Good morning all, let me introduce myself, I am Jon and am 32 with a wife and 5 children. I live in Gloucestershire. I am new to caravanning and to this forum so please forgive me if I seem a "little wet behind the ears". My wife and I ventured into purchasing our first caravan a couple of weeks back and it has all gone a little wrong! We found a beautiful Lynton Sabre GLX for believe it or not £500 which came with all the things we really needed to hitch up and experience our first camping trip. We collected it on the Friday and went away on the Monday to Northam Farm in Brean for a week.....we had fantastic fun other than the weather which sadly was so windy it turned our awning into a parachute and I had to go ant detach it at 03:30am for fear of our lovely van being pulled over! Anyway, even though she is a four berth, we all managed to fit in her, with the children on the large double and the wife and I on the small one! We didn't let it put us off and actually had a fantastic time although sardines in a can does spring to mind. Whilst we were away it give us chance to test everything and all seems to be in working order other that the Carver Mk1 water heater(turns on but the green light stays flashing and no hot water). The water tank is under one of the rear two seats that make up the small double and upon investigating and not figuring it out I cam across the thing I had most been dreading damp! The wife and I were gutted and a few tears spilt as even though she was only £500 it is a lot of money to us and took us the best part of 9 months to save it. Anyway, yesterday, in the hard light of day I decided that I was not going to let this beat me and am going to tackle and fix the damp issue myself. I have started peeling back the wallpaper and revealing some of the ply that sits behind. The damp seems to be covering quite a large area and so has thrown up a few questions which I am hoping that you lovely people may be able to help me with..
1, Is there an easy way to remove the ply? - I struggled and struggled yesterday, the damp ply comes off quite easily as you would imagine as it is wet but the dryer ply is well and truly stuck! I thought I should remove some of the dry stuff to ensure that all the damp is removed, is this correct?
2, The polysterene blocks that form the wall insulation are also well and truly stuck in place. Should they be left there to dry out with the help of a dehumidifier or should the be removed and replaced?
3, The wooden joists that are in the wall are extremely wet in places - forgive me I sound dumb but does this mean they're rotten and need removing or again just drying out?
4, Whilst investigating my damp problem, I have realised that some of it goes along the wall behind where the kitchenette is (sink, oven, grill and hobs). I think that if I am going to do the job then it should be done properly, however, has any of you ever removed the kitchen in a van and if so could you please help me with some instruction?
5, Lastly for the moment and please forgive the length of my message, I believe that the water has come in from the awning rail. Should this be sorted prior to fixing the interior or after?
Many thanks.
ok first of all stop any water getting into your van, so that means doing the awning channel seals by removing the rail, then cleaning off the old sealant and then use silkoflex 512 and replace everything back, also check the window seals to.
personally I would get a dehumidifier in the caravan and get as much water out of the woodwork as possible, then review the situation again, once the outside has been sealed and the woodwork allowed to dry out you may find that using wood hardner may be suffiecient and save you a lot of work, which to be honest could end up costing you more than you paid for your van to sort out.
once everything is as dry as you can get it and your sure of no more leaks then its just a case of wallpapering the walls to tidy them back up
You need to do this the easy way, a 500quid caravan is to use not to restore, yes? If the timber is not rotten then it will dry out. You can remove awning rail & reseal it. Use a polyurethane adhesive/sealant for that. Look on this website for some hints & tips.
Thank you for your very speedy replies to my question. You are right Billy the van is too use not to restore and we want to use it for probably 2 or 3 seasons to give us enough time to save and invest in a better more modern van. I have been at looked at the van again today and to be fair it actually looks dryer behind the kitchen than it did yesterday. I have identified some rusty screws behind the wall boards which are the ones holding the window on. Should I use silkaflex to reseal this too please? On a note or resealing, any ideas how to remove awning rail by any chance? There appears to be screws one side(front and top of van) but nothing on the side? Would this just be bonded? I am sorry for all the questions but I really appreciate the help and just want to be able to sort it without breaking anything.
Thank you.
to remove the awning rail you need to remove the plastic insert, behind that there will be a whole load of rusty screws that will drive you absolutely nuts to get out! you need several really good quality drill bits and drill them out, then carefully remove the rail (will requi8re 2 people min) then its a case of getting all the old sealant off, and making the area totally grease free and clean and then new sealant and replace the rail
Yes use Sikaflex on all outside seams. If you search Amazon uk for 'PU sealant' you will find cheaper brands of PU sealant than Sikaflex & just as good. If you don't care what it looks like then seal awning rail without removing it & rest of seams & also around grab handles. one or 2 cartridges should do the job. Choose a dry sunny day & start in the morning clean seams with meths first.
Thank you for clearing that up for me it is much appreciated. I have just got back from the van where I have been pulling off more of the wall boards. I have come across what I can only describe as 2 metal bands. They seem about 3 ft in length and were directly behind the wall paneling and in front of the insulation. Any idea what these are for please?
A day of all things motorhome and campervan. The show is held both in the main indoor arena and across the grounds. Catering, hot drinks and food options are available. Easy access to the site and free parking included. Win one of five pairs of day tickets
Topic: Damp in walls of caravan
