floor repair

I have a 2009 Trail Sport, and much like you, Rayroof10, we noticed some soft spots. I got an estimate of $6000 to fix it. No can do. So I pulled up the vinyl, I still don't know where the water is coming from. the soft spot by the door and toilet were still wet, so I kind of suspected the toilet, but I can't see anything wrong with it. the other spot was on the driver's side, near the front. It is bone dry but clearly has been wet. No stains at all on walls or ceiling. Three existing penetrations for plumbing show a floor that is only 3/8", with about 2" styrofoam underneath. Is that all there is to the floor?

rayroof10 wrote:
No l,m not going to junk it.the roof and wall,s or in great shape. just the floor,l,m tearing it out to replace l was just asking if anyone elso had this kind of problem.

Yes, floor rot is a very common issue with ANY RV..

Water will find its way a LONG ways from the actual leak, mine had a weak spot in the MIDDLE of the floor and the floor was all vinyl! Water had made its way down from a window and the water heater under that window and then pooled in the center of the floor UNDER the vinyl.

Fix is not all that hard to do but it will cause you to find creative ways to get all the rotted wood out and replace with new wood..

You want to cut back the rotted floor until you find SOLID undisturbed wood. I used a 7 1/4" circular saw with the depth set to just a little over 1/2". Then I made a plunge cut in to the floor.

This type of cut is made by holding the back of the saw in the air and placing the front of the saw on the surface to cut. If you can picture the saw at a angle without the blade touching. Then pull back the blade cover and turn saw on then drop the back down while the front is still touching the floor. You can move the saw forward or even backwards doing this cut.. Works great when you have the space but if you are near a wall or cabinet you may need to use a vibrating type saw which can get up close to walls.

You want to cut back the floor to the NEXT joist and ideally leaving a little of the existing joist exposed (this gives you a place for your new floor to sit on).

Once you find good floor you will need to remove and replace any wood structure under the floor which is rotted/soft. Once all damaged wood has been removed then you will need to sister in a replacement joist. Sistering is nothing more than a added 2x2 beside the bad joist, screw new 2x2 into the good portion of the existing joist.

In between joists you will need to add a 2x2 from each joist (this gives your new and old floor something to rest on). Slip the 2x2 halfway under the old floor allowing half of that exposed.

Now you simply cut a new piece of plywood to size and lay it down, using adhesive and drywall screws.

To dress the joint around the new and old floor I used a neat trick I had seen on a home repair show.. TIGER HAIR! Mixed up some good old tiger hair resin (what you would use for car sheet metal repairs, tiger hair has LONG fiberglass strands) and filled in the cracks. Sanded that flat then cam back and used autobody filler (this is similar to tiger hair but contains no fiberglass and sands down smooth). Sanded that then I painted the floor with kilz primer and a coat of flat wall paint to seal the wood and give a nice clean surface for the new vinyl to lay on.

Involved? You bet.

Expensive? No, unless you are paying someone to do it..

Easy? No, this is not an easy repair nor will it be a few hrs, most likely will take you a good weekend just to find all the bad spots and cut them out..

Worth it? Pretty much as long as you don't mind doing the work yourself. It will be cheaper than going out and buying a new trailer.

So? What did you end up doing?

sure glad I'm in Az. I could hose mine and it would dry before any rot started. I think my ins would be taking care of this one.

we found floor water damage in our 2002 prowler
two spots,one the water line going into the toilet cracked @floor level,leaked under it
then found water ontop of wheel well with table/bed out, the outside ring that holds the fridge access panel in place,seems who ever caulked it did a bad job,it dropped between the bolt holes,fixed and replaced no more flow from there
when we removed the flooring and sub floor to the foam
we tried to use a house dehimidifier to dry it out
we left it running weeks,foam still soaked on bottom
opted to remove the foam leaving the lower plywood
since we don't tow anymore ,we went to 2X6,2X10,2X12 for a solid floor
glued with pl adhesive

I helped a friend with a similar repair earlier this year. The damage was concentrated to just in front of his main door. The door seal had leaked and he had a soft spot directly in front of the door. His floor was laminated, which was the part I struggled with.

We ended up removing the interior fixtures that spanned between the floor joists (steel supports). In his TT, this was a 4 foot wide section which had us remove his dinette and 1 cupboard next to the door. Next we peeled back the vinyl flooring to exposed the rotted plywood. I used a plunge router to mill away the rotted floor section with the bit set 1/4" deep. When I was done, this left a 1/4" recessed pocket where the plywood used to be. Exposed was only the foam inner core of the laminated floor which looked to be in tact and in decent condition.

Next, I purchased a piece of 1/4" thick aluminum plate sheared 2 feet by 4 feet which was the size of the floor we routed away. Using construction adhesive compatible with the foam in the floor we inset the aluminum plate into the flooring. Once set in place we used automotive seam sealer to seam the transition around the perimeter of the plate against the remaining good plywood.

We then reinstalled the vinyl flooring and the dinette and cabinet (using sheet metal screws to secure them to the new aluminum floor.

It is worthwhile to mention that the membrane below the TT and underside of the floor was in good shape & solid.

So far this has held up well. The floor is solid in this area. Doing this again, I might substitute 1/4" plywood in place of the aluminum. At the time I wasn't sure how well the construction adhesive would hold and wanted the extra rigidity.

Good luck with the fix.

rayroof10 wrote:
No l,m not going to junk it.the roof and wall,s or in great shape. just the floor,l,m tearing it out to replace l was just asking if anyone elso had this kind of problem.

Didn't have that problem but I did remove my plywood floor, replacing a few bad spots. Usually, walls are fastened to the plywood. I had two areas where it was necessary to install new plywood under a wall section. I was able to clean everything out in those areas and slide a new piece under the wall. The majority of the floor was cut back within 6" of the wall, a new 2' x 2" was installed under this cut seam and new plywood was attached to replace the old.

No l,m not going to junk it.the roof and wall,s or in great shape. just the floor,l,m tearing it out to replace l was just asking if anyone elso had this kind of problem.

bigjohnmcvicker wrote:
Junk it? Its a 2006. FIX IT. Take the time to find the leak and seal it up first. If its in the roof then its in the walls also. Get rid of any bad wood. Rebuilds look hard but they are not that bad just time consuming. I did mine with little to no carpentry experience no barn, little tools and ours looks good and is holding up fine. Just use common sense. Taking out the floor in mine involved taking some of the skin off, unhooking the walls from the floor, replace the floor reattach the walls to the floor, re skin. Done. You will be surprised at how easy it is.

I wouldn't junk it, but I also would just start tearing it apart and fixing it without coming on here to discuss it.

No disrespect to the OP but it appears that a complete gut and rebuild of the trailer including likely the walls and roof depending on where the water is coming from is more than they are comfortable with. Perhaps I am wrong, but I certainly wouldn't spend 5-6k to repair a 2006.

Junk it? Its a 2006. FIX IT. Take the time to find the leak and seal it up first. If its in the roof then its in the walls also. Get rid of any bad wood. Rebuilds look hard but they are not that bad just time consuming. I did mine with little to no carpentry experience no barn, little tools and ours looks good and is holding up fine. Just use common sense. Taking out the floor in mine involved taking some of the skin off, unhooking the walls from the floor, replace the floor reattach the walls to the floor, re skin. Done. You will be surprised at how easy it is.