Finding a Transition Strip For RV Slide Out (Floor Guide)
You may think you know all the parts that are included in your new RV but wait till something breaks. When it does you find all sorts of parts you may not have thought about when living in your RV. The transition strip is one of those parts.
In many cases, you should be able to find top transition strips wherever RV parts and accessories are sold. Plus, you should be able to find compatible transition strips in many of the home improvement stores in any given city. They are not hard to find.
To learn more about transition strips, their purpose, and where to find them, just continue to read our article. It has the information you want to know about so that you can find the right color, design, and best transition strip for your RV’s slide-out.
What is an RV Transition Strip?
This interesting RV part goes by many names. It can be called transition strip, molding, or moulding, or it can be named cover strips or floor dividers. No matter the name the purpose of these strips is the same.
What one of these strips does for your RV slide-out is bridge the two flooring materials. The one in the slide-out and the one on your regular RV floor. These strips make walking into your slide-out area and back again smoother and safer.
You should not trip and fall when you have the strip in place. You will also find that some molding along the walls of rooms is called transition strips. Besides helping keep from tripping over the edge of the next room’s flooring, these strips have other purposes.
They are used to protect the edge of the flooring from heavy foot traffic as well as provide an attractive look to the floor. Those edges meeting do not always look that great without a transition strip covering up the break between them.
RV Slide-Out Floor Transition
This is a difficult project especially if you have carpet in your slide-out. Getting a transition strip in place takes some calculating. There are two types of slide outs and your transition strip has to be designed to work with one or the other.
The first type is the floating slide and the other is the flush slide. The latter goes out and when it reaches the end of the track it sits down flush with the floor. The tricky part is getting the strip to the right width so that it does not interfere with the slide-outs operation.
Also, if you turn to vinyl to make this transition strip, it may lose its rigidity and wear out. When this happens you have to replace the strip with either another piece of vinyl or a metal strip. Whichever you prefer.
Since the transition strip is not an RV-only accessory, you should be able to find good options at the different stores that sell molding. We do not suggest using wood as those pieces are either too thick for slides or too fragile.
Transition Strip For RV Slide Out
It turns out there are different types of transition strips that will work with just about any flooring material your RV has inside. There are two types of flooring where these strips are needed.
The first is the flat floor and this is where the two floors are the same height. You just select a transition strip material that will work best on this floor. The second style of the floor is the uneven one and you would need a transition strip that can bridge that gap and make it smooth.
The best transition strip to use would be called a reducer and it creates a slope from the higher to the lower floor making walking over it better and safer. There are different names for the different transition strips. Which one you get will depend on your preference and floor design. They are called:
1. T- bar
2. Seam Binders
3. Flush
4. Reducers
5. Carpet gripper
6. Z-bar
7. 4 n 1
8. End cap
And more…
There are also transition strips for carpet to carpet flooring, Hardwood, Vinyl Plank, Laminate Flooring, wood flooring, mismatched wood flooring, and more.
These transition strips are also made from a variety of materials. They can be made of wood, rubber, vinyl, metal, and more options. Plus, these transition strips work on carpet to tile, carpet to stone, carpet to wood, laminate, or vinyl planking.
They also are designed to work with stone or tile to wood or wood-like products and just about any type of flooring your RV has. As we have said, these transition strips should be found at any home improvement store, molding outlet, or RV accessory store.
The Cost of Transition Strips
The cost you pay for this type of material will depend on what type you want, how long or wide it should be, where you bought it, and other key factors. The price range can be between 70 cents per linear foot up to $8+ per linear foot.
Since your transition strip is for your RV, do not expect to find many on the low end of the cost scale. Then if you want to have someone install it, you are looking at adding labor charges to your overall cost.
Metal and plastic transition strips will be your cheapest options. As the quality goes up so will the price.
Some Final Words
Transition strips serve an important purpose in your RV. Not only do they protect your flooring’s edges but they also make walking over those edges safer. In addition to those aspects, they also help make your RV floors look a lot better.
You have complete freedom to decide which transition material is right for your RV. The key is to make sure the strips are thin enough to work properly, yet strong enough to handle everyday foot traffic. There will be lots of these strips to choose from.
