Replacing a Slide Floor

Who put that big hole in our motorhome!  Well, it is expected and scheduled work on the motorhome that we have wanted to have performed ever since we got our La-Z-Boy recliners last year.

We thought about having it done in Florida last winter, and even thought about having it done in Arizona on our way out west this year.  But we have had work done at McColloch’s RV repair and storage twice now….last year when we needed to have the slide awning put on, and when our Transfer Switch Relay Box shorted out on our previous motorhome in 2013.  When you feel comfortable with the quality of work, the honesty of the owner and workers, and feel that when you pay the bill you have paid a fair price for what you have received…well, you tend to want to return to have work done there again when work needs to be done.

    

McColloch’s is not a large shop, owned and operated by Kerry McColloch, his son Nick and a good, reliable worker name David (sure like his name).  If he has a lot of other RV’s on his schedule, he will tell you and give you a fairly decent idea as to how long you might need to wait to get your work done.  I have seen them, however, do some minor yet important work for someone to get them back on the road again…like last year when there was a full-timer in an older motorhome who blew an electrical box.

And when you come in at lunch time, as I did on Monday to get a picture of our motorhome without a slide, you don’t get any of that “Hey, this is our lunch break!” type of attitude as I have seen at other car and RV ‘world’ type of places.


MONDAY

So here is the slide, sitting on blocks.  This is the bottom of the slide out less the floor.  The walls of the slide are in great shape, which is good.  When they removed the slide they pulled it out onto a fork lift.  Kerry got two guys at a business across the street to help them set it gently onto the blocks…so it took five guys to handle the slide.

Although the slide is good, the floor, however, is another thing.  You can see how rotted the floor is.  Kerry said that we were lucky we didn’t break right through the floor…which is why we have not had the slide open this entire trip except to show Kerry and Nick McColloch a few weeks ago when I dropped it by for them to look over and to schedule the work.



I dropped off the motorhome Monday morning promptly at 8 a.m.  Before noon Kerry called to tell me that they had the slide out and it would be a good time to come and get some pictures. 

 

I dropped by again shortly after 4 pm and they had the new floor cut, and David (pictured above) and Kerry had just glued the white protective Filon bottom on and had attached blue tape over the beveled portion which allows the floor to rise up and then slide along the carpet of the inner floor of the motorhome.  This floor is going to be a little thicker than the previous floor which had the white material on both the top and the bottom of the wood floor.  So this is a thicker piece of plywood, better type of plywood, and the bottom will still have the protective sheet over it to keep the water from hitting the wood.  He also is replacing the trim which attaches the floor to the walls of the slide.

They also had replace that black strip which the slide runs along the carpet…the old one was in a wasted state.   That was about as far as they could take it for Monday as the white Filon sheet needed a few hours to set.  Then they will trim it down to size, and install the floor into the slide out, and essentially put everything back together again.


TUESDAY

After a restless night in the motel, I went back to McColloch’s at 9 armed with a couple dozen donuts.  Kerry was out, so I gave Nick the two boxes of donuts and told him that one of them was for the guys across the street who helped with the slide.  Nick smiled and said, “That’s real nice of you.”  Since a young kid I had learned that mechanics love donuts, and they love having their work rewarded.  While there David showed me how they were lining up the new floor to the old floor to attach the parts which get attached to the two arms that move the slide in and out.

I was hoping to get a picture of them putting the slide in, so I went back at 1 pm and found the slide was already in.  There is still trim work to do, and lay the carpet down correctly, but they are nearly done with it.  Kerry was appreciative of the donuts, and he said the guys across the street got their box and were really appreciative of them.

   

When I first talked to McColloch’s about doing this job when we were still in Florida, we were told that we needed to be prepared for it to be a 3-4 day job.  After they saw it a few weeks ago, Kerry felt it would be more like a 3 day job, perhaps 2 days.  We are so happy that the work only took two days, which means only one night in a motel.

Just before 5 pm Kerry calls me and tells me that they are done.  I was down at Arden Fair Shopping Center so it was a quick drive over to the shop.  By 6 pm I was un-hooking the HHR and pulling into the backyard at my sister’s house.  It took a bit of time to get everything back together that we needed for the night, and tomorrow we will finish it all up.  It is the first time we have been able to enjoy the room to its fullest since we left last year.  Those white things between the chairs are our computer tables. 

It is so nice to have a solid floor in the slide.  This should last us a long, long time.  Kerry said that the water intrusion came along the length of the slide, picture left.  He showed me the floor, and it was in worse shape than that picture I took and showed earlier in this posting.  It had been something which had been going on for many many years.

So, what was the cost????  22 hours of labor at $120 per hour, along with supplies of just under $500, plus tax, came to $3,150.  I have read about others who had slide floors replaced, and few have paid less than this, many have paid more.  This was an easy slide, but I KNOW Kerry and his crew did it right.   Good quality piece of lumber, Filon to protect the outside bottom (which was the most expensive part of the materials used), 3-M tape, paint, and caulking along with various screws and hardware is the extent of the materials used.  Kerry told me that side of the floor, which is the most vulnerable part, is protected with the 3-M, three coats of paint, and lots of caulking.  The Filon is glued to the lumber and protects the outside bottom.  The carpet is stapled into the top of the floor, and this floor is very very solid…probably better than when it was brand new.

We give McColloch’s RV repair and storage two big thumbs up.  Now days it is becoming rarer and rarer to find trustworthy establishments to fix our motorhomes and RVs.  If you are ever in the Sacramento area and need work done, we highly recommend McColloch’s RV repair and storage.