Forum Discussion

plusplus's avatar
plusplus
Explorer
Oct 22, 2013

Water damage how to !

Hi all,

Just hope I'm in the good forum. I own a 2007 Jayco 186 put in service in May 2008, the particles board is like a sponge, I have to remove the existing floor and replace it with new plywood base floor (waterproof) and flooring (wife selection). I never done that work before and would need your knowhow so I would do a nice job and keep my TT longer (2 years) and have a solid and watertight TT. I have to remove all the modules that are sitting on the floor, strip the old flooring remove the Chipboard soaked with water. I have look on the WWW to see for the construction details for a Jayco TT but could not find what I was looking for.

The cost if I give it to a camper repair shop is 2 to 4 Thousand $, I can save that in doing it my self.

One repair man told me that they all have water infiltration and even a new TT is not water tight. What I will do since I learned the hard way is to remove all to trims from the top down to the base and inspect and reseal every year. I will also use some bounding tape to make the TT leak free (If possible!)
What would you do to make a good repair? Material, tip & tricks, Sealing tape, caulking type etc...

It may not be a very good English but at least I tried.
  • This weekend I will be replacing the entire floor in front of the slide out on my 2007 Fleetwood Pioneer 24' TT.
    my question is, who else has had floor rot around this area?
  • Dr Quick wrote:
    When ever I have had to replace bad flooring in a RV trailer, I work from the top down. The membrane on the bottom of the trailer is usually a fiberglass reinforced waterproof material. Once you take up flooring you will probably see several joist that need to be replaced too. On one of my trailers I replaced about 20 SQ feet of floor and joist in the back corner under the tub, and on my neighbors trailer we replaced about 50 SQ feet of floor and joist in the front bedroom due to leaking storage doors. Here is how is was done: On one rain water came in at a damaged refrigerator vent and ran back under the tub in the adjacent bathroom. On the other storage doors for an under bed storage area leaked. You will need to take out any cabinets or items in the area of the damage. I ended up replacing floor joist, and some wall studs too. There are two kinds of wall construction, on some trailers the wall extends past the floor platform which make removing damaged floor easier. On others the wall sets on the floor plate, and the wood flooring has to be removed from under the wall, then to reinstall you need to jack up roof enough to lift wall so that you can get new floor material under the wall.

    To remove damaged flooring I used "skill" saw set for about 3/4" deep to get back to good material.

    To remove damaged joist I used a "triangular shape blade" for my saber saw that lets you cut flush to another surface. If I was working up to a material that could be damaged, I placed a small piece of aluminum sheet below item to cut so as not do damage adjacent surface at end of cut. Also used a "Drummel" rotary tool in some tight places. Used deck screws to install new joist. Predrilled member to attach, so it would pull up tight to exist joist. Used screws to install flooring too.

    If you need more information send me a PM.

    DR.Quick one ? why havn't you visited california? By your little map you did good to stay out, fuel cost's roads terrible, people not too friendly and other reasons I travel round Cal.
    BUT good ideas on floor repair. old saying beeen there..
    Chuck
  • When ever I have had to replace bad flooring in a RV trailer, I work from the top down. The membrane on the bottom of the trailer is usually a fiberglass reinforced waterproof material. Once you take up flooring you will probably see several joist that need to be replaced too. On one of my trailers I replaced about 20 SQ feet of floor and joist in the back corner under the tub, and on my neighbors trailer we replaced about 50 SQ feet of floor and joist in the front bedroom due to leaking storage doors. Here is how is was done: On one rain water came in at a damaged refrigerator vent and ran back under the tub in the adjacent bathroom. On the other storage doors for an under bed storage area leaked. You will need to take out any cabinets or items in the area of the damage. I ended up replacing floor joist, and some wall studs too. There are two kinds of wall construction, on some trailers the wall extends past the floor platform which make removing damaged floor easier. On others the wall sets on the floor plate, and the wood flooring has to be removed from under the wall, then to reinstall you need to jack up roof enough to lift wall so that you can get new floor material under the wall.

    To remove damaged flooring I used "skill" saw set for about 3/4" deep to get back to good material.

    To remove damaged joist I used a "triangular shape blade" for my saber saw that lets you cut flush to another surface. If I was working up to a material that could be damaged, I placed a small piece of aluminum sheet below item to cut so as not do damage adjacent surface at end of cut. Also used a "Drummel" rotary tool in some tight places. Used deck screws to install new joist. Predrilled member to attach, so it would pull up tight to exist joist. Used screws to install flooring too.

    If you need more information send me a PM.
  • Surely it will be work, but that 2-4K is as good to you as it is to them. By the way, your English is fine. Not all of us speak it very well either! And welcome to the forum.
  • Your repairman is a jerk, not all Travel Trailers suffer water damage. I have one that is 42 years old and when I pulled up the floor sheathing, it was like brand new.
    You will need to find out how your floor is built. If there is a deteriorated area where everything below is visible, that's a good spot to start. Some Jayco later 2000 trailers used a composite floor consisting of a luan ply sheet, an inner sandwich of foam, and a top layer of OSB or luan ply sheet. If you have a floor of that type, it will be a bit more work to repair. Other trailers have a joist system and the flooring sheets are attached to the joists.

    All trailer floors I've repaired had the flooring attached first, underneath the walls. In my Starcraft, the walls were attached on top of the floor covering (carpet), too. That's pretty typical. If you are replacing whole sections of flooring, adjacent to walls, you'll have to decide if you want to detach the walls and siding to place the new sheets underneath or cut the existing flooring a comfortable distance away from the wall and replace to that point. When I did my floor, I only had a few feet of bad sheeting underneath walls and was able to cut all the fasteners in the wall, chop out the bad floor sheet, and push the new partial sheet underneath. The rest of the floor was cut back about 12" from the wall, a new support was fastened to the joists along that cut line, and the new flooring fastened into the support and joists.

    Replacement in progress:


    Floor as it exists today with laminate flooring:



    Good luck with the floor!
  • I can tell you before you start this project make sure you have found and fixed the source of the leak.

    After that google rv floor repairs.


    I know there are many posts over on the Sunline Owners Forum, a few people have done just what you are looking to do.

    Another thing - do not be surprised if you find water damage to the surround walls where the floor is soft!