Replacing Vintage Trailer Floors

Replacing Vintage Trailer Floors

Replacing Vintage Trailer Floors is a very rewarding experience. Especially rewarding if you do it yourself.

Recently I replaced the floors in this 1963 Shasta Astrodome Camper. Even though this is a fair amount of work, just about anyone with some stamina can accomplish this themselves. Incredibly more rewarding if you involve the entire family in the process of replacing Vintage trailer floors in your own camper .

Steps To Replacing Vintage Trailer Floors

1. Visually inspect your trailer floors for water damage, dry rot and any broken subflooring. The subflooring must be in good condition if you intend to replace only the flooring surface. 
2. Search for a loose tile and begin prying off the existing floor tiles. I have found that a painters tool is best. The painter's tool is like a scraper with a heavy handle, beveled edge and pointy edge. Excellent when used with a rubber mallet .
3. Tap and scrape each tile up. You should see a plywood subflooring underneath the tiles you remove. Sometimes these still have old blackened glue from the tile backing stuck to them. Scrape as much of this off as you can.
4. When replacing Vintage Trailer floors, your finished job is only as good as your preparation. I like to take a belt sander or grinding pad with an aggressive grit to the subflooring. (Tip: if you run a vacuum cleaner hose near your sander you will suction a great deal of the dust out of the air. This makes for a cleaner job)
5. Being very careful not to gouge or rut into the subflooring, make the surface as clean and new looking as possible. 
6. Vacuum and clean your entire trailer when done. The worst thing is when your laying new vinyl tiles and sawdust falls into your glue. So make everything very clean and dry.
7. Depending on your own personal feeling and comfort zone you can either peal and stick your new tiles down or you can first put down a thin glue layer. I personally put a very thin glue layer down. By thin I mean just barely any vinyl glue. Micro thin.
8. Allow that layer to dry for about 12 hours. It should only be slightly tacky. 
9. Start in the center front of the trailer and slowly work your way to the back. I usually put a permanent marker line down the center of the trailer before I put my glue down. When the glue dries it becomes transparent and your guide line can be very helpful. 

Replacing Vintage Trailer Flooring is a wonderful way to top off any vintage camper restoration. Let me know if you need any tips or pointers.