Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 10, 2025 ...

Vinyl flooring

February 16, 2022, 12:48:14 am

I am taking out the carpet and installing vinyl flooring


first the way For built the coach was never intended for  plank floors.
there is a big aluminum block mid slide on the floor protruding about 4 inches out and then the cable chase passenger side .
did you guys use anything for noise reduction(my coach is a bit noisy compare to the  Country coach I owned previously)
FoT used 2 type of underlayment  and the black stuff looks like the bottom portion is a foam that retains water and will make it very hard for the floor to dry .
I am  a bit on the fence whether I should use  a sound barrier or not I want to make sure that the flooring planks are secured well to the floor and also don't want to have a noisier ride either.

let me know what you have tackled this project and what  are the doS and donts.
how would you do it different if given the chance

thank you

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Re: Vinyl flooring

Reply #1 – February 16, 2022, 06:43:29 am

In our 1997 we put in vinyl.  We were told it was going to be nosier when we took the carpet out.  My wife who can hear anything was really concerned but after doing we did not notice any noise difference.  It might have been because the new floor looked way better then the old carpet so she never said anything.  I always drove so never noticed a difference.

We had a box on the side that held wiring.  They trimmed it out with flooring and it looked great.

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Re: Vinyl flooring

Reply #2 – February 16, 2022, 08:27:11 am

Dan...

I recommend you give Ernie Ekberg a call and discuss your project.  Ernie is a flooring expert, and has probably seen, and solved, every possible problem involved in floor installation.  He is a Commercial member of this Forum, and has done many floor replacement jobs for Forum members.  He is a good guy, and will not steer you wrong.

Our 320 renovation

Back in the saddle

https://www.foreforums.com/index.php?action=profile;u=1511

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Re: Vinyl flooring

Reply #3 – February 16, 2022, 10:25:29 am

Dan, we did our floor the summer before last.  We considered vinyl plank flooring but more than one manufacturer warned about what happens to the flooring in an unheated coach when it gets cold.  The planks shrink and gaps can open up.  So we used FLOR carpet tiles.  They are glued down. Their only temperature concern was to keep the floor and the tiles at about the same temperature and to do the installation and the next couple days without big temp swings.

A New Floor, FLOR Carpet Tiles

We used underlayment for a clean base for gluing the tiles down and to match levels between carpet, wood floor in the kitchen, and tile in the bathroom.  We removed the nasty foam under the carpet in the LR and the lead-lined black foam in the bathroom and threw it away.

We don't notice it being noisier while driving or while parked or warmer after driving in the BR.  For us a very satisfactory result.

Ask Ernie for some pointers.  Experience counts.

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Re: Vinyl flooring

Reply #4 – February 16, 2022, 03:29:37 pm

Dan, I installed the rubber flooring in our coach and it worked out great.  Where the wires run on the passenger side, I just boxed them in and trimmed out fine!  The rubber flooring locks together just like the laminate, but is water proof and was glued down, per manufacturers specs.  Did not notice any additional noise with the carpet gone.  Total cost under $600 and I did all the work and flooring runs from the front to the bathroom divider floor where the porcelain tile starts.  Not a difficult job, just requires some patience! 

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Re: Vinyl flooring

Reply #5 – February 16, 2022, 05:41:36 pm

Just crank up the volume—

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Re: Vinyl flooring

Reply #6 – February 17, 2022, 10:56:10 am

Ehhh? Speak up, young'un.

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Re: Vinyl flooring

Reply #7 – February 17, 2022, 12:25:55 pm

I used Mannington Adura  vinyl tiles as does FOT and MOT. Glued straight to sub floor after filling imperfections on sub floor. A thin underlay would also work. We didn't take up wooden floor in kitchen because I'm lazy and liked the look.  Put wooden molding along wire chase and topped with the vinyl flooring. I just laid the vinyl with out adhesive along wire chase.  Vinyl is 4 mil in thickness. Have not noticed increased noise. Coach was stored with no temperature control in North Texas a couple years before full time. Ernie is the Yoda of all things flooring.

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