What to do

[sledhead77]

So, I took in the Freedom Express 292bhds to my repair facility. It had two major water leaks to the slide room area, carpet soaked, water across the floor. First time it happened back in July, second time was actually hauling it to the repair facility, both times in the rain. They looked at the unit and said they could see no water damage to the floor. Well duh!! The damage is going to be under the carpet!! To the sub floor underneath!! Am I correct?? As far as I know they do not use marine grade OSB on these things! Forest River/Coachmen is not giving them authorization to tear the slide room apart to check the sub floor. My concern is rot, mold and mildew down the road. My family has severe allergies so the mold would be huge issue! So am I right to request that the slide room be torn apart?? What am I to do if they won't authorize it? Not only that but our warranty runs out in May!! UGH!! As you may know this is not the first incident with this unit. We have yet to take it out and not have issues with it. Thoughts?? Anyone else have to go through these many issues on a new unit?

[crasher]

If it's OSB, then it can be fairly resistant to moisture, so rot may not be an issue. Mold, on the other hand is another matter.

At a minimum, pull back the carpet and pad where it was wet. Did the water sit awhile and dry, or was it sucked out of the carpet? If you sucked all the water immediately with a shop vac, you may not have a mold issue.

Anyways, an inspection is warranted. "Tearing apart" a slideout may not really be what needs to be done. If the top layer of wood looks OK, then what's underneath is is probably OK too.

Good luck!

[jeeplj8]

A couple thoughts:

Check with your insurance company as to if they cover mold damage. Many policies have mold exclusions, however some states require that carriers cover mold damage.

If you truly feel there is mold, of the possibility in the future, then you need to document this to the manufacture and research what the statute if limitations is in your jurisdiction. Mold litigation is common these days.

Most likely, unless water was allowed to sit for some time, there is no real damage under the linoleum floor.

[sledhead77]

It's not the linoleum that was the issue. The whole carpet area under the sofa and table area was soaked! Water had just trickled across the linoleum. It took over 5 days for the carpet to dry (no access to a shop vac). We had the A/C cranked most of the time which I'm sure helped dry it out. It then again got wet when we hauled it to the service center. Not sure how long it took to dry out there. It was much colder out (40's). Good call on the insurance thing, I will check into that.

[crasher]

The underside of the couch is another thing to look at - if it was wet under there, the whole underside fabric and stuffing could be full of mold.

It worries me that this water was not sucked out. Unfortunately, sounds like your concerns are more than justified.

If mold has started, it will get worse every day until it's treated. Your dealer would be smart to take care of it asap.

Good luck.

[steeleshark2]

Yeah, pull the carpet up and look at the wood underneath. I also believe it should be easy to open the enclosed portion under the trailer by remove a few bolts/screws holding it up from the outside. If you find anything, take some pictures.