Packrat damage- even worth fixing?

[jmkjmk]

Hi there 🙂 We have a 2005 Frontier Explorer (28') that we just purchased in the summer of last year. We own mountain property a few hours outside of Denver. Anyway- to the issue. It *was* a beautiful trailer. We went up to check on the property and trailers and found a jaw dropping (in my opinion!) scene- a packrat (or several?) had somehow made it's way in (I still don't know how- it's SO sealed up!) and literally damaged everything. Electrical, trim around most cabinets/counters, blinds, plumbing hoses, and pooped/peed on EVERY solid surface imaginable (did you know their pee is pretty much the consistency of tree sap? holy cow.). I'm attaching pictures for your viewing displeasure- what on earth do we do? Is it even worth cleaning up (we cleaned for a few hours, but dang- it's so bad) and repairing all the wood/electrical/plumbing? Where would we even start? I'm heartbroken- it was such a nice trailer!

Thank you!!

[rjf7g]

We had a pop up and one year a black snake decided to chase a couple of mice into it. None of the critters made it out alive. When I pulled the pop up out of the shed and started setting it up, it was awful. I used heavy rubber gloves and a mask and pulled everything out of it. I took every piece of cloth in it out and washed it then took it to the dry cleaner and used Lysol on every cushion after scrubbing them all with disinfectant. I vacuumed, wiped with disinfectant, vacuumed, wiped, wiped, and wiped. We kept it for that season, but I could not get the smell out of my head when I walked in to that camper. No one else could smell a thing. I couldn't keep it. I sold it for 1/2 of what it was worth and disclosed that there had been an "issue" and would be happy to share details - the couple who bought it didn't want to know.

[W4RLR]

I've seen worse, and if you don't mind doing the work yourself, it is salvageable. Lots of elbow grease, rags, and disinfectant. It all depends on you and what you think your time and effort is worth.
Not rodents in my case, but massive water damage on my rig while I was in the hospital. A good friend came up from Florida and spent a few months removing rotted wood and rebuilding from scratch. The end result is that I have a serviceable RV again. Seeing the damage that water did made me think the rig was a goner.
Best of luck to you.

[2oldman]

mockturtle wrote:
..wearing a mask.

and I wouldn't rely on those cheapie white masks HD sells.

Here's what the CDC website has to say. I think you can pretty much take this as gospel.

[mockturtle]

I think I would spray every surface with Lysol or another disinfectant before vacuuming with a shop vac, wearing a mask.

[westernrvparkow]

If you only have $6000 invested in it, take a vacuum to it along with a bunch of rags and some heavy duty cleaning solution and do the best you can. Then sell the thing "as is, where is" for a couple of thousand and be sure to disclose the damage. That will mitigate your losses and it will only be a three or four thousand dollar lesson. I wouldn't get involved in repairing all the damage because even if you could, at night, as you are trying to go to sleep, you will never get the thought of those pack rats completely out of your mind.

[rockhillmanor]

If you want to keep the TT I would hire a PROFESSIONAL company to do the clean up. Depending on what you TT is worth the service fees for a pro to come out to clean it is not that much. They specialize in safe rodent damage clean up and address the health issues from it.

I would be VERY VERY concerned about cleaning that up yourself regarding the 'serious' diseases that are in the waste of rodents.

I had a friend's wife, that after finding out her tenants had booked and abandoned the apartment, found pretty much what you are looking at.

She cleaned it up herself and ended up in the hospital for 2 months even though she 'thought' she took the right precautions but apparently inadvertently touched something with urine on it.:(

In the mean time while you are deciding I would STOP going in there and breathing and/or touching anything inside that TT.

[colliehauler]

It can be cleaned and fixed the question is do you want to. The other option is sell it to someone else to deal with and start over.

Leaving a RV in a remote area without people is a open invitation to rodents as you found out.

Unfortunately I found a mouse had entered a camper I had stored. While there was minimal damage the smell was bad. I washed everything that could be washed shampooed the upholstery used Clorox clean up on solid surface.

I found a small opening where they ran the gas lines through the bottom of trailer. I sealed the opening with mouse repellent foam.

[riven1950]

Like someone said, I would clean it up some and then decide.

I bought a foreclosed Mobile Home once that a bunch of crack heads left dogs and cats locked up in when they were arrested, so I know the smell. Luckily the animals did not eat the wiring :). We used a lot of Clorox solution and pet urine solution and opened it up to air out. When finished the smell was gone.

If you are " only " $6,000.00 in to it it may not be worthwhile, but that is a decision you will need to make.

Good luck, sorry for your loss.

[2oldman]

orfsotr wrote:
wearing a dust mask and rubber gloves

Absolutely. That's a dangerous environment, especially when it gets stirred up.

jmkjmk wrote:
$6k down the drain it's looking like.

I wouldn't worry about that too much. Next time you'll know what not to do. I'm not even sure my RV is covered for that kind of damage.

[jmkjmk]

Thanks you guys.. I'm so sad! It's unbelievable what they damaged- the blinds, all the wood trim around EVERYthing, inside all the drawers and cabinets. The only thing they didn't touch was the mattress, couch and seating upholstery, which would have been a MUCH easier fix! We did think about hantavirus, @oldmattb- that's scary stuff, and that's when we stopped sweeping until we could get some masks and serious disenfactant. It's a lot to think about. $6k down the drain it's looking like. And yes, it is in every single nook and cranny, some very unreachable. It is so overwhelming 😞

[mabynack]

I had squirrels chew up some of the wiring on my RV. They never got inside, but they made a mess of the brake and light wiring. It cost me about $1400 to get it fixed.

[orfsotr]

Had a similar experience with a house. I would recommend starting by sweeping/vacuuming everything you possible can - wearing a dust mask and rubber gloves - then spraying every possabile surface with a good disinfectant/cleaner. Depending on how that goes, then make your decision to keep or junk.

[pira114]

I bet you can clean that up and fix it for much cheaper than dumping it for a new one.

If it were me, I'd clean like crazy, then start looking at wiring and plumbing damage. Get it running first.

Then you can worry about cosmetic stuff.

I bet while you're going through it, you'll discover how they got in.

[oldmattb]

My thought is that there are feces and urine in every hidden place as well. I can't see any way to make it sterile again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hantavirus

[RoyB]

Just start at the door. Take your time - I bet you can get it done.

I had a parked Ford Expedition next to my woods here and they practically ate up the wiring everywhere in two years time... May have been squirrels...

I donated it to a worthy cause haha...

Roy Ken