Wife Wants Floor Tile

[Lee Bornstein]

Anybody have experience with installing floor tile in a Prevost?

Is there cause for concern regarding floor tiles popping off due to flexing of the coach, frame or floor?

We've got carpeting in living area, galley and bedroon and tile in Bathroom. Wife says all must go and new tile to be installed (by me) before POG III.

Could use suggestions and helpful hints regarding this project other than:

A. Change coaches

B. Find new spouse!

Lee
97 Liberty 40'

[gmcbuffalo]

Lee
In the long run a new coach could be less expensive. HAh Ha
GregM

[Ray Davis]

My coach has tile throughout, from the front right to the edge of the bedroom, which is still carpet. It was done by a previous owner, so I can't really comment on how it was to do, but I don't have any problem with flexing, breaking etc.

[lewpopp]

I'm sure you'll get a more diffinitive answer than this, but I was talking about doing the same thing and one of the installers of such at Parliament said you have to use a mastic that is flexible for the installation.

Lew

[garyde]

Hi Lee. I would speak with Liberty and see if the Service people can steer you in the right direction. I would check to see if your bath has a 1/4" base flooring made for adhereing tile. It would be Screwed down first. Your choice of tile(Ceramic, Granite, Marble, Cement, etc) all have different characteristics and should be chosen for this specific use. Both the adhesive and the grout should have a flexible base. (If possible try to get specs from Liberty, product name and number) Good luck. Gary

[Lee Bornstein]

I am waiting on a response from liberty on this before I start ripping things out. New Coach or Sig other may be way to go.

Just curious as to what others have experienced in thir tiled coaches.

Lee

[Just Plain Jeff]

Lee, you have to think out of the box on this one. As I see it you have at least 3 opportunities here:

1. Get a new wife.
2. Get a new coach out of the deal.
3. Put in new tile.

Number 1 is generally disruptive and rather expensive and gets into the 'feelings' thing and I'd avoid it over this issue.

Number 2 is always an opportunity: A bit ago a guy went to Marathon and got a quote to put marble in the entry way and they flipped him an $8800 estimate, which told me they didn't want to do the work.

Number 3 is an intriguing possibility. Tile is tile. If you can figure out the flex-flooring issue, there are a ton of people who do tile (not necessarily in the RV biz) and they can lay it as well or better than some $100/hour guy. Or you could do it yourself. The general rule in bus tiling is to use as small a tile as possible to avoid cracking; use of latex grout helps as well, you get a bit more flex than with cement tile. The floor of a Prevost has much less flex than in a plastic coach. We've had tile in our buses and never had a problem, granite in the most recent.

If you have the feeling from a local tile guy that he/she can do the job, you will likely find it much less expensive than going to a converter and get at least the same quality of finished product.

Or you could whine about it and get a new coach. Much more expensive, but what the heck, life ain't a dress rehearsal. Enjoy the moment!

[rmboies]

Lee,

Almost all of our flooring in our Vantare is decorative granite either 10 x 10 or 12 x 12 tiles I would have to go and measure. The only carpet is in the bedroom. We do not have one cracked tile anywhere in the coach. I have been told by the conversion people that the sub flooring, the type of grout used, and the space between tiles is what gives it the flexibility. Ours is separated with brass strips along with the flexible grout.

We had ceramic tile isntwo of our previous coaches and both had at least one or two cracked tiles. The tiles were not separated with any kind of strips, and a couple of places were also chipped.

I would investigate using granite tile rather then ceramic. It is beautiful, it is easy to keep clean, and if you want to warm up the look just add a beautiful rug. I never could understand carpet covered with plastic in the living room:D

[BrianE]

Lee,

We had granite tile installed in our coach less than a year ago. I can ditto Debi and Bob's comments. We chose granite both for its appearance and because it is much more durable than marble which is softer hence scratches easier and is not nearly as strong. The grout and thinset mastic are both of the flexible variety and the tiles are set with grout lines of 3/16 or a little less. We also elected to install radiant heat http://www.suntouch.net/sunMatIntro.html which was recently discussed in MPD, Stainless and Rivets. I also ditto Gary's comments about underlayment and the importance that you have an even, flat base to glue the tile to. The attached pics will show the care that our installer took so the heat wires did not interfere the gluing surface (1/4" marine grade plywood strips). If you have experience in cutting and fitting tile (I don't) I would think you could do the job with a minimum of grief. In the interest of simplicity we did not tile in the drivers area but chose to use a glued rubber mat for ease of maintenance and installation. Good luck and keep us posted.

BrianE
94Liberty XL

687

[Lee Bornstein]

Brian:
Thanks a bunch... now wife wants heated floors too!

What did you do for trim moulding around your shower base? Ours has a curved corian strip covering edge of floor tile where it meets the shower base. Is this corian piece removable without shattering it?

Photo of floor around shower would be appreciated.

Also, tell me about the floor heat system. 120V I suppose, where's the thermostat? Any wiring difficulties or concerns? Will you be at POG III?

Lee

[garyde]

Hi Lee. NU-Heat is a company which Country Coach has used and I have installed them in Homes. They come in pre cut sizes or you can build a template and custome order. They are a Mat and they go down with Thin-Set a day prior to laying your tile over it with more Thin-Set. They are 120 volt. Gary

[win42]

Lee: A word of caution; We had a "professional" tile layer do our kitchen/batroom in granite tiles. He did not have the experiance of using a flexible underlayment to prevent cracking as the coach flex's. We have experianced two hairline cracks across the floor. We chose a pattern of diamonds that looks great, but by the seams on the tiles not running foreward and straight across probably the flexing may have had a harsher effect on the tiles. The pattern we chose looks good, but not the cracking involved with it. We are here at Beaudry RV in Tucson and we went through a lot of new coaches with tile and all the seams were straight across and longitudal. We love the granite,it does not scratch, and is easy to keep clean. The heated floor idea would be very desirable. Seek help from the coverters for methods of installation on this one.
Do it, you will love it.