New Camper Floor

My camper is now dry.  She is also re-sealed so she will stay that way.  All that is left to do is put her back together.  Like Humpty Dumpty.

First we had to decide what kind of floor covering to use.  Because of the water damage, we had a "questionable" spot to the side of the front door.

 

Remember this loveliness?

 

We could have cut that piece out and replaced it, but that would have meant removing the bench seat and then there was the possibility of having to remove the wheel well (because these things are put together in a way that one thing is attached to another and you don't know until you get there).  We found out the hard way, campers are a can of worms and the more you get into, the more you find.  In order to get this lady in perfect condition, we would have had to replace outer plywood walls and sub flooring.  Since we paid market price, and we do not have a barn to work on her in AND we want to use her at some point, we had to draw a line.  We decided to dry her out, seal her up and use her till she falls apart and be happy.

 

Back to the question at hand.  What kind of flooring?  Because we had an area with compromised integrity, we wanted something with some stability.  Linoleum was out.  Peel and stick was out.  Ceramic tile is too heavy so it was out.  We decided on laminate.

 

Laminate would give our floor the added support we wanted, it is durable, easy to clean and water resistant.  It does however, have a downside.  Campers are small with lots of jogs and corners.  I am quite sure my husband was questioning my love for him while he was cutting, and measuring, and cutting, and making templates, and cutting inside a teeny tiny 95 degree camper.  He did however, prove his love for me because now...

 

 

my camper floor looks like this.  Remember what this same corner used to look like?

 

 

Amazing.  Husband of the year. 

 

I will tell you a couple of pointers.  We bought flooring with padding already attached.  Definitely worth the extra money.  Take your time.  It seems like it would go fast because it is a small area.  Wrong.  Takes for-ev-er because of all the cutting and limited range of motion.  It is very worth it.  At least in my opinion.

 

 

***What?  You've never installed laminate flooring before?  Don't worry.  Us either.  It is surprisingly easy.  Watch this video.  It helps.***

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyao9wDJidU

 

 

***Like my flooring?  Got it at Lumber Liquidators for $1.99 a square foot.  It comes with a 30 year warranty (pretty sure my camper won't last that long but it's a nice thought), the name is Manatee Hills Mahogany and it comes in 12mm planks.***

 





How to Re-Seal a Camper

Did you know that campers have to be resealed every 4-5 years?  If not, don't feel bad.  Most people don't.  Definitely a bad thing if you are in the market for a used specimen.

Even if you buy a brand new model, you will have to maintain the seals.  Luckily, it is not a difficult process, just time consuming and sticky.

When I talk about camper "seals", what I am referring to are the seams along the edges.  They run up each corner, all around the top and each window and door.  These areas are where two edges come together and the seam has to be waterproofed.  This is done by laying a length of "putty tape" along the edge and screwing a piece of trim over it.  This putty, is soft, pliable and a little sticky.  When you screw on the trim, the pressure squeezes excess putty out the edges and creates a watertight seal.

The bad news is, over time this putty dries out and cracks, leaving little hairline channels for water to sneak into you camper.  The water will seep in and you will not know it is there until it has caused significant damage.  It is imperative that you seal your camper religiously whether you think it needs it or not, because I guarantee you, it does.

Step one of this process is to remove the trim pieces.  To get to the screws holding it on, you will have to remove the flexible "tape" covering them.

All you have to do, it get under a little spot on the side and it will pop right out of it's grooves.  Sometimes, there will be an end cap at the bottom holding the strip in place.  If this is the case, remove the screw holding the cap on, and pop it off.  There should be putty tape under this cap, gently scrape that off the trim piece and proceed with removing the "tape".

Now remove all the screws holding the trim on.  There are about a billion of them.  Once the screws are out, the trim will easily come off.

Now scrape all the old "putty tape"  off.  Some of mine stuck to the camper, some of it went with the trim.  I used a wide scraper on most of it...

However, as we discussed in an earlier post, the people who we bought our girl from, sucked...  big time.  They did not know how to seal a camper (or didn't care to do it right) and they used silicone.  DO NOT USE SILICONE.  Putty tape and many other sealing options WILL NOT stick to silicone or it's residue.  That means that you have to use a screwdriver, utility knife and any other means necessary to get it off.

Then, you have to be sure you get all the residue off.  They make silicone removers that you can order, but we used acetone (the chemist said it would work fine) to clean on all the trim and the body of the camper where the trim was going. 

Now, lay a strip of the putty tape along the edge (it still has protective paper on it in this picture) and screw the trim piece back on.  Carefully cut away any extra that oozes out the sides with a utility knife.  Replace the tape that covered the screws.  Be sure to use putty tape under any end caps you have when you put them back on.

I found this video showing how to reseal camper windows.  It is great because it shows what putty tape looks like and how to place it (ignore the use of silicone at the end).  If you are having trouble understanding my directions, they will make way more sense after you watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3cotw1F8Ww&feature=player_embedded

That is it!  It takes the better part of a weekend, but it is well worth the effort to protect your home away from home.  We were super paranoid about leaks (can't imagine why?) so we went one step further... but that is another post and you can find it here.  You'll hear about the extra step we took and find an update about how it's holding up.



How to Dry Out a Camper



When we bought our camper, it looked well cared for and clean.  One thing to remember if you are thinking of buying your own house on wheels, is that looks are deceiving.   Very, very deceiving. 

Once we got home, we really started to look the old girl over.  I noticed some discoloration on the vinyl floor next to the bunk beds.  I started investigating and saw there was also some in the bathroom.  I tried to convince myself it was a factory defect but I knew what it meant.  Water.

Our only option was to open up any area that was wet and let it dry out.  So, we gutted the bathroom, took out a bunk bed, the queen bed, the couch and a night stand.  Then we ripped up all the floor coverings (carpet and vinyl).  Once we uncovered all the wet areas, we rigged up fans and a dehumidifier (see it in the picture?).  It ran for a week and a half and we pulled out over 6 gallons of water.  Craziness.

Even though this totally SUCKED,  I will not have to wonder about the condition of our camper (I am quite aware).  I know when my littlest is crawling all over, he will not be crawling through other people's yuck (we ripped it all out).  Best of all, I get brand new flooring.  The original stuff was cheap vinyl and carpet (who thought carpet in a camper was a good idea?).  For the new stuff, I went to Lumber Liquidators and bought durable and easy to clean laminate.  Guess what I will be doing this weekend?  You got it.  Installing laminate in a camper!  I will keep you posted.