Laying Laminate Flooring in a Caravan

Is it possible to put  laminate flooring in a caravan?

Absolutely.

Here’s a little rundown of why we decided to put laminate in a caravan and some before and after pictures.

A Little Potted History

A few week’s ago I wrote about Dolly II — our caravan — and how we had performed a caravan makeover, on quite a grand scale.

In this post I talk about changing the carpet to laminate flooring.

We’d bought Dolly II over the summer to replace our original van; also named Dolly (due to the fact that it was impossible to convince our babies that a caravan could possibly have another name).

When we bought Dolly II home, she was in a sorry state.

Ugly, brown wooden cabinetry, beige walls but the worst offender — in my mind anyway — was the flooring.

I’m not sure whether it was original but the van floor was swathed in the most revolting red carpet.

Laying Laminate Flooring in a Caravan — Dolly before her makeover! Just look at that revolting carpet!!!
Exbibit A — revolting red carpet
Exhibit B — The offending carpet
Laying Laminate Flooring in a Caravan — Dolly before her makeover! Just look at that revolting carpet!!!
Exhibit C — OK, perhaps this was unnecessary but I wanted to show you just what we were dealing with

The kind of carpet that, no matter how may times you vacuum — or VAX it — still looks dirty. A petri-dish for heaven’s knows what — and I’d really rather not dwell on this — the only solution was to replace it.

Is Carpet The Best Caravan Floor Covering?

I’ve never really understood the trend for carpets in a caravan.

Vinyl flooring — even the cheap self adhesive floor tiles — would be so much better.

As our caravan is often parked in festival fields or on grassy campsites, it made no sense to me to replace it with more carpet.

The best solution to muddy boots and grass is hard-flooring, something that can easily be mopped down and wiped clean at the end of the day.

This was pre the brilliant Bosch cordless vacuum that we take everywhere now. And —as electric hook-up is not available in a festival field (for normal folk anyway) — vacuuming the floor when we were camping was nigh on impossible back then. It’s definitely something that had to be done when you’re back home.

A dustpan and brush, followed by a mopping down is the best way to keep a caravan floor clean when you’re off adventuring.

But not when there’s carpet on the floor.

Options, options…

So what did we decide? Vinyl? Laminate flooring in a caravan? I wanted something light in colour and easy to maintain. Cue a swift trip to Carpetright.

Despite what their name may suggest, Carpetright also sell a fantastic range of hard-flooring; everything from laminate to on-the-roll vinyl flooring and luxury vinyl tiles.

We decided on a hard-wearing lightweight laminate flooring and after much deliberation, went for Supernatural Classic Aspen Oak; a cool white/grey which would lighten up the van and compliment the fab yellow wallpaper we’d already chosen. It’s not dissimilar to the laminate that I put in my she-shed.

For those of you who have not fitted laminate before, it needs basic DIY skills.

Mr D laid it over a couple of weekends and we decided to use the original underlay — and carpet — as a sub-base,  to give good insulation and keep warmth in the van.

caravan_during
Laying Laminate Flooring in a Caravan
Laying Laminate Flooring in a Caravan
caravan_during4

How To Lay Laminate Flooring in a Caravan

You cut the lengths, as needed, and simply slot them together — a little like grown up Lego — really simple and very gratifying too, as you can cover a decent space in quite a short space of time.

Once the floor was totally covered, the only thing left to do was add beading around the edges to hide the gaps and give a lovely finish.

We chose white —to tie in with the painted woodwork.

caravan_after

So Would We Recommend It?

Having a paler floor covering in the caravan makes the world of difference. The light has increased ten-fold.

And it looks so much fresher too. No longer a harborer of bacteria and dirt, it can be easily cleaned with a broom and a mop and — even after a long weekend of being stomped all over with muddy boots — looks as good as new in no time.

It just goes to show that laminate flooring doesn’t just need to be restricted to use in the home either — it’s the perfect floor-covering for a caravan or motorhome. Hard-wearing and easy to clean. And it looks fabulous too.

There’s really no need to be stuck with a dated, dirty old carpet when you can cover your caravan floor in something as lovely and contemporary as this!

caravan_after2

Please share, if you like this!

About Caro Davies

Caro Davies art directed fashion and interiors before leaving the world of design to pursue a career in social media. She can now be found chasing the light — and two small twin boys.

77 thoughts on “Laying Laminate Flooring in a Caravan”

  1. I love this van! What an awesome transformation. Did you make your own seat covers? As I’m looking to cover my caravan seats.

    Great work.

    Reply

    1. Aaah thanks ever so much Stacey! :) YES! They were really simple to do too — I’m not an upholsterer by any stretch of the imagination so I made some simple loose covers that fasten with velcro so they can be easily removed and washed. MUCH cheaper than getting them professionally done and it works :)

      Reply

  4. Omg this is amazing you have done a fantastic job it looks brilliant. I thought when you got rid of the van you would be hard pressed to get something as gorgeous but this is beautiful! Thanks for hosting #TwinklyTuesday xx

    Reply

  5. Wow so light and bright now! That red one was awful!! Yuk! What a super job and amazing transformation :) Jess

    #HomeEtc xx

    Reply

  6. Wow! It looks amazing, it doesn’t look like a caravan inside at all, much more like a mini house. Love the transformation, the yellow wall paper is gorgeous, where is it from? And The flooring is perfect for you fresh style. I didn’t used to like caravans, but love them now, just need to convince the husband! :) x #Twinklytuesday

    Reply

  11. What a wonderful transformation! Though it took me a while to recover from seeing Exhibits A, B and especially C first ;) Your choice of flooring makes all the difference, though the whole job is just gorgeous. Well done.

    Reply

    1. Thanks so much lovely!! We’ve still got quite a bit to do when she comes out of storage again… I have the loo to decorate (MORE wallpaper!) and I have some ambitious plans for the exterior of the van too. Not 100% sure what I’m going to do yet but am SO excited!!! :)

      Reply

  23. That looks like a completely different van with the new flooring and white cupboards. A vaste improvement. #TwinkleTuesday

    Reply

  24. Wow, that makes a tremendous difference. I’m also getting into my caravans at the moment. We’re about to have our kitchen completely red-one and we need somewhere to stay while it is done. It may very well be that we decamp to a caravan for a couple of weeks to keep the kids away from all the heavy work. I’m fascinated by the laying technique though. I’d have thought you needed to lay the floor on a hard base? For a DIY enthusiast such as myself, a very interestingpost. Thanks for hosting #twinklytuesday

    Reply

    1. Aaah it’s a slippery slope John!! Once you buy one, you’ll be hooked for life!! I used to absolutely hate them but they’ve revolutionised holidays and festivals for us!

      Re the laminate over the carpet in the van — yes — if you were to lay the flooring in a house, you would definitely use proper underlay and lay it on a solid base but — in this instance — upon inspection the caravan had coach bolts coming through the floor and if we’d have lifted the original flooring, carpet and underlay, we would have had a job laying it over the bolts that were proud of the floor. Hope that makes sense! :)

      Reply

  29. That looks gorgeous, such a cosy and inviting little space. The flooring is beautiful and so practical – great choice! #twinklytuesday

    Reply

  30. What an incredible transformation. It looks so lovely and bright and breezy now.
    Now time to go on holidays I think!!
    Thanks for hosting #twinklytuesday
    Vix x

    Reply

  35. That looks a million times better! Even makes the caravan look bigger. I don’t blame you for getting rid of that carpet. I would have done so too. Looks like the makeover is coming together nicely :-)

    Thanks for hosting #twinklytuesdays

    Reply

  38. WOW!! What a difference, it looks amazing!! Very envious you have a van, we have been looking at getting one for ages, but haven’t taken the plunge yet! Do your boys sleep well when you go away in it? Such a fantastic makeover!
    #twinklytuesday

    Reply

    1. Aah DO IT! It’s one of the best decision we ever made! I used to hate them but since I realised that you can make them look however you want them to, I love them — just like a little home away from home! The boys sleep really well in the vans — I think all the excitement of ‘camping’ knocks them out!! ;)

      Reply

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