep work, but the whole notion of peel & stick is "quick & easy" so the temptation to just slap it down is overwhelming. Armstrong used to make some high end peel & stick tiles, but they seem to have abandoned those in favor of plank & laminates.
 
Armstrong didn’t want the warranty headache associated with peel and stick.
 
Here is a thread on replacing the flooring.

The pictures that are linked to photobucket in the post are duplicated later as reduced pictures linked directly. Hope this answers some questions about a project like this.

The link is to the middle of the thread. Go up to the start.

Replacing carpet and tile with Laminate Plank Flooring

I replaced the carpet and ceramic tile in my coach because I was tired of steam cleaning the carpet after getting two new Yorkie puppies. I did lots of research and read all the articles on the subject on this forum. I wanted to have Ernie Eckberg do the installation but I could not get my...
www.rvforum.net

Bill Waugh
 
This is way to funny. You have one of the best if not the best professional RV floor installer in the country commenting and you don't ask Ernie Ekberg how he would do it.
 
jackiemac said:
Not sure how these new folks would even know that information.
Click to expand...

Jackie, Ernie's got a group on Facebook, too, so a lot of people not on the forums know of him.
I'll never be able to afford to have him do my coach, but that doesn't keep me from recommending him to people who ask.
 
I was listening to a radio show about home remodeling. A caller called to ask why her newly installed floor was "cupping and bowing". The answer was that the installer did not leave an "expansion gap" at the edges. I learned something that day. It makes sense that material expand and contract with humidity and temperature. In a home the gap is finished with skirting so not visible.

So, consider that when redoing your floor.

What say you Ernie?
 
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