Fixing water damage on the old Dodge (pics)
I got started on my summer project the last couple days. I found this thing on Craig's list for $100 and drove it home. It's a 78 Dodge Monaco 23' with a 440. Here's what it looked like when I brought...
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I finally finished the tear out of all of the rotten wood in my cabover. I ultimately had 2 issues. The first was a leak in the vent, which was the reason for my ceiling starting to sag. When I tore things out I found that the vinyl had separated from the wood backing. As I pulled it down, that last layer of wood stayed in place with the foam insulation behind it. It was dry so not sure if I will tear that out or not yet. All of the studs in the ceiling appear to be dry and solid.
The big issue was leaking below the front window and a bit along the bottom side seams. I could see where the PO had caulked the heck out of those areas, but after tearing everything out, I found a bunch of little pin holes in the skin along the front and corners. I am not sure if these were the result of screws or staples rusting out, and the small pieces migrating to spots where they continued to rust against the aluminum, or if it was something else all together.
My lower end was so rotted out that the wood was literally turned to compost. What was there was mostly mush and came apart when I pulled the decking up. I was lucky in that some of the pieces were labeled with their lengths where I could still read it. I am using that as a guide, but for the most part am redesigning the platform and adding some additional support along the way.
I have some pictures, post tear out, that I will post when I get a chance. I will also post some pictures from the rebuild. I think I am lucky as it would appear I can do all of this from inside.
The bright side to this project so far is that one of our local home building supply stores is shutting down for a remodel. Everything was on sale for 30% off, and I was able to pick up everything I needed to do this job, plus a few tools I was missing, and at a good discount. They had rolls of repair tape for aluminum roofs, so I bought 4 rolls, which should be enough to seal all of my seams in the roof and also shore up some of those areas with the pin holes. I will be sure to turn on all the interior lights and walk around it at night to spot any other holes I may not have noticed so far.
The big issue was leaking below the front window and a bit along the bottom side seams. I could see where the PO had caulked the heck out of those areas, but after tearing everything out, I found a bunch of little pin holes in the skin along the front and corners. I am not sure if these were the result of screws or staples rusting out, and the small pieces migrating to spots where they continued to rust against the aluminum, or if it was something else all together.
My lower end was so rotted out that the wood was literally turned to compost. What was there was mostly mush and came apart when I pulled the decking up. I was lucky in that some of the pieces were labeled with their lengths where I could still read it. I am using that as a guide, but for the most part am redesigning the platform and adding some additional support along the way.
I have some pictures, post tear out, that I will post when I get a chance. I will also post some pictures from the rebuild. I think I am lucky as it would appear I can do all of this from inside.
The bright side to this project so far is that one of our local home building supply stores is shutting down for a remodel. Everything was on sale for 30% off, and I was able to pick up everything I needed to do this job, plus a few tools I was missing, and at a good discount. They had rolls of repair tape for aluminum roofs, so I bought 4 rolls, which should be enough to seal all of my seams in the roof and also shore up some of those areas with the pin holes. I will be sure to turn on all the interior lights and walk around it at night to spot any other holes I may not have noticed so far.
