New floor covering: wood or vinyl?

[tamm_me]

Sent: 3/8/2007

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for an opinion. I have found a liquidator that has flooring for a pretty reasonable price, I can redo all of the floor in FurKid for about 100 bucks and have some to spare for future repairs. I am going tomorrow to buy the floor, as we are looking at the 50's for the weekend, meaning time to start fix-ups. The floor covering in her now is linoleum and carpet, and both are in really good shape, but I would like something more conducive to pets throughout.

Here is the issue the place has two different products that look very similar, the only noticeable difference is that they are a little different shade. One is a wood laminate, I think that is what it is called, in 6in. X 5ft. sections, it fits together tongue and groove. The other item comes in the same measurements but is a thick vinyl that looks like wood for the same price, it has a sticky lip that makes it look like tongue and groove. Dan thinks the wood would look nicer, and he is probably right...shhhh. But I think the vinyl stuff, that looks really nice too, would work better when it comes to having to clean up after the animals when the need arises. I would also like to take the vinyl about a foot up the wall to a trim piece to cover an area that is currently covered with the same carpet as on the floor. I don't think the wood could do this, because of a slight curve, whereas the vinyl would flex.

So since price has no bearing, any suggestions or comments would be great.

Thanks,
Tam, Dan, Alex and the skunks 

[OldEdBrady]

Sent: 3/8/2007

Only my opinion.

I think the vinyl would be the better deal.  Because it's cheaper, you could get extra for any pieces that come loose in the future.  And, as you said, it's more flexible to do what you want.

Now, a vehicle going down the road.  Is the floor rock solid?  Heck no!  It will flex.  I think that might be another reason to go with the vinyl.

[ohhmom]

Sent: 3/8/2007

Hi Tam
We are looking at the vinyl wood grain flooring also...I think that it would clean up easier...and be easier to maintain on the road...and probably would seal a little easier if properly installed.   With wood flooring...moisture can go through the tongue and grooves and seep through to the under-lament!  This could cause rotting over time...and possibly the floor to start warping possibly.  My vote is the vinyl looking wood grain...that is what we are planning on doing not only in our Winnie...but eventually in our bathroom at home! Take care and good luck!
Donna

[tamm_me]

Sent: 3/9/2007

Ed and Donna,

I said the exact same thing about the flexing as you go down the road. And I also said that I felt the wood would eventually rot for the exact reason you said Donna water could get under it thru the cracks. I also think the vinyl is so thick that it will be comfy on the feet. Dan has pretty much left the decision up to me, and the vinyl was pretty much my choice. As I said they are the same price so that wasn't even a factor. So new vinyl floor over the weekend, we hope...lol

Tam

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Sent: 3/9/2007

The laminate flooring, like Pergo, will indeed hold up very well to pets...probably better than the vinyl, and will look a lot nicer.  The problem with the laminates is that they aren't supposed to be glued down...they lock together, and the edge pieces, which are nailed and glued down, hold it all in place.  I'm not so sure how they would perform on the road, especially if you hit a big pothole!...lol!

I think we are going to end up going with the laminate ourselves, but we're not sure yet...I don't really like the way the vinyl looks, but I'm super critical now that I work with wood for a living...hehehe!

Kev

[tamm_me]

Sent: 3/11/2007

Dan and I went to the liquidator and bought the flooring today. When we got home we ripped up the old linoleum and carpeting, it is amazing after 20 years there was only one bad looking spot in the wood where the window was not shut when we bought it. We chipped out the 6"x6" area, leveled it out, and put down the new floor. I will add pictures of the job. It looks awesome, even without the baseboard trim that we plan to do later in the week. It ended up costing us about $60. We bought enough to do Maggie's floor for Mom next weekend,  for $40 more. Thanks for the suggestions from everyone.

Tam and Dan

[JDxeper]

Sent: 1/28/2008

Getting ready to put the floor covering down and clean up cockpit,  Needed to get under accelerator to treat floor board, learned that gas pedal just flips up and the you can get at the screws, dumass me  took a long time to figure that out, also learned that the rear wheel wells are not metal but some sort of plastic.  I think they would shatter easy.

[Eksak]

Sent: 1/29/2008

I am thinking about this as well this spring, still way too much snow and it's still snowing here in Alaska.  I am thinking about the wood flooring, the P.O. has left the original avocado green carpet, (I love the avocado color) but with 4 kids, I am thinking that the wood flooring will be easier to keep clean. 

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Sent: 1/29/2008

Here is my last 2 cents about wood versus vinyl...lol!

In our old rig, the Ark, we installed vinyl tiles we bought at Home Despot.  Since the WHOLE floor ends up being a high traffic area in an RV, the result was that after just a couple of months, the "wax-free" shine on the tiles was completely gone and they looked dull and wouldn't shine back up.  This was from our own feet, and the dogs running back and forth with their puppy claws.

In Excalibur, we tore out the old original carpet and installed a temporary vinyl tile floor.  This time we bought the tiles at Lowes...they were the same price, but a different brand.  Over 8 months later,the floors are still holding up quite well, still shiney, and clean up quick with little maintenance.

In our old van, the cargo area was hardwood floors (the PO laid wood floors for a living...lol!).  Loading and unloading our storage bins and workshop eventually scratched it up, but surprisingly not too badly, and if we hadn't traded it, we could have sanded it and made it look like new.

We decided that the permanent floors in Excalibur are going to be real slate tiles...the floors seem pretty solid, so hopefully they won't crack!

Kev

[tiinytina]

Sent: 1/30/2008

We are in the process of putting in fake pergo al la Costco into Gone. Pat is worried about too much flexing now as this stuff "floats" on a bed of plastic covered foam and just walking on it he can move the entire floor as it is all clicked together.... but we are going to trim well so that if it moves it won't move past the trim. Also the dinette table mounts will be screwed through the flooring stabilizing the floor to the rig. I think I will also put on a coat or two of MinWax Polyacrylic over it to seal the seams up against leakage.... but need to test a scrap piece to see if the finish it came with is compatible. Cost of the laminate for Gone was $150 and I paid $50 for a scrap 6x8 piece of aqua/teal shag to redo the cockpit area (which is my project for this weekend...).

For linoleum/vinyl I've found the best product to renew shine is "Future" acrylic floor polish. I can find Future at the hardware store and grocery stores around.  I still have old linoleum in my home dining room which has had dog and people traffic over it for 19 years. If I have the time I strip/clean the floor with soap and ammonia then wax it, shiny as new.

Tina

[tiinytina]

Sent: 1/31/2008

OK new question. If you have put in a "floating wood" floor how do you mount the dinette table legs onto the floor... I don't want my table "floating" and obviously bolting the leg bases to/through the floor into the sub-floor makes the floating floor not float anymore.... If we cut out holes what have folks done to trim them since the floating floor has to be 1/2" from edges?
thanks
Tina

[ClydesdaleKevin]

Sent: 1/31/2008

You have me stumped on that one...although I have an idea.  Ever see those real wooden curtain rod ring?  I've seen them in oak and a few other woods.  You might be able to sand one side flat...then you'll have a nice wooden trim ring to use around the table leg/legs.  If you fasten it to the laminate floor itself with tiny brads and glue (brads short enough not to penetrate to the sub-flooring), then the floating floor will still float, even around the table legs!  If you own or know someone who owns a tabletop belt sander, it would be super easy to make yourself wooden trim rings from those wooden curtain rod rings by sanding the one side flat...the side which would attach to the floating floor.

Kev 

[tiinytina]

Sent: 2/3/2008

hmmm. the legs of the dinette are like 6-7" in diameter.... guess we'll figure something out..... I'm thinking just screw them to the floor and if it buckles deal with it later. The only thing I can think of is to just cut out a transition between the dinette area and the aisle.....
Tina

[AlbuqHenry]

Sent: 2/3/2008

From what I understand about why these floors float is to allow the expansion without buckling or shrinking without getting gaps.... Seems to me if you were to tie it down all the way through to the main floor, as long as the floor can expand and contract in all the other directions, you should be ok...  Just my two cents...-Henry

[Oz]

Sent: 2/4/2008

From the King of Riggin':

If you're worried about the edges of the flooring buckling around the base of the legs, get a 1/4" tubular or compressible rubber gasket to put between them and the flooring.  The tubularbidity (just made that up) will allow compression and expansion of the flooring without unsightly stretch marks...  and we all know how much we hate stretch marks!

- Sob