Quote:
Originally Posted by lmoorevt
The only spot I found was in the very back under the bathroom sink that wall had a soft spot at the very bottom. It was soft about 6 inches up from the seam to the floor and felt damp. There must be a small leak somewhere on the back above that area.
Looking at all seams and corner molding there is not one seam that has not been fully caulked and sealed. Caulk and sealant look good. Roof looked good fully caulked and sealed and I could not find any roof damage or soft spots inside trailer on ceiling.
So now what to do that one soft spot on rear wall is concerning. It is hard to tell how much damage is there and if it is still leaking or was a past problem. What do you guys think? They are asking $3500 maybe try to get a better price?
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Looking at the 2000 T2470 floor plan, there does not appear to be a window above the sink in the bathroom, is this correct?
While there may not be a window in the back, is there an outside shower? Or anything else in the siding on that rear wall? A city water hook up, a power cord door etc.
You are looking for a water entry point to drip down on the rear wall. If there is no window and no outside shower or other holes in the siding with something in it, then there has to be 5 red body lights at the very top of the camper. One on each end and 3 in the middle. They have been a source where water can sneak in. Water up high will drip down quickly and my have little damage up high but down low where it all collects, is where the large damage can be.
Water also follows a leaking pattern. It wants to go "down". Gravity will carry it as far as it can go until it runs out of volume and cannot go any further. The bottom of the camper has a waterproof membrane to stop water from getting in while towing. It works well at that but also water trapped inside cannot get out either so it sits in there festering.
You mentioned all outside corner moldings where caulked and sealed. By chance do you have a picture of any of that? I am trying to understand what you are looking at. You used the words caulked and sealed like this was 2 separate steps.
If you felt the wall board and it felt wet on the inside, the leak is not normally new and has been there for some time. The wallpaper is often vinyl and it blocks water from coming through it until it is totally gone. There is 1/8" luan wood bonded to the wall paper. When the wood gets wet, the wood deteriorates and eventually will allow the moisture to touch the back side of the wall paper.
There is something else you can do to help understand the leak, and may even see it in pictures if you took them close enough. Along the bottom of the rear outside wall, the very bottom piece of white siding is held to the camper with small hex head screws. Look at every screw closely. If you see rust on the heads of the screws, this can be an indicator the screws are rusting from the inside out. Meaning the rear board on the back bottom of the camper is very wet and rusting the screw threads. Over time the rust on the threads keeps going and starts to rust out the head of the screw, again from the inside out. The front wall on the bottom piece of siding has these too.
See here
Rust starting on the head of the screw
The water damage behind that bottom panel
The camper in the pics above had no inside wet spots seen, smelt or felt. Once the moisture meter was used, the damage to all 4 sides, roof and front floor was found.
If you really want to know how large that wet spot is, a moisture meter will scan through the walls and look inside the wall. It can see inside the wall where you cannot. You can tell how big the spot is. It will also scan from the bottom of the camper up to see what is above the black plastic membrane. Water can collect in the insulation under the floor like a sponge and the meter can scan that moisture. The plastic barrier will not let it got out. It can scan down through the tile flooring to see if the wood under the floor tile is wet.
It is good to know that the roof caulk was intact, any chance of any pics to show what you saw?
If the owner did caulk all the corner moldings this could be a blessing to slowing down a water infection. An unknown is, did they caulk it after the leak started? They could be water inside the wall when they caulked it and the water is now sealed in.
The price they are asking is not totally off base for a dry camper and if it has 5 tires in working order to give you some years more service before the 5 year mark. Asking them to drop the price on feeling a small wet spot may not get a lot of traction, or they may knock off a little just to make the deal. If you have the moisture meter to show how large or small it is, then you know and can show them. And you know yourself if you want to take this on. They may be in total shock when you show them as they may have not known there was a water infection. Or be in denial the meter is not working right.
In the end, you have to figure out if you want to take this on. Armed with how big the wet spot is, will help you know this is not that big a deal or is a very big deal. A question you will need to ask yourself is, how long do you want to keep this camper? 3 years, 5, 10? Depending how long you want to keep it, some owners have chosen to seal up the leak to not let more water in, and just live with it.
There is also a reality, I do not know how long you have been looking, but this wet spot you found, if it is the only wetness in the entire camper this one may be better than any other 19 year old camper you can find. Again back to the using moisture meter so you know.
Hope this helps
John
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