Soft floor ....to fix or not to fix ?

[jbrown33252]

Originally Posted by FeatherFam

The website says that the Feather has a laminate floor. I am not sure if it is the same floor that was used in the White Hawk. That is my question: Are the Feather and White Hawk "non-plywood" floors the same construction?

Apparently, the 2017 WH has gone to the 5/8" plywood. At least that is what the dealer told us.

The laminate floors used in the feather lite line are substandard as well as the 5/8" plywood flooring. If you have polybutene pipe for your fresh water supply line which on any pre- 2010 models they used the silver pot metal crimps to secure joints. This has been an industry nightmare and was eventually addressed by ANSI and HUD who now require brass crimps.
The laminate floors are nothing but a ,"swing or tension", subfloor system and if it gets wet which it will when those crimps fail you have a major problem especially if your unit is out of warranty. I was a state manufactured housing inspector and had access to material and information to remedy this problem but it wasn't easy. The floor is basically paneling and Styrofoam with a woven mesh as the bottom layer. It all must be removed it will probably be rotted anyway refer to the ANSI repair method for sub flooring on park model units I know this isn't an RV but trust me its the best method I could find. You will have to remove all the material and repair the joists as per standards and add cross joists for extra support I used 1" x 2" treated southern yellow pine No. 2 and cut them to length. I used galvanized 3" screws for attachment you will have to drill pilot holes or the pine will split. After all this is replaced and removed I used 3/4" OSB making sure to water treat bathroom, water heater and refrigerator areas just in case of any future leaks. The only problems I ran into were an occasional leveling of the OSB if you use the tongue and groove OSB it will cit down on this and reduce floor sag in the future. Secure OSB to newly installed joists with 3" galvanized screws counter sink and apply your choice of top cover. I used pre finished hard wood flooring and it came out fine. I hope this helps.

[Brent Allan]

How did the dealer repaired floor come out?

[sharonkay]

Did you get your floor all fixed? What was the outcome?