Moisture and Mildew

[glennb100]

Sometime during the winter lay-over, water got through a bad seam in the top corner of my passenger side front slide. the first indication of this was the delightful smell of mildew above the dining table.

I am pretty sure I've found the source of the leak and can fix that. Does anyone have a good idea how to get rid of the mildew odor coming from the slide ceiling insulation that got wet. Any good ideas on how to verify water is no longer lurking in the space between the slide ceiling and the "roof"?

Thanks for your help and ideas.

[bdpreece]

You need to open it up to air circulation. My guess would be that even when the leak is fixed the insulation is all wet. Drop any light fixtures down that you might have and if possible put a shop vac hose on the exhaust side and blow air into the space until it has dried out. This will not be a fast process though and could take anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days.

[Diplomat Don]

glennb100.....As bdpreece stated you need to get some air flowing into the affected area. If there's any way you can introduce some 10% bleach via a spray bottle without causing any damage, you'll certainly help with the mold issue.

[R&J]

When you mixes up that bottle of bleach water add one or two tablespoons of Woolite soap. It makes the water wetter and will penetrate deeper.
Rich

[Lt46]

A dehumidifer will extract a lot of moisture.

[glennb100]

Thanks for the suggestions.

I wired and taped the big end of a large funnel to a small electric fan and secured a piece of 1" od plastic tubing to the small end of the funnel (looks alot like the Tin Man hat). The other end of the tubing is inserted into the ceiling cavity of the slide through a hole I cut (using a hole saw) in an area that will be covered by the base of the pendant light fixture when it's reinstalled.

The fan provides a gentle flow of air into the ceiling cavity. I plan to leave it running for a week before repairing the leak that caused this problem. Given that the humidity in mid-May in New Mexico runs about 10% that should do a good job removing any residual moisture in that space.