Living in Colder Climates

[northernburb]

A spot on the news tonight regarding the linoleum flooring used in Travel Trailers of late. It appears that manufacturers are only gluing the linoleum down on the outer edges and around vents on Travel Trailers, and not doing the whole floor area. In colder climates, like here in Edmonton, this is causing the linoleum to split and curl throughout the rig. A major dealer here had a bunch of their New trailers suffer this fault over the winter. Of course the manufacturers aren't too worried if the Trailer is over the warranty period, as well it seems that Extended Warranty companies, are not entertaining claims either. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that on the news because I had just got back from retrieving something from mine in storage and low and behold my lino has cracked right down the middle and just as the news story explained there is no glue under the middle just around the edges. I noticed that the vinyl flooring has a 5 year warranty but I suspect it would be covered under the 1year construction and workmanship warranty

[OregonCamper]

That is disappointing! Hopefully the manufacturers will take notice of this and change the way they install linoleum flooring. Would be nice to see them step up to the plate and cover poor manufacturing procedures. Car manufactures seem to do it from time to time. Hopefully I will avoid that damage as I have always kept a heater in my trailer throughout the winter keeping the temp above freezing. Best of luck on your repair.

[RJW]

That stinks, good luck on getting the manufacturer to cover replacement.

[NDJollyMon]

My brother-in-laws SALEM trailer did just this last winter. (ND)
His was out of warranty by a couple years.

It's not uncommon with travel trailers...I may go out and check on mine today. I'm more worried about mice!

[redrum]

Has anyone had any luck with claims to this matter after the warranty has expired? Any tricks on repairing this without replacing the whole floor? My Sandpiper`s floor just cracked down the middle last week when it hit -40 here.

[NDJollyMon]

It's been that cold here too. I'm worried about mine this year. I hope it's ok.
Haven't heard of any warranty claims....

[NWJeeper]

Well on the bright side look at it as a chance to lay down some of the laminate wood flooring over it. The linoleum serves as the underlayment you would usually use. Just install the flooring right over the top. I did this in our old Fleetwood motorhome we used to own. I ripped out all the carpet left the lino. and put down the underlayment where the carpet used to be then layed the floor down. was a easy job that made the rig look a lot better as well as being easer to keep clean.

[STATIC]

That's crazy now I know whats happening when I vacumm the floor in my rockwood, it's like the vacumm is stuck to the floor...

[Bulmzie4]

I had that problem, I bought my trailer last spring and the floor was totally destroyed. I was lucky in that I took delivery after the fact and FR and the dealer replaced the floor (glued everywhere) upon delivery. Our dealer said they has over 40 new units with floors that had to be replaced. They also said it only happens when the temp goes below -40 C/F.

Sorry to hear about the extra cost to some of you that were not so lucky to have it covered under warranty.

Go OILERS Go!

[jeffnjen1]

We picked our TT up from storage this week and found our floor had done the same thing. We are a couple of months past our 1 yr. warranty. The DH called the dealer, they requested pictures of the floor and will see what they can do to get it covered. If they don't cover it we will be looking into putting down laminate ourselves. If any one has any suggestions on how to handle this please let us know. Thanks!

[JJMorrocco]

Well my PUMA 31bhss cracked this winter. Unfrotunately my dealer closed his doors. The big name delaer in the area took over and won't help. Extended warranty doesn't cover lino. I emailed FR and got a standard repsonse of "out of warranty" too bad.

Yes I know this is a common problem for a lot of norther RV owners from various manufacturers. But the other manufacturers seems to do something about it and actually take some pride in resolving the matter. FR seems to sweep it under the lino.

Yes I will be avoiding FR in the future, as I find it hard to support a company that won't stand behind their products.

[yvesm]

Just bought a 2011 Rockwood and the floor is only glued around the outer edge, no glue around the heat ducts.

[granite]

If my memory serves me correctly, there was recently a posting about this on rv.net forum. Have no idea what repairs were suggested, but it might be a resource. Good luck with warranty coverage.

[JJMorrocco]

So from the research i have done so far..... glue down tile cork is hard to find locally, I can get it off the net but I don't like the looks of it from the pictures supplied. I am afraid laminate is too thick for my slide, plus its a lot of added weight. The Allure vinyl from HD reportedly shrinks in the cold weather exposed cracks at the joints. So far the front runner solution is fiber floor - from what I read this is basically the newer version of lino - instead of lin seed they are using other fiber materials. The stuff is much thicker than vinyl and the key is that it is not paper backed. The sales person showed me how the paperback material curls while the fiber floors do not - this was evident just by the rolls hanging on the rack. The brand I am looking into is Tarkett.

As for pricing - seems to be $3 sq/ft - and I got a quote of $350 to install....