This is a project that had many false starts.
When we bought The Toad late in 2014, it was 6 years old, and we hated the carpet immediately, but we spent the next two years focusing on mostly structural and mechanical upgrades, with a few cosmetic ones thrown in for good measure (see bottom of page for a list with links).
Early in 2017, we met new friends David and Cheryl of Landmark Adventures, and they gave us the name of the Dallas/Fort Worth area company that had replaced all their RV flooring. We tried to set something up with Dodson Professional Carpet when we were stranded just south of Dallas in March, but unfortunately our schedules were incompatible.
Then in June, we tried to hire a flooring company in Goshen, IN, to do the job, while we were in town for the Heartland North American Rally, but their estimate came in well above our budget.
And that’s when we decided we’d just do it ourselves. And those plans failed too, not once but twice, as we learned in two different states that “IN STOCK” at big box home improvement stores is sometimes followed by, “except for this one you actually want, which we’ve run out of, and it will take us two weeks to get more.” Due to other upcoming plans, we did not have that kind of lead time.
Finally, as we were nearing our departure time from our work camping gig with Amazon Camperforce in TN, we decided that since we’d be heading back to Texas anyway, we’d go back to where we started this process, and schedule a firm plan with Ed Dodson, of Dodson Professional Carpet.
And that is how the job finally got done, in mid-January of 2018, in Roanoke, TX. We wrote a check and got out of the way as Ed’s man, Ruben, replaced the smelly, stained, worn-out carpeting in the bedroom and on our slide-outs with new carpeting; and replaced the central living area carpeting, and kitchen and bathroom linoleum with luxury vinyl tile (LVT).
Actually, the LVT had to be done twice. The first round was a lower quality variety, and it shrunk and separated at the seams within a day. It was Ed’s mistake to assume we’d want to go cheap; and our mistake to choose from amongst the one brand of samples he showed us, without asking about other options and researching their suitability.
Ed then showed us some higher quality samples. He split the cost of the upgraded flooring with us, and he did not charge us for the second round of labor at all.
Thus ends the “how we did it” part of the story. We paid for it. Budget: $2,000.00. Original estimate: $2,000.00. Final cost: $2376.00.
Here are the Befores & Afters.
Not pictured: the feel of completely worn down padding underfoot, or the the funk of ten years worth of trapped odors.
Ruben did an excellent job of piecing both padding and carpeting in and around the slide hydraulics, and now we sleep warmer at night.
Note in top left photo that after the carpeting was removed, we found linoleum under there, extending out in a single sheet from the bathroom on the left. Oh, and that you can see outside through that gap between the floor and the wall. Nice.
The thing that looks like a trap door is in fact a trap door. Beneath it is a square cubby where we toss our dirty laundry right into a basket, thus keeping it out of sight and out of smell.
Bottom: Tim’s desk slide-out, midway and after
Final verdict: We are very pleased with the transformation. We can now feel the padding underneath our carpeted areas, and we love the warm, chocolaty look and easy care of the LVT.
Our other mods and upgrades: Some early ones are described on this page, and I either blogged or posted quick social media updates about
- the toilet
- the interior paint
- the kingpin
- the electrical system & battery bank
- the couch and recliner
- the exterior steps
- the disc brakes
- the window treatments
- the bedside 12-volt outlets
- and literally turning the kitchen table into my desk
Love the flooring upgrade. On our list of things to do. Looking at your other upgrades you solved a problem for me. We too turned our table but had not pulled it out to it’s full length. Wonderful idea. So much more space to work, and a place to store the laptop to boot! Thank you for the tip.
Glad to be of service — although I must confess that we now very rarely use the table for our meals. I sit at my desk to eat, and Tim sits at his. Sounds sad, but hey, it’s an RV. We’re still only the length of a household dining room table apart!