Author's note: I wish I could post all of the photos I took as I did this project. However, I took them with my iPhone and left it out in the rain. It completely fried the phone to the point two different stores couldn't even bring it back to working order, let alone retrieve all the photos. I'll do my best to describe everything, but I'm afraid I have no pictures. The video above shows the completed project as well as a closeup of the front end that I talk about in this post.
Click here to read Part 1: Admitting the Problem Exists
Click here to read Part 2: Realizing the Scope of the Problem
Click here to read Part 3: Deconstruction
Click here to read Part 4: Assembling the New Floor
Part 6: Making the Front End Water-tight
As I mentioned in Part 2: Realizing the Scope of the Problem, it appeared the leaks originated both at the door and in the storage compartment in the front corner of the camper on the door side. The door leak was fixed with better weather-proofing. But the front end required more significant attention.
Several years ago I installed a stainless steel panel
- a pseudo-rock guard, if you will - to the front end that was designed
to fix a different problem: the seam connecting the front of the camper
to the base had failed. While it certainly accomplished its intended
task, it also served as a sufficient weather-proofing barrier.
Despite this. apparently water was still somehow making its way into that front corner. When I removed the old floor for this project, I discovered that the factory-installed 2x4 that ran the from wall to wall in the front, directly behind the front panel, was a soggy, spongy mess. As a matter of fact, I was able to pull it out in pieces without hardly any tools.
So I had to reconstruct the infrastructure to the front end, too. Simple enough. A new treated 2x4 did the trick. But I also had to make sure the front end was water-tight, too. The pseudo-rock guard was adequate, but it needed better caulking round the edges. Specifically, the bottom edge. The stainless steel panel had a bend in it along the bottom, so it wrapped underneath the bottom of the camper about 6 inches. But there was enough of a gap between the stainless steel panel and the bottom of the camper that water was able to find its way in.
I fixed this in several ways.
First, I used a piece of the Owens Corning Ice Guard (which is more or less rolled roofing material with a sticky backing) along the front end. I installed it on the inside of the camper. from wall to wall, wrapping the front pieces of flooring with its bottom edge tucked under the treated 2x4 and its top edge on top of the final layer of plywood (the installation of which is detailed below).
Second, I used a generous bead of exterior grade sealant in between the stainless steel panel and the bottom of the camper. I brought this up tighter than the original installation by using three car jacks. On the inside, another 2x4 was laid on top of the sandwich of (from the bottom up) stainless steel panel, caulk, Ice Guard, treated 2x4, plywood, and Ice Guard. Six lag bolts secured this sandwich.
Third, a generous dose of foaming caulk added another layer of protection. This was sprayed on the inside of the camper, in the V-shaped gap between the front panel and the floor sandwich.
Fourth, a fresh bead of caulk was laid on the exterior of the camper along all seams.
Fifth, new weather-stripping was installed along the front bed panel (our camper is a hybrid) as well as the camper door and the doors to the storage compartments.
I double-dog dare any rain to get inside now!
The final steps were to install the 12x12 peel-and-stick vinyl tile, and re-install the water heater, pump, dinettes and cabinets. We were able to do this over two days, and the next day we were on our way to our next camping trip of the summer.
Hindsight is 20/20
The floor is just not firm enough for me.
If I had to do it all over again, there are some things I would do differently.
Instead of using a "sandwich" of 1/4-inch luan plywood, 1 1/2-inch foam board and 1/4-inch luan plywood for the floor, I would beef it up a bit. I would have used 1/2-inch treated plywood on bottom, 1-inch foam board and 1/2-inch plywood on top. At the same time, I would have used 1-inch cross beams of either aluminum or wood (either dimensional lumber or scrap plywood) instead of the 2x4s laid on their wide side.
What I have now is absolutely fine and will serve us for years to come. In fact, the day after we were done three grown men, easily topping 600 pounds, were able to stand inside the camper, in nearly the same spot, and there was no problem whatsoever.
But I'd still add a little more "umph" to the materials.
Other than that, I'd say I'm pretty pleased with the whole thing. It took longer than I thought, it cost more than I thought, and I wore out a path going back and forth to the local home improvement store - but those things are par for the course for any project I'm working on.
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