travel trailer floor section replacement

Thank all of you for such great responses! It is going to be a big help! I'm going to like this forum!!!!!

I have replaced two sections in mine. It is not easy,get to the area that needs to be repaired by doing the least you can. I removed my rotted wood, took a 2 x 4 and cut it down to match my other floor joists. I made a frame and attached it to the other joists using screws, soaked everything down in Linseed oil for extra wood protection, then put down new wood. I recently bought a Sonictool to use for cutting in the future. It works real good when you have to cut up against a facing. The way I start out is getting a cup of coffee and look at what I need to do to remove before I even do anything.

I have rebuilt RV's from various angles and points of view.

Check out my TT rebuild, link in my sig.

Lots of pictures and descriptions of various things. Sometimes pictures help more than words.

ReferDog is correct although rather brief.

RVs are manufactured from the bottom up so to speak.

Frame is built then the floor is laid on top of the frame (floor actually is built in layers, bottom layer is against the frame, then framing (2x2 joists)and insulation and then the top of the floor you walk on).

Then the vinyl and carpeting is installed then the walls or set on top of that.

The roof/ceiling set on top of the walls.

Then the inside walls and cabinets are installed, all on top of the floor.

So, when it comes to a damaged floor, you will need to remove vinyl/carpet back until you find solid non rotted wood.

Then you cut out all the damaged wood. This is typically done by using a circular saw and plunging it down into the floor (saw is set to a shallow depth barley deeper than the floor).

Plunge cutting takes some practice, basically the idea is to start a cut in the middle of the wood. To do that you have to set the front of the saw down on the material to be cut but hold the back of the saw in the air to prevent blade from touching the surface.

The you start to saw and when blade is up to speed you slowly drop the back of the saw and the blade will contact and cut the material. Once saw is fully down you then simply push the saw forward (if needed you can pull backwards). It is not hard to do but does require some practice to get used to handling the saw safely.

If you don't fell comfortable with a circular saw you could use one of those non moving saws (this type of saw vibrates the blade a very small amount which may be easier to control) or even a router (although controlling a router can be even harder than a circular saw).

Jig saw or sawzall don't work well for this so don't bother with them.

Due to cabinets and walls being installed over top the floor you may need to cut around any un moveable items.

It is best to find the floor joists and cut with them, this will provide a place to attach the new floor to. In between the floor joists you will need to add cross joists in order to secure the replacement material.

You only want to cut the top plywood, not any framing below.

Once you have the bad plywood cut out you need to check the floor joists, cut out any rotted joist and replace by sistering (sistering you place new piece where the old was then add a second stud which spans on the side of the repair from good to good material).

Once all bad wood has been replaced simply glue and screw new floor down then cover with new vinyl or carpet.

There is no set step by step plan to follow, you will need to make this up as you go.

TT trailer manfacture starts at the floor. Hopefully you cut around any cabniets