At a guess I'd say 30% at that age , even new caravans can have damp issues , I bought a new sprite Quattro and found damp in at 9 months old. The best thing to do is buy a half decent damp meter and learn how to use it. It will save a lot of heartache later on !
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If the damp is 15%think you always get a reading of some kind as it's not an issue as wood holds some moisture think it's ok up to 20% then it needs investigating
Most vans of this age should be under warranty or just out of warranty. They would also have been serviced to maintain the warranty. So I would expect a better figure than posted above. Older ones are a nightmare for damp.
As above a damp meter is essential.
The service report should also have a damp report by service dept for each year serviced which should give you an idea, if it doesn't have an fsh don't bother. If you are spending a fair bit why don't you take an MCEA engineer with you to view it £60-100 some include a CRIS check. When we bought our last van we viewed it left a small deposit and then returned with MCEA engineer and only after he ok'd it we paid up.
Quote: Originally posted by diamond lynz on 19/3/2014
Hi, I'm looking at buying a 3-4 year old caravan. What is the chance of it having damp issues???
Thanks in advance
Lynz
I bought my van new 3 years gone December, I've had 2 damp issues in the first couple of years, one a window seal and the last one the rear wallboard had to be replaced ..... Be careful
Buy a damp meter it doesn't need to be the best one in the world just capable of telling damp from dry..
Our Conqueror has had damp issues from new including all windows on one side leaking...
side locker leaking Most of this is due to the boys in Hull being on piece work I think...
nevermind 3-4yr old, friends of ours bought a brand new Lunar 2012 and that was damp from the off. 1st service gave readings of 70% damp--marvelous. use your nose and press on the floor, feel between the cushions and wall, check in corners--just basically look everywhere.
Now I know why I bought a German van , joking apart reading these posts I would be put off buying any caravan because its going to leak, this is not true, I have had several makes and none have leaked, ( I have been caravaning for longer than most on this forum so a lot of experiance ) people who have a dry van dont go on forums saying my van doesnt leak, only people whos van does, so its easy to get the wrong impression,, a 3-4year old van will have a guarentee so you can get it fixed if you were unlucky, get it in writing that its had damp test and buy it and enjoy it
after reading all these posts over the past year and the problems people are having with there new and old caravans including our first caravan we bought a year ago my old trailer tent we used before had less water ingress they should put these on new caravans guaranteed to leak and fall apart