# Newbie, with rotten floor. Help needed, please!



## rico555 (May 20, 2012)

Hello to all, yesterday we bought our first Motorhome, so we are new to the site. It's a 1994 Autotrail Cheyenne Rico 555. Its a nice old thing, in need of some tlc. We have just found that the floor behind the Sink/oven/fridge (the very back of the habitation) is rotten, approx 100mm in & approx 300mm across, not quite sure how far across it really goes, as its behind the fridge, oven & toilet. Plus the back wall is rotten internally about 100mm up. I know we would have to strip out all the cabinets/oven/fridge and may be the shower/toilet ETC! But how big a job is it after that? (I am a joiner but not worked on a motorhome floor before). How would I find advice on doing the floor & wall? Should I take it back to the dealer? Thanks for reading this. Any advice would be a big help. A Newbie.


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## SNandJA (Aug 22, 2008)

rico555 said:


> Hello to all, yesterday we bought our first Motorhome, so we are new to the site. It's a 1994 Autotrail Cheyenne Rico 555. Its a nice old thing, in need of some tlc. We have just found that the floor behind the Sink/oven/fridge (the very back of the habitation) is rotten, approx 100mm in & approx 300mm across, not quite sure how far across it really goes, as its behind the fridge, oven & toilet. Plus the back wall is rotten internally about 100mm up. I know we would have to strip out all the cabinets/oven/fridge and may be the shower/toilet ETC! But how big a job is it after that? (I am a joiner but not worked on a motorhome floor before). How would I find advice on doing the floor & wall? Should I take it back to the dealer? Thanks for reading this. Any advice would be a big help. A Newbie.


Take it back to the dealer and see what they have to say! If this fails then as a joiner you would probably be best placed to repair it as the skills required be will what you have. I've just had to repair a section of flooring under a shower that I'm sure had incorrectly installed waste connection. I stripped back the plywood under the van to expose any wet wood. The chances are you will have a laminate construction of timber and insulation (polystyrene sheets) as part of a plywood sandwich. In my case the top plywood (6mm) is coverered by a thick vinyl floor covering and the bottom plywood (3mm) had a thin black plastic covering. This means that once water is in the sandwich it can't get out. The van is 6 years old and I was doing a precautionary renewal of the mastic tape join of the lower skirt held in place by an aluminium extrusion. Mastic tape is what you need for this repair but other recommended sealant when making repairs is Sikaflex 512. However I was reading the technical data and found that it asked for clean and dry conditions, so I discovered and used successfully Everbuild Stixall after a recommendation from my local builders yard which supplies the timber and marine or exterior grade plywood.
Using alternative to Sikaflex
I cut back cross members one at a time to sound timber, dried as far as possible and treated where necessary with standard wood hardener. I was lucky to have found the plywood laminate closest to the vinyl floor covering to have been mainly intact. One place needed a small section replacing and Stixall seemed to do the job of fixing the vinyl to the plywood. In other places the plywood under the floor covering was OK and dried out (despite the weather!). So I sprayed wood preservative treatment, let it dry out and started to replace the timber cross-members one at a time fixing with Stixall and screws into sound wood to hold them in place while the Stixall cured.
Finally replaced any insulation that needed it between cross members and once the Stixall had cured I covered the area with the bottom layer of plywood. Final job is to cover the plywood with a coat of underseal to match the protection offered by the original plastic material.
I was lucky that the area involved was at the rear of the van. We have a fixed bed on one side so no furniture above and the shower tray above the other side which was securely held in place even though part of the floor underneath was removed. Cross-members also fortunately positioned above a chassis extension to the ducato base of the vehicle so could be slid in from the side once the lower skirt was removed. I managed to do all the work from underneath.
In my case the repair area was more like 1100 mm x 1000mm so yours may well be less perhaps? I didn't have so much of a problem with the walls. maybe 25mm up the wall in the garage and once that dries out I think I'll complete the repair with some plastic trim (I think its known as cloakroom trim or is the sort PVC windows installers use to cover up the disturbed plaster!)
I guess in your case you have more to remove than I did but you could try some judicious probing under the affected area to see the extent of the water damage. It will feel "spongy" to the touch where you push up - compare it to an area you know to be sound...
Best of luck,
feel free to PM me if you need any more detail
Steve


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## Mrplodd (Mar 4, 2008)

Pretty sure that as you bought it from a dealer you have (by law) 3 months warranty.

Speak with your local CAb first then have a word with the dealer and ask him exactly what he is going to do to rectify the problem. 

Let us know how you get on, but do seek CAB FIRST, that way you will know exactly where you stand when you and the dealer next "chat" :lol: :lol:


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## vicdicdoc (May 14, 2005)

Can you see or get to the affected floor from underneath the van ? - if so it may be possible for you to [carefully !!] cut away the bad & offer up new treated floor section . .


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## Mouse44 (Aug 23, 2010)

*Rotten Floor*

Hi 
This is a job not to be taken lightly,there skills that you may need that you do not have and you have to be bold and be able to get yourself out of tight corners.
I have done some repairs like this on friends caravans and some on a old motorhome we used to own and it can be quite expensive to do it properly,you would probably have to remove all fittings and furnishings a good job, if the floor is laminated that may will cause you a problem getting the top skin of and not damaging the filler,I do not wish to scare you but it will be quite a task ,but if you are good at DIY it will be made some what easier.

PS first place to is the dealer good luck


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