Water damage repair

[WannaRetire]

I have water damage to the passenger side sidewall on both the inside and outside. The wall is somewhat distorted. The outer skin seems to be loose from the underlying wood structure.

Water got in from the mirror mounting screws. The mirror was week and bounced when driving. When I removed the mirror the screws were wet and rusted. The mirror bounch was caused by the weekened wall structure that the mirror was screwed into. I drilled new mounting holes and used nuts on the inside to add support for the mirror.

Is it possible to replace the underlying wood ? I don't see any easy seems to work from on the outer skin around the area above the wheelwell.

[Pirate1]

They are FRP, fiberglass reinforced panels. Go to lowes and look around.

I used liquid nails.

[WannaRetire]

"Used fiberglass reinforced panels from lowes and marine plywood. I found materials that added up to the exact width of the materials I tore out."
What was the panel material ?

"Glued them all back in to place."
What kind of glue and what method did you use to deploy the glue?

[crasster]

My guess is it's a lot worse inside the wall. Wish I had better news.

[Pirate1]

WannaRetire wrote:

Pirate wrote:
Same thing happened to mine. Had to rebuild it from the inside out. It is doable but a lot of work. Mine is all fixed and rock solid, would never even know it had damage.

How did you fix it ?

Tore the entire wall below the window apart until I could no longer find water soaked wood. FWIW, that was almost 3' behind the mirror, all the way behind/below the driver window down to the floor.

Slowly built the wall back up from inside out. Used fiberglass reinforced panels from lowes and marine plywood. I found materials that added up to the exact width of the materials I tore out. Glued them all back in to place.

Reinforced the outside wall with carpet and plywood and then braced it so I could glue the materials back in from the inside.

Once all the layers were back in place, I obtained the wallpaper from the manufacturer.

In the mean time, I removed the driver window and found a couple window panels leaking so I removed the glass in them and resealed them with the proper 3m window sealant.

Taped the window openings with metal tape so any water that gets in will roll out to the walls, not inside of them.

The floor was rotted below the mirror so I had to buy some marine grade wood filler. Don't get any that is a "liquid" type epoxy. I did and it all poured right out of hole in the floor onto the concrete - 50 bucks wasted. I ended up using a paste wood filler. In fact, I bought a meat basting syringe and used this wood filler on the other side. I removed the mirror and injected this wood filler into the screw holes. I did remove the passenger window too and resealed it's opening just as the other side.

Both mirrors were reset and resealed.

I'm sure I missed some steps but you get the idea. The idiot I bought my RV from (thank you Gary Madder you liar) did the same thing with trying to re-affix the mirror with bigger bolts. I was a double idiot and rushed myself into wanting this RV so bad I ignored the warning signs.

In the end, I am glad I took this project on and am very happy with the results.

[Gjac]

Same thing happened on mine, I bought 3 in counter sunk screws from Lowe's and a 1/2 oak plank on the inside between wall and dash. This fixed the vibration but not the rotted wood in that area.

[Bruce_Brown]

Your MH is built using laminate construction, pretty tough to fix that without some serious work. Once it's delaminated it's real hard to re-laminate it.

[WannaRetire]

southpark wrote:
Is the mirror mounted in water? Is the mirror mounted on the outside of the coach? If not, why do you think "Water got in from the mirror mounting screws?"

I only first realized the problem when trying to eliminate the mirror bouncing. When removing the mirror, the mounting screws were rusted to the point that they almost completely gone.
Water may have come from the window frame above but I hope not.

[WannaRetire]

Pirate wrote:
Same thing happened to mine. Had to rebuild it from the inside out. It is doable but a lot of work. Mine is all fixed and rock solid, would never even know it had damage.

How did you fix it ?

[southpark]

Is the mirror mounted in water? Is the mirror mounted on the outside of the coach? If not, why do you think "Water got in from the mirror mounting screws?"

[Pirate1]

Same thing happened to mine. Had to rebuild it from the inside out. It is doable but a lot of work. Mine is all fixed and rock solid, would never even know it had damage.

[WannaRetire]

Horsedoc wrote:
A bit more info on the coach might help. Make, year, side or front entry, diesel or gasser.

2004 Forest River Georgetown, gas.

[Horsedoc]

A bit more info on the coach might help. Make, year, side or front entry, diesel or gasser.