Carpet is a Science Project

Let’s get this out front that I’m biased against carpet, period. I’d ban that crap from the planet. 😁

I started my 2011 2551 reflooring adventure today. Two ugly highlights of the day:

- I knew the carpet was dirty and dingy but I never realized how so until I dragged it out of the camper and into sunlight. Holy. $#%*! Thor only knows what’s living in there. Park where the sun can hit your carpet through the door and take a close look. I’d advise having a stout club in one hand. 😜

- Under the carpet; I’m betting there was an alternate universe of alien beings under there. I guarantee there was a couple of pounds of fine sand (that had to be wet mopped to be removed).

On the good side everything that had to come out was relatively simple, but, I still have what’s under the slideout to deal with.

Onward! Never give up. Never surrender!

I didn't know they might come carpeted...was it a prior remodel maybe? What is under the carpet, just subfloor or vinyl or anything?

What are you going to install?  Our's came with an amateur job of cheap laminate flooring that is wearing through where the slide rolls...planning to replace it someday, but not wanting to subject my aged knees to the process.

You have to watch what flooring you install.  I looked at some at HD/Lowe’s and some were not kind to cold weather or weather changes.  Also the slides may play havoc on the new flooring.  If I were to do it I would discuss options with PC or research what other manufacturers doing. 

PC installs floor before anything else.  Redoing a floor with pieced together components that float seems like a problem for the slide rollers.  But I am far from an expert on this subject.  They sure look nice though!

Ron S

You have to watch what flooring you install.  I looked at some at HD/Lowe’s and some were not kind to cold weather or weather changes.

Sarz. is right.  I read recently on another forum, someone stored their young motor home (not a PC) outside during a very cold winter.  He was sharing pictures.  The vinyl flooring shrunk in the cold so much that it cracked down the length of the floor.  It looked like two huge potato chips, just horrible.

Like Sarz says, the PC vinyl flooring is placed down as a water barrier to the main deck "before" the walls are set, so don't tear it up if you don't have to.  Put a new floor over it if feasible.  Many people install laminate flooring over the vinyl flooring.  Somehow they are able to adjust the slideout rollers to the new height.

By 2012 or 2013 Phoenix switched to a touchless slide so no rollers, no wear patterns.

Our 2006 has the slide rollers that touch the floor. One was bent from catching and bending on the original carpet. I bent it back and its been fine. They dont contact the floor for the entire distance when 'sliding' the slide' so if you extend the slide fully, under-slide floor work is easy. The wheels also come off the slide pretty easily (when slide is extended) before installing plank floor. I had to fix one anyway, so i took the rollers off for flooring work.

On our 2006, the flooring was not a barrier to the wood subfloor. Where there was carpet, there was a little overlap with the linoleum. The carpet was over bare wood. Carpet came out,I left the original linoleum in, and it has no 'bump'.

Dunno about cheaper alternatives, but Lifeproof has been..well...lifeproof in our rig so far. 

NO scratches or damage from the dirty , loaded cooler in there LEAKING slowly for several days before discovery...

I have had photo gear thrown in by helpful people during rain events. Not a scratch.

Both slide rollers contact the floor, no marks yet.


I found one post about a RV with SHEET laminate flooring splitting in cold, but all the posts about lifeproof flooring in unheated cottages up north seem to have happy results...  If anyone has the link to the plank style flooring failing in an RV I would like to see!   


If I find myself and the camper in sub zero temperatures... I will have done something VERY wrong!     Done with those days.

I used that vinyl plank flooring Home Depot sells  -- Traffic Master.  Actually, I got the stuff that looks like tile instead of wood, so fewer seams.  I've been happy with it.  My only complaint is that the seams have separated a bit in a few places.  But it's not noticeable.  And I can testify -- that carpet was nasty, and there was nothing but a 1/2" pad underneath -- no vapor barrier.

I didn't attempt to remove the carpet in the cab.  I just cut it off about 6" behind the seats and used Z-bar to tack it over the vinyl.  Then I bought some heavy-duty floor liners for the cab to hide the carpet.  Pro-tip: reflectix under the carpet in the cab GREATLY reduces the heat from the engine.

Interesting!

I once looked into the Ford Econoline E150/E250/E350 cargo van OEM insulated rubber cab floor covering, but had no luck finding a part number to order from a dealer.  I always thought that item would provide excellent insulation to address the hot floor and also offer a perfect fit and good finish for the front cab to eliminate soiled carpets that insulate very poorly.

If anyone knows the part number for that rubber insulated OEM floor covering, please share it.

Success (so far). I finally got the flooring installed. Will try to attach a photo. What a pita! At first I couldn’t get the stuff from piping apart and finally hammering each section in until it locked in. This is not plug and play stuff. I used Allen and Roth flooring from Lowes.

Make sure you either buy their tool or make one yourself; you’ll need it. I used a small dead blow hammer. You can feel it when it locks the way it should and it will just fall flat as it should when it locks. Until it lays flat on its own;    You     Ain’t     Done  with ‘that’ board.

My greatest pre project fear was the rollers and if they would imprint or push the boards around since they’re floating. I had to modify the roller frame by cutting it shorter and boring new roller pin holes to take up for the height of the new flooring. I also adjusted the two slide out swing bolts to ease the amount of weight the rollers input on the flooring.

I’ve still got trim to so which will be all wood and the door well base and sides I think I’m going to use a raised metal plate.

Back to work.......

By 2012 or 2013 Phoenix switched to a touchless slide so no rollers, no wear patterns.

And my 2015, 2551 came with no rollers, but after 2 earlier attempts to fix noises, not fully closing (by about 1/4"), etc PC added a wide roller (6 to 8" wide} to the left side (viewed from inside) and it's been perfect since.

With the single wide roller, I have no visible wear on the laminate floor.

So the "free floating" slides sometimes had roller(s) added.

Don

Make sure you buy extra flooring.  In a month you wont be able to match it so next time it gets damaged, you will have to do this again....

Interesting!

I once looked into the Ford Econoline E150/E250/E350 cargo van OEM insulated rubber cab floor covering, but had no luck finding a part number to order from a dealer.  I always thought that item would provide excellent insulation to address the hot floor and also offer a perfect fit and good finish for the front cab to eliminate soiled carpets that insulate very poorly.

If anyone knows the part number for that rubber insulated OEM floor covering, please share it.

Looks like the factory mold to me, even comes with jute padding to install.

https://www.stockinteriors.com/moldedvinyl.asp?Itemid=2506&MakeId=34&ModelId=218&year=2012&Price=0&gclid=CjwKCAiA-f78BRBbEiwATKRRBHConbFruJ3zfIBl1enrtQHYwPpzth6bcsaOmnwzuHXms_0ooPTAnBoCJ88QAvD_BwE

Quote from: 2 Frazzled on August 05, 2020, 09:10:11 am

By 2012 or 2013 Phoenix switched to a touchless slide so no rollers, no wear patterns.

So the "free floating" slides sometimes had roller(s) added.

Don

Nothing free floating about this slide out. There's some serious weight on these rollers.

What a tragedy it would have been to have lived a life unwilling to experiment and take risks.

A couple of photos of the finished floor and the storage bin under the passenger bed.

I still have the trim to do and then out comes the carpet in the dog house. That's going to be vinyl garage mat flooring with soundproofing/thermal insulation under it.

My Cruiser is a single man's cruiser so I took out the short bed and made some mods using the left over flooring (the flooring that I guess hear lasts a month????).

I took off the mattress support extensions and gained almost a foot of walkway between the beds. Next I cut the storage cover and the longer section will stay open by itself and the short one works as it did before. Now I can stand like a human and store/retrieve items in storage. I'm also trying to think up some ideas how I could use the area above the storage other than stacking stuff I take on the road.

You may also notice I got rid of that horrible, uncomfortable couch beside the frig. I replaced it with a large kitchen cabinet and a butcher block top for computer work and a writing surface.