Trilogy by Dynamax div. of Forest River

[ervinglobal]

Originally Posted by TGAMO

Has everyone been having no issues with their Trilogy as of late? I have been following this thread as a measure of what to keep an eye on. DW and I are considering a 2015 rear bunk model as a full time switch. I am very interested in the fire issues with the led's and the new axles - how are they holding up.

This is my first post on this forum. Hello we bought ours last year in September 36RE. We were very happy with the inside and outside quaility of the fifth wheel. Unfortunately as I started looking closer we find many little things which I was fixing myself. First off when we picked up our unit they told us at the dealer they do not program the key fob ( which we cannot use even today) In January we decided we take a trip to California due to the cold winter in Alberta. When we arrived to the place our fridge would not cool. We called the dealer they give us the number to get hold of the factory service department. I called John Armstrong he promised us he will take care of our problem after a few days waiting I took it on myself and find a company who can fix our fridge. I called John he told me he will re embers the charge which he did. California is lot warmer then my side of the world but I was unhappy with the heat loss the furnace was working every 20 minutes through the night. When we come home I checked the underbelly there was no insulation much to my surprise.The only place they insulated whit a couple of bath of insulation where the thanks are. They have heat-rap on them which you can turn on in the control. We had an Avion before built by Fleetwood we traded this trailer in for the Trilogy. I lived in this trailer all winter when I was building cottages out in British Columbia in -20C the floor was always warm. This trailer Trilogy has so may features it's a very nice looking unit. If you looking for a full-time unit living in it you might have to spend extra $ to make it liveable in colder climate. Now we went to Montana for one week. It was raining all the way in Montana when we were coming home. When we came back we find water front of the island on the floor and road debris and our front led light strip started to burn on the outside corner it burn the paint just slightly. I contacted Dynamax about this, still no reply. We are generally happy with this unit as it has many items included for lot less $ then other high end trailers. We just frustrated not getting any help how to fix these issues. I'm a hands on person I can fix anything ( we fixed the squicky floor on the stairs and the bathroom and also insulated the underbelly now (it made a huge difference). We installed washer and dryer and fixed drawer slides (falling off)moldings on the curved stairs by the ceilings (coming loose no glue used by the factory). I spent one week fixing little things. I know every single trailer has it's own problems, (this is our 5th fifth wheel) so I'm not complaining I just like to fix things as it should be. We take pride in our trailers. I hope John will get back to us about the water on the floor and the the led strip lighting which worries me the most as it is a fire hazard. Overall this fifth wheel offers the most on the market today. If you willing to put some work into it you can make it perfect.

[lgray]

Originally Posted by ervinglobal

This is my first post on this forum. Hello we bought ours last year in September 36RE. We were very happy with the inside and outside quaility of the fifth wheel. Unfortunately as I started looking closer we find many little things which I was fixing myself. First off when we picked up our unit they told us at the dealer they do not program the key fob ( which we cannot use even today) In January we decided we take a trip to California due to the cold winter in Alberta. When we arrived to the place our fridge would not cool. We called the dealer they give us the number to get hold of the factory service department. I called John Armstrong he promised us he will take care of our problem after a few days waiting I took it on myself and find a company who can fix our fridge. I called John he told me he will re embers the charge which he did. California is lot warmer then my side of the world but I was unhappy with the heat loss the furnace was working every 20 minutes through the night. When we come home I checked the underbelly there was no insulation much to my surprise.The only place they insulated whit a couple of bath of insulation where the thanks are. They have heat-rap on them which you can turn on in the control. We had an Avion before built by Fleetwood we traded this trailer in for the Trilogy. I lived in this trailer all winter when I was building cottages out in British Columbia in -20C the floor was always warm. This trailer Trilogy has so may features it's a very nice looking unit. If you looking for a full-time unit living in it you might have to spend extra $ to make it liveable in colder climate. Now we went to Montana for one week. It was raining all the way in Montana when we were coming home. When we came back we find water front of the island on the floor and road debris and our front led light strip started to burn on the outside corner it burn the paint just slightly. I contacted Dynamax about this, still no reply. We are generally happy with this unit as it has many items included for lot less $ then other high end trailers. We just frustrated not getting any help how to fix these issues. I'm a hands on person I can fix anything ( we fixed the squicky floor on the stairs and the bathroom and also insulated the underbelly now (it made a huge difference). We installed washer and dryer and fixed drawer slides (falling off)moldings on the curved stairs by the ceilings (coming loose no glue used by the factory). I spent one week fixing little things. I know every single trailer has it's own problems, (this is our 5th fifth wheel) so I'm not complaining I just like to fix things as it should be. We take pride in our trailers. I hope John will get back to us about the water on the floor and the the led strip lighting which worries me the most as it is a fire hazard. Overall this fifth wheel offers the most on the market today. If you willing to put some work into it you can make it perfect.

It is my understanding that Mr. Armstrong has moved on, I think to Lippert. His replacement is:


Matt Swihart
Customer Service Manager
Warranty & Parts Manager
Dynamax/Forest River
P:574-262-3474 Ext. 212
F:574-262-1436

What year is your Trilogy, 2014 or 2015? Rubber roof or fiberglass?

[ervinglobal]

Originally Posted by lgray

It is my understanding that Mr. Armstrong has moved on, I think to Lippert. His replacement is:


Matt Swihart
Customer Service Manager
Warranty & Parts Manager
Dynamax/Forest River
P:574-262-3474 Ext. 212
F:574-262-1436

What year is your Trilogy, 2014 or 2015? Rubber roof or fiberglass?

Mine is 2013 fiberglass. Why? Thanks for the upgrade of the service manager. Maybe that's why I have no replies I'm sending it still to John

[lgray]

Originally Posted by ervinglobal

Mine is 2013 fiberglass. Why? Thanks for the upgrade of the service manager. Maybe that's why I have no replies I'm sending it still to John

Asking about the year, more related to your leak. Was it a roof leak or other? If you have a 2013, isn't the model 3650 RL? I didn't think the 36RL came out until model year 2014.

[salexander]

We had same problem with ours.when we took delivery of our trilogy they were supposed to install the generator and fix some small issues from our walk trough. They never had these issues taken care of so after our first week camping we brought it back to the dealer in Edmonton. They said they would deliver it to us for our inconvenience ,as we were 5 hours away. The day they delivered it to us it was raining very hard and I noticed the same thing there was water on the floor in front of the fridge/ island. I have not had a chance to look at this yet but I believe it may be water spraying from the tires getting around slide seal. At first I thought it was the fridge but the water was dirty like it came off the road like you said. I have towed it in the rain since then ( light rain) and kept the tires out of the ruts where the heavy water hangs up and have not had the same issue.


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[ervinglobal]

We had the same problem. I think it's coming through under the slide as the slide pulled in the rubber seal goes back the other way and in some weather conditions the water finds the way inside.
Thanks for the info. I will investigate this more.
Cheers, Ervin

[ervinglobal]

We bought our Trilogy from Vision RV beside Jim the sales manager we had a bad experience. The sales rep don't know anything about he trailer. When we went to pick it up they told us they do not program key fob which has never worked from the start. The walk through was a joke. I know more about the trailer then the rep who turned it over to us. If they have this kind of knowledge when we pick it up it made me wonder how they going to service ours? They left all the glue on the front where they had the price sticker. I asked the lady why was that not taken off? She relied we told the sales not to glue anything on the trailer because we cannot remove the glue!! I come home with the trailer it took me 5 minutes to take it off with varsol. Just a total nightmare they did not explain how to turn on the main switch to the propane tank under the unit. After looking it the unit I figured out what goes where and why. She was showing us how well they cleaned the unit!!! I & my wife can do that if it is not very clean. When I had a question she asked out the tech to explain how it works I do not know how a dealer can employ people and not train them!!
Anyway we are happy with the unit including many things still outstanding but I will never let this dealer touch my trailer.

[Cypressloser]

[QUOTE=salexander;643088]We had same problem with ours.when we took delivery of our trilogy they were supposed to install the generator and fix some small issues from our walk trough. They never had these issues taken care of so after our first week camping we brought it back to the dealer in Edmonton. They said they would deliver it to us for our inconvenience ,as we were 5 hours away. The day they delivered it to us it was raining very hard and I noticed the same thing there was water on the floor in front of the fridge/ island. I have not had a chance to look at this yet but I believe it may be water spraying from the tires getting around slide seal. At first I thought it was the fridge but the water was dirty like it came off the road like you said. I have towed it in the rain since then ( light rain) and kept the tires out of the ruts where the heavy water hangs up and have not had the same issue.

Small world,
we also bought ours in Atcheson at Vision RV.
We had it ordered in late fall for spring delivery and we were pleasantly surprised regarding the PDI at the dealership, they did an excellent job. The only thing they missed was a small setscrew in the back of the kitchen faucet that was missing which keeps it from flopping around while driving. That is also where we found water on the floor when we took her home through a nasty snowstorm, as it turned out it came from the faucet which flung the water that was sitting in it's long neck all over the place. We never had any other issues. Ours was even waxed when we picked it up.
If you did have a leak under the kitchen slide it should be possible to detect doing a smoke test.

[Cypressloser]

Originally Posted by ervinglobal

We bought our Trilogy from Vision RV beside Jim the sales manager we had a bad experience. The sales rep don't know anything about he trailer. When we went to pick it up they told us they do not program key fob which has never worked from the start. The walk through was a joke. I know more about the trailer then the rep who turned it over to us. If they have this kind of knowledge when we pick it up it made me wonder how they going to service ours? They left all the glue on the front where they had the price sticker. I asked the lady why was that not taken off? She relied we told the sales not to glue anything on the trailer because we cannot remove the glue!! I come home with the trailer it took me 5 minutes to take it off with varsol. Just a total nightmare they did not explain how to turn on the main switch to the propane tank under the unit. After looking it the unit I figured out what goes where and why. She was showing us how well they cleaned the unit!!! I & my wife can do that if it is not very clean. When I had a question she asked out the tech to explain how it works I do not know how a dealer can employ people and not train them!!
Anyway we are happy with the unit including many things still outstanding but I will never let this dealer touch my trailer.

I agree the sales people have no clue, we dealt with lets call him the guy with the hat, our trade in was a 2008 Royals International by Carriage, he bragged that he sold a dozen of them in one year. They never even built that many .
But overall the purchasing experience was very pleasant and I do not regret buying from them.
David, the shop manager did the walkthrough with us and I must say that he was very knowledgeable even though he was not familiar with the undermount propane tank but everything worked just fine from the get go.

Edit: They even let us spend the night behind their shop so they could address any issues if they would arise. The temps dropped to neg. 10C over night and I don't think the furnace ran more than it did in the Royals.

[ervinglobal]

[QUOTE=Cypressloser;643158]

Originally Posted by salexander

We had same problem with ours.when we took delivery of our trilogy they were supposed to install the generator and fix some small issues from our walk trough. They never had these issues taken care of so after our first week camping we brought it back to the dealer in Edmonton. They said they would deliver it to us for our inconvenience ,as we were 5 hours away. The day they delivered it to us it was raining very hard and I noticed the same thing there was water on the floor in front of the fridge/ island. I have not had a chance to look at this yet but I believe it may be water spraying from the tires getting around slide seal. At first I thought it was the fridge but the water was dirty like it came off the road like you said. I have towed it in the rain since then ( light rain) and kept the tires out of the ruts where the heavy water hangs up and have not had the same issue.


Small world,
we also bought ours in Atcheson at Vision RV.
We had it ordered in late fall for spring delivery and we were pleasantly surprised regarding the PDI at the dealership, they did an excellent job. The only thing they missed was a small setscrew in the back of the kitchen faucet that was missing which keeps it from flopping around while driving. That is also where we found water on the floor when we took her home through a nasty snowstorm, as it turned out it came from the faucet which flung the water that was sitting in it's long neck all over the place. We never had any other issues. Ours was even waxed when we picked it up.
If you did have a leak under the kitchen slide it should be possible to detect doing a smoke test.

I'm happy to hear they improved their PDI when we bought ours mid September they had five Trilogy trailers for sale. Maybe they gain some experience. Our was shining too but she did not know how to operate the jacks which is just a very basic. So it took some time before we hooked up. After I looked it the manual when we got home it was easy to operate the hydraulic system. It's not just water it's dirt too so I know this is not from the faucet. Smoke test not do any good as the wind and pressure would also play a big roll how the water get inside under the slide. We have no problem when they slides are out. We tried the pressure test with pressure washer nothing come up so I'm clueless.
Thanks for your feedback it's always good to know more.

[salexander]

We also bought from visions Rv. Unfortunately our experience was not as good.we bought our trailer on February 25 just after the Rv show. The sales experience was very good and don't hold nothing against the salesman that sold it to us.
We did a walk trough and they brought the unit into their shop which was nice as it was cold outside and the wife was froze. We found a few little issues ( bathroom door had marked up wall,remote for linc system was missing, globes over island were missing). Just a few small issues. We also asked to have the generator installed and a stack washer and dryer. And they were to do the paint protection package.
They assured us this would all be taken care of when we picked it up on May 15. A week before we were supposed to pick up our unit I called the salesman to let him we would be there on the 15 and pick it up. I asked him if everything would be done.he said to send him a text with the list I had and he would check it out. The next day I got a call from the shop Forman and he said the remote would not be there for when we pick it up. Also he could not install the stackable washer and dryer because Dynamax had changed the height in the closet and they would not fit.he said he was installing a combo unit that's the only thing that would fit.i was kind upset because I knew this was a lie but after thinking about it ( we had a combo unit in our Berkshire and it served us well,we don't full time) I said go ahead and install the combo unit but I wanted the vented model. He said he would ship the remote to our home address and there would be no problem because it didn't need to be programmed.
So we show up on the day to pick up our new trailer and what a disaster. We walked up to the trailer and it was rotten. They had washed it and put it outside while it was still wet in a dusty area. It looked like they washed the paint with a brush that was full of rocks,paint was full of scratches. The inside was rotten.if they did clean it they left the door open in the dust storm.we didn't expect them to clean it so you could eat off of it but when you spend this much money they could of put in some kind of effort.
So for the bad news. They never had the generator installed, they must of laid the washer on the island counter top when they were carrying it in scratching it to bad to fix. They put a dent in the fridge door. They installed the ventless washer/dryer.
We proceeded to do our walk trough with the walk trough specialist.what a joke .he said if there was stuff that we needed to know to google it. He said he would go and get the shop Forman and find out why our generator was not installed. We waited for an half hour and finally went back over to the sales office to see the manager.
He said that they would thank the trailer back after our first camping trip and fix these issues( generator,fridge door, countertop,) told him I wanted my 3000 dollars back for the paint protection as I would have to strip it off and buff the finish to get the scratches out. He refunded us our 3000 which made me feel better. Apparently they just spray this stuff on and rinse it off.not worth 3000. When we bought our Berkshire form another dealer I paid for this and they actually applied a coat of wax and it looked great.
We proceeded to the campground excited about our new trailer even after the hectic day. When we got there and hooked everything up I found out that the trailer was winterized. The hot water tank was still in bias and the rod was left out and laid inside the cover. So I had to run to Canadian tire and buy a socket to put rod in tank.didn't think I would need my tool box on first trip so I had left it home.had to take down the panel in the basement to take the hot water tank out of bypass.( thanks to these forums I knew where it was before I bought the trailer).got her all hooked up and the wife came outside to tell me the bathroom sink was leaking. Fixed that,loose trap. Went to put out awnings and they just unrolled down the side of the trailer. Took 3 of us to get the awnings out. Two guys pulling on the bottom of the arms while I pushed the switch. Got the awnings out and the front awning only had half of the lights working. There are parts missing on my awnings that were never there (tractioners that kick the aluma guard off the awnings so they are free to come out. So they never did check the awnings at the dealer.
Anyway we dropped off the trailer to the dealership for the 7 days so they could address these issues. They delivered it 7 days later with not one of them fixed.the only thing they did was install the generator. I called him on the day before it was to be brought back to us and he said they had to order a door for the fridge,had to order the counter top as the scratches were to deep to buff out. I said that's ok I understood if they had to order it. I asked if he had got the remote and he said no. Asked if he looked at the awnings and lights and was told he never had time. So here it is June 24 and it still takes 3 people to put out awnings. Still no remote.
Called the shop manager the other day to ask if he could send the parts for my awnings and the remote in the mail and I can install them myself. He hasn't called me back yet.he said he would call me back in an hour,3 days ago.
We love our trailer our issues are mostly just because of a poor PDI or no PDI at all ? I have since ordered the parts for my awnings on amazon and will order the remote myself. Just don't think I will be bringing our trailer back there till unless they get their act together.
Sorry for venting and being so long winded


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[ervinglobal]

Originally Posted by salexander

We also bought from visions Rv. Unfortunately our experience was not as good.we bought our trailer on February 25 just after the Rv show. The sales experience was very good and don't hold nothing against the salesman that sold it to us.
We did a walk trough and they brought the unit into their shop which was nice as it was cold outside and the wife was froze. We found a few little issues ( bathroom door had marked up wall,remote for linc system was missing, globes over island were missing). Just a few small issues. We also asked to have the generator installed and a stack washer and dryer. And they were to do the paint protection package.
They assured us this would all be taken care of when we picked it up on May 15. A week before we were supposed to pick up our unit I called the salesman to let him we would be there on the 15 and pick it up. I asked him if everything would be done.he said to send him a text with the list I had and he would check it out. The next day I got a call from the shop Forman and he said the remote would not be there for when we pick it up. Also he could not install the stackable washer and dryer because Dynamax had changed the height in the closet and they would not fit.he said he was installing a combo unit that's the only thing that would fit.i was kind upset because I knew this was a lie but after thinking about it ( we had a combo unit in our Berkshire and it served us well,we don't full time) I said go ahead and install the combo unit but I wanted the vented model. He said he would ship the remote to our home address and there would be no problem because it didn't need to be programmed.
So we show up on the day to pick up our new trailer and what a disaster. We walked up to the trailer and it was rotten. They had washed it and put it outside while it was still wet in a dusty area. It looked like they washed the paint with a brush that was full of rocks,paint was full of scratches. The inside was rotten.if they did clean it they left the door open in the dust storm.we didn't expect them to clean it so you could eat off of it but when you spend this much money they could of put in some kind of effort.
So for the bad news. They never had the generator installed, they must of laid the washer on the island counter top when they were carrying it in scratching it to bad to fix. They put a dent in the fridge door. They installed the ventless washer/dryer.
We proceeded to do our walk trough with the walk trough specialist.what a joke .he said if there was stuff that we needed to know to google it. He said he would go and get the shop Forman and find out why our generator was not installed. We waited for an half hour and finally went back over to the sales office to see the manager.
He said that they would thank the trailer back after our first camping trip and fix these issues( generator,fridge door, countertop,) told him I wanted my 3000 dollars back for the paint protection as I would have to strip it off and buff the finish to get the scratches out. He refunded us our 3000 which made me feel better. Apparently they just spray this stuff on and rinse it off.not worth 3000. When we bought our Berkshire form another dealer I paid for this and they actually applied a coat of wax and it looked great.
We proceeded to the campground excited about our new trailer even after the hectic day. When we got there and hooked everything up I found out that the trailer was winterized. The hot water tank was still in bias and the rod was left out and laid inside the cover. So I had to run to Canadian tire and buy a socket to put rod in tank.didn't think I would need my tool box on first trip so I had left it home.had to take down the panel in the basement to take the hot water tank out of bypass.( thanks to these forums I knew where it was before I bought the trailer).got her all hooked up and the wife came outside to tell me the bathroom sink was leaking. Fixed that,loose trap. Went to put out awnings and they just unrolled down the side of the trailer. Took 3 of us to get the awnings out. Two guys pulling on the bottom of the arms while I pushed the switch. Got the awnings out and the front awning only had half of the lights working. There are parts missing on my awnings that were never there (tractioners that kick the aluma guard off the awnings so they are free to come out. So they never did check the awnings at the dealer.
Anyway we dropped off the trailer to the dealership for the 7 days so they could address these issues. They delivered it 7 days later with not one of them fixed.the only thing they did was install the generator. I called him on the day before it was to be brought back to us and he said they had to order a door for the fridge,had to order the counter top as the scratches were to deep to buff out. I said that's ok I understood if they had to order it. I asked if he had got the remote and he said no. Asked if he looked at the awnings and lights and was told he never had time. So here it is June 24 and it still takes 3 people to put out awnings. Still no remote.
Called the shop manager the other day to ask if he could send the parts for my awnings and the remote in the mail and I can install them myself. He hasn't called me back yet.he said he would call me back in an hour,3 days ago.
We love our trailer our issues are mostly just because of a poor PDI or no PDI at all ? I have since ordered the parts for my awnings on amazon and will order the remote myself. Just don't think I will be bringing our trailer back there till unless they get their act together.
Sorry for venting and being so long winded


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This happened this year?

[salexander]

Yes still on going. We bought in February of this year. 2014 3650 RE


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[ervinglobal]

Originally Posted by salexander

Yes still on going. We bought in February of this year. 2014 3650 RE


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I'm sorry to hear you had the same bad experience, We pay good money for these units they should have a knowledgeable staff to attend all the issues and upgrades. This is why I not asked for the extra things what we wanted I have installed everything myself with my sons help to carry the heavy stuff( washer dryer fit in the closet) they lied to you. I think most dealers now just want to close the deal and forget about the service part of the deal. I phoned them about the vent location (the sticker fall off the wall where the went should have been cut)they could not tell me the location that's how bad they are. Maybe this is the reason they do not want to install the units. We had numerous small issues it's too long to list. I slowly fixed almost everything now. These units are amazing inside and out I don't know why they ship them out with all these flaws. They should be proud to make something so unique, the curved walls full body paint and so forth and the built is good too, the decors are also very nice. Now I heard they making them lot cheaper and took all the curved walls out and many other features which made this unit so attractive to the buyers

[Cypressloser]

Wow, they must have had some complete morons working on your trailer. I do know they were very busy right after the RV show but that's no excuse. It should be the service/shop foreman's responsibility to stay on top of things. Could it be they hired some kids of the street because they were to busy?

We had a Whirlpool washer and dryer as well as the generator installed at the factory, if your's is also a 2014 then I don't see why a stackable w/d wouldn't work, we have sn. 0439.
Btw. part of our written sales contract was that we would not accept delivery if the trailer was transported through ice and snow, bec. we had the exact issues with the messed up paint on our Royals that you have now with your Trilogy, we never got these swirl marks out completely.
I remember when David did the walkthrough with us it took us over 3 hours incl. filling the propane tank at a different location, he also inflated the TrailAir pinbox and filled the water tank for us. I did appreciate that they let us spend the night there, that eliminated any dewinterizing issues.
I must say that this was the most enjoyable delivery experience I had and I am very sorry that your's was not like that.
John

[ervinglobal]

Today I had some xtra time on my hand and took the electric lock apart. We could never use the key fob or the keypad. I find the problem! There is a small plastic hinge which takes the power inside the door from the frame the connection is broken right there. I contacted Matt the service manager at Dynamax I hope he will be able to send me one so I can fix it myself. I also asked him about the LED strip lights on the front, mine was burnt my paint on the outside edge of my unit. I hope he will be kind enough to send me that too.
I think they upgraded those LED lights on the new units now.

[ervinglobal]

This is the burnt light on my Trilogy

[ervinglobal]

Originally Posted by lgray

Asking about the year, more related to your leak. Was it a roof leak or other? If you have a 2013, isn't the model 3650 RL? I didn't think the 36RL came out until model year 2014.

Our is 36 RE my wife like this model... she won. I always go with the flow We had a few issues and we still have. 2014 units are better then 2013 we just went to see them LED light is not an issue anymore. they are good units for the money. I'm a hands on guy I can fix almost anything so don't want to take it back to dealer. ( we did insulate the undercarriage as it was not insulated, also modified the heating docks) If they supply the parts from Dynamax I will fix all the issues myself. It's worth the money in my opinion. We had a leak under the slide as we coming back from Montana in a heavy rain. Road debris on the floor front of the island. I try to power wash it and we could not find any place where the water get in. Maybe the wind and all the other factors played a big roll on this. We don't know? I let you know how we solve it.
Cheers

[ervinglobal]

Yes and we do not have the LED light on the awnings maybe they missed it? I don't know for sure, but I know the unit has some electrical problems when it's wet. Some wires are admitting power to the frame. We got shocked a few times. I will investigate that too. We still love it thought. It's just like a long marriage. Nothing is perfect but we'll work it out as time goes by.

[gauchoverde]

Ervinglobal. What did you do to fix the creaking in the bathroom and the steps?