Hi Everyone!
Will start by introducing myself... My name is Chris and I am 22 from Manchester!
After falling out with tents last year (combination of a bad holiday in France where we got attacked by local wildlife during the night and on previous occasions having the luxury of staying in my partners parents motor home)I decided to start looking for a caravan.
Eight weeks ago I seen a caravan on eBay that I almost instantly fell in love with.
She is a 1997 Fleurette Tamaris 37 Pop-Up Caravan.
The idea of this was perfect for us.. Its very light weight so combined with my car it falls within the legal limits of my driving license. Also when the roof is down and in travelling mode it is very streamline with my car (SEAT Altea).
Sooo after some thinking I shot down to the dealer in Coventry (quite a big dealer!!) where i took a friend who had caravan experience in the past. We asked all the right questions etc etc and were assured that there was no damp on the caravan apart from one bit at the back due to the roof locking pin (which I have already fixed!)and they they had used a damp meter on the rest of the van and they wouldn't have took it in part ex if there was a problem etc etc. Anyway after some more thinking I decided to part with my cash at £2500. (I must add the van came with everything it needed to get going including an awning!)
This is the van stood at the dealers:
After deciding to buy the caravan two weeks passed during which time I had a tow bar fitted to my car and arranged some space at home for the caravan to stay until I decided to put it in storage. (this also give me time to do some little jobs - more on them later)
When arriving to pick the van up, I found it had been sat in the Snow / Rain for two weeks. Therefore it was covered in ice which had to be removed.
3hrs later its being towed down the M6!! All is well.
Van get home and I immediately start my first project - Repairing the damp section at the back.
This was how it first looked to me, I could see that something was not right as the wood did not seem 'straight'.
Further investigation was carried out and this is where I ended up....
which then moved onto:
Sadly I don't seem to have a "Finished" picture but the one above is the closest I have.
Following completion of that and a quick tidy up the van and my shot off to Glasgow to visit my other half!
(Photo is after a night is Tebay services on the M6)
Excellent weekend to which the van came back for me to start more work!
Quick summery of pics!
Changes included:
New chrome tap as previous plastic one leaked.
New outdoor LED light.
New Flooring and mats.
Fitted CD/MP3 player and speakers with remote.
New electric sockets all round (including extras)
Installed 2-way 12v and 240v lighting system.
New wheel trims!
A GOOD CLEAN!!!!!
Still to do:
Fit Cascade II Water heating system which I have got in the shed but not had chance to fix. I also currently don't feel confident with piping up gas!
Anyway all the above is sorted.
So today I am off working and I was getting ready to take the van away for the weekend down south.
It has been raining all day and when I opened the wardrobe to put some stuff inside i noticed some water on the top shelf.
Further investigation revealed that water has been coming in through a gap in the outside gutter (the part the roof drops into). The gap has been previously sealed as its where two parts of the roof component join.
Anyway during a short sunny period this afternoon i re-sealed the joint (did all 4 in total around the van).
So now I looked inside the wardrobe an I could feel the wall was soft. After cutting and peeling back some of the paper i revealed the following: :(
Not looking good. So I decided at 10pm this evening to start taking the wardrobe out and anything else that was attached to that wall.
I then stripped back all of the paper and to my up most horror I reveal the following:
Now correct me if I am wrong... this must have been going on for a long time and would not have happened in the past few hours of rain?? Surely the damp meter at the dealers should of picked this up..
(that's the fibre glass gutter that you can see in the middle and to the left just before the rot starts there is a chunk of fibre glass... this is where the water has been coming in.
Anyway all of what was on the walls has just fallen off with little effort:
its nearly 3am and less than 36 hours before we go away... I consider myself good with DIY but have never even thought about dealing with damp on this scale before now.. Any advice would be VERY helpful.
I have had a flick through some of the "completed" websites on here and i am very impressed! I just have questions such as:
Do i need to replace the foam between the wall and the outer skin? What sort of wood should i get as a replacement inner wall? From brief investigation it also seems to have got to the floor.. will this be a problem? when fitting the new inner wall, do i need to find vertical batons to secure it to or not?
I would also be interested to hear people thoughts... Also should i start investigating more parts of the van?
Hi Chris , heres some answers for you . Yes , you need to replace the polystyrene between the wall . For wall board wood you can buy purpose made wall board that has a covering stuck to one side of it . You can also use 3mm or 3.6mm plywood and then stick wall paper on it . If the floor is just damp rather than rotted you may be able to dry it out with a fan heater now you have the area exposed , if it's rotted can you post a pic so i can take a look . Fitting new wall board , what you do is stick the polystyrene to the skin , then offer up the new wall board to check it's a flush fit or slightly below the surface ( this will allow for thickness of the glue you stick it with . i'd use Evogrip ( non solvent type ) you can get it from B & Q , or you can use Sikaflex 512 caravan tube mastic . I would check Evogrip can be used to stick polystyrene to fibre glass , Sikaflex should be ok for both ( can also be used to seal the leak ) . You shouldn't need to add battens unless they were there already and have been removed .
Thanks Wizard!
I was hoping you were going to say i could leave that polystyrene there... oh well :(
First quick question then... Where can i buy this ready and at the right thickness?
I will check the floor out later today and see what sort of a condition it is in.
Ah , hold on , from your pictures it looks like the polystyrene has been removed , if it hasn't then you can leave it in place . Use a fan heater and make sure the area is dried out before replacing new wallboard . Don't leave the fan heater unattended or place to close to the polystyrene .
Phew, thanks!
I will get a heater on in there today. I am going to also investigate another section on the same wall.. think I might as well get it all out of the way in one shot!
Is it worth putting some nails in the wall boards onto the battons? or should I trust the glue on its own?
Is it worth putting some nails in the wall boards onto the battons? or should I trust the glue on its own? If i was doing the repair i would staple into battens where they wouldn't be seen , if you can 't hide them i would rely on the glue / sealant .
i would also take the pics to the dealer and ask for some readies back.then. slip him a few bob for a new battery for his damp meter.keep up the good work.
I have to say, can't help with the damp but am mighty impressed at your enthusiasm, Its also great to see another young caravanner (25 now but started when we we're 17) on here!
Keep up the good work and I certainly would get onto the dealers.
Welcome to UKCS
------------- Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
Hi everyone!
Thank you all for the kind words!! Its really good to know people are here to help. Also its good to know there are more young people with caravans about! I am getting so much stick from my friends, hehe.
I have been away in London on business for a few days and was working on the van up until 5min before I left to go.
I have taken some pics as things stand at the moment and I will post them this evening.
What approach should I take with the dealer? Should I be trying to push them for part refund? I am just worried they might be a bit funny with me because I have already started taking the van to bits.
Chris, just approach the dealer, show him the photos and ask him what he proposes to do about the problem. Have in your mind what you're prepared to settle for. If you like the van and don't really want to get rid and are prepared to do the work yourself, you want a substantial cash settlement. How substantial only you can know, but you don't want to be out of pocket. Remember that if a caravan repairer did the job he'd be wanting £45+ per hour. If you don't get any joy, ring your local Trading Standards Office, they really are good, in fact ring them first for some pointers.
Having just finished a similar (but far far worse!) damp repair my recommendations are-
buy a £30 electric staple gun from B&Q. As caravans are made of aluminium, wood, foam & staples, it makes putting them all back a lot easier!
Use pre-decorated 3mm ply caravan wallboards (available from most caravan dealers & repairers). Once they're up, they're done. None of that wallpapering (which is just evil and wrong) and 3mm plywood isn't actually that easy to get hold of anyway!
Stick at it. Caravan repair's actually pretty easy...just time consuming and at times frustrating!
As promised, here are some more photographs of the caravan.
After I had found the inital problem as shown in my last post, i decided to have a look around for anything else..
This is what I found:
Window Removed and duck taped back on!
I have still not worked out how to fix the problems in the image below.
Literally between the blue foam and the fibre glass where you can see dried glue should be a wooden baton. This was complete dry rot and it just fell out. This is the case down 90% of that wall.
These are the images that I am going to send over to the dealer today... I wish it has not spread this far...
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Topic: My First Caravan - Damp Problems!
