Sagging floor repairs

[msiminoff]

Last winter after installing the HPL flooring in my camper I noticed that there was slightly more "curve" to the floor of the camper when it is on the truck (read: hanging off the back) compared to when it is standing on its jacks... It's just enough to make the floating HPL boards lift up form the subfloor. I have heard rumors form a former Alpenlite dealer about floor issues with their TC's and it occurred to me that all the flexing can't be good for the camper in the long run so I decided to see what could be done about it.

I have some access to the basement and could see that the floor joists are only made from 1/4" luan ply and 1X2's that are stapled together :M . My solution was to cut a pair of doublers from a sheet of 1/2" birch ply and have my trusty pint-sized apprentice attach them to the existing joists on each side of the basement storage area. They are fastened with construction adhesive and cabinet screws.

Standing inside the camper the floor definitely feels firmer underfoot. I haven't loaded the camper back onto the truck yet so i don't know how much this will reduce the sag... but it certainly won't hurt.

Photos below.

Cheers
-Mark


This is what the stock joists looked like.


Crawling into the basement.




The completed project

[sabconsulting]

msiminoff wrote:

That's a useful child-storage option your Alpenlite comes with there Mark :B

Steve.

[jimh406]

I find it much easier to have people available of different sizes, too! Looks like a good improvement and a nice amount of storage space!

[dadwolf2]

Nice to have some access and even nicer to have a trusty apprentice. Good help is hard to find! Hope the fix works as good as it looks to us.

[recycler]

i would think it makes a huge difference..simple fix for substandard build.. i like it

[69_Avion]

Nice job. It is certainly stronger than when it came from the factory.

[cewillis]

Nice 'trusty pint-sized apprentice', and looks like a good job on the joist, too.