Day 301 / 64 - Replacing the Floor Part 1

When I decided to write about our adventure replacing the floor, I thought I wanted to write a 'how-to' piece. Turns out I'm too much of a story teller to write something technical like that. You may learn something about the process by reading the next few posts. However, I feel obligated to let you know if you are looking for technical advice I recommend a YouTube video or the flooring manufacturers website. If you want to read our story and our take on the process of doing this while living full time in our motorhome, then enjoy the next few posts.

Before

When we bought our 2006 Itasca Suncruiser, we knew the dated carpet and tile was going to go the way of the Harvest Gold and Avocado Green of the 1970’s suburban kitchens as soon as we could get it done.  Finally, after a couple of delays caused by repairs for frivolous things like refrigerators and AC units, we are knee deep in the replacement.

We looked at several blogs of those who replaced their own flooring. We talked to the experts at Home Depot and Lumber Liquidators and decided on Rigid Vinyl Plank Flooring for everything but the slides. Our motor home has two super slides. One on each side opposing for 5’ in the middle. This poses a bit of a challenge to a floating floor system. We were advised by the woman at Lumber Liquidators, who has worked with many motor home customers to simply apply some adhesive to the outer pieces that aren’t up against a wall.  We decided to keep the slides carpeted for the insulating properties. With a gas engine we decided to keep the carpet in the driving compartment as well, to insulate against both engine noise and heat.  The lady at Home Depot educated us on ordering carpet to be sent in for binding when we are ready to do the slides. That step will come later.

This is the preferred flooring of other RV renovators and came highly recommended by our sales rep at Lumber Liquidators.

We started on Christmas Day. It was a beautiful sunny 70 degree Florida day. We were both feeling down since all the kids and grandkids were 1,100 miles away and we struggle with the fact that the big, chaotic Christmas gatherings we used to host are a thing of the past, due to our own choice. What better way to get rid of holiday blues than to start demo! We decided to do the job in sections, rather than demo the entire house and live in a mess the entire time.

Carpet is easy. It’s barely attached.   Staples and 12 years of grime were all that held it in place. A utility knife and a little bicep action and it came right out. When I say grime, I mean it looked like a beach under the pad. It’s amazing how much dirt works it’s way through the carpet and padding.  The hard part comes after the carpet and pad are in the dumpster. Every single staple that held it down has to come out to prep the surface for the new planks. There is no day quite like one spent on your knees pulling 752 staples out of the floor. The devil really is in the details.

The dirt underneath it all is horrifying

Then, there is the tile. A big putty knife, upper body strength, cuss words and shoulder dislocations, screaming for a chiropractor, removed the 12” square peal and stick tiles that graced the kitchen area. I'm not sure what kind of adhesive is on the back of peel and stick tile, but I'm pretty sure it could hold the Space Shuttle together. The residue left behind will literally pull you out of your shoes if you try to walk across it. The cats were not amused when they came in that night. They did learn pretty quickly which wood was sticky and which wood was smooth where there had been carpet.  

We spent about 4 hours doing the demo from the engine compartment back to the couch. The best part of the day other than dumping the nasty carpet in the dumpster was the Christmas Potluck at the Clubhouse at 2pm that day. We worked hard all morning then took our dish (prepared the night before) and went to a feast!

I headed back to work on Wednesday and Champ laid the first stage of the plankng.

Stay tuned...