I Flooded My Trailer ... Need Advice Please

[Strider]

Hi all,
My first night in my new trailer and I was running the water in the bathroom to get air out of the line. I forgot about it, went to the store, the sink stopper twisted ... and boom I came back to Niagra falls with an inch of water over 1/2 of the RV. I cleaned it up and got underneath, the left side of the RVs underside weather barrier was full of water. I punched holes in and drained it. I just got to my military base and was planning to stay in this for a couple of months. The inside is dried out but I am concerned about the floor and everything under it. Any advice would help ... this is a 2011 30 ft travel trailer Wilderness backpack edition.
Thanks again.

[TURBS]

Dehumidifier! Get one !
ttrost65 "aka duck man"flooded his trailer this spring... he can help maybe.


Turbs

[Tedscastle]

I assume that everything is open, meaning doors, windows, vents. Use fans to get as much circulation as possible v

[Strider]

It was raining yesterday ... so outside still a bit humid. A-C on full blast and has dried the inside. I looked at the underside, slit open the liner, the wood above (decking) looks pretty dry ... looks like the water pooled onto the liner. Not sure yet about between the vinyl and the wood floor. Waterhas not tracked up the wall. Is there insulation on the bottom? Is there two layers of wood with insulation in between? Thanks

[Herk7769]

Dehumidifier, Charcoal briquettes in open storage tub for "musty smell" control, 50 pound bag of rice in open storage tub (dehumidifies).

Keep a SHARP eye out for delamination and soft spots in flooring.

Good luck and thank you for your service,
Herk

[AquaMan]

As an experienced camper swimmer, I've had no ill effects from my mishap. Although most of my water ran down under the slide into the belly. I ran fans to move air and dry what little carpet was affected. I don't think it ever really reach the wood substrate as the slide floor wood was dry. My camper also had a bit of a tilt toward the doors so it pretty much ran out and never really sat for very long. Beware though, from here on out you will be prone to finding ducks in and around your camper!

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by ttrost65

As an experienced camper swimmer, I've had no ill effects from my mishap. Although most of my water ran down under the slide into the belly. I ran fans to move air and dry what little carpet was affected. I don't think it ever really reach the wood substrate as the slide floor wood was dry. My camper also had a bit of a tilt toward the doors so it pretty much ran out and never really sat for very long. Beware though, from here on out you will be prone to finding ducks in and around your camper!

[jim44646]

Something similar happened to mine, hot water tank bypass valve started leaking. While a dehumidifier might work for the inside you need to worry about the water in the underbelly. When I opened mine up the insulation had soaked up the water like a sponge. I cut the underbelly membrane on 3 sides to make a flap to pull down and removed all the insulation. It still took 5 weeks for the wood to completely dry according to my moisture meter, a good thing to own. I then replaced insulation with new fiberglass, pulled the flaps up and stapled with stainless steal staples. Then I taped the seams with underbelly tape (Flex-Mend).
You may also try contacting your insurance co. Your policy may cover such an event. A friends daughter left the shower drip a week while they gone and filled camper with water. Insurance totaled the camper.

[fishinspot]

I just found this thread. I arrived at my camp today to find my 31ft wildwood smelling extremely musty inside. Only sign of leak was the hose behind the toilet had busted fom the toilet. I had turned the water off last time we left. I fixed the toilet and turned on water. No water coming out of any faucets or toilet. I crawled under trailer because I noticed some water dripping. I found the liner under the trailer was sagging due to being full of water in 2 places. I went inside and traced the plumbing from the outside connector throughout the trailer and found no leaks. It appears the leak is under the floor in the blue plastic tubing somewhere from where it goes under the wood flooring to where it comes back up on the other side of trailer. There is nothing wet inside the trailer but definitely a nasty musty smell. I can't find anywhere that references how to repair a break under the floor but above the liner under the trailer. I did find the insulation under there to be soaked. Can I cut the liner open and will I see the tubing if I remove the insulation? Any help anyone can give would be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks,

Doug

[jim44646]

it's unusual to find plumbing under floor, but who knows. you need to get under there and cut open the under belly membrane. cut along center of joist so you have some thing to restaple to, you may have to install a few pieces of new wood as nailers. insulation is like a sponge I had to pull all mine out cause it lies up against the floor and gets moldy a causes rot long before it dries. all wet insulation should come out. as far as fixing leak, once located a piece of pex and a couple of shark bite fittings should do the trick. once wood is dry put in new insulation and rehang underbelly membrane. tape all cut seams with flex-mend underbelly tape.

[fishinspot]

Thanks for the reply Jim!

That gives me hope at repairing it. We had to leave and come back home for the night. To strong in there. I will cut it open tomorrow. I didn't notice wood under there. I saw metal framing. Of course I was using a flash light so I'll check closer tomorrow. Do they all mostly have wood down there that I can staple too? What type insulation did you install? Was it the exact type that was in there or typical paper backed insulation? Thank you very much for your help!!

[jim44646]

If it's any thing like what I've work on before you'll find it's a big wooden box set on a metal frame. You should find the wooden frame work under the underbelly fabric. Floor and frame are built first stuffed with insulation covered with membrane, flipped and set on metal frame. My membrane and insolation was pinched between metal frame and wooden floor frame. As for insulation mine was regular paper backed like you find at Lowes or Home Depot. But you won't be able to get it in exactly like it was because of the way it was originally built. It took 5 weeks for my floor and wooden frame work to dry out. I used a moisture meter, Moisture Test Meter at Menards to keep tabs on dryness of wood. Of course that was in middle of a humid summer. You don't want to cover wet or damp wood because mold and mildew will form. It's not hard but time consuming work and allot of time on your back. At times you just have to be inventive.

[Strider]

In my 31 FT Wildwood that flooded as mentioned below I slit open the membrane in multiple locations and let it drain. I also let left the multiple slits open to air out for a couple of weeks. I had no insulation between my membrane and the floor. Which probably explains my frozen pipes ... depending on the type of trailer you have ... my red and blue water lines are running external to the membrane along the metal frame (also explains the frozen water lines) tucked on the backside of the frame and they also enter the membrane to get the bathroom, etc So I would look along the side of your metal frame (on the inside) and the leak is probably one of the cross lines inside the membrane running to a fixture or the intake. One side of my RV has blue/red plastic lines for water and the other long frame has the metal gas line. So I would make initially about 9 inch slits in the membrane, let the water drain, then look with a flashlight and stick you hand in there. I had to get special tape from an RV dealer to re-tape the slits ... worked great. Any well stocked RV dealer will have it and it as relatively cheap. The wood floor has held up and was only flooded for a couple of hours .... the water ran across the vinyl floor and down into the underbelly to pool in the membrane. Goodluck

[fishinspot]

Excellent responses. Thank you very much!
I went up today and got started on the membrane. I cut it open and it did have the wood 2x4's and the insulation. The bottom of the insulation was soaked in a lot of areas. I ended up opening up several sections of membrane and removing all the wet insulation. Luckily none of the ply wood flooring was wet and only the bottom 1/4" or so of the 2x4 framing was wet. I did not find any broken hoses or fittings. I searched from where the water comes in the trailer all through the trailer and no leaks. Checked the water heater and no leaks either that I could see. I reattached the hose and turned on the water and now no water is coming out of any fixtures! I have good pressure coming in through the water hose but no water. I left it on for several minutes in case it needed to fill the water heater tank back up. Nothing. Looked under the trailer since all the membrane and insulation is opened up and didn't see any water leaking anywhere. Didn't hear any air trying to push through the fixtures. I disconnected the hose from the trailer and checked the screen on the inlet connection to see if it was blocked. Looked fine. I removed the screen and saw a spring and plastic post that I'm assuming is a check valve. The post was pushed in but I was able to pull it back out so it wasn't stuck. I reattached the hose with the screen and spring left out and still no water. I'm at a loss. Is that actually a check valve? Should I try changing that out? What else could it be???

Thanks so much for the help. I'm getting closer. I've had three neck surgeries in the past so my neck is on fire tonight but I have to get this thing fixed so my family will go back to the camp again :-)

[camper67]

I too had water on the floor when we woke up one morning at Disney. I was new to the TT and had low water pressure, so I turned the pump on to assist and left it on all night. The fresh water tank had over flowed into the camper. Still don't know how that could have happened. I've had no more issues after learning not to run the pump with the city water on.