Thinking of putting laminate wood floors in my TT. Should I?! - RV-Dreams Community Forum

RVmomof3 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thinking of putting laminate wood floors in my TT. Should I?!

GENECOP · RV-Dreams Family Member

Go with Armstrong Lux Plank....Thinner and not subject to warping from moisture, easier to work with and soft on the feet....

poncho62 · RV-Dreams Community Member

I used laminate in my trailer....My slide is about an inch above he floor and doesnt rest on it (small slide), so it wasnt a concern. Some slides have a roller that runs on the floor. That might mark your new floor

TRAILERKING · RV-Dreams Family Member

I'm thinking of putting a vinyl laminate in our coach near the front to get rid of the carpet up to the ceramic tile. The vinyl laminate looks just like wood but no chance of any water damage. As far as your slide, you'll have to check and see exactly what's under your slide. It may have rollers or it may have plastic strips that glide over the carpet. If it has plastic strips then just replace the plastic with strips of thick carpet. It will then glide over your laminate floor with no damage. Some slides have nothing under........so it all depends, you have to check.

rocknb · RV-Dreams Family Member

RVmomof3,

Great & Timely Post ! My wife and were just discussing this very same thing last nite. Only we are talking about real oak flooring - stained with cherry stain like the rest of little flooring we already have. We had the same concerns about the slide. Thank-You RVmomof3 for bringing up this post and to all who respond.

lmcallis · RV-Dreams Family Member

I put laminate flooring in our 5th wheel last fall and we really like it. It's nothing fancy, bought it at Lowes for about $1 a sq foot and was 7mm thick. When combined with the vapor barrier pad, the laminate was the same 10mm thickness that the carpet had been. It's in the both the living area and the bedroom. Some tips on slideouts....

1) the bedroom slide in the front of the 5th wheel slides on top of rollers mounted in the floor. So I put thick, stick on felt pads under the bed frame that slides across the floor as the slide goes in and out. No marks on the floor from the slide.

2) the kitchen slide also slides on rollers mounted in the floor and so even when it's in, it never touches the floor. So no marks from it.

3) the living room slide is a flush floor slide, so when it is extended out, it's floor (covered in new carpet) is flush with the laminate floor. The bottom of this type of slide literally slides over the laminate flooring and can easily scratch up the laminate flooring. So, it can be a real problem. I first tried a a couple of rolls of thick plastic shelf liner sold at Walmart. I'd put it down and try and get the slide to slide up over is so the liner would be between the bottom of the slide and the top of the laminate. Limited success and it had a tendency to get stuck in the slide as the slide was extended. It took two people to bring in the slide, one to hold the button and another to keep pushing or pulling the plastic into place.

After 6 months of using this, and having small scratches in various places in the laminate (can't cover everything) my current solution is a series of 3/16 inch braided nylon ropes that run from the top inside edge of the slideout floor, down and under the slide, and are then attached on the bottom of the slide about 2 inches in from the outside wall. So when the flush floor slide starts to come in, the slide now rides on the ropes (spaced every 30 inches or so along the slideout) and as long as grit doesn't get on the ropes, no scratches on the floor. As we go down the road, the slideout floor is resting on the ropes, instead of on the laminate so no scratches from vibrations as we travel either.

We've used this system for about 6 moves and it's worked great. The ropes are permanently screwed into the slideout floor (the little bit of rope and screw on the top of the slideout floor leaves a little bump under the carpet), one person can now bring in the slide, and no marks. I'm not sure this would work with soft vinyl flooring, but so far it's working great with the laminate.

ChefMom · RV-Dreams Family Member

I would not only be concerned about the slide scratching the floor with Pergo. We had put Pergo into one of the rooms in our s&b and one year that was the room we had the Xmas tree in. The holder leaked water on the floor without our knowledge and the warping that resulted was awful. We replaced entire floor. We also have had the Armstrong vinyl plank in a room. We were told by the salesperson that it was so durable that someone had done their outdoor patio with it and after 10 years it still looked good. Well, my kids had the awful habit of sliding chairs, toys and what ever else they could get their hands on repeatedly over the same traffic area and because the color and grain do not run all the way through this plank flooring we had worn white streaking throughout in that "travel lane". My suggestion would be an Armstrong product, but a commercial one that has color all the way through the tiles. You may choose colors or a wood grain. The hardest part of installation is that it all needs to be put down with a commercial epoxy that needs 18 hours or so to become tacky enough for installation of the tile and then you can't walk on it for a number of hours after that. If you go that way, please check the thickness of the tile to ensure your slide will be able to go over them. I don't know the formal name of the tile but they sell it at both Loews home improvement and Home Depot and can be purchased online. They are cheaper at Home Depot by about $10 per case.

RVmomof3 · RV-Dreams Community Member

Thanks everyone for taking the time to help. I think we are going to go with something like Armstrong Lux Plank instead of Pergo :)

cpaulsen · RV-Dreams Family Member

Did my 5ver last year. Put a small piece of laminate by the slide and ran the slide in to see if it would hit. Had plenty of room. Love the florring now instead of that crummy carpet.

The Hensons · RV-Dreams Family Member

Couldn't you adjust the slides a little bit so that they come up slightly higher?