Got an older RV? Plenty of us out here do, and in tough or even uncertain economic times, buying a new RV may be impossible, or undesirable. Still, that doesn’t kill off the desire for some of those new RV perks. Why not do a little RV remodeling? A change in floor coverings might be something you can undertake.
Standard floor coverings in older RVs typically turn up as carpeting or vinyl. Nothing wrong with either of them, although replacement can sometimes be a bit of a challenge. Typically when RVs are manufactured, the flooring is laid out on the RV deck platform, then walls lowered down on top of the flooring. This means cutting out carpeting along wall edges, and installing new tack strips. It gets much more complicated when working with slide outs, and we’ll put that topic off for a future discussion.
Why not consider a couple of alternatives to the typical vinyl or carpet? Years back when we found ourselves with a mid-80’s fifth wheel, the manufacturer had for some perverse reason, ran carpeting throughout the entire rig. We could understand carpet in the living room and bedroom areas, but through the galley and bathroom–well, you can only imagine the issues there. We originally thought of replacing the carpet in the galley with vinyl but a friend of ours, a flooring professional, suggested installing laminate–like Pergo flooring.
The old carpet was removed along with a few tack strips that held it along cabinet edges. Next a layer of laminate underlayment–essentially a thin foam–was put down. The laminate itself is laid out on the floor, and tongue and groove construction snapped the laminate together. Finally, a molding held the outside edges of the new floor down–the actual flooring itself is not anchored to the plywood decking, it freely floats.
We went ahead and ran the new laminate flooring into the bathroom, too. According to some, bathrooms and laminates don’t mix–as the moisture in the bathroom would damage the flooring. More than ten years have gone by with the laminates in the bathroom with no problems. However, you’ll want to make sure that you get a waterproof laminate, and follow the instruction for installation to the letter.
When it came time to go up the steps from the bathroom and to the overhead bedroom, laminates ended. You can do steps with laminates, but our steps “opened” on a hinge to allow storage underneath. We decided to go with carpeting, directly over the plywood deck. But a year ago, problems arose: The fifth wheel was locked up by itself for several months, and on our return, we found an outside trim leak had allowed rain water to pour into the bedroom, wiping out the carpeting, and leaving us with a mold remediation problem. We yanked the carpet, dried the place out, and left the plywood floor waiting for renewal.
Enter the second flooring alternative: Deck paint.
Rather than put down more carpeting, we opted to prepare the original plywood floor for painting. We first pulled the old staples that held earlier carpeting down. Next, we filled gouges and knot holes in the flooring. Where there were some gaps between the plywood sheets making up the floor, we filled them in with wood filler. From there, we used a belt sander to smooth out roughness and imperfections. A shop vac and tack rag removed the dust. If you undertake a similar job, be sure to wear a dust mask when sanding!
Next we painted on a coat of primer. Safety here, too. Be sure to have lots of ventilation! After the primer was dry we put on a coat of oil based deck paint–although laytex versions are available. In our case, we simply put down a single color of paint, although there are some great suggestions on how to add artistic designs and dimensions to a floor paint job–just check out the propaganda flyers available at the paint store.
A day after our deck paint went down, we cautiously put the bed platform back into service. We now have deck paint in the bedroom, laminates in the bathroom and galley, and yes, even commercial grade carpet in the living room. All three “wear like iron,” and are easy to care for.
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