Replacing a Travel Trailer floor

No solutions for your area, but just a suggestion.If you have not already, you need to focus on the leak that is causing the soft spots.

It was in the bathroom where I found the major soft spot. The doorway leading out of the camper is getting soft. There are no leaks atm and I have the bathroom gutted. The other leak was the air conditioner, which I fixed. Now I just need the floor fixed. I cut the bathroom floor out and was going to patch it, but since there are 2 other spots, a full floor replacement wouldn't be bad. The camper is worth fixing the floor.

Worth fixing for a do-it-yourself as a project but otherwise...

Mark you did not say if your trailer was a ultralight model. If so the floor is a sandwich of foam and luan. If the luan losses it's bond from the foam the floor becomes spongy. Total different from soft spots caused by water intrusion.

You might want to rethink having someone fix it, it will be costly..

Typical RV shop rates, you can expect $100-$150 PER HR labor charges.

Most "handyman" type jack of all trades type of folks most likely will be $50-$60 PER HR, if your lucky.

Could easily find yourself facing $5K or more in repairs paying at current labor rates.

Depending on the distance of the damage may even require major demo of cabinets and walls, don't know until you rip into it.

I would ALSO agree, make sure you have fixed the leaks first, otherwise all of that repair will be for naught.

If you are not interested in fixing yourself, perhaps put it up for sale and clearly list the reasons and price it reasonably as a handyman special.

Yes it is a sandwich of luan. the Luan was completely rotted on the upper layer and the foam was a bit moldy.

I wont be paying 5 grand for a 21 foot trailer floor, but I would be ok with 2 grand.

I have done this task myself. I once replaced the entire floor of an old TT I rebuilt.

It is extremely labor intense. Ripping up the old floor and putting a new one down is the easy part. The hard part is all the prep work to get it ready for the task.

When the factory builds them, the floor is done first before anything else. So the plywood or OSB if used is put on in full sheets front to back. Then the sheet goods, lino or whatever is laid down in one piece, front to back. Ducts, pipes, wiring and such is all run inside the floor.

Then they poke holes throughout for the various vents, pipes and more.

Then the walls, cabinets, partitions etc are all put in place and screwed down to the floor. Gas lines, water lines, electrical are all run to their service points for appliance and fixture hookup.

Get the picture? It's rather elaborate.

In order to replace the floor properly, you need to get all this stuff out of the way to replace the floor sheeting in one piece, edge to edge of the unit. This is critical for the structural integrity of the thing. It is needed so it doesn't come apart when its bouncing and swaying down the highway.

Some people will say just cut around everything and piece the floor in there....
Very bad idea for the previously mentioned reasons. It won't stay together properly. You can do a small section like this but not the whole floor.

When I did mine, I disconnected everything, removed everything inside to a hollow shell. I pulled the siding off the outside and disconnected the walls from the floor, only leaving it strategically tacked to hold it together. Then, in sections, I raised the walls and roof as a unit, and removed the rotten floor, replaced the floor joists and insulation, and then ran my new plywood in, sliding it under the bottom of the walls. A few sheets in, I screwed the walls back down and did the other end.

Once it was done, the entire floor replaced, I put new flooring down, sheet goods, linoleum, in one piece, end to end. Same thing, I lifted the walls off the floor to do it. I weather barriered the perimeter with Bakor Blueskin membrane from the top of the floor under the walls, down the outside face of the floor and joists.

Then I rebuilt everything, including the walls, partitions, furniture, everything, and screwed it all back down over the new floor.

Yeah, it was a pile of work for sure, but it was done right.

As already mentioned if you are going to pay a shop to the work is is going to cost a lot of $$$.

It might be cheaper to buy a replacement trailer than to pay to have yours repaired.

mrstan64 wrote:
I am looking for a local to MA or NH to replace my 21 ft TT floor due to it becoming spongy.I have attempted to do this on a local area of the trailer, but I found many other soft spots throughout. Does anyone have any recommendations?

Mark

I don't know anyone in your area, but as others have said, it will be costly.

Our Hybrid TT had a soft floor from a leak at one of the outside storage doors. Factory didn't seal the bottom (have seen that on lots of TTs and MHs) and water came in. It started under the dinette, so we didn't notice it until the rot came out beyond the dinette.

I ended up replacing about 40% of the floor. Ours was an ultralight and after making the fix, the floor was not as stiff as new. I ended up putting in a few 2x4s to act as I Beams between the main trailer supports. It helped, but still not as stiff as new.

The process was a long one. I had a friend help me pull the furniture up (sofa, dinette and the front storage cabinet). We also had to remove the pump, fresh water tank and the hot water heater. We just the vinyl floor and pulled it back as far as we could, which was to the refrigerator. There was a small amount of rot under the refrigerator, but it wasn't bad enough to warrant removing the pantry and refrigerator cabinet.

After we removed the rotten wood, I let the trailer sit for a week in the backyard with the bed ends out and the door open in the middle of the summer in GA (no rain all week) to dry out. Then I replaced most of the insulation (foam board) and I used 1/4" oak plywood instead of luan. Glued the floor back down and replaced everything we removed.

-Michael