How To Install Vinyl Flooring In A Camper

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Tips on how to install vinyl flooring on plywood in an RV, or in any room of your home using LifeProof Floor.

Over the last few months nosotros've had to make a lot of design decisions during our RV renovation.

One of the biggest ones, so far, has been the floor.

We went back and forth trying to decide if we should merely pigment the floor and call it done or install vinyl plank flooring.

vinyl plank flooring in a small RV with bed in background

In one case nosotros started researching though, it didn't take us long to decide that vinyl floor was the right decision for our project.

This project was another offset for us. Nosotros did install a laminate plank flooring in our Georgia home years ago, but we've never had, or installed, a vinyl plank floor.

picture of outside of house and windows

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This is for our RV though, and the biggest concern when doing anything in an RV is weight.

How much weight you add to a camper is always a huge concern. In short...weight is non your friend when it comes to an RV.

Yeah, nosotros could have simply painted the floors and not added whatsoever weight but we went with the next best affair...vinyl floor planks.

I would have never guessed that I would go for vinyl planks but they turned out to exist the perfect pick for us.

bare plywood floor in an RV before installing vinyl plank flooring

They are lightweight, good looking, easy to care for and piece of cake to install. All you demand is your flooring, a mallet and a knife or saw to cutting your planks.

There's no underlayment needed for the kind of floor we chose, and then that was an added bonus. We were able to install the planks right on top of our clean plywood floors.

What kind of vinyl flooring were we looking for?

Information technology had to be durable and lightweight.
It had to exist waterproof, which meant that it couldn't have any forest in it. Why no wood? Well, if at that place is a leak and h2o seeps down into the flooring, the wood would swell. That is no bueno.
Of course, my biggest business was looks. It had to look like wood (or as close as possible).

The floor we ended upward picking out and installing ticked all of our boxes...LifeProof vinyl plank floor.

Choosing a color was tough one though, but I somewhen settled on a warm oak color.

I wanted to warm upward the white ceiling and walls but I didn't desire anything that was likewise decorated in our 112 foursquare foot space.

Really, nosotros only covered about 70 square feet, choosing to pigment the wood flooring under the king size bed. It's just a storage area anyway, and would get beat upwardly with tools and camping equipment.

Spending money on new flooring for that area didn't make sense.

A little disclaimer here. Well, maybe a big disclaimer.

We institute out, after we installed our vinyl flooring, that the manufacturer does not recommend it for an RV. The reason is because of temperature fluctuations (particularly cold temps) and the expansion and contraction of the planks.

It'south one of those cases of not reading the directions thoroughly earlier you install. OOPs!

We talked to a salesman at the dwelling house comeback store who sold the flooring and he never mentioned a trouble putting it in an RV then we figured we were good.

Still, it was our fault not to read the instructions thoroughly.

We recollect that we'll be ok because information technology'southward such a small area that we covered, only you never know. I'll go on y'all posted.

Ok, nosotros found our floor now allow's become the skinny on installing information technology

Tools needed to install luxury vinyl plank floor on plywood:

Life Proof Vinyl Plank Flooring
rubber mallet
hammer
tape measure
directly edge
utility knife (we used a table saw to cut our planks)

Installing the vinyl flooring was pretty easy but we did have to do some prep work before we could lay the showtime plank.

The prep is actually the most important part of this project, which means y'all need to piece of work out all of your measurements and seam placements first.

vinyl plank flooring laid out on plywood floor

The commencement matter y'all need to measure your room and figure out which corner you volition get-go laying your planks.

We also laid out a few planks and moved them effectually to bank check our long seam placement.

You desire to exist sure that you lot know where the long seams will be and then that it all looks symmetrical when information technology's washed.

If you only lay a long plank without knowing your seam placement, it's possible that yous may end up with a narrow row of planks when you get to the other side of the room.

Not a good look.

This is why you demand to program ahead.

After yous measure it all out, you may terminate up needing to cut the width of the planks on both sides of your room so the placement looks symmetrical.

We didn't have to worry most one side being off in our RV because the cabinets and bathroom volition hibernate virtually of the flooring.

You lot won't really see it if information technology's off.

Once y'all figure out the width and the long seams, you need to figure out the short side seams.

You want to make certain that the final slice of the beginning row doesn't have a seam less than half-dozen inches from the terminate.

The reason why is because, if the seam is too close to the end, the planks may non snap together correctly.

If it seems similar you are going to end up with a seam close to the end, you may demand to trim the outset slice in that row to kickoff that short seam.

The first row is the toughest merely once you get that set, you can continue installing the residuum of the floor.

Yous just want to brand sure that your short seams are staggered, and no two short seams should be within 6 inches of each other.

white dog laying on vinyl plank flooring

The vinyl planks nosotros picked out had a natural language and groove construction.

To interlock them nosotros but had to put the tongue from one plank into the groove of another plank and snap them together.

tongue and groove ends of vinyl plank flooring

Afterward you snap the planks together, yous may have a slight gap.

We used a scrap piece of flooring and a hammer to gently tap the planks together.

Nosotros too used a rubber mallet on the seams to make sure they were snug and in place.

Just remember to use a piece of woods or flake piece of flooring when y'all use a hammer or mallet. We never used those tools directly on our floor.

tapping scrap piece of vinyl plank flooring with a hammer

Equally we got to each cease, we left a ¼ inch gap for expansion, as per the instructions.

The prep work was backside us and we were on a ringlet installing the floor.

Unfortunately, about half fashion through, nosotros were halted by a box of damaged planks.

We ended up waiting 2 weeks for a new box to arrive earlier we could finish our flooring.

Not what you desire to see when you're trying to schedule your projects.

The moral of this story? Check all of your vinyl planks as shortly as yous get it, and earlier you commencement installing information technology.

Once our new planks arrived, we could go on the installation.

To cease off the flooring, I ordered a couple pieces of quarter round in the same color as the floor.

Although I would love to come across information technology completely washed, we haven't installed ours yet.

We're still in the middle of building our cabinets so the molding will be ane of the last things we exercise.

That'southward information technology. Our new vinyl plank floor is done and I really love how it looks.

I picked a floor that has grooves in it, equally opposed to a flat surface, simply to give information technology a fiddling dimension and more of a realistic expect.

It looks slap-up and it'due south so easy to clean. All I demand to practice is sweep it with a broom.

I think it'south the perfect choice for our new cargo trailer conversion.