Found the stink problem in the bathroom...need advice

[Bad Bolt]

Well, when we got to Disney's Fort Wilderness Campgrounds, it became very apparent, very quickly that something was not smelling so great...pewww!

This Memorial Day weekend was my time to figure out what and where the stink was coming from.

First thing I did was to fill the black tank with about 15 gallons of water in order to fully cover the low point drain flange of the black tank with water and look for any water in the bay floor....yep...got about a cup or two of water. I filled the tank from the toilet, not the cleaning attachment in the bay.

Felt for water where the pull valve plumbing goes into the black tank and it was dry...darn, would really liked it to be there for ease of repair.

Saw the back wall of the storage bay was wet. Ok, it looks to be coming from where the toilet meets the tank...dang...sure didn't want it to be there. I noticed that the base of the toilet was a bit loose and was hoping it was a bad seal. The seal was in very poor condition and very likely was the cause of the damage in the picture, over time.

The condition of the floor in a 8" radius is fully rotted to the underlying foam. All of the surrounding tiles are half on good wood and half on pretty much nothing. I'm now trying to pry up all the surrounding single tiles and having a bit of trouble, as I don't want to break them if possible.

Now to my needing advice.

I'm sure some have had this happen with class A floor structures.

I am completely open to ideas as to how to quickly fix this. I only need to remove about an 8" radius of bad wood.

However, how will I attach the new floor piece to the coach's under structure. I have no idea it there are any supports I can fasten the new wood to for a good fix.

Fire away...

[ronspradley]

Depends on whether you have room under the good wood of the floor. If there is enough room, you can fix like you would a hole in drywall that is large enough to need another piece of drywall to stay in place prior to re-coating. You have removed the bad wood, meaning there is now an edge that has good wood. Slip under that edge a strip of backer wood, and glue and screw half of this strip to the good wood edge. Do that all around the hole. That will give you something to glue and screw that replacement patch to. If replacement patch span is too large for that, you can span the gap with your repair strips, instead of along the outside edges of the gap.

Hope that makes sense.

ronspradley

.

[Grandpere]

This is going to be some observations from having done this in a S&B not a mh, your area is going to be more than just 8 inches, probably the wall is also effected and any underlying supports are also going to be rotted too. You just as well resign yourself to the fact that you will be replacing the majority of the floor to get rid of the bad wood and replacing the rotted cross members. Wood soaks water a long ways and every inch will be suspect for rot and mold. Particle board is especially susceptible to water soaking up as it acts like a sponge and then separates.

I wish you the best of luck and hope I am wrong.

[Papa_Jim]

You'll probably end up replacing the entire bathroom floor.

Having said that, I read somewhere that there's a marine epoxy that you can pour onto/into rotted wood and it will restore it's hardness and strength.

Hmmmm. Might be worth looking into.

Someone else with knowledge of this can chime in.

Jim

[Bad Bolt]

Originally Posted by ronspradley

Depends on whether you have room under the good wood of the floor. If there is enough room, you can fix like you would a hole in drywall that is large enough to need another piece of drywall to stay in place prior to re-coating. You have removed the bad wood, meaning there is now an edge that has good wood. Slip under that edge a strip of backer wood, and glue and screw half of this strip to the good wood edge. Do that all around the hole. That will give you something to glue and screw that replacement patch to. If replacement patch span is too large for that, you can span the gap with your repair strips, instead of along the outside edges of the gap.

Hope that makes sense.

ronspradley

.

Makes perfect sense.

I have that styoafoam that is under the bad wood. If I remove about an inch or so more of the foam at the perimeter than the good wood, your plan would allow for a good fastening of an under support backer. Then, I could screw the new patch floor to that. Should provide a sufficient repair to support the weight.

Now, I need to figure how to remove that toilet flange. Wonder if it's threaded to the black tank or just glue welded.

As to how far the water damage spans. All I can at this point is that ALL the surrounding tiles around the flange are very well stuck to the floor at the outer perimeter of each tile. I tried very hard to pop them up and worried I would break each one I tried. This tells me the wood is probably good enough.

However, I could be wrong. It all boils down to how long this has been going on. We'll see...

[BFlinn181]

I don't think you'll have to replace the whole floor, likewise stay away from 'GitRot' epoxies that supposedly sink into the rotted wood and hardens. It works in a small spot, like around a screw fastening, but not a large area of rot. Rot continues to grow and can't be stopped except by replacement with good wood.

I'd remove tiles until you find good wood all around the toilet area. Cut the wood with a circular saw set the depth of the plywood, if you're pretty handy set saw at 45º angle to make the new patch fit like a pumpkin lid. Remove and scope out the surrounding area. If you can put a couple of supports spanning the hole that can be screwed and glued to the underside of the surrounding edges, go for it. Dry fit carefully then epoxy the patch into place.

[Hooligan]

Here's a long but detailed post on floor repairs. May give you some ideas.
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f258/soft...oor-92583.html

Finding the supports under the floor can really help. If the area stays small enough, running screws thru the floor and adding you own supports or framing will work, as ronspradley posted.
Minwax makes a wood hardener that soaks into soft wood.It will seal and harden any soft wood around the repair and makes it waterproof.. I've used the minwax, it really works, but does not play well with Styrofoam...

[Arch Hoagland]

I suggest you contact your insurance company.

That may be covered, just as it is in a sticks and bricks house.

I've had two awnings blown off and they covered that, so it's worth a try.

[Bad Bolt]

Originally Posted by BFlinn181

if you're pretty handy set saw at 45º angle to make the new patch fit like a pumpkin lid.

Now that's an excellent idea! Will do that for sure. I'm already starting to get this repair dealt with in my mind with all of the good tips from you all.

The wood treatment tips are also going to be used.

I want this repair to be final and lasting...

[flapbreaker]

Mine had metal cross beams under the wood. You might get yourself a pinpoint metal detector or try a stud finder to see if there are nearby cross beams.

[Gordon Dewald]

Originally Posted by Papa_Jim

You'll probably end up replacing the entire bathroom floor.

Having said that, I read somewhere that there's a marine epoxy that you can pour onto/into rotted wood and it will restore it's hardness and strength.

Hmmmm. Might be worth looking into.

Someone else with knowledge of this can chime in.

Jim

called GitRot. Two part epoxy that you mix, then apply. Instructions come with the product. I used it on some roof sheathing that was in really poor condition. Am replacing the roof now and the fix is not too bad. Where is did not get to is toast!

[ohhwell]

Wow, that looks pretty familiar!

While not a perfect match, here is a thread with some pics of what I did in a TT with a similar problem. You likely have metal under the floor instead of wood so that could definitely change things. I love the idea Bflin gave to bevel the edges. That would take a bit of skill to be sure.

Floor repair on my old Sunline

you will notice that the toilet flange is usually screwed into the black tank.

I had amazing luck with the 2 part "CPES" epoxy from rotdoctor.com . A little bit goes a long way and it is very good if you just cannot replace. It does penetrate pretty darn good on damaged wood but often, the glue in particle board will block anything from penetrating too far.

[Gordon Dewald]

The instructions I had was to drill small holes in the area affected. I drilled a pattern that was not through the wood. Where I did apply the epoxy it was pretty good. If you can replace the wood and it is solid that is a better solution in my opinion.

[BFlinn181]

Originally Posted by Gordon Dewald

called GitRot. Two part epoxy that you mix, then apply. Instructions come with the product. I used it on some roof sheathing that was in really poor condition. Am replacing the roof now and the fix is not too bad. Where is did not get to is toast!

I've seen GitRot used since in came out in the '60's. As I said before,(post # 6) it's fine for soft wood around a screw hole, but trying to reinforce a large area is at best a delaying movement. I grew up in and around boats. I've repaired yachts that were repaired with thinned epoxy. (GitRot and the like) The problem we discovered in mahogany, cedar, oak, other solid woods AND plywood is the some of the epoxy soaks into the fibers but it doesn't penetrate 100%. ANY soft wood left will continue to allow rot to spread and weaken the structure. A treated soft spot in a rib could spread to planking, keel, chines, etc. You then have to replace much more than if you had removed all the rot and put in new wood in the beginning.

Yes, there will certainly be supports under the particle board flooring, it's not known for strength in spanning large spaces. Cut out the floor further than the soft wood and use a mirror and a light to see what's there to build on.

Be aware you will probably have to sacrifice a number of floor tiles to do the repair, you might want to use a different color around the toilet, or develop a pattern mixing old and new tiles. Success laying the new tile will depend on a very immobile new floor base and use flexible adhesive and grout.

Good luck with it!