Rain Today

Yesterday we worked  trying to finish up all the trim work on the flooring project in the motor home.
Al worked on covering the gap between the slide and the beginning of the Allure.  He had to shim up the part of the front where the table sits because it came in a little bit from where the benches are.  He mitered the edges and it looks nice.  He had to use a baseboard and a piece of quarter round so that it is covered properly.

We had to trade off working on our  individual projects because I was working on extending the flooring under the captains chair, and we kept getting in each other’s way. We had a little argument when I didn’t like the amount of clearance over the carpet and suggested he take off the trim and “redo” it.  I’m sorry, but I am a worrier and I worried that too much rubbing on the carpet that is still under the slide, may cause it to come up.  Better safe than sorry.  Then another time, he was trying to layout the trim to measure for his miter cuts, and I kept bumping his trim pieces.  I was sent “to my room”, which was okay because my back was killing me and I needed a rest! We survived the day without killing each other, but it was iffy for a while!

I initially planned on ripping out ALL of the carpet and even replacing the flooring under the captains chairs.  I had no problem under the passenger chair.  It turned out real nice and looks even better now that I finished dying the carpet on the doghouse and the front wall.

On the drivers side, once we started ripping up carpet, we found some special heat shield insulation that was pretty thick.  I figured it was there for a reason and was hesitant to remove it.  I had decided to just leave it there and didn’t think it would show much after the chair was put back.  BUT….it kept bothering me.  I finally decided to just put the Allure down right on top of this stuff.  It’s only a small area.  My concern was the sponginess would cause the Allure to separate when you step on it.  I finally decided, so be it and it wouldn’t show much anyway.  Separated Allure would be better than that nasty carpet!  When I ripped it up it was amazing how much sand was in that carpet!  That’s the reason I hate carpet. That area was particularly hard to vacuum anyway and could only hand vacuum it while standing on your head.  So out it went (most of it).  I had to remove a few pieces of Allure that I had trimmed up around the chair, and with the help of a hair dryer, it came apart easily.  Of course now, I had to re-cut more pieces and with the pattern in our flooring, it wasn't easy, especially with that darn chair base right in your way.  It had a few well placed bolts on top that felt just lovely on the boobs when I had to lay on top of it while standing on my head on my knees!

I decided NOT to try to do around the gas and brake pedals and fuse boxes. I am NOT a complete glutton for punishment.  I stopped about a foot and a half  back from the very front.  I spray dyed the little remaining piece of carpet and I think I will get a black rubber floor mat type of thing for that spot.  That way I can remove it to clean and it will transition okay.

Here is what I have done, without the rubber floor mat.

The carpet piece you see around the chair base has to stay.  I think once the chair is there you won’t see it at all.  I spray dyed it and I think I need to put some kind of trim around the carpet to keep it from fraying.  I think I may use brown duct tape??  I don’t know what else to do.  I read someone else’s blog and they turned the carpet over at the ends and just stapled it down.  I can’t do that to mine though because I cut it too small and it would have to be stapled to a hard metal base.  I think the duct tape will work and I don’t think it will show much anyway.

Anyway, I have convinced myself that I will be satisfied leaving it like I have it, but as I have done before, it may start to bother me and I could still put another row of tile in.  It shouldn’t be hard but with that darn chair base there, it is physically challenging! I think I will probably leave it like it is though.  I’m pretty happy with it.
Al found some nice pewter color metal trim strips.  He replaced the ugly gold trim piece in the bathroom that is right under the door.  It looks so nice.  It matches perfectly with the “grout”.   I may just leave the upper level of the bathroom as it is and maybe even put a rug.  I think I can live with that, however I can always change my mind.

Our next project will be the steps.  I  ordered some black stair treads from Brad and Hall RV Furniture .  These are the rubber covers for the inside steps.  We have a light brown currently that has gotten stained over the years.

I found them at several places (once I found out what they were called) and Brad and Hall was half the price of the other places.  Of course I didn’t see a picture of what they had and just went by what they said, so hopefully they will look nice.  They should be shipped today.  I think the black will look nice with the new flooring as it does have some black in it. I called them and spoke to “Brad”, I don’t know if he is THE Brad, but he was very nice.  They are based out of Elkhart Indiana, so I guess they can use the business!  He said they have played host to Obama several times and actually saw Air Force One fly over his house!  How cool would that be.  That’s an amazing plane.  If you ever get a chance to watch the documentary on it, watch it!  It’s very interesting.

Anyway, next main project will be the stairs.  I have to put Allure to the sides and back of the stairs, where it was previously carpeted.  It’s going to be tricky because: 1.  There is a little wire thing that has something to do with the stair retractors.  I can’t tile right over that, so we will have to put some kind of wood trim in there to attach the Allure to and still leave room for the wiring.  I think I will use some kind of insulation piece and Al has some little wood strips I can glue the Allure to. The second issue there is matching up that darn grout!  We bought plenty of Allure with the idea we could return what we didn’t need.  I have multiple small pieces and 4 complete boxes!  At $50 per box, I hate to use one piece of the box and have to keep the rest, however…I would like to have a piece or two as a space in case I need to replace some in the future.  So we need to see what will be needed for the stairwell.  We’ll probably have to get into another box and only be able to return 3 boxes.

Today doesn’t look like a good day to work because it’s thundering and raining pretty hard.  We may go into town for a grits cup and pick up some brown/black duct tape.  I don’t want to put the captains chairs back until all that is done.