Floor leveling

[Mac B]

just ripped out old carpet to make way for bright red linoleum, but I need to level the fiberglass floor some, not any more than 1/4". Anyone have any recommendations of material?
thanx

[Don H.]

just ripped out old carpet to make way for bright red linoleum, but I need to level the fiberglass floor some, not any more than 1/4". Anyone have any recommendations of material?
thanx

Quarter-inch lauan panels at Home Depot, Lowe's, etc., are sold for this purpose, and they are relatively cheap.

[Gina D.]

Mac has a wide body Burro, a special beast when doing a new floor. I recently did mine in 1/2 inch birch, so I am curious as to the 1/4 inch requirement?

If your floor is like mine is, 1/4 inch will not be enough to solidly make up for the waves and gaps and humps the encapsulate leaves.

Here is a bit about it, but it focuses more on the trim.

[Bill MacDermod]

Mac, Home Depot or any building or flooring supply have liquid floor levelers like cement that works you can mix and spread in the low places and use a straight edge to level out the floors. It works very well on about any surface. Flooring guys do this often in older houses. We helped rebuilding a Katrina house In New Orleans and the floors were out as much as 3/4" and the flooring guy came in to evaluate the job and when I asked him about it he said they pour it in and it finds its own level after a little manipulating and dries. He claimed it wasn't quite as heavy as cement after curing out. You can buy it in much smaller quantities than he was talking though.

[Mac B]

thanks for the input... yes, it may be a tad over 1/4" in some areas, but mostly it is as thick the top of a bolt head.

And I do know about the liquid floor leveler, my concern was getting the trailer level enough for it not to slump to one side or another!! And something I trowel on, I was concerned about its flexibility afterwards, I want to be careful not to use anything that ends up too brittle.

also, thanks for the trim idea... I may do that, if I don't decide to cove the linolium.

such a small place, yet so many choices...

[Stephen T.]

Another method I've used for leveling an old house floor, before putting in oak flooring, is to use 15 or 30 pound felt tar paper. Just build it up in chunks like a topo map. Old linoleum would also work, although a bit harder to cut.

Steve

[Gina D.]

I did a similar thing. I "Built up" the centers of the big dips and gaps with leftover 1/4 inch cedar closet liner from my cabinet project, then laid the subfloor on top of those.

With the 1/2 inch plywood, it did a great job of supporting the voids.

[Raya]

What are the "lumps" comprised of? If it's just somewhat sloppy 'glass work, it may be possible to sand it level using something like a Porter Cable 7335 with 40 grit discs or so (just a thought, but not a definite suggestion as I have not seen what makes the lumps; sometimes the inside surface of boat lay-ups can be a bit lumpy or uneven depending on how careful the fabricators were).

[Mac B]

No, it is not something that could be solved by sanding... there is actually a seam of the interior fiberglass that lays on top of the floor, making it unlevel. then there is a 'mound' in the middle, and the whole thing is full of bolt heads. If this were a regular floor, a tile thin set or floor filler could be troweled in and solve the problem, but being a trailer I am not sure just any filler would work.

[Donna D.]

I think red linoleum sounds totally cool. But, if it's going to be a real problem to level the floor and get the bumps out (bumps cause fast wearing of lino), then maybe you should consider painting the floor instead?

Next spring I'll be chipping the floor in my Scamp. I see on this site, there's not a red background, but you could go with the off-white base:
Epoxy Floor Coating Systems

and heavily chip with bright red Floor Chip Colors

Just another idea.

[Mac B]

yes, any flaws in a linolium floor would be a disaster. So after much thought on the subject, I have decided the only way to solve this is with the lauan sub floor panels.

and for trim, I had hoped to do coping, but found out linolium doesn't cove unless there's at least 2" to glue to the side, which there isn't. I will probably use a vinyl moulding.

thanks all for your thoughts on the matter... will send some pics when it's done!

[Mac B]

FYI

I just applied a gallon of DAP Flexible Floor Leveling Compound with a 12" drywall knife. Once it dries, I will sand a bit then apply another gallon over it. From there, after more sanding and more filling as necessary, I will apply a layer of iinexpensive vinyl tiles, work out any imperfections there may be after the tiles are laid. I think that will give me a level floor, ready for linolium sheet.

[Brian Scott]

Luan Plywood delaminates VERY quickly in damp conditions. I would not reccoment it for use on the floor. Anything that is subsequently adhered to it will fail in short order. (just my 2 cents)

[Mac B]

Luan Plywood delaminates VERY quickly in damp conditions. I would not reccoment it for use on the floor. Anything that is subsequently adhered to it will fail in short order. (just my 2 cents)

I thought as much.... that's why I am using a flexible floor leveler, and then going to undercoat it with inexpensive vinyl tiles (or maybe a solid sheet that I can get for about $45.00 at home depot)

my first layer of DAP flexible floor leveler came out great.