Hi,
This is my first post, so please be gentle with me.
I was hoping that maybe Wizard or a member of the fix-it-club would read this and give a little bit of their very sort after advise.
To cut a long story short, we have bought a 1998 Swift Classic Corvette (4 Berth) thinking we had done all the checks etc and when we took the van for service, they have picked up that we have the beginnings of a damp problem. They have found a smallish soft spot on the rear right wall below the seating and we have some pickling(is that the name???) around the bunk support and a couple of blemishes on the aluminium on the outside (the caravan repair man, said this is due to the Alu oxidizing on the inside???).
Anyway after a few tears from me after finding out that repairs would cost around £1500 due to the labour, I have found myself doing a lot of research into caravan damp problems and have hopefully talked my husband into doing the repair himself. He is always willing to try DIY at home and I think he is usually very good at it and think that he could take on this task.
Who of the Fix-it-Club is going to have the most similar composition of caravan walls and where is the best place to start??? Have a little poke or rip the wall off??? Also can we rip the wall off as a friend yesterday said that would be very difficult due the wall composition?
Please take pity on me and give me some lovely helpful advise.
Many thanks
Frannyvan
sorry I should have said that any good advise would be welcome, not just from the fix it club, as I'm sure there are plenty of you with a similar story.
Best to find out where the water is getting in and re-seal it first, that'll stop it getting worse (might be a window seal, a fitting or a rail).
Most caravan walls are constructed in the same way, so you can take advice from any of the fixed it articles.
Might be better to post this in the Repairs forum though, go back to the main page, scroll up and you'll find the link. You can do it! Doesn't sound too drastic. Just stop it getting worse!
The man at the caravan repair place was really helpful, he said it looked like it may be getting in where the small driving light is at the top back hand corner. He said that the best thing we could do while waiting to repair was get a cover and temp seal all the seals with clear silicone sealant. His reason behind that was if we used anything more major, it would take longer to get it all out again when we came to repairing it and would cost more if we were having it done by them.
well when I say the beginnings; we obviously have a damp problem and could be worse than we think when I investigate further.
Thanks I'll have a look at the link, but I'm still inclined to do it ourselves, as I know the Fix-it club have been able to do self repair for £100ish and even if we can do the bulk of the work and just pay someone to help us out if we get stuck, then we'll save a fortune.
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Topic: Damp Caravan - a little help please??
