Floor separating

[Chuck Richard]

Hello Heartland,

I was just out preparing for my first trip of the year and discovered a problem. The floor between the foot of the bed and the drawers at about the middle of the bed has raised. I would say 1/2 to 1 inch, it is hard to tell through the carpet. It is very spongy feeling and you can feel straight edges where it appears a section of the floor has lifted. I think about a foot out from the bed and maybe 18" wide, I don't know if it continues under the bed. I really hate to have to take this to the dealer for more warranty work and would try and use the small head floor screws to fix but have a feeling this was glued down and screws won't work. If you could give me any advice on an at home fix it would be great. I have no idea how to take the carpet out and it looks like the bed would have to be removed also.

This is a 3055RL 2009 model Bighorn we purchased on 4/12/08 so maybe I just missed a warranty but it sure is close.

 

[KENNY COCHRAN]

If still under warranty, bring to your dealer. If not, tackle it yourself if you feel lucky today.
I would not take the bed or frame out yet. I would pull the carpet up around the edges of the room and bed. I'm not sure how they have it attached. May have to use a razor blade knife around the edges of the carpet and cut it so you can pull up enough to see what the problem is. I'm not sure what the problem will be, cut out the bad part and replace it. I have no idea what could have caused it. Staple or glue the carpet back down and you will be good to go. You can always hire a carpet man to touch up anything you may mess up. You can rent a carpet heat sealing tool and glue the carpet seam yourself. It is very easy,find info on how to do it on the internet and the rental guy should be able to advise you. I really don't think you will need the tool and it will be only a very small seam to repair. Kenny

 

[Cyncwby]

Out of warranty or not I would first call Heartland factory and talk to a rep. Try to ascertain how the floor is attached to the braces underneath....glued, screwed etc. See if they can fax you a schematic of the floor area, you don't want to go cutting, drilling or screwing into an area where electric or water lines may be.

 

[Chuck Richard]

Thanks guys,

Good advise. Waiting to see what the factory says in reply here then will make a decision. One week over a year what timing.

 

[mrcomer]

Chuck,
That's a good idea to contact the factory anyway even if out of warranty. To my knowledge your floor is supposed to be a 1 piece (no seams) floor which really makes me wonder what the heck is going on. Check out page #9 of their Construction Book . Your floor is also supposed to be a laminated floor which means that they glue it all and roll it under pressure to activate the glue. In theory a much better floor sysytem that in previous years, that is until something goes wrong.

Please keep us informed and good luck,
Mark

 

[Chuck Richard]

Thanks Mark,

Good point I actually have that manual printed but had not looked yet. I think still in shock that it happened. Sure looks like there should be no way for this to lift but I do feel a straight edge like where two pieces would butt againt each other. It will be even more interesting to hear what the factory people say now.

 

[imchud]

Hey Chuck,
My brother had just about the same thing happen to his 5er, it was not a Heartland product but it was a great fix... His floor started to delaminate at the foot of the bed and there was a ridge that ran from under the bed almost to the dresser... His was two years out of warranty.
What he (we) did was cut the carpet in a streight line from the dresser to the foot of the bed, then he cut along the foot of the bed and the face of the dresser about 6 inches in each direction from the initial cut... When the cutting was done it looked like the capital Letter "I".
He found that there was a seam that looks like it started to pull apart and curl up about 1/2 inch...

THE FIX:
He went to the Lowes and got 3 or 4 (i think 1/4 inch) flat head screw bolts and a piece of 3/4" plywood... well let me back up... He first drilled a small pilot hole through the center of the crack, then he took a wire coat hanger and cut a section and droped it through the floor to see where it came through in the basement... Once he found the wire under the basement he went back to the bedroom and drilled two or three more holes along the crack. While he did that I held a 1/ft x 2 /ft X 3/4" thick piece of plywood underneath and as he drill through the floor he also was drilling the pilot holes in the plywood.. He put 3/4" washers on the bolts, droped the bolts through the drilled holes and through the plywood... Then we tighten the bolts up and as we did the plywood brace held tight in place and we were able to pull the floor back down into place... Back in the bedroom, we gluded the carpet down and got the seam to close up pretty good. along the dresser and bottom of the bed he ran some 1/4 round to cover that up and to make sure the carpet didn't curl back...
Now when you walk on it you can't feel anything, the flat heads sunk into the floor enough to make it smooth... On the initial center cut we flufed the carpet where its barely noticable. Just for the **** of it his wife got a small 12" wide by about 4/ft long runner to throw over top of the seam, and it looks great.
But 1st of all i would try to get Heartland involved, but if not, this should work...

 

[JohnDar]

We noticed a similar thing in our 3670. New 3670, I might add. There is a raised section at the foot of the bed, about twelve inches from the dresser and seems to be pronounced in the corner where the closet and dresser meet.

Is this some kind of reinforcement pad under the bed for the slide to roll on or what?

 

[tcbrady]

Chuck,
I'm sorry to hear about this problem - I have not heard of this problem before. My recommendation is to get your Bighorn to your local dealer for them to inspect. Once we get a few more details we will be able to make a recommendation.
thanks, Coley

 

[JohnDar]

Coley,
Is the bedroom floor constructed of a single large piece of 3/8" chip board, laminated like the main floor of the coach? Or is it made up of smaller, edge butted sections of wood?

 

[tcbrady]

Bedroom is floor is the same as the main floor. 3/8" structure board - laminated.

 

[JohnDar]

Thanks for the quick reply. I won't be able to access my unit again until next week. I'll try to figure out what I'm feeling under the carpet when I get back.

 

[Chuck Richard]

Thanks for the advise, I'm off camping for the weekend but will see about getting it in to the dealer when I return.

 

[sailorand]

We had the problem with our 3055. It was a seam in the floor. the fix was take up the carpet and build a small ramp out of 1/8 inch plywood as a sterched out "step" at the area