Bought my first van, Elddis Elize GTX (1992)about a year ago, after reading as much as possible i went along did all the usual checks and all seemed fine, seller did inform me about a small damp patch that had been sorted, checked with damp meter in this and other areas all seemed fine so van purchased.
We have had 11 outings so far including xmas and new year in minus 11 temperatures, and really enjoying tin top camping.
On last trip we noticed one the blinds in the front was not retracting fully so out with tools remove, re-tension and replace said blind, oh bugger says me, all the wall board in the repaired area has rotted away and turned to cardboard and dust, ive stripped the corner down and its bone dry so leak was repaired its a shame that the damage was not.
So be prepaired for a barrage of questions regarding glue, silicone, boarding etc.
Just got back from van (its in storage, no space at home)ive cut some of the timbers to start the rebuild and was wondering what i should treat the wood with prior to refitting, thought i wood use the wood hardener that i have used on the timbers left in, any advice appreciated, thanks
I didn't treat the wood when doing my caravan repair , if your caravan is dry you shouldn't need to . Please don't use silicone sealant for resealing caravans , use a good caravan tube mastic .
Hi Steve,
During the renovation of my caravan earlier this year I had to renew the wallboarding around the three front windows, I also renewed the timber frames for the windows.
In my experience, sometimes timbers can test dry but still be showing historic rot. I would think that would be where an effective repair was done to prevent further water ingress, but the damage caused by that ingress was not repaired and had time to dry out since the repair, that though would take quite a while.
In any event, and in my opinion, that partially rotted, but now dry, timber shouldn't be treated with wood hardener if it can be replaced. I used no wood hardener on my repair at all, I made and renewed the whole frames in mine with tantalised timber and treated further with a good coating of Waxoyl ( allowed to soak in ) before covering - and I'm no joiner by any means.
In mine it would have been foolhardy not to do that when I had total access and the recovered timbers to use as templates - it wasn't that difficult really.
I think the MUCH greater difficulty you will have is fabricating then fitting, good fitting wallboard coverings - especially if your front end wallboards are the type that have a curvature in both directions like mine. My renovation website has details of how I did that.
It sounds as though you have already removed the rotted wallboard - I hope you removed it carefully and saved it to use as a template. My wallboard was a right mess but I would have struggled without it as a basic template.
Mine after new frames fitted but before fitting wallboard - new frames constructed in exactly the same way as the originals:
And after:
Hope this helps.
Colin
------------- First outing : 6 - 8th June 2011 - Rivington nr Bolton.
27/6/11 - 15/7/11: Cornwall.
2/9/11 - 5/9/11: Tarporley, Cheshire.
08/10/11 - 13/10/11: Naburn Lock nr York.
19/3/12 - 22/3/12: Southport
Wizard, van is dry, at least in this corner, i was just checking to make sure before i start putting things back to together as it would be easier to cover all surfaces, and no i wont be using silicone sealant, was going to use silkaflex 512 if any edges needed doing.
Colin, ive been lucky in that my problem is only from the right edge of the centre window across to the right of the van (from the mastic gun over to the right on your picture) unfortunately most of the board fell into lots of pieces whilst trying to remove it, as did a lot of the window frame, all the bits have been kept so i can have a go at making a template from them.
Thankfully the curved sections were intact so i can use them and a tape to make replacements, the rest will have to be done with templates and a bit of trial an error.
Now you have kindly answered my first question, can i ask another, which adhesive would you recommend to fix the frame and insulation dack to the body, was thinking of something along the lines of no nails, solvent free of course.
which adhesive would you recommend to fix the frame and insulation dack to the body
Have a look here http://www.1carpc.co.uk/wcdr/sealants.htm most would be suitable except roll mastic , some people have had problems with no nails not curing for days, while others haven't .
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Topic: Damp repair
