Water Damage Repair

[bobnap]

I went to check on my trailer in storage this weekend and found some water damage in one corner. I found what I believe is the source of the water intrusion and I sealed it up with Dicor. I then ripped away as much of the paneling as required to expose the water damaged area and I tore out the insulation so that I could allow it to dry. It appears that a 2x2 stud in the very corner is totally rotted so I will need to replace that and there are a couple of other portions of studs that are pretty soft that will need to be repaired/sistered. Overall doesn't look too terrible. Since the trailer is almost 14 years old (Jay Flight 31BHS) I am going to see if I can repair it myself along with the assistance of a buddy who does a lot of construction. One thing that looks like it will take a bit of time is that a couple of the studs that will need replacing/repair have wires routed thru holes drilled in them. If I want to replicate that routing I will either need to cut and splice the wiring or try to find where they terminate so that I can pull them back and run them thru holes in the new studs. I'm thinking trying to rerun the wiring might be a little tricky so I wanted to see if anyone had experience dealing with this and what approach they would recommend.

Any and all input is appreciated.

Thanks.

Bob

[GrandpaKip]

3M 4200 or 5200 might work, though it would depend on the gap size.
Maybe a trim tape if the siding could be pushed out far enough.
When replacing house studs with wiring, we would notch the new stud, then add another piece with a notch turned the other way, just to increase the strength. Finish with the steel plates.

[JBarca]

pianotuna wrote:
Hi,

So is there a flexible gap filling adhesive that might be more suitable that strong but NOT rigid?

Good question. I do not know myself. Ideally it would be as pliable as like a Dicor roof sealant but as strong as construction adhesive.

There are a "lot" of adhesives made today for most things. Need to find one of those adhesives experts and present the case.

Thanks

John

[pianotuna]

Hi,

So is there a flexible gap filling adhesive that might be more suitable that strong but NOT rigid?

JBarca wrote:

Hi Bob,

It sounds like you now have a handle on dealing with the wires. Good. The construction adhesive will hold for a period of time. Make sure you get one that is waterproof so it will not come apart in dampness. How long will it last is TBD. It may be "good enough" if you only want to keep the camper a few years. Long term there may be issues with it. Reasoning is the adhesive is very rigid, and very strong. Odds are high it will stay bonded to the siding and the stud, just the siding is thin and weak and can crack and rip off the leaving it separated from the stud and the adhesive still intact.

[JBarca]

bobnap wrote:
John

Thanks. It is aluminum sided but since it only appears that one stud needs to be fully replaced I’m hoping I can get away with carefully removing rotted stud from inside and then using a little construction adhesive to secure aluminum skin to new stud. The interior paneling in this area needs to be replaced due to water damage as well so I will need to remove and replace. I agree your approach is the most professional way to repairing it and if I find more damage I will likely revert to that. How difficult is it to remove and reinstall the exterior panels?

The wiring is all 12 v. In a couple of spots there are multiple strands so you may need to try your multi notch approach.

Thanks again for your input!

Bob

Hi Bob,

It sounds like you now have a handle on dealing with the wires. Good. The construction adhesive will hold for a period of time. Make sure you get one that is waterproof so it will not come apart in dampness. How long will it last is TBD. It may be "good enough" if you only want to keep the camper a few years. Long term there may be issues with it. Reasoning is the adhesive is very rigid, and very strong. Odds are high it will stay bonded to the siding and the stud, just the siding is thin and weak and can crack and rip off the leaving it separated from the stud and the adhesive still intact. The campers flex a lot towing and the corners of the camper flex the most which is one of the large leak areas. That flexing over many miles of towing may create the siding cracking I'm talking about. I have no long term data on how many years it will last. The staples allow the siding to flex some at the joint. It is not as rigid as the construction adhesive. I have seen some siding rip from the staples when it is thin enough. Not a problem when the siding is thicker. Just mentioning this to allow you to think through your options.

On taking the siding off of an aluminum sided camper, it is not really that bad. But it will take time, and a lot of time if you want to really fix the whole problem. The damage you will find always grows the more you look. This kind of time is justified if you want to keep the camper a good long time, maybe not if you are going to get rid of it in 2 to 3 years. Below are some links to some of my restored camper projects from water damage. There are lots of pics in there and explanations on how to take the siding off along with repair methods.

If your wall stud is 1/2 gone or totally gone, odds are high the rot has been ongoing for several years. Odds are high that water is also down under the floor rotting out the wall sides of the floor joists and possibly even the floor joists. A roof leak or a corner molding leak has gravity against it. Once the water gets in, gravity takes over and the water keeps going down infecting everything in its path. It eventually reaches the Darco waterproof membrane and then can't get out. If the leak has been ongoing long enough, the volume of water just keeps things festering and rots the camper out.


Some folks have hobbies restoring motorcycles, some do trucks/cars, some do old time tractors, some do houses, I do campers. I am on camper restore project no. 10 now. If the RV industry would of just spent a little more $$ on better sealants, a lot of the RV's would of lasted a lot longer. But then they would not be selling as many new ones? Maybe they have a reason to the madness....

Hope this helps and good luck on your repair.

John

I never made it yet to posting these here in RV.Net yet so these take you to the Sunline camper forum.

This one is taking the camper apart.
2004 T1950 Restoration Project - (Ugly Picture Heavy)

This one is the start of a step by step on how to do a repair. I never made it back to finishing the post yet.
2004 T2475 Repair - Project Camper No 2

Here is a complete one restore. Front wall, total roof replace and the back wall rot repair.
A Winter Project - Roof Repair (Picture heavy)

[Campfire_Time]

What you are proposing will work just fine. And putting a notch in for the wires is probably the easiest approach to dealing with the wiring.

[bobnap]

John

Thanks. It is aluminum sided but since it only appears that one stud needs to be fully replaced I’m hoping I can get away with carefully removing rotted stud from inside and then using a little construction adhesive to secure aluminum skin to new stud. The interior paneling in this area needs to be replaced due to water damage as well so I will need to remove and replace. I agree your approach is the most professional way to repairing it and if I find more damage I will likely revert to that. How difficult is it to remove and reinstall the exterior panels?

The wiring is all 12 v. In a couple of spots there are multiple strands so you may need to try your multi notch approach.

Thanks again for your input!

Bob

[JBarca]

Hi Bob,

Is your camper an aluminum sided camper or fiberglass?

If it is an aluminum sided camper, the ideal way to repair the rot damage is from the outside in. Meaning take the siding off, start and the bottom and work you way up.

When the siding is off, all the studs are exposed and you can repair them and then, staple the siding back into new good wood. I have done this many times. If you try and repair the camper from the inside only, and you have aluminum siding, there is no good way to restaple the siding to the stud.

For the wires, I would not do the splice unless you are forced to. Ideally you can unhook the ends and rethread it through the new holes. If that is not possible or practical then as was stated, gently cut the wood away to the hole and remove the wires from the old stud. Now how to get them back in. This somewhat depends on how many wires you have. How many are there in a bundle? Any pics?

IF it is 1 to say 4 wires of single strand 12 VDC wires, doing the grooving of the new stud and plating over is an option. If the bundle is large, like a coax cable plus 4 to 5 DC single strand wires, the notch might be too big as one big notch. In this case, try and create 2 smaller notches and plate over.

If the wire is 120 VAC romex cable, again ideally you can unthread it on one end. Drill a hole in the new stud and insert a piece of EMT conduit the width of the stud to protect the wire from staples, screws etc. then feed wire through.

Hope this helps

John

[bobnap]

Thanks to all for the input so far. I like the groove the studs idea and the addition of the metal plate is a must as well.

[pianotuna]

cut a groove for the wires. Cutting wires would require an access box.

[73guna]

I would not cut the wire.
Chisel out the wire from damaged studs, remove studs, chisel a notch in new studs for wire to lay in and install as needed.
They make steel plate wire protectors you can install over wires.
Your on the right track sistering the damaged studs.

[colliehauler]

I would cut and solder the wires and use shrink wrap tubing. If a person could splice the new wire on to the old wire and pull it through the run it would be best. I tried to rerun the speaker wires (Wildwood ran the left channel to the two speakers in the living room and the right channel to the two speakers in the bedroom) but the old ones I could not pull out so I ran new wires.