New Allure Flooring - Scamp 13'

[Shannon Thompson]

Hi all,

Pulled out the Scamp basic brown carpet and replaced with the Allure, 'Lisbon Cork'. I used the original Allure, not the Ultra version (mostly b/c the Ultra was not available when I bought it last year.... yes...it's been sitting on the to-do list since last year)... Anyway --- went down fairly easily. I laid down a layer of 3mm closed cell insulation underneath to hopefully add a little warmth. After pulling out the carpet, there was enough space under the benches "upstairs" that I could run the planks under the benches and still keep the floor floating. I did have to sand and tidy up the bottom of both benches to make sure there was full clearance all along the bottom edges. The stair nose is epoxy'd to the flooring so it all floats. To fill in the unused screw holes in the metal nose strip, I used hardened steel machine ball bearings epoxy'd in place. I did glue the stair riser planks and the toe kick planks (under the kitchen area) to the metal frame of Scamp.

For the "downstairs" I used spacers around the entire perimeter to maintain the factory recommended 1/8th " expansion/contraction gap and then caulked with DAP Dynaflex 230 elastomeric caulking that was the same color as the flooring (pure luck that it matched). The edges came out so cleanly that I decided to forgo using quarter round edging or baseboards, etc.

I've never done flooring of any kind before so I went really slowly and multi-measured and dry fitted EVERYTHING before I cut or laid anything down. Also -- the Allure glue edges are really sticky. Someone in this forum advised to use wax paper strips on the glue edges until you get ready to actually stick them together to keep debris off them -- that was very good advise and helped a lot.

Really happy with it. I think it will be a bit chilly on the toes, but a couple little rugs should fix that. Oh -- and for an added put-yer-feet-up comfort piece while sitting at the table, I made a little "ottoman" out of the scrap wood from the cupboard doors that fits in the groove for the table/bed. It is padded and slides back and forth and then stows up above or on the floor when sleeping. Two people can use it at the same time.

Good fun. Take care.

Shannon

[Byron Kinnaman]

Looks great. I like the color.

[Tim Wood]

Very rich looking, nice job.

[kdhanso]

Very nice! Thanks for sharing the details. This is on my to-do list as well.

[dondon]

I love the cork! Great job installing too.

[kootenaigirl]

Really like the look, great job.

[Otters]

Beautiful installation job. Its amazing what a difference new flooring makes in our little trailers.

[jwcolby54]

On my todo list as well. I love the cork wood at the local Lowes. Real wood (laminate of course). I like the lighter color.

That is pretty stuff.

[Lil M.]

Looks great Shannon!

I love the ottoman idea. Will have to execute it out of some scraps from my floor installation job.

[Lynn Musgrave]

Oh -- and for an added put-yer-feet-up comfort piece while sitting at the table, I made a little "ottoman" out of the scrap wood from the cupboard doors that fits in the groove for the table/bed. It is padded and slides back and forth and then stows up above or on the floor when sleeping. Two people can use it at the same time.

Sorry Shannon....we cant beleave you made it IF we don't see a picture!

Really it does sound interesting and a picture would be great. Love the flour,much better than carpet and throw rugs will take care of the cool toes.Plus throw rugs are easy to shake out and wash.

[Lil M.]

Originally Posted by Lynn Musgrave

Oh -- and for an added put-yer-feet-up comfort piece while sitting at the table, I made a little "ottoman" out of the scrap wood from the cupboard doors that fits in the groove for the table/bed. It is padded and slides back and forth and then stows up above or on the floor when sleeping. Two people can use it at the same time.

Sorry Shannon....we cant beleave you made it IF we don't see a picture!

Really it does sound interesting and a picture would be great. Love the flour,much better than carpet and throw rugs will take care of the cool toes.Plus throw rugs are easy to shake out and wash.

Hi Lynne,
You can see it in the 4th picture-the one with the table leg. It's straddling the upper floor and resting on the ledges where the table rests in bed-mode.

[Jim Bennett]

Looks great.

[peterh]

Nice looking job. As for your having gone "really slowly and multi-measured and dry fitted EVERYTHING before I cut or laid anything down," I still do that on most things.

[Shannon Thompson]

Hey Lynn -- so bossy!

Attached are a couple pics.... the ottoman idea was kind of an after thought idea when doing remodel to Scamp but has turned into one of my favorite useful upgrades. When sitting at the table, I'm not tall enough to reach across to the other bench and put my feet up, so the ottoman solved that issue. It is so nice to 'lounge' at the table when reading or futzing on computer, or whatever.

As far as building... simply an 8" wide piece of board (I used scrap from the redo of cab doors -- 1/2" Baltic birch ply); finished it with Helmsman Spar; rounded off the lower edges so it seats well into the groove for the table/bed and allows it to slide easily to where you want it. Then used a 2" piece of foam, some batting, cloth stretched and stapled to the bottom side and voila -- ottoman. (have you ever reupholstered a dining room chair? Same idea) When not in use, I just slide it to the back wall out of the way or put it in the upper stow.

[RogerDat]

Very nice! On my to-do list also, seeing how great yours turned out might help with the motivation.

Especially impressed with (of all things) the use of ball bearings to fill holes in metal trim. Love it when I find a suprising new solution to a problem. That one is pretty slick.

[Lynn Musgrave]

Originally Posted by Lynn Musgrave

Oh -- and for an added put-yer-feet-up comfort piece while sitting at the table, I made a little "ottoman" out of the scrap wood from the cupboard doors that fits in the groove for the table/bed. It is padded and slides back and forth and then stows up above or on the floor when sleeping. Two people can use it at the same time.

Sorry Shannon....we cant beleave you made it IF we don't see a picture!

Really it does sound interesting and a picture would be great. Love the flour,much better than carpet and throw rugs will take care of the cool toes.Plus throw rugs are easy to shake out and wash.

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Oh ,I see it now! I was thinking that was another nice storage box under the table. We had put one like that under our table in the pop-up camper that we use to own. Came in handy for games and things we didn't need often.

[BillE]

I like the floor and the cabinet doors....i'm gonna copy it

[BillE]

I am getting a new table top, and nine doors made of solid cherry....got Allure flooring Cherry...can't wait to get them in

[SteveZimmerman]

I see a lot of folks are using Allure for their flooring. Any thoughts on the square pieces vs the planks? 12x12, 12x23.82 or 12x36. What's the easiest to work with given the limited size in a 16' #4 Scamp?
Thanks.

[RogerDat]

Allure cuts pretty easy, has staggered seams if done optimally. And possibly most important it "floats". The square tiles I looked at glue down to the wood floor. The allure each piece sticks to the other pieces making a sheet held in place by the walls and cabinets but not attached to the floor. Thus it "floats" on top of the wood underneath.

Floating means the whole sheet can expand and contract from heat and cold more or less as one piece, I think this will make it less likely to get seams pulled apart. No glue underneath to clean up if ever removed.

Trim holds a floating floor down and in loosely in place, I'm not going to use caulk at the edges if I can help it so that the floor can respond to our sub zero winters and 90+ summers without pulling apart because it is stuck at the edges. At most I'll use caulk only on non-opposite sides so that there is still some room to expand and contract.

One long cut on several feet of Allure for a long edge, cutting several tiles to fit the same edge. Might be a toss up, but measuring and cutting several smaller pieces is more work and harder to get a smooth edge. On the other hand cutting one 4 ft. long cut straight and accurate can be a bit of a challenge, some find it easier to cut short pieces.

Glued down was my biggest reason for not doing square tiles. I just had way too much fun removing glue in the camper and over the years to want to glue the new stuff down.