Tom Patterson wrote:

> I too am looking at doing some flooring and in the very near future.
> I am trying to decide between the Pergo, and the Bruce. Both seem to
> have their good points. Check out the topics. I just posted a bunch
> of e-mail on flooring several days ago. That should give you a good
> starting point.

Well, while we're at it I might as well get in my flooring question too. Our 1978 Argosy motorhome came with ceramic tile flooring in the galley area. These look like the kind you put down in 2 foot squares with a bunch of rather thin tiles attached to a backing. They are color keyed to the rest of the coach and appear to be original, at least I can find nothing in the paperwork (I have every repair slip from the original owner, so far as I can tell) suggesting they were put in later. A couple of years ago several of those tiles were cracked or broken by some heavy-booted hunters we sheltered for several hours during a downpour and incredibly muddy vehicle-towing exercise in the middle of a plowed field. Had to await the arrival, next morning, of a farmer on a Cat to remove seven locked and abandoned vehicles parked athwart my exit route; was then able to drive the MH out of the field more or less under its own power. The mud in the galley was about four inches deep by that time, and I didn't discover the damaged and missing tiles until I cleaned it out.

Anyway, the problem under consideration is, how to replace the broken tiles. Any ideas? I have gone to Home Depot and various tile-specialty places on several occasions without finding any matching tiles, they have the same sort of pre-mounted tiles on backing but nothing even close to the colors and texture of those now in place. They are rather nice and I don't really want to re-tile the whole area if I can avoid it. The tiles appear to have been installed before the fridge, stove, counter and so on, so a complete re-tile might also entail fairly major surgery. I suppose by the exercise of ingenuity and use of an assortment of crowbars, tire levers and jacks it might be possible to slide the tiles under the existing furnishings without removing them ...but it does look like a lot of work at best. So I am looking for an
easy way out, if I can find one, i.e. replace just the missing and broken pieces. If, that is, I can find ones that match. Ideas?

Yes, glasses or crockery will break if dropped on the tiles, while they might not break on Pergo or laminated wood flooring. But damn it, I LIKE the tiles. Also, easy to keep clean, in spite of constant
entry/exit of muddy-booted hunters and hound dogs. I keep a big piece of Astro-Turf just inside the door ...

John

Susi and John Burchard
Tepe Gawra Salukis
saluqi@ix.netcom.com