Slide Floor Repair

Location: Catskill, NY (High 92, Low 60)

We have three slides on our rig and after four years of use, for the most part, we have not noticed any damage inside on our floor from the rollers. However, about a year ago, we started finding black flecks, kind of like paint, inside on the floor after we had traveled and put the kitchen slide out. When Harry looked at the underside of the slide, he found that the material coating the floor was flaking off. Last summer, he tried painting the underside with Rustoleum spray paint to protect it from the weather. However the paint was no match for the slide rollers which continued to do damage and eventually started to dig right into the wood itself.

While doing research about the problem, Harry discovered that this is not an isolated issue. There are multiple threads on the Heartland forum about this situation, and almost as many kinds of solutions that people have used to try to repair it. It was clear though, that doing nothing was not an option. After the outer coat flakes off, the rollers continue to dig at the wood and there have been cases of the wood rotting and people having to have the whole slide floor replaced. Luckily, our floor is not at this point, as there is no rot. The worse we have is a section where small bits of wood have started to be chipped away by the rollers.

After Harry read about some of the options, he decided to go the “official” route by using a so-called “Parkland Kit”, which is a repair kit available from Heartland and made by the Parkland Company to repair the plastic coating that is chipping away. Harry called Heartland several weeks ago to order the kit. He waited until today to work on it as we have a period of time when we will not be bringing the slide in so it will have plenty of time to set.

 

 

First step was to sand the spots down.

 

The kit comes with an adhesive material to fill in any gouges. The repaired areas have to set for at least 24 hours before the strip can be added.

 

Some of the areas didn’t need any of the adhesive patching and Harry just placed the strips over the spots where the rollers have been attacking the wood. These strips are much more substantial than the original thin coating that was over this area.

 

 

 

 

 

After attaching the strip, Harry rolled it with a roller to make sure all areas made good contact with the floor.

 

We will give it several days to set and harden well before we try bringing in the slide to see how it works.

Another item checked off Harry’s list.