Carpet Removal

[Sunshyne]

I have done a couple of motor homes and yes, it will be tacked down mostly. There will be some areas that are glued too but I used a pair of channel locks to grab onto the carpet and pull it off.

Expect to be pulling out thousands of staples out. I used the same channel locks to pull most of them out. Some of them will just need to be beat down flush with the floor. Just take your time and keep thinking of how good it's going to look when your finished. And take pictures so we can watch the fun from a distance.

(Note: Be careful of taking advice from Neal or you'll be driving around in a new 40' Ventana.)

Good luck, and welcome to the forum!

Jim

Thanks Jim. it seems my choice is new flooring. I can't justify a 40 footer!

 

[MapNerd]

So I’m also ramping up to do this as well as we absolutely despise carpet with a completely irrational passion. If there’s one thing MapNerd hates, it’s carpet in almost any form. Rugs are okay.

Anyway, I’ll share my approach in case it helps anyone else. Our rig is new and as such, we have tile on the main floor and carpet in the slides. However, we really only have carpet in the FWS as the kitchen slide and bedroom slides are covered by cabinets and the bed so there’s no carpet there at all. We considered installing laminate or even engineered but ran into two problems:
1. It’s really hard to find a good match to Newmar’s tile unless you’re using that tile
2. The Ventana has electric slides and as a result, my slideroom floor is not flush with the main floor. It’s raised by about a 1/4” - 1/2”, so installing any laminate, tile or hardwood in there, no matter how thin is going to make that transition worse.

So what I’ve done is taken the 4 extra tiles I got from Newmar when I picked up my rig, and I took them to an industrial printing business where they have massive, high quality scanners. Triangle Reprographics in Orlando is scanning the pattern of each of my four tiles as we speak.

Once I have those tile images, I’m going to toss them into graphics editor on my computer (eg. Photoshop) and create an very, very large image - one the length and width of my FWS. I will paste those images into the graphic, repeating them in the same pattern as the main floor, a basic 1/2 offset pattern. I’ll space each image 3/16” from each other, end to end and side to side and set the background color of the image to the same color as my main floor’s grout and I’ll randomize the four tile patterns so that the same tile is never next to itself in the image. This will give me a nice little image of a floor with my exact tiles.

Then, I’ll send that image to Graphic Image Flooring where it will be printed onto a vinyl flooring sheet, rolled up and sent to me. I’ll then unroll it, let it acclimate inside the rig for a day. Remove the furniture, then the carpet, clean the floor, trim the vinyl and glue it down, trim out the edge of the slide floor, then reinstall the furniture.

 

[Neal]

I asked Newmar about custom options to do something other than carpet and they told me no. Now that just means something they're not willing to do. I am the rare one I'm sure that I actually like my carpet. I like my bare feet on it when at the dining table having coffee reading the eNewspaper (RVForums.com of course). Sure, I'd love to have all tile but it's not the end of the world for me.

It's funny as I know where you are with your coach and getting acclimated as I have been there. It's amazing how my views and opinions have changed now having been in it 3 years. I'm very happy with my Ventana as designed and content with it without any desire for something new.

Edit: I started this reply really just wanting to say I'm anxious to see what you come up with and how your mod turns out. Not sure how I got into the above. Sounds like you have a nice plan and I look forward to your end results.

 

[MapNerd]

I asked Newmar about custom options to do something other than carpet and they told me no. Now that just means something they're not willing to do. I am the rare one I'm sure that I actually like my carpet. I like my bare feet on it when at the dining table having coffee reading the eNewspaper (RVForums.com of course). Sure, I'd love to have all tile but it's not the end of the world for me.

It's funny as I know where you are with your coach and getting acclimated as I have been there. It's amazing how my views and opinions have changed now having been in it 3 years. I'm very happy with my Ventana as designed and content with it without any desire for something new.

Edit: I started this reply really just wanting to say I'm anxious to see what you come up with and how your mod turns out. Not sure how I got into the above. Sounds like you have a nice plan and I look forward to your end results.

Oh yeah? Show me your RV wish list on Amazon...

 

[Neal]

Oh yeah? Show me your RV wish list on Amazon...

Amazon? Where is my delivery, it's late!

 

[MapNerd]

Edit: I started this reply really just wanting to say I'm anxious to see what you come up with and how your mod turns out. Not sure how I got into the above. Sounds like you have a nice plan and I look forward to your end results.

Don’t worry @Neal. It shall be shared here. I think it’s going to turn out awesome but we’ll seee....WE’LL ALL SEE!

...and now back to our regularly scheduled programming of @sunshyn’s carpet replacement.

 

[Jim]

So I’m also ramping up to do this as well as we absolutely despise carpet with a completely irrational passion. If there’s one thing MapNerd hates, it’s carpet in almost any form. Rugs are okay.

Anyway, I’ll share my approach in case it helps anyone else. Our rig is new and as such, we have tile on the main floor and carpet in the slides. However, we really only have carpet in the FWS as the kitchen slide and bedroom slides are covered by cabinets and the bed so there’s no carpet there at all. We considered installing laminate or even engineered but ran into two problems:
1. It’s really hard to find a good match to Newmar’s tile unless you’re using that tile
2. The Ventana has electric slides and as a result, my slideroom floor is not flush with the main floor. It’s raised by about a 1/4” - 1/2”, so installing any laminate, tile or hardwood in there, no matter how thin is going to make that transition worse.

So what I’ve done is taken the 4 extra tiles I got from Newmar when I picked up my rig, and I took them to an industrial printing business where they have massive, high quality scanners. Triangle Reprographics in Orlando is scanning the pattern of each of my four tiles as we speak.

Once I have those tile images, I’m going to toss them into graphics editor on my computer (eg. Photoshop) and create an very, very large image - one the length and width of my FWS. I will paste those images into the graphic, repeating them in the same pattern as the main floor, a basic 1/2 offset pattern. I’ll space each image 3/16” from each other, end to end and side to side and set the background color of the image to the same color as my main floor’s grout and I’ll randomize the four tile patterns so that the same tile is never next to itself in the image. This will give me a nice little image of a floor with my exact tiles.

Then, I’ll send that image to Graphic Image Flooring where it will be printed onto a vinyl flooring sheet, rolled up and sent to me. I’ll then unroll it, let it acclimate inside the rig for a day. Remove the furniture, then the carpet, clean the floor, trim the vinyl and glue it down, trim out the edge of the slide floor, then reinstall the furniture.

Wow, I am truly impressed.

 

[MapNerd]

Wow, I am truly impressed.

Thanks @Jim. Just wait until you see how impressively I mess it up though...

 

[Jim]

Thanks @Jim. Just wait until you see how impressively I mess it up though...

Something tells me that's not going to happen. Would love to see some before and after pic's though.

 

[Sunshyne]

Map Nerd:
That’s an impressive amount of planning so I think it will turn out fine.