Does your RV flooring stink?
You know the smell, that pungent odor of sweat soaked socks combined with wet dog stank.
Add spilled beer on top.
The results are pungint.
A kick to the senses the likes of Hai Karate on a teenagers first date.
Wowswers!
Oh boy you better have some excuses ready for visitors.
Excuses like “We fumigated and it’s not safe to enter” or “The wet dog peed on the carpet”.
It’s time to stop making excuses and tackle this simple DIY project.
The fix is quick, easy and affordable.
The transformation is amazing.
New flooring options for your RV
Replacing that worn and outdated flooring may be one of the simplest things anyone can do to improve the RV.
Because, what could possibly be better than 50 year old shag carpet?
Nothing!
Well, maybe new shag carpet.
And, in the rare chance you are not a fan of shag carpet their are other options.
You can always cover it with a shag carpet runner;)
Vinyl Flooring
Vinyl is a good low cost option that wears well and installs relatively easily.
And there’s a vast array of options for color and style.
There are some drawbacks with vinyl flooring.
Sheet vinyl can be difficult to wrestle into place as one large piece and seams can be challenging to get perfect.
And, there’s the drawback that any imperfections in the underlayment below the vinyl will “Telegraph” through.
What about luxury vinyl planks?
The install quickly and look great.
And LVT suffers in areas with fluctuating temperature and humidity.
Something the resellers often neglect to mention.
The glue down vinyl planks shrink with time.
And, gaps grow between the planks.
The exact environment our RVs experience.
Pro: Easy to install
Con: Shrinks with temperature fluctuations, telegraphs imperfections in subfloor and it’s not shag.
Carpet
The go-to flooring for many years and for good reason.
Excellent at hiding loose dirt, blending imperfections at seams and sketchy underlayment.
It dampens sound, carpet is easy to work with and there are thousands of choices from vintage shag to modern berber.
And yes! You can still get shag carpet!
As Austin Powers would say “Thats Totally Groovy Baby”!
Pro: Hides subfloor imperfections, seams easily, large selection including SHAG!
Con: Dirt sinks into the carpet as do small insects. Carpet retains moisture and can stain. Worst of all carpet holds odors and humidity brings those hidden odors out.
Wood Flooring
Wood flooring is a popular choice for RVs.
More specifically engineered wood flooring.
Wood flooring is durable, easy to clean and long lasting.
Pro: great looks, easy cleanup, durable and coordinates great with shag aisle runners.
Con: cost, reflects sound, not waterproof, moves with humidity and temperature changes
Note: Engineered wood flooring resists expansion and contraction better than solid wood flooring and modern glues improve the stability of wood flooring.
Tile flooring
There are several types of tile available today.
Durable, easy to clean with excellent stability.
An excellent choice with radiant heating.
Preferred where temperature retention is desirable.
Holds heat in cold weather and stays cooler in warm weather.
The drawbacks are the high cost of installation and the increased weight of tile.
Pro: durable, stain proof, stable, temperature retention
Con: costly, installation can be more challenging, increased weight
Laminate flooring
The primary component found in laminate flooring is MDF or Medium Density Fiber board.
Produced with sawdust and glue.
The top layer is a picture of wood, tile or whatever the manufacturer chooses to print.
The low cost options have thin wear layers.
That, when scratched can reveal the MDF below.
MDF expands and contracts with humidity and temperature fluctuations.
Pro: low cost, easy to install, hundreds of options
Con: MDF absorbs moisture, subfloor must be flat, thin wear layer on low cost options
What’s the best option for RV flooring?
Our choice…
It’s Vintage and it’s Shagadelic.
Not really, it’s cut pile carpet combined with wood flooring.
Glued down engineered wood flooring for the main aisle and carpet along the sides and bedroom.
Easy to clean and low maintenance flooring where traffic is high and soft comfortable flooring where traffic is low.
The interior of an RV is relatively small and filled with hard surfaces like cabinets, countertops, windows etc.
The solid flooring is low maintenance and looks great.
The carpeting is comfortable and most importantly dampens sound.
Installing the flooring is easy
Installation was a breeze.
The first step is to pre-fit the planks prior to cutting and glueing.
As the saying goes measure twice cut once.
For best looks the first step is to identify the longest straight line.
Start by installing the flooring along the line.
The longest visible line was the kitchen base cabinets.
So that’s the starting point.
Almost.
There was a kicker.
The end of the cabinet juts out past the base.
This leaves 3-4” gap between the wood floor and the cabinet toe kick base.
Planks laid even with the end wall.
The solution was to install a strip of carpet to fill the gap, quick and easy.
The installation ran down the aisle lengthways.
Filling in across the aisle and butting up against a base cabinet on the other side.
This left another small gap below the couch.
This gap was easily filled with carpet.
Eventually, the wood floor met the curved bathroom wall.
Carful cutting and sanding massaged the flooring snug to the curve.
A little caulking between the wood flooring covered the remaining gap and allows for expansion.
The last step is to install carpet over the remaining floor.
No padding under the carpet.
The carpet height is slightly higher than the wood flooring.
The different floorings blended almost perfectly and eliminated the need for transition pieces.
The installation was simple and the different floorings blend together very nicely.
What did the new flooring cost?
Here’s the best part.
The total wood flooring required 75 square feet.
Chosen from clearance flooring at Home Depot.
The carpet came off the clearance flooring selection at Home Depot.
And because the space was small we found multiple small remnants that totaled 150 square feet.
At 75% off retail the total material cost came in under $200.
Totally Shagadelic Results
Total cost less than $200.
Time commitment 40 hours.
Improvement a solid “Yeah Baby”.
More photos of the completed project.
Shagtastic Baby
No, it’s not shag (this time).
A definite improvement from the baby blue faded and stained carpet.
Gone are the nasty odors.
It’s easy to clean.
And it looks great!
Shag would look “Totally Groovy” though.
This may be the single easiest, lowest cost and best wow factor that every RV owner can complete.
So grab your tool belt and get your groove on.
And…
Let’s see those shaggy floors in your Vintage RV!
