Flooring

 After much deliberation I ordered Tarkett VCT II Ivory Tower (582) vinyl composite tile (VCT). These are 12"x12" vinyl tiles that are glued to the subfloor. I used VCT in the Boles and it's done well in the desert heat (no apparent shrinking or lifting) and it has a great reputation for durability. It's easy for a DIYer to install and it's one of the more inexpensive choices available. I also like that it looks period correct, maybe not as good as sheet linoleum ("Marmoleum") but close.

Tarkett VCT II Ivory Tower (582)

I chose a color (Ivory Tower 582) that I hope will complement the blue gray color I plan to use on the cabinets and the mahogany wood tones from the cabinet doors and trim. The mat beige color will also help hide the inevitable campground dust.

I worked out the quantity needed by marking off a template I made long ago for the front/back area into 12"x12" squares and accounted for the wasted tiles along the edges. I came up with 23 sqft needed for each end. Add to that the 12'x7' main body area (84 sqft) and you get 130 sqft needed. So I ordered 3 boxes of 45 tiles which will provide 135 sqft.

One issue with VCT is shipping. Each box weighs 63 lbs (!) so it's expensive to ship. Additionally it's a bit brittle when not adhered to a subfloor so my earlier experience makes me leery of shipping (I had 2 separate failed attempts at shipping for the Boles Aero). So I wanted a "ship to store" situation so I could simply not accept the tile if the box is damaged. Tarkett tile is not available through Home Depot or Lowes so I found a vendor (Floor City) that ships to warehouse locations for pickup in SoCal. I picked it up at their warehouse in Irvine, CA. It was delayed about a month from the original delivery date, but I wasn't ready for it so it didn't matter.

I thought about just tiling the exposed floor area, i.e. not under the cabinets. The reason I'd do this is weight savings. Each tile weighs about 1 lb 6 oz. I figure I might save 50+ lbs. In the end I didn't have a solid enough cabinet layout so I decided to just tile the entire subfloor.

Before I could tile I need to fill the seams between the subflooring sheets and also the countersunk recessed where the elevator bolts are located to hold the subfloor to the frame. After asking for recommendations on the Facebook Airstream Renovation group I ended up using the same Bondo used for car body repair. It's a 2-part filler that is mixed just before use and cures quickly. It was a little difficult to work with because the warm temperature made it cure very quickly. I ended up having to mix about 20 small batches to fill all the seams and recesses. I then sanded the areas smooth with 80 grit sandpaper on my handy "prepping weapon" (a nicely made sanding block). This set for about 48 hours before I started installing the tile.

Seams and Elevator Bolt Recesses Filled with Bondo and Sanded

I purchased tile glue (Roberts 2057 VCT Adhesive) which was available off the shelf at the local Home Depot. Based on the instructions for my estimated square footage of tile it should have taken a little less than 1 gallon, but I ended up buying a 2nd gallon and using about 1/4 of it too.

Before you apply the glue you need a plan and layout lines. At the recommendation of more than one YouTube I chose to center a run of the tile along the central axis of the trailer and also the doorway. I snapped a chalk line 6" offset from the trailer centerline and another perpendicular and 6" off the centerline of the entry door. This provides a full tile for the highest traffic (vs a seam between tiles).

The glue is easy to apply: you trowel it on using a 1/16" square notched trowel (also available relatively cheaply at Home Depot). There are YouTube video that demonstrate the application. Once it's troweled out you let it dry to a tacky feel (about 45-60 minutes in warm summer conditions). Then you proceed to lay down the tile. The glue has a open time of several hours once it reaches the tacky point so there's plenty of time to lay the tile.

The tile adheres to the glue immediately so once you lay down a tile you can't easily remove it. In fact with VCT you'll probably end up ruining the tile in the process of removing it. It's also difficult to achieve any minor adjustments of the tile once it's placed. So you need to be careful aligning the tile correctly before you lay it down.

I troweled out glue on 1/2 of the trailer lengthwise. Let it dry to a tacky feel and then laid the first central tile. It forms the "cornerstone" for all the remaining tiles so you need to get it right. I laid tile outward lengthwise from that first tile until I couldn't lay anymore full tiles. Then I did the next row and the next. It's really easy to do full tiles - it took about 10 minutes. The hard part is the edge pieces that need to be fit one-by-one. VCT is easy to trim by scoring with a utility knife. There's plenty of YouTube videos that show how to measure, mark and trim VCT. It took me about 1.5 hours for each 1/2 of the trailer I did.

Troweling out VCT Glue (bottom right)

VCT Glue (on right) Nearly Ready to Lay Down Tile

First Half of VCT Installed

After laying down the tile I used a linoleum roller (rented at a local tool rental outlet) to make sure the tiles were securely pressed into the glue.

The next day I repeated the process for the remaining half of the trailer.

2nd Half of VCT Installed

I still need to trim out the shower sump access door. It'll have the same tile on it but I'll need to dado the underside to sit flush with the aluminum door trim ring.