RV Floor Replacement Project Part 5: Installing the New Floor

RV Camper Floor Replacement Project by Rick Kessler Jr.

Author's note: I wish I could post all of the photos I took as I did this project. However, I took them with my iPhone and left it out in the rain. It completely fried the phone to the point two different stores couldn't even bring it back to working order, let alone retrieve all the photos. I'll do my best to describe everything, but I'm afraid I have no pictures. I created some diagrams in the Scribd file above and inset into the post to further explain all that I did.

Click here to read Part 1: Admitting the Problem Exists
Click here to read Part 2:  Realizing the Scope of the Problem
Click here to read Part 3: Deconstruction
Click here to read Part 4: Assembling the New Floor

Figure 6

Part 5: Installing the New Floor

You can see a video of the project, including the layout of our camper, by clicking here.

As I mentioned in Part 4, due to the configurations of my camper, I assembled my new floor in two pieces. The first piece was shaped more or less like an "L" while the second piece was a simple rectangle. The first piece needed to slide under the door threshold and the kitchen cabinets that I did not remove during the Deconstruction phase of the project.

Since I was extremely careful to make sure my measurements were exact, plus I dry-fit everything ahead of time, the two pieces fit into the camper like a snug leather glove. Which is to say the first piece was a breeze and the second piece took some "persuasion." I attribute this to the assembled pieces being rigid now as opposed to flexible before.

The most difficult part of installing the second piece was the Ice Guard. The Ice Guard, which was rolled roofing stuck to the underside of the new floor pieces, overlapped itself in order to provide sufficient undercoating protection. I accounted for this 3-inch overlap when the two floor pieces were being assembled. But what I didn't account for was how difficult it would be to maneuver the overlap into place given the tight fit of everything. 

Regardless, the two floor pieces were snugly installed and everything was according to plan.

The next step in this phase of the project was installing the 2x2s. As I mentioned in the previous post, while the plywood was cut to fit from one wall to the other, the 2x4 cross beams and the foam board were not. These left room for a 2x2 along the walls of the camper.

To install the 2x2s, I ran a bead of glue on the side of the metal perimeter of the camper and on the exposed part of the luan plywood of the new floor. 

This was one way the new floor would be attached to the camper. (This idea was also thanks to Bill Debs, whose similar project provided valuable guidance for me.)

The second was elevator bolts running up from beneath the camper, where it tied into the camper frame. This was also how it came from the factory. There was one slight difference, though. The factory had the elevator bolt coming through a small block of 2x4 in the camper floor. I instead had the elevator bolt coming through a full 2x4 cross beam in my new camper floor.

Figure 7

The next step was to cut and install the top layer of 1/4-inch plywood (see Figure 7). 

This top layer did not follow the same pattern as the two floor pieces (one "L" shaped and the other a rectangle) for structural integrity purposes. Again, I measured (twice), cut, dry fit and then glued and screwed everything into place. I set concrete blocks on top to ensure a uniform bond.

Then it was a matter of waiting for the glue to dry, and me to get some more free time, to finish the project. I had to hurry, though, because we were just days away from our next camping trip.

But before I could put it all back together, I needed to come up with a permanent repair to a leak coming from the nose of the camper.

Next: Step 6: Making the The Front Panel Water-tight