gluing down laminate floor

[schoonerdog]

My wife has just gotten several free panels of free laminate flooring that we were thinking of putting in to replace some rotting carpet in the aft port room. What works the best in a boat environment for securing these things down? The floor underneath the carpet (which we will of course rip up) is fiberglass and might be a bit uneven in spots.

[AnchorageGuy]

Bad idea on a boat any way you try to use it. It expands and contracts at a high rate and is very moisture sensitive. In areas like south Floriduh buyers are told that once they install a laminate floor the AC unit must be left on forever since even humidity has a negative affect. If you are considering something like this try to find odd lots of a hardwood flooring and use that. Even that is not ideal on a boat.

[cal40john]

If it is equivalent to Pergo, don't put it on a boat. We have Pergo in our house, it has been fine for that except when the kids spill something and don't tell us. If you get it wet and wipe it up right away, you're fine, if the water is left it gets to the wood through the seams, it then swells and lifts the edges at the seams. I don't know how soon you have to clean up a spill, as the ones that have caused trouble weren't discovered for a period of a few days. This behavior is consistant with what we were told when we asked about maintaining it in the kitchen. Installation guides say definitely do not allow water to get under the floor.

http://www.carpetandtile.com/install_laminate.html

As far as attaching it, Pergo and its equivalents are floating floors, you lay down a layer of foam padding and lay the floor on top, no attachment points, other than the flooring glued or snapped to itself on the edges. It is not attached to the underfloor or walls.

If you have something completely different, Never Mind!

John

[schoonerdog]

huh, now I'm stuck. What WOULD be recommended? Got stinking carpet that holds mold and need to put it down and thought some sort of synthetic would be the solution, I know lot's of modern catamarans are using something like Formica fake flooring...

[AnchorageGuy]

SD, Formica and laminate floors are not the same. You can get veneer plywood that looks like wood which is used in a lot of boats. You can, as I suggested earlier get a small run of hardwood flooring, you can use vinyl or many other options. Just not the standard laminate floors for homes.

[hellosailor]

Sdog, carpet is a bad idea on boats precisely because even the best "fiber" will hold moisture and breed molds. The laminate floorings that are designed to float (like Pergo) are also a bad idea, but there are some designed for industrial/commercial use (like gymnasium flooring) where the entire panel is sealed. The center layer may be metal or FRP, clad with more synthetic and then just skinned with wood on one or both sides, and even the wood layer is pre-sealed with urethane or epoxy at the factory. That stuff looks like wood flooring--but is just about invulnerable. If you can get a split pallet at a flooring liquidator, that might work. Otherwise, you are into marine plywood floorings (i.e. the teak-and-holly type sheet) or some of the "rubber" marine floorings that are printed with a pattern similar to the wood ones. I don't remember the name, but I think someone had posted it in another thread here. You can think of them as marine grade (and priced<G>) linoleum.

Which might be your best temporary option: Get a remnant of good quality padded vinyl flooring, lay that down now, and then take you time finding something that keeps the other half happy. I'd probably just attach it at the perimeter with double-sided carpet tape, which will hold it down but make it easy to rip up when you choose to. Slippery when wet, but in an aft cabin maybe that's not a problem for you.

[Evan]

We're going to glue down this stuff
Nautolex - Decko Dot Marine Vinyl Flooring in the taupe colour. They'll send you some samples for $5. It's very flexible so I expect it will conform well to hull contours. Nice non skid and should be nice on the feet. Probably a bit of a chore to clean.

Lonseal also makes lots of non skid industrial vinyl flooring (including fake teak/holly) - but it's heavier. For a quick short term solution any vinyl flooring will do.

[Tnflakbait]

It's probably the same amount of work to put in teak and holly plywood as it would be to put in some laminate. It would look much nicer and I think you would be happy with it. Just get some 1/4 thick and try a small section. Glue it down with Epoxy.

[Tom Spohn]

We went with Lonseal. Let them know what you will be fastening it to and they will sell you the proper adhesive.

Teak & Holly Flooring

[schoonerdog]

giving the pergo back. Thanks to all for the alternatives, browsing them now. My interior decorating skills leave something lacking (I still like disco floors) so my wife will be choosing. The carpet's in the work room has been yanked so we'll definitely be getting something sooner than later.