Bare Floors & New Floors

Updated 3/28/17:

Unfortunately, our new flooring was not a success. Due to weather changes, the seams expanded and shrunk. We have plans to rip out the Allure Faux Bamboo floors & install a true “floating floor.”

3/28/17: These seams are pretty much everywhere.

We knew when we bought Tartaruga that the floor was a mess. It was the peel and stick cheapo tile in a really ugly gray/white color. The color did not match the wood grain of the cabinets. Also, when it was laid down, it was not even for a pattern. It truly had cuts of tile in all different shapes everywhere. Really not sure why.

I had hoped that I could live with the flooring for a year and then decide what to do when we looked at a possible full restoration/re-do. But the floor was already coming up (especially the small little pieces) and, well, the floor was hideous.

So on a Friday afternoon, Nickster and I started pulling up the old tiles. It took us about 40 minutes to do 1/2 of TarTar. We left the front of TarTar still tiled due to the sticky residue left on the floor from the tiles. We needed to get into there and work with the new planks starting from the back to the front.

Bare Floor looks to be in good shape! Whew!

As expected, we found some surprises. There were metal plates on the floor and a small amount of rot. I would love to do a frame off resto on TarTar and replace the entire floor…. But that isn’t going to happen.

We also found that the back table, where it screws in, was totally disintegrating. Really pisses me off. Not so much because I can’t use it but rather because the PO had told us how much they used that table. Perhaps they didn’t know. I guess I am too honest for this world.

So learn from our mistakes….. Check everything. When we initially looked at TarTar, Nick checked the cabinets, doors, closets, etc. Mike was underneath checking the rust and outside checking the repairs to the body. We even checked the jack knife couch and front table but forgot the back. Darn it. Ok, enough of my rant for today. When you buy something that has fallen off the Blue Book, you are bound to find replacement surprises. We will do justice to this trailer and fix her up in all of her glory.

Sneak Peek at New Floors…

I know it looks like “composite” flooring but it doesn’t look like that in person. It’s very elegant (my opinion) and super cool (Mike’s opinion) looking.

Somewhere we read that it is best to put down flooring “sideways” vs “longways”. From looking at our trailer, I can see where sideways is cleaner and quicker. Longways would give an uneven pattern or A LOT of mini boards to try to even up the pattern.

It took Mike about an hour to lay the planks down in the back bedroom.

The new floors are finished. We still have to find a solution for matching quarter-round but so far the floor looks great!