Flooring problems and your Warranty

Here's the deal. If you have ANY CONCERNS with your floor making noise (creaking, sagging etc.) Have it dealt with while you are under the 1 year warranty. It's NOT covered after that even with extended warranties. (even if you think it's just minor or occasional noise).

I know this isn't an issue for everyone, and there are good solid units out there.

However, many on this forum (varied models) are dealing with the flooring issues themselves (because they are out of warranty). Tearing up the vinyl from above or from underneath through the covered underbelly. Basically to install more bracing.

This (in my opinion) is a flaw in the manufacturing process. My dealer advertised "Solid Flooring" not sure what that means when after only 2-3 months of actual usage we have major creaking throughout the kitchen/entry area, sagging under the stove/fridge and a flooring "lip" under the carpet in our bedroom.

If you live in a 4 season climate, and have only a few usable months out of the year, you can easily get caught out of warranty without addressing this issue as it takes a little usage to become a problem (things will loosen up and start to shrink or expand).

We have talked to BOTH our purchasing dealer and Heartland Manufacturer directly. In both cases we were told (1 month out of warranty we are on our own).

I understand warranties, and the economic climate, But I believe this particular issue is a major problem, and can show up just after warranties expire.

Be thorough when you purchase and understand the floor construction before you buy.

Even the manufacturer told me they cannot add enough bracing in all units depending on tanks and plumbing placement. Huh? So the design is bad?

There are some good references on this forum for correcting the problem as well.

Or just live with the noisy floors...

Before Heartland started using laminated floors in the Landmark, Bighorn and Big Country, our Bighorn was made with wooden trusses and developed a squeak in the kitchen area. An authorized dealer tried to shim the area and it stopped for a few weeks but redeveloped again. I removed the vinyl and found the joists and put quite a few drywall screws into the sheathing and replaced the vinyl with laminate. I still get a squeak here and there but believe it or not, a lot depends on how level we are and weather or not we are set up on concrete or grass/gravel. Something else that helps is to add a set of scissors jacks in front of the axles as extra support.
I look at it this way, it's 35 or 36 feet of frame bouncing down the road. We all know how great our highway system is. Things are going to get loose. As the OP said, if you develop a squeak and it's bothersome, get it fixed right away. Don't put it off and have it end up out of warranty.

I've already experienced that, after our first summer with the rig. Heartland took care of it (we had about a month left on the warranty), and it was more involved than a few screws or a dab of glue.