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tlauterio 
Newbie 
Joined: 05 Jul 2020 Location: SC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6 |
 Topic: Rotten floor/Black moldPosted: 22 Jul 2020 at 5:23pm |
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Hello again!
Well it seems the new (to us) 2012 r177 has a bad floor and is going to need to be replaced. :-( From what I am seeing/finding online so far this seems to be an incredibly depressing procedure. Am I right in thinking that the floor is actually under the edges of the walls, so that in order to replace the entire floor that the walls need to be removed too?? Has anyone had any experience with floor repairs/replacing? We have a good bit of rot and black mold that runs around the perimeter of the unit, being especially bad under the bed area. I've started a tearout and have an appointment to bring it in to have the work done. Hoping that it will bring the cost down somewhat if they don't have to deal with a lot of removal. In any event it's looking like this could be an incredibly expensive proposition. Does anybody have any ideas or thoughts? Please help....my poor wife is heartbroken!
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StephenH
podders Helping podders - pHp 
Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6288 |
Posted: 22 Jul 2020 at 5:36pm |
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First, welcome. Second, my condolences. This would be a difficult thing. It seems from reading your post that there was a lot of water leakage that was not taken care of at the time. This is undisclosed damage and it would be good if the purchase could be canceled, especially if the seller did not disclose this damage. I don't know about SC law in this regard though. As you surmise, the cost to repair may exceed the value of the trailer. Essentially, the whole shell would need to come off and the cabinetry removed in order to fully replace the floor. OTOH, I would say that if the floor seems solid, it may not require a complete replacement. You may be able to remove the vinyl, remove the mold (really strong bleach or whatever method you can find that will work, fully dry the floor and install new vinyl. The determining factor would be whether the wood under the floor is still strong enough. However, if the "rot" is bad enough, that would rule out that process. I wish I could offer you more hope. Unfortunately, it is easier to prevent the damage from occurring by finding and fixing leaks before the damage happens than to fix the damage once it has happened.
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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 22 Jul 2020 at 6:30pm |
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Welcome, and sorry for your problems. Yes, the walls are built up on top of the floor. Here is a link to the construction steps, it might help you understand what you have The problem you may be facing is that even if you replaced the floor up to the walls, if the plywood is heavily damaged it will no longer support the walls, which can then settle.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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tlauterio
Newbie
Joined: 05 Jul 2020 Location: SC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6 |
Posted: 22 Jul 2020 at 9:34pm |
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Thank you. Yes, what you suggest on both counts seems to be a way to look at it. We are in fact going to explore our legal options at this point as well. We bought it out of Ga., so we'll see what options there are. I hate for it to have to go there though.
I'm clever enough I like to think that if there's a workaround to this I'll find it when it comes to rebuilding. We've an appointment Aug 11 to bring it to a local place that does repair, so we'll see what they have to say.My hope is that somehow I can take out small parts of the floor at a time, only about a foot or so distance from the walls. The middle of the floor is solid. My only question with that thought being would there be a piece of the frame for it to rest on.....do you know what i mean? We'll see. I wish i could say simply treating the mold could be an option....part of the back wall you can poke a screwdriver right through. Looks great on the surface though! I'll keep posted here about progress. Thanks again
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tlauterio
Newbie
Joined: 05 Jul 2020 Location: SC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6 |
Posted: 22 Jul 2020 at 9:38pm |
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Thank you.
Yes, I'd seen that video already...that's what kind of set my heart to sinking. I'm sorry, but I don't see the sense of how they constructed the walls on top of the floor as opposed to mounting them on the sides of the frame. Surely at some point in a trailers life an issue or two has to emerge with the floor and repair/replacing necessary? Oh well....it is what it is I suppose...something will shake out either way.
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StephenH
podders Helping podders - pHp
Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6288 |
Posted: 22 Jul 2020 at 10:00pm |
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In the interest of making a light-weight trailer, this is how many of them are constructed, not just RPods. I don't see how walls could be attached to the sides of the floor instead of the top without adding significant weight for a heavier duty structure. While buying used can often be a great deal, it can also be a nightmare. I hope that this will be able to be resolved for you without financial loss.
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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
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offgrid
Senior Member
Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 23 Jul 2020 at 5:35am |
It makes perfect sense to the trailer mfs, it is cheap and light, and their warranty doesn't cover water damage, which would typically be considered owner's neglect. Consider too that to succeed in a claim against the sellers you would probably have to prove they knew about the water damage (lawyers reading this please correct me if I'm wrong - that's you LA  )The issue that makes things worse with rpods is that the main frame rails are inboard. That makes the floor a cantilever structure with the wall loads resting on the ends of the cantilever. Since the floor is a glued up diaphragm panel it partially relies on the strength of the plywood to take those wall loads. You could consider welding up "outriggers" from the main frame rail and supporting the walls that way, but just replacing the outside edges of the floors probably won't be enough to keep the walls from settling. If its any consolation, you are not alone, take a look at the other thread on this same topic from the past couple of weeks, the damage there is worse than what yours sounds like.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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lostagain
Senior Member
Joined: 06 Sep 2016 Location: Quaker Hill, CT Online Status: Offline Posts: 2587 |
Posted: 23 Jul 2020 at 8:29am |
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tiaterio, you face the same problem as another new member who recently posed pictures of a rotting floor, except your purchase seems to be more recent. Most used trailer sales are "AS IS." That means you get what you get and there is no warranty in most states. If the seller actively misrepresented the condition of the trailer by deliberately concealing the damage or making representations that there was no damage, then you may have a theoretical claim. If you bought your trailer from a dealer, you should look into your state's consumer protection laws, however, I note you are from SC, so I wouldn't get my hopes up in that regard.
Since the trailer is valued at around $6K or $7.5K, your best bet is to prove fraud or misrepresentation in your local small claims court. To hire a lawyer would not be cost effective. Legal fees, especially if you bought it from a dealer, would exceed the value of the trailer by orders of magnitude.
As for fixing the trailer, that, too, is pretty much a lost cause from a financial perspective. Replacing the entire floor, and probably a good deal of the lower wall paneling is going to cost far more than market value of the trailer. That's not to say that it cannot be fixed if you are willing to sink unlimited sums of cash and labor into the project, but for most people, it isn't cost effective. Replacing the floor, since the whole body of the coach is built on top of the floor means, as was suggested in earlier posts, effectively disconnecting the walls/roof and lifting it up to allow access to the floor. Even if you get access, you don't have the giant rolling press that FR uses to make the sandwiched panel that comprises the floor structure. You may also find that, when you disconnect the floor from the frame, that the that portions of the frame are rusted and in need of repair. And with the mold, it has probably grown into the plywood of the wall panels and the styrofoam insulation, necessitating the replacement of those components as well. And we haven't even talked about the mold growing into the particleboard and 1x2 framing of the cabinetry and interior components that will all have to be removed. Sadly, you bought a trailer that belongs in trailer heaven. My suggestion is that you remove the sellable component parts and sell them. There are a lot of rPods in your area of the country, so there is likely an active used parts market. Best of luck in this unfortunate situation. |
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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |
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mcarter
podders Helping podders - pHp
Joined: 07 Apr 2016 Location: Greenbrier, TN Online Status: Offline Posts: 3419 |
Posted: 23 Jul 2020 at 6:29pm |
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I wonder. If it is possible these trailers where involved in flooding. I recall a guy I met in Huntsville, AL that had purchased a trailer in LA. That trailer had obviously been in a flood. There were water marks on it. As I recall we had some flooding last year and in the spring, and we seem to have a odd number of really water damaged trailers. I've had leaks, each time I've been able to isolate and repair, I never had damage that was the whole floor or side walls. Wasn't SC a flood area? It would take awhile to get it market ready but would always be an issue. Granted you could have a long term leak, that could cause extensive damage, but something is fishy here.
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Mike Carter
2015 178 " I had the right to remain silent, I just didn't have the ability." |
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lostagain
Senior Member
Joined: 06 Sep 2016 Location: Quaker Hill, CT Online Status: Offline Posts: 2587 |
Posted: 23 Jul 2020 at 9:39pm |
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Good point. There are a huge amount of vehicles that come out of hurricane disasters and other floods that are cleaned up and sold on the used car market. There is no reason why that may not be happening with RV's too. If that is the case and can be proven, some states may give the buyer some recourse. As for SC, you'll have to check with local folks to find out.
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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |
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Rotten floor/Black mold