Re: Travel Trailer Repair Forums
Talk about bad timing......
I just replaced a section in mine a few weeks ago, and just last night went through my blackberry and deleted all the pics I had of it. I figured I'll never need these. I'll see if they are by some chance in my recycling bin on the home computer.
I had a bump out tht leaked over the winter, and all year the floor in front of it was getting soft until finally my foot went through.
I was lucky, the area to be replaced was under the capeting so it was just a matter of pulling up the carpeting, and cutting out the linolium under that. From there I toojk my circular saw and set my depth at about 1/2 inch and began to cut. This way I was only cutting through the underlayment and not the supports nderneith.
You'll want to make sure you cut out all the wood that is effected, and make the hole you cut as square as possiable. From there I reached into the hole and removed as much insulation as possiable as mine was still damp. From there I aimed a fan in the hole for a few days to ensure all the moisture was out.
Next was on to straddling the damaged floor joists with new 2x3's. I simply screwed these on either side of the damaged ones with some deck screws. The new joists should extend atleast 12-16 inches on either side of the area that is dameged. This is to help take the loaad effectively.
Now the tricky part and I can't really describe it. I"ll post a diagram later if I can't find the pics. All of the area where the new subfloor will meet the old subfloor needs to be framed out between joists. If not when you step in that area the board will flex and you will feel it under your weight. Its not hard to do, but you may need to enlarge your hole to be able to reach additional joists. All edges of the old and new subfloor need to be dupported underneith.
Now its just a matter of closing the hole. Cut new 5/8 or 19/32 plywood(in my case) to match the hole. Some trimming may be needed here to make it fit. And just screw into place.
***side note, depending on the size of your hole home depot sell panels of plywood precut that would be cheaper that purchasing a 4x8 sheet. Also if those precut panels are too small, measure your hole and home depot can cut the full sheet down to size for you. Some trimming may still be necessarydepending on hw ow square your hole really is.
From here you just need to re secure your overlayment. For mine it happened to be carpet, so it was just as easy as laying the carpet back down, pulling taught and stapeling the edge with a pneumatic crown stapler.
If you have linolium hopefully you cut it on a "grout line" as it'll be easier to hide the seam. You'll need to lay down some adheasive both under the piece your placing back AND the edges of the piece still on the floor to prevent peeling. I would try something like a heavy duty contact cement. Regular floor adheasive may raise that area leaving it more noticable. After glued, place some news paper over it and set some heave books onit to hold down. The nes paper will protect your wifes cookbooks if any adhesive seeps out of the seam.
I don't think I left anything out. I'll try to post those pics when I get home if I still have them.
Its not a hard job. I replaced mine in about 2 hours, that's with a case of beer, the race on in the backround and my camper neighbors BSing with me. O yea I did mine at my campground, that's how easy it is.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Bill
