Soft floor. A lot worse than thought!!

[Wikid86]

2008 Holiday Rambler . Bought back in march from a dealer here in Fort Worth. The floor was a little soft between the shower and toilet. Salesman said it wasn't bad and the leak had been fixed. I had planned to fix it this winter after camper season.

Fast forward to August and the floor has gotten worse and i located the REAL leak under the shower. I started taking it out last night and discovered its all under the shower, infront of shower, and down wall next to bed.

After pulling ply board out last night I discovered it has 1 1/4 inch of styrofoam under the ply board. Then under that has 1/8 inch or so ply board. The aluminum joist are about 32 inches apart.

What all should I replace? Do I replace the styrofoam? How about the ply board under the styrofoam? How would I even get to that?
I guess I'm going to take the shower and wall out and replace all that wood too....

Wow this turned REALLY BAD Quick!!!

[hotbyte]

Very nice! I'm sure it was a pain having to do that but it came out looking great.

[DaHose]

Right on! That wood flooring looks really sharp.

Jose

[Wikid86]

Finished! well except for some quarter round...

[Wikid86]

A little afternoon update.

Picked up Minwax wood hardener in north dallas sherwin Williams (45 miles away). Been applying to marginal spots all morning. Pulled out most rotted wood under shower and cleaned up. Slipped 2x4's under good side floor edges for some screw to support. I'm going to put wood hardener on everything else then let dry real good.

Oh and fitted the patch.


Decided on Home Depots Allure laminate strips with squirt of Loctite construction adhesive.

[Francesca_Knowl]

Does anyone know if residual moisture can/will have an effect on the effectiveness of the various sealers being discussed?

My instincts say the wood should be absolutely bone dry before application so that no water is sealed inside...is that correct or will some products displace moisture?

[soren]

j-d wrote:
Thing with OSB, it's made of a lot of glue relative to the wood. That means relatively little cellulose/wood for the CPES to penetrate. I don't believe the glue gets penetrated to any extent.

Actually, it's quite the opposite. Prior to being pressed into the final thickness, the chip matt is about 6-8X as thick. In standard OSB the glue to cellulose ratio is pretty light. In proprietary products like Huber's Advantech, there is exponentially more resin, which is why the stuff is noticeably heavier, almost looks like a non-wood based composite product when viewing cut edges, and wears out blades a lot faster. When you find an old piece of OSB laying outside, and it is swollen to nearly twice it's original thickness dimension, you get an good visual as to how much absorbent fiber there really is.

[riven1950]

It looks like you have OSB not plywood, depending on the quality of the OSB and how long it was wet it may dry out. I run into this with flipping mobile homes. Your problem ( one of them ) is your floor is a sandwich of OSB with foam as the filler. May be hard to dry it out.

Not that familiar with your TT floor construction but consider this. If you have to replace a section figure the total thickness of the sandwich then consider two layers of OSB or underlayment plywood that will total to the thickness of the sandwich. IE: if the sandwich is 1 1/2 inches you could use two layers of 3/4inch OSB or plywood. Turn second layer 90degrees from first for strength. Treated plywood is another option...will reduce the chances of a repeat performance. Good luck

[j-d]

That's Dr. Rot's claim. It's true because his CPES is literally WATERY. It soaks deeper before curing. If a product like this cures before it's in deep, then another "coat" won't help since the wood is already sealed at the surface and the epoxy can't get to the core.
Thing with OSB, it's made of a lot of glue relative to the wood. That means relatively little cellulose/wood for the CPES to penetrate. I don't believe the glue gets penetrated to any extent.

[Snowman9000]

Wikid86 wrote:

DaHose wrote:
I'm with Snowman. If the wood is all there, consider CPES. That will kill the mold and encapsulate all the cellulose so it can't grow in there again.

Jose

Yeah I agree. Great idea. I went to lowes and they didn't have the Miniwax wood hardener which is similar and very close if resin is applied after. Currently I can't find CPES locally.

I picked up Elmer's Wood Rot Stabilizer. After reading up on it is rather find Miniwax's product.

Thoughts of that? I still want to remove all mildewed wood.

What a freaking nightmare.

I'd be surprised if the over the counter products are as good as CPES. That one comes with warnings and requires you use a fumes type respirator. The Rot Doctor claims it penetrates much deeper than the others. I believe it. Your mileage may vary. 🙂

[bsinmich]

I used to have a wooden boat. Git-Rot was the product back then but I haven't found it lately. Basically it is epoxy that will soak into the wood and strengthen it. I am the pres. of our condo assn. ((182 units) and we found some rot in a placee under the doorwall that would have been very difficult to replace. We got the fiberglass compound from the marine supply here in town and solved the problem.

[j-d]

This is my Rot Doctor Project.
I considered laying a large piece of sheet aluminum (from a sign) over the floor repair, but it turned out very solid with the new wooden (OSB actually) replacement piece and the toilet pedestal.
If your floor layout would allow slipping an aluminum sheet in to cover the weak flooring, and allow hiding the "step" where the aluminum made the floor a little thicker, that type of repair might be an option.

[Wikid86]

DaHose wrote:
I'm with Snowman. If the wood is all there, consider CPES. That will kill the mold and encapsulate all the cellulose so it can't grow in there again.

Jose

Yeah I agree. Great idea. I went to lowes and they didn't have the Miniwax wood hardener which is similar and very close if resin is applied after. Currently I can't find CPES locally.

I picked up Elmer's Wood Rot Stabilizer. After reading up on it is rather find Miniwax's product.

Thoughts of that? I still want to remove all mildewed wood.

What a freaking nightmare.

[DaHose]

I'm with Snowman. If the wood is all there, consider CPES. That will kill the mold and encapsulate all the cellulose so it can't grow in there again.

Jose

[Wikid86]

ADAD437 wrote:
Why don't you throw it back on the dealer or did you buy it as is?

Bought as is.

Was a great deal and I didn't know much about soft floors then. I would have tried to get the price down more had I known the extent of this spot. All in all we're happy with the purchase and have gotten over $11k in rentals since March. We've taken some great trips in it too!

After this I hope not to have any more issues.