Slide out leak

[cardwellmarty]

Been raining all day and l try to keep a check on my slide outs, l have sealed all my roof seams with Eternabond and caulked all the slide out seals on the outside with Dicor. Me and my handicap daughter live full time in our TT so l really try to keep it up and do maintenance on it regularly. My leak is not real bad but it has softened the wall, if l had not mashed on the wall l would not have found it, it is soft and the water seeped out, it is in the corner and a real tight area to work to be able to repair, have any of y'all dealt with this before?

[cardwellmarty]

[cardwellmarty]

The soft wall starts at top corner of slide out and gets worse the closer you get to the floor and the mositure starts at about 30 inches from the floor. It is not soft above the slide out at the ceiling, and as said before l have Eternabond on all of my roof seals except vents and there are no vents in this area. I think it is coming in between the slide out seals, my slide out is tilted properly so the water on the slide out roof runs off the outside corner, and l also checked the opposite side of the interior wall which is in the bedroom and it is not wet, only at the seal. My biggest question is repair its not a good place for repair, not much room.

[007matman]

Boy.. our campers are very similar.

Do you have a slide out topper?

Have you checked the gutter? There should be good sealant there. I know the damage I'm.fighting with on the other side was caused by both caulking and having too high of tension on the topper which pulled the gutter off the wall.

[cardwellmarty]

Originally Posted by 007matman

Boy.. our campers are very similar.

Do you have a slide out topper?

Have you checked the gutter? There should be good sealant there. I know the damage I'm.fighting with on the other side was caused by both caulking and having too high of tension on the topper which pulled the gutter off the wall.

No I don't have slide out toppers, and the gutters are draining good, l am going back up there tomorrow and look very close at everything, l have spent a lot of time sealing and checking everything. It's probably going to be like the roof repair l did a year and a half ago, which is at the rear of the trailer no where close to this leak, Gorilla Glue and compression, there is not much to screw into.

[cardwellmarty]

Originally Posted by 007matman

Boy.. our campers are very similar.

Do you have a slide out topper?

Have you checked the gutter? There should be good sealant there. I know the damage I'm.fighting with on the other side was caused by both caulking and having too high of tension on the topper which pulled the gutter off the wall.

Yes our trailers are virtually the same, or almost. The biggest challenge is while fixing the leak l could cause another leak if l don't get everything back close to perfect, don't know how much tolerance l will have.

[cardwellmarty]

I cut some inspection holes in the wall to find out there are no metal studs of any kind just inch and a half thick OSB framing that has deteriorated from moisture, there is nothing to tie back into for a repair.

[007matman]

Originally Posted by cardwellmarty

I cut some inspection holes in the wall to find out there are no metal studs of any kind just inch and a half thick OSB framing that has deteriorated from moisture, there is nothing to tie back into for a repair.

Could you dry it out a bit and use one of those epoxy kits to firm it up?

Sorry man. I don't know what to tell you. Maybe someone else will have a good idea. Probably need to focus on finding the source first.

[cardwellmarty]

Originally Posted by 007matman

Could you dry it out a bit and use one of those epoxy kits to firm it up?

Sorry man. I don't know what to tell you. Maybe someone else will have a good idea. Probably need to focus on finding the source first.

I had posted in a post a month or so back that there were metal studs on each side of the slide out, that is what l was told by a Forest River Rep., but to find out it's just sandwiches OSB, which is ok if it doesn't get wet. My trailer is a 2007, which a lot of updates in Engineering have been done, but even though my trailer is a 2007 visually is in good shape, all my slide out seals are in good shape, and by the time the leak made itself known all the damage was done eternally in the wall. Me and my daughter live in our trailer and we are not mobile so I can stop the leak and repair it, but if we were mobile and had to open and close the slide out l would be in trouble. I have already started repairs and hopefully by mid week l will have it completed.

[007matman]

Originally Posted by cardwellmarty

I had posted in a post a month or so back that there were metal studs on each side of the slide out, that is what l was told by a Forest River Rep., but to find out it's just sandwiches OSB, which is ok if it doesn't get wet. My trailer is a 2007, which a lot of updates in Engineering have been done, but even though my trailer is a 2007 visually is in good shape, all my slide out seals are in good shape, and by the time the leak made itself known all the damage was done eternally in the wall. Me and my daughter live in our trailer and we are not mobile so I can stop the leak and repair it, but if we were mobile and had to open and close the slide out l would be in trouble. I have already started repairs and hopefully by mid week l will have it completed.

Post up some pics of your progress!

I've got an '08 so it's probably not much different..I'd like to see what you see and what you're doing.

[cardwellmarty]

Originally Posted by 007matman

Post up some pics of your progress!

I've got an '08 so it's probably not much different..I'd like to see what you see and what you're doing.

I took a full length 5/4 board and reinforced above my large slide out, my thought is one end of the slide out frame has been weakened and l am in hopes this will help reinforce the top of the frame, which OSB except at the very top of the wall which is metal frame. I put gorilla glue behind the 5/4 board and screwed it in, painted it put dap in the crack at the top, gorilla glue at the bottom which the crack was a little wider. Here are a few pictures, l will post some more later.

[cardwellmarty]

Originally Posted by 007matman

Post up some pics of your progress!

I've got an '08 so it's probably not much different..I'd like to see what you see and what you're doing.

I dug out the wet OSB that had separated and filled the holes one Inc thick with Gorilla Construction Adhesive, that's the thickness they recommend not exceeding, l let it set a few days then cut some styrofoam and glued in the remaining holes then placed contact paper over it to be painted later.

[cardwellmarty]

The contact green contact paper you see is just for trim purposes to keep glue off the trim and he slide out seal. The contact paper I used over the holes is lighter to be easier to paint.

[cardwellmarty]

After repair is painted. I painted all the way around the slide out was not much area left after I put the 5/4 board up.

[Cypressloser]

I don't know if the affected slideout is toward the main weather side, if it is rain water can be pushed uphill by the wind quite easily and enter the wall, I've seen it more than once. You say you are parked permanently, how about you seal the slideout with Eternabond tape to the sidewall of your trailer - just an idea but as the name suggests this tape is good for an eternity and become an issue if you ever need to retract the slide.

[cardwellmarty]

Originally Posted by Cypressloser

I don't know if the affected slideout is toward the main weather side, if it is rain water can be pushed uphill by the wind quite easily and enter the wall, I've seen it more than once. You say you are parked permanently, how about you seal the slideout with Eternabond tape to the sidewall of your trailer - just an idea but as the name suggests this tape is good for an eternity and become an issue if you ever need to retract the slide.

I did just that, l put eternabond over the slide out seals also the OSB frame is about 6 inches wide, l read that fiberglass can seep water even if it doesn't have visible cracks just from damage from the sun and weather so l put a 6 inch piece of eternabond on the outer wall where the OSB frame is then eternabond over the slide out seal. I will take some pictures and post them.

[cardwellmarty]

Originally Posted by Cypressloser

I don't know if the affected slideout is toward the main weather side, if it is rain water can be pushed uphill by the wind quite easily and enter the wall, I've seen it more than once. You say you are parked permanently, how about you seal the slideout with Eternabond tape to the sidewall of your trailer - just an idea but as the name suggests this tape is good for an eternity and become an issue if you ever need to retract the slide.