corner rot repair
I'm neck deep in corner rot repair and wanted to share some pictures and ask a few questions. I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything. Here are the questions. 1. when cutting out the rot...
Forum Discussion
I just finished taking apart one slide due to some rot and replacing the floor and some of the vertical structure. this entailed taking off most of the exterior aluminum skin and much of the interior walls. Because of the way these trailers are manufactured much of this is layered. And it can be a real hassle to take apart and keep in good shape. I tore out the complete floor and replaced it (one corner and the front (outside edge) was rotted due to the plastic wrap holding in moisture.
In my case the rot was all "DRY" and was from an old leak while owned by the previous owner. They had stopped the leak but had done nothing to remove what must have been Wet wood at that point.
I cut back the wood where it was rotted well into the good hard non affected wood. I did not treat it as there is no reason to. I added new structure from wood that was used to make a bunk bed in the trailer which I was removing anyway. This made matching the wood size easy. If the wood in yours is still wet I would cut away the rotted parts and let it dry out before I made any repairs.
For the trim strips I cleaned off the old Butyl tape and replaced with new (1 strip) I trimmed off the excess after tightening the screws. But I also ran a bead of caulk around the edge of the trim strip.
I countersunk all the screw heads and caulked over them so water would not migrate along the thread. (This was on the screws mostly on the underside of the floor and the outside where they are exposed to the atmosphere.
Taking off the outside skin is relatively easy but a big job none the less. And I recommend that you take apart as much or a bit more than is necessary. Most of these trailers/RVs are simple construction and if you are handy you can take them apart and put them back together again with no problems and looking like new.
From your photos it looks like you cut the inside wall. This will be hard to replace and you will probably have to do a whole new wall. I took mine apart, and reused it. I Doubt you will be able to buy matching material for the wall.
I also replaced the insulation in that area.
I have some photos of much of what I did if you are interested.
My whole slide reconstruction took me ten days and about $600 in parts. This included a piece of Marine Grade 1 1/8 inch thick plywood for the floor. It also includes some new tools, like a good electric staple gun.
Good Luck.
In my case the rot was all "DRY" and was from an old leak while owned by the previous owner. They had stopped the leak but had done nothing to remove what must have been Wet wood at that point.
I cut back the wood where it was rotted well into the good hard non affected wood. I did not treat it as there is no reason to. I added new structure from wood that was used to make a bunk bed in the trailer which I was removing anyway. This made matching the wood size easy. If the wood in yours is still wet I would cut away the rotted parts and let it dry out before I made any repairs.
For the trim strips I cleaned off the old Butyl tape and replaced with new (1 strip) I trimmed off the excess after tightening the screws. But I also ran a bead of caulk around the edge of the trim strip.
I countersunk all the screw heads and caulked over them so water would not migrate along the thread. (This was on the screws mostly on the underside of the floor and the outside where they are exposed to the atmosphere.
Taking off the outside skin is relatively easy but a big job none the less. And I recommend that you take apart as much or a bit more than is necessary. Most of these trailers/RVs are simple construction and if you are handy you can take them apart and put them back together again with no problems and looking like new.
From your photos it looks like you cut the inside wall. This will be hard to replace and you will probably have to do a whole new wall. I took mine apart, and reused it. I Doubt you will be able to buy matching material for the wall.
I also replaced the insulation in that area.
I have some photos of much of what I did if you are interested.
My whole slide reconstruction took me ten days and about $600 in parts. This included a piece of Marine Grade 1 1/8 inch thick plywood for the floor. It also includes some new tools, like a good electric staple gun.
Good Luck.
