Soft Spot in Floor Repair

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Johncmr

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Posts
202
Soft spot in floor

Thought I?d drop in a new thread regarding a problem I just finished repairing on my 2003 32.5? Nu-Wa Snowbird.  A few folks have talked about repair of soft spots in their rig.  I had one, here?s what I did. 

Basically the floor, standing inside the rig, on the right side of the door got soft, this allowed the left side of the dinette slide to drop, cabinets wouldn?t open and the slide mechanism was struggling to retract the slide.

Careful measurements and inspection of the underbelly showed the flooring that is recessed below the regular floor so the slide can rest with it?s floor level with the other flooring had sagged too.  What to do?  I use my unit, but it did consider taking it to a dealer for guaranteed service.  Heck with it, I decided to do it myself.

Removal of door trim, Prego flooring, and carpet, cut out a section of interior wall paneling, no problem. 

Then saw the fleck-board floor panel.  Soaked and shot for the area from the door to the slide, and in about 18?.  Removed outside trim by steps, fender tin from floor level down.  Found wall had no security to floor in area because of water soaked, disintegrated wood.  Work still going as expected, but disappointed in poor choice of factory floor board material.

Found that the door frame was installed with no caulk on top.  Water ran down the side of the trailer, into the crack along the top of door, down the side and onto (into) floor.  Sealed the door frame.

Removed bad section of floor, installed new marine grade plywood.  Added 2x2 angle iron bracing, jacked everything straight and plum.  Welded angle in place.  Added channel iron from frame to floor at corner of slide.  Sealed bottom (belly) with similar plastic that came factory, that I had cut out earlier.  Still going about as expected.

Got epoxy resin (liquid), mixed and poured on new floor area.  Let resin soak into rest of old (now dry) floor in area of door.  Note about epoxy.  Take your time, epoxy gets hot when curing, resist temptation to pour it thick.  I have seen it get hot enough to smoke or even burn.  Liquid epoxy ?glues? everything together, and makes a completely waterproof repair, even rejuvenated fleck-board flooring in the area.

Bolted wall sill through new floor, angle iron.  The rest of the trailer might fall apart, but that little piece of wall will still be there.

Put everything back together. Slide works as should, and floor is straight.  Better than new!

Hope this helps folks who are considering buying or fixing a soft spot in a trailer.  Yes it can be done, but it ain't easy.

johncmr
 
Ron:

I want to hijack this thread just long enough to get in contact with you via email about satellite Internet.  I've tried both your email addresses with no response, both here and on your website.

You can reach me at d.m.s at shaw dot ca

Thanks.

Frank.
 
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