michaelmorris Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Our 2003 Elddis Autoquest 200 has a delightfully impractical beige carpet which is forever getting mucky. It looks as though soon after our model was built Elddis ditched the carpets and used a far more practical vinyl flooring instead. We would like to rip our carpet and replacing it with a vinyl floor. I'm happy to take up the old carpet myself, however, I don't have much confidence in my flooring laying skills, especially cutting in around numerous tricky niches and sticky out bits in a very confined space. So, as I see it I have three options: 1 - Get someone in to supply and lay the flooring. - most expensive option. Q - Has anyone got experience of this and can tell me roughly how much this is likely to cost? 2- Buy an off cut of vinyl, use the old carpet as a template and lay the vinyl myself. 3 - Buy stick on vinyl floor tiles. This should be pretty easy to do. However I have two queries on this. Q - Is the floor going to be noticeably colder in winter? Q - I assume a carpet is a good acoustic insulator. Is the van likely to be noticeably noisier when travelling ? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agaric Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Tiles are a bad idea, after a while dirt always seems to get between them, edges lift so become a allround pain in the rear end. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbo Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 I've laid vinyl in bathroom and kitchen at home. Get some large sheets of paper or cheap wallpaper and make a template. You may need drafting tape to join the bits of paper together. Then just cut the vinyl/carpet tiles to size using the template. Edit: just seen your item 2, using the old carpet as a template - much easier !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickt Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Are you sure there is not vynyl under the carpet. I had my vinyl l replaced, just went to local carpet shop. Cost depends on the vinyl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tracker Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Been there, went back to carpet in the end because it is warmer and also helps supress road noise and draughts and is relatively easy, if very time consuming, to fit a new one. Carpet stretches and will probably not work well as a template unless you leave very large margins for error and check measure against the van floor prior to cutting. Fitting vinyl in a confined space, especially the thick vinyl needed to retain a warm floor, is not easy. I was lucky I had a very good mate at the time who was a very good carpet fitter and even he struggled. It tends to tear in a confined space with lots of intricate edges and corners and can be a real handful. Unlike carpet which is quite forgiving if you cut it wrong, vinyl is not and one miscut can easily ruin the whole floor. Vinyl stick on floor tiles are easy to fit and if you make a mess of one around a cut or corner you should have plenty more to have another go as long as you buy too many. Carpet floor tiles is another option and at least you can choose your colour and change any that get stained but even they will fade and replacements might look a bit different. Light colours may be impractical but darl colours can make a van look dark and gloomy? If you tiled the floor and cut templates for stud fitting removable carpets they would need binding around the edges, although you can 'seal' the edges of man made fibre carpets with a lighter or very carefully with a blow torch as a temporary fix. That's just my view, others will no doubt differ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterjl Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Hi Many European Moho's do not have carpet. We switched from an Autotrail with carpet to a German PVC with no carpet. Much prefer no carpet. We have a couple of rugs which are easy to just shake outside and then sweep up floor. Especially good it wet weather or pitches that are dirty. Also a blessing if you knock coffe pot off the table as we discovered! Would not willing go back to carpet. As to temperature, we have used in the Alps in winter with continuos sub zero temperature. Yes it's a little colder off the rug if you're not wearing slippers sooooo wear slippers and no problem. Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will86 Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Why allow your existing floor carpet to get mucky? put a simple covering over the top that you can clean in a camping site washing machine. If the damage is from dogs keep them on an awning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david lloyd Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Fortunately, our Hymer (and previous Motorhomes) has (had) vinyl flooring beneath the carpets so we have the choice of carpet or no carpet. The Hymer was a year old when we acquired it but we took the decision to keep the carpets down - they are in three large pieces with bound edges - as we prefer the warmth and feel of it to the vinyl floor. Our previous motorhome again had carpet over vinyl but of quite poor quality so we simply bought an offcut large enough, used the original as a template and made a new, more luxurious, one. The originals were kept and put back in the van when it was sold. So we would basically do the same with the Hymer - use them as and when we want. If they get beyond cleaning we will replace them (it is possible to get carpets bound) in the same way but, in the meantime, take them out if the weather is too hot or we want to just have vinyl flooring. All in all, prefer to keep the carpets. David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowie Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 We have had a h-d vinyl in our van from day 1 and it still looks great. We also have loose washable mats from Ikea, for those barefoot moments, and when we go away in winter I buy a carpet off cut and cut that to a fairly accurate fit. This is made a little simpler by our layout, but I'd still go that route if we had a standard layout. All of the benefits of carpet on top of the extremely practical sheet vinyl. I'd get a friendly carpet fitter to fit the vinyl, can't cost the earth. Regards Alan b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Just a thought but is the existing OE carpet fitted on top of or between, the furniture? (*what's on the floor inside any floor level cupboards?). If it's been fitted on top of the carpet (and I've read posts where people have said that theirs had been) then if you cut it out, and replace it with vinyl, you would really need to fit some form of quadrant/edging around the base of the furniture to cover the cut-edge of the carpet..? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyg3nwl Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Hello, we have vynil floor covering in a mock wood block herringbone pattern, and as supplied some "NEARLY FITTED carpet, better described as shaped and bound carpet pieces, which complement the upholstery. Like others, we removed the carpet pieces and put them into store and then bought some suitable sized carpet pieces which had bound edges, and lay them as loose runners , to prevent the slipping, we got some small pieces of sticky backed HOOK AND LOOP fixings, The loose runners can be removed and cleaned easily with a steam cleaner, and when we sell the van, the original carpet pieces will be reinstated, and the upholstery will be steam cleaned as well. We also have a couple of hard bristle door mat at the entry point to WIPE YOUR FEET on before entry. We also have a small "badly"fitted shaped vynil off cut in the shower and toilet to protect the shower tray etc. ? This will be removed before selling. Hope this might help...simple to do , and cost very little, retains the comfort of carpet. Tonyg3nwl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJay Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 I would check what is under your carpet, before you decide. We have fitted carpets but they are removeable (press studded to floor) We used to take them out and clean with carpet shampoo, ours are a nondescript beige colour. We have taken them out (apart from the cab one) and replaced with runners bought from Dunelm, they look much brighter then the originals. As we have I guess vinyl floor looks Ok, and easy to remove to sweep the floor Personaly would keep floor carpeted, as it does act as a noise barrier, and also much warmer to step on , when getting out of bed on a cold morning! IF you don't have vinyl floor under neath , then just put mats on top ! PJay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelmorris Posted August 28, 2017 Author Share Posted August 28, 2017 The carpet is laid straight onto the floor of the motorhome, with nothing underneath. The fittings sit on top of the carpet, so I'll need to carefully cut out the carpet and put in some quadrant beading to mask the edge of the carpet where the vinyl meets the fittings. Has anyone got experience of fitting vinyl tiles? Are they too cold and are how much extra road noise do you hear compared to having a carpet? Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 Hi Michael, We had our entire MH re-trimmed a couple of years ago by Care-A-Van and part of the deal was new carpet. The original had been laid before any furniture was fitted so they carefully cut around all the edges then cut the new carpet to match. You get to choose from a very good selection and they made a very good job of fitting the new carpet in our AT, I would recommend them again. And if you subscribe to MMM you get a discount! Their website is www.careavan.org but doesn't seem to be working at the moment. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randonneur Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 B&M Bargains do packs of vinyl tiles in plank form, had a look at the oak coloured ones, they look pretty easy to lay, self adhesive and I think they are £7.99 per pack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pepe63xnotuse Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 pepe63 - 2017-08-28 4:26 PM Just a thought but is the existing OE carpet fitted on top of or between, the furniture? (*what's on the floor inside any floor level cupboards?). I've only just realised that I'd written that totally the wrong way around..??... (..it should of cause be - "..carpet fitted underneath " or "..furniture on top of ..?" (lol) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Uzzell Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 Rapido habitation area floors have a vinyl upper surface. When we ordered our 640F model there were options to specify a ‘lino kit’ (a set of loose-lay vinyl pieces to protect the floor’s top surface) or loose-lay bound-edge carpets. The carpet option (that included the cab area) was priced at £390, but my wife was critical of the quality. The lino kit would still have meant a cold floor when walking about in bare feet. I had a quantity of acceptable-colour thick-pile carpet tiles left over from a domestic project, so I decided to use those for the motorhome’s bedroom area. Our 640F has a step between the bedroom and kitchen/lounge areas, allowing these to be ttreated separately, so I purchased some tougher ‘office quality’ carpet tiles for the kitchen/lounge. Carpet tiles can be laid without adhesive, but that wasn’t going to be practicable with the Rapido. I did not want to stick the tiles directly to the floor as there was the potential for the adhesive to cause damage or for damage to occur if the tiles needed to be removed, but it was plain that the tiles would need sticking down. I obtained some smooth vinyl sheeting for a pittance from a local carpet supplier, cut patterns in paper for the areas that were to be carpeted, cut the vinyl sheeting to the patterns and then stuck the carpet tiles to the vinyl sheeting. This was a time consuming exercise, thought was needed before commencing tiling and it definitely pays to have prior experience in cutting and fitting tiles. But if you want to DIY ‘recarpet’ your motorhome, it’s one way to go. Regarding the Birmingham-located Careavan company mentioned by Keithl above, there’a a Facebook page that isuggests that the firm is still alive and well: https://en-gb.facebook.com/careavan/ Their website http://careavan.co.uk/ is said to be under maintenance/construction, but (as Keith highlighted) the original Careavan-org website is non-operative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted August 29, 2017 Share Posted August 29, 2017 My attempts to cut and lay vinyl floor coverings at home were a dismal failure so I would always use a professional fitting service. I replaced the carpet on our last MH and got a local carpet shop to supply and fit - good job, not particularly expensive that I recall. Our Hymer came with a smooth covering on the floor panel, which I suspect was shiny paper rather than vinyl, with loose edge-bound carpets on top. The dealer suggested taking these up and storing them so we could replace them "as new" when we sold the MH but I didn't fancy that - having paid for the MH I wanted to enjoy using the carpets. No regrets: eleven years on they have lasted well with only one patch of wear under the driver's heel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelmorris Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 Just had an estimate for fitting vinyl in the van from a company that specialises in this of over £400. Too steep for us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keithl Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 michaelmorris - 2017-09-01 2:13 PM Just had an estimate for fitting vinyl in the van from a company that specialises in this of over £400. Too steep for us. Try Care A Van in Longbridge. 0121 458 1112 Derek gave their new website address in a post above. Keith. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelmorris Posted September 1, 2017 Author Share Posted September 1, 2017 Keithl - 2017-09-01 6:50 PM michaelmorris - 2017-09-01 2:13 PM Just had an estimate for fitting vinyl in the van from a company that specialises in this of over £400. Too steep for us. Try Care A Van in Longbridge. 0121 458 1112 Derek gave their new website address in a post above. Keith. That is who gave us the estimate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyishuk Posted September 1, 2017 Share Posted September 1, 2017 My feeling is that you need to be wary if you are thinking of sticking tiles to the floor. I suspect, but could be corrected, that the floor is bonded to insulation material under the floor. So there could be a chance of the floor delaminating through either differential movement caused by General wear, direct sunlight and heating of the new tiles or vinyl. Or when tiles are removed. This probably why carpets which are not fixed, have the ability to move and flex, are a common choice. Just a thought ? Rgds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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