Home Depot Allure vinyl floor

[wiredgeorge]

Have been getting ready to pull the trigger on some Home Depot Allure flooring to replace old carpet. The flooring has stick-strips on the edge and looks very easy to install... BUT

When I went to one of the product pages and looked at customer questions, when asking if the Allure can be installed in an RV, a rep from Halstead Product (guess they are the manufacturers?) answers:

"Thank you for your question. No, because this is recommended for climate controlled ares with running heat and air year round between 65-85 degrees."

Has anyone who has installed Allure seen temp related issues? Since quite a few have installed this stuff, not sure why they are fussy about temps. One person opined in an "answer" about RV use that the cold could cause the tiles to become brittle and crack and the heat could cause the adhesive on the strips that join the tiles to let go... Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[BurbMan]

This is kind of representative of what happened to our Allure Floor:



I installed the floor in the middle of the winter in 20* temps, so I figured there was no way for it to contract any more....yet it did over the years.

Ralph, I agree 100% with your assessment on the click-lock vinyl and that is what I am installing as soon as it arrives. Instead of Home Depot, I ordered this Golden Arowana from Costco.

[Ralph_Cramden]

To the OP.......Despite my dislike of Home Depots in house flooring brands take a look at what they call "Lifeproof" waterproof vinyl plank. I was looking at it in the store the other day. Despite it saying in the specs not for RV's among other things, I think I would give it a shot. It would take some creative trim work to maintain the required 1/4" perimeter expansion gap.

The worst thing that could happen is it goes wonky from expansion / contraction due to temperature swings, but then just remove it. Since its floating it would come out easily. At $2.79 sq ft it would not be a huge loss and you just might get lucky. A few hours time and $400 worth of material would probably be more than enough.

I like the locking arrangement and that it's an all vinyl product, I am going to try it in my basement 1/2 bath.

[TNGW1500SE]

Ralph Cramden wrote:
We installed Allure in 96 2 bedroom townhouses @ 2009/10 which were rental units, at the request of the property owner. This was during a complete interior remodel of the entire property, and despite our recommendation not to use it.

All of it failed within a year after installation as the end joints of the individual pieces opened up from shrinkage. The property owner went to war with Home Depot who at first resisted, and eventually agreed to replace the material but not the labor. Good for us as we were paid to remove and replace........1100 sq ft X 96.

The second round failed also. Consistent climate control both times within mfgr specs. You get what you don't pay for and that stuff is cheap garbage as is most of the in house brand flooring at the big boxes. It may work well for a doghouse or an outhouse, or something.

Home Depot gave me all my money back for the product too but I ate the labor for the Alure installation. Then I had to pay labor again to get the Pergo we replaced it with installed. The only good thing about the Alure is it comes up easy ;).

The Pergo is doing great in the RV and the house. One advantage I've discovered is that it's removable. I had a dishwasher leak and had to remove some of the flooring to dry the suffloor out. Afer all was dry, I reinstalled the Pergo. Snapped right back together.

[Ralph_Cramden]

westend wrote:
Nothing wrong with gluing down flooring, the RV mfgs mostly skip this step by overlaying fixtures and walls. Fastening with conventional nails/staples may not be good in an RV, possibly too much subfloor movement.

The RV manufacturers skip that step to allow sheet vinyl flooring to be able to expand / contract from the wide temperature changes experienced in RV's. Used to be cold crack as it was called, was a huge issue. IMO the use of the cheapest vinyl flooring money could buy by RV manufacturers also contributed to it, but in any case you hardly ever see or read about cold cracking anymore with sheet vinyl. Thats because its not adhered. If it is they only glue the perimeter.

[westend]

Nothing wrong with gluing down flooring, the RV mfgs mostly skip this step by overlaying fixtures and walls. Fastening with conventional nails/staples may not be good in an RV, possibly too much subfloor movement.

[jplante4]

I'm surprise Ernie E. hasn't replied. Maybe he's just tired of trying to convince us cheapos 🙂

Here's what he posted on the last thread about Allure.

erniee wrote:
just buy the tongue and groove engineered wood that is not floating then adhere it with urethane adhesive

If I lived near him, I'd have him do my rig. I've seen pictures of his work and it's marvelous.

[Ralph_Cramden]

pianotuna wrote:
Ralph,

So what would you recommend for wooden flooring? Is there something that is heat resistant (I have electric heated carpets).

Look for a laminate made for wet/ damp areas or vinyl that locks together mechanically as opposed to pressure sensitive adhesive like the Allure. The problem with all vinyl is it has a high amount of expansion and contraction with changing temps. The best and almost bulletproof would be floating sheet vinyl ( a real PITA to install and expansion / contraction not as much of an isue) or replace carpet with carpet. The thickness of laminate should not be an issue if your replacing carpet as the carpet would of been just as thick if not thicker.

[Busdriver]

I used the type that snaps together. Never had a problem with it. Was in my camper 5 years before trading it off last December.

[DiskDoctr]

GeoBoy wrote:
Why can’t you accept the manufacturers response, who manufactured the product?

Have you ever modd'd your camper? Why? Why can't you accept the manufacturer's configuration and supplied equipment?

No need to be rude.

[westend]

Hi Don,
If you want to install heat pads underneath any flooring, you'll want to make sure that the flooring will hold up to that use. Dupont currently makes a composite laminate that has a core of Dupont Mysteriosa. They wouldn't tell me what it was but the core looked like it would be durable. I passed because of the unknown and they way they treated my request for information. I've had dealings with Dupont, previously, so it wasn't a big surprise but it still rankled. Beyond that, their flooring products seem to be very durable and a query for use with heat pads may clear up any confusion.

[westend]

BurbMan wrote:

westend wrote:
What I did for my travel trailer: Bought one of the cheaper vinyl laminated composite planks from Lumber Liquidators, on sale. It is 8MM thick, IIRC. Used a very high grade underlayment underneath the plank.

The problem with 8mm plus underlayment is the clearance for the slide to go in/out. We are looking at the vinyl planking at HD, Lowes and Costco, they are all in the 3.8 - 4.3 mm range.

Yup, understood. Some folks with a slide system that hugs the top surface may need a thinner product. That's not in my wheelhouse because---no slides.

[pianotuna]

Ralph,

So what would you recommend for wooden flooring? Is there something that is heat resistant (I have electric heated carpets).

[Ralph_Cramden]

We installed Allure in 96 2 bedroom townhouses @ 2009/10 which were rental units, at the request of the property owner. This was during a complete interior remodel of the entire property, and despite our recommendation not to use it.

All of it failed within a year after installation as the end joints of the individual pieces opened up from shrinkage. The property owner went to war with Home Depot who at first resisted, and eventually agreed to replace the material but not the labor. Good for us as we were paid to remove and replace........1100 sq ft X 96.

The second round failed also. Consistent climate control both times within mfgr specs. You get what you don't pay for and that stuff is cheap garbage as is most of the in house brand flooring at the big boxes. It may work well for a doghouse or an outhouse, or something.

[GeoBoy]

wiredgeorge wrote:
I have used laminate snap together flooring but Allure looks to be so much more simple to install, thought I would like to hear from someone who actually has to find out how temps have actually affected it. I did read what the manufacturer said but wanted first hand perspective.

Why can’t you accept the manufacturers response, who manufactured the product?