Hi all , i'm posting these pictures and text for Moo moo , see below .
Hi pls help, the damp in the caravan is worse than first thought all around the door the wall is rotted, the wood is just crumbling, the floor as you walk in the van is also rotted, we don't know where to start, can anyone recommend a site that shows you what to do. The damp in the wall around the door has spread and it looks like part of the wall will need replacing too. HELP,
Mine was in a pretty similar state, looks like damp getting in from awning rail above door, Just carry on stripping out until you reach solid timber, splice in new timber (treated) bonded to ally skin with no more nails. Cut out floor to good timber, make a framework to fit the hole thatsleft tap into place and screw to good wood. Screw and bond new ply to underside of van. Bond new insulation to wall and floor then cover with 4mm ply and either no more nails or solven free gripfill. Here are three pictures from mine to show thenew timber spliced in, Hope this helps, might look daunting but not so bad once you get going....
Ps. forgot to add, use wood hardener on the slightly damp but solid wood thats left
Have you snuck in and photographed the inside of my 'van? Mine's in a very similar, sorry condition so take heart that you're not alone if nothing else!
Looks much better now that its finished, unfortunately I didnt take any more pictures during the rebuild as once you get that involved the photos are the last thing on your mind.Had to buy a new door tho as it was badly twisted , that was the source of the water ingress. Good luck with yours, Good thing about it all was the total cost was about £180 quid, ( and that was including the new door)
Thanks for all your encouragement, I'll keep you posted, thanks wizard for all your help, this is a wonderful site, I feel much more positive now, so glad our's isn't the only caravan in a bad state.
How do we find out if the awning rail is the problem, we can't see where the water is getting in, we need to fix the culprit before starting the results.
Once the wallboarding and insulation is removed the van will start to dry out, apart from where its getting in, but if I were you I would do all the rail , if its failed in one spot then its only a matter of time before other places start to fail....
What I've done is remove everything, every piece of awning rail and trim and remastic and seal the lot, as Fleetwood says it's only a matter of time and better to reseal before the water starts getting in. It wasn't until I removed the rails that I could see what bad condition the mastic was in.