Squeaky Kitchen Floor

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
We've been living in our 3400 for 5 months now and have been listening to what has become a very annoying squeak when walking through the kitchen. It seems to be located adjacent to the stove in the center of the trailer. Does anyone else have squeeky floors? Is this something we should learn to live with or should I consult a dealer. By the way, there are no dealers in the Corpus Christi area. Closest is San Antonio. Thanks folks.:confused:
 

HappyKayakers

Well-known member
I've also noticed intermittent squeaking in the kitchen and living room. Do a search on rv.net for possible causes. The last time I checked, repairs involved tearing up the floor covering and refastening the flooring.
 

Forrest Fetherolf

Senior Member
Squeaky floor

Squeaky floors are normally caused by the plywood subfloor rubbing a screw that is not tightly fastened to the metal floor framing. This is very common in houses with a raised foundation and wood floor framing. Happy Kayaker is right about removing the carpet or vinyl flooring and tightening the subfloor to the floor framing. Shimming between the plywood subfloor and floor framing will eliminate squeaks. This would require the removal of the underbelly covering to expose the framing. If you are real unlucky, the squeak is over one of the holding tanks that would have to be removed. Either way is a lot of work. The easiest fix is to not step on it or turn up the stereo. As your rig ages, the squeaks will only get worse as screws rust or loosen and wood decays.:mad:
 

lbuchan

Senior Member
Squeaky bedroom floor

Have to admit that my 2925RK has one area in the bedroom right in the middle at the foot of the bed that also squeaks. I've looked and there appear to be a couple of extra pieces of plywood between the floor truss and the subflooring. The area is in the front storage compartment just behind the housing that was installed for the generator compartment. Not an easy area to gain access to but I'm going to see if there isn't something I can do to "tighten" the flooring down.
 

sailorand

Past British Columbia Chapter Leader
that pieca at the end of the bed... our 3055 has that too_Ours developed a dip, so the dealer looked and there is a step down in the floor area. I was bridged by a 1/8" piece of door skin. They redid it with heavyer ply by stepping it down instead of bridgeing it
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
It sounds as if removing the vinyl flooring and tightning existing screws and adding a few more will be the route I go. That being the case, when squeakless, I'll replace the vinyl with some laminate flooring. Nicer than vinyl and easier to remove if the mice return. At least it's nice to hear I'm not alone. Thanks.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
ChopperBill said:
Are squeaky floors the reason that they went to wood framing, maybe?

I don't know why or when they went to wood. Does anyone know when they switched from aluminum to wood?
 

lbuchan

Senior Member
Squeaky Floors

Whether you have wood or aluminum floor joist doesn't really make much difference since the squeaking is caused by the wood subflooring/flooring rubbing together when it's not properly tightened to the joists. It would appear that the screws used to fasten the flooring to the joist weren't properly tightened or have for some reason (like vibration during travel) come loose and are now allowing the wood subflooring to move thus causing the squeaks.
 

tdharley

Well-known member
I had a squeak in the bedroom. I went under , into the storage area with a cedar shim and some PL400 subfloor adhesive, applied the adheshive to the shim and tapped it into place. Luckily I was able to reach it from the storage area. When we have a squeak in a carpeted area we use finish head screws through the carpet. The carpet "heals" itself right over the hole. We also have a tool and special screws designed to snap off a the plywood floor height.

I too was thinking of replacing my vinyl floor with laminate. I looked under my slide and noticed that I have a triple roller in the center of the floor mounted to the slideout. I think the 1/4" that the laminate would add to the floor would hinder the operation of the slideout?

If you have wood framing you could locate the floor joist and use a small finishing nail at a severe angle into the joist, sink the head and use some seam sealer on the hole. It will be barely noticable.
 
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Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Thanks for all the replies. It sounds as if I'm not the only one with squeaks. At least I don't have a kitchen slide to worry about clearance. I think until I get back to Wisconsin, I'll locate the culprit joist and cut the linoleum and lift it, tighten and add screws as needed and reglue the vinyl. They sell repair kits at home centers that should conceal the cut. Once back up north if the squeak hasn't come back, I'll do the laminate. Just one more job to occupy (kill) some time. Happy New Year to all!!!
 

svd

Well-known member
Ray,
I didn't know about these repair kits to conceal a cut in vinyl. How do they work?
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
svd said:
Ray,
I didn't know about these repair kits to conceal a cut in vinyl. How do they work?
To be honest, I haven't used one yet. I believe they are a 2 part epoxy with colorant to come close to the existing floor. I'm hoping to cut along the part of the vinyl that "looks like" the grout. When I do the repair, I'll follow up with a couple pictures if it looks good.
 

tdharley

Well-known member
You got it right Ray. Make your cut on a straight line (faux grout), mix the sealer and roll it on, it comes with an applicator bottle.. It fuses the two cuts back together. Usually the only way to see it is to get on the floor and look paralell to the cut.

If this scares you drive your rig to your local floor installer on call one in to do it for you.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
No worries! I was just at Home Depot. They actually call it a seam sealer kit. Just over $10 bucks. My first project for the New Year.
 

Scott

Well-known member
Hey - just thought I'd chime in. Doing repairs to a vinyl floor is an art. We have a guy here in Elkhart County that does it for the majority of the RV companies when they have any vinyl damage. One day, I persuaded him to show me his technique - perfected over three decades of trial and error. I documented the process with photos and text and gave it to our service reps - in case any of our customers or dealers needed to do such a repair. Contact Jamie, Jim or Chris in our customer service for a copy of the word document and maybe you can post here for everyone to see.

ST

p.s. I would have included it - but I don't have the document anymore.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
Thanks for your reply Scott. Actually at this point there is no damage to the vinyl. What we have is an annoying squeak in the kitchen floor. My desire would be to have a dealer or factory do the repair but we live full time in our unit and currently are nowhere near a Big Horn dealer. There is a Landmark dealer nearby but??? We're in Corpus Christi, TX. Another alternative would be to have it done after the rally in Goshen.
 

Ray LeTourneau

Senior Member - Past Moderator
After the rally,Rec Specialties checked out the squeeky floor in our kitchen. Matt and I discussed the fact that I had plans to install laminate flooring in the future so in order to save them some time we agreed a temporary fix would be sufficient. Temporary it was. A few weeks later it started again. Today I went under and removed the temporary shims and pulled the linoleum up to expose the sheathing. Using a stud finder i put screws every 6 inches or so into the wooden joists. I wonder when Heartland made the switch from aluminum to wood??? I then filled the screw heads with plastic wood putty and relaid the linoleum back in place and glued it around the perimeter. We are ready for laminate and squeek free. A bonus is the floor seems way more solid than it was. I could only find 3 screw heads from the factory. Not sure what's up with that. We'll be laminate shopping next week. Nite all!
 
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