Leak diagnosis help

[Zanzabar]

Hello all. Looking for some advise on the best way to go forward. Found some wet carpet in an otherwise unused space in my slide. It is in the rear outermost corner of the slide under the seat of my U shaped dinette. Only access to that spaces is under the cushions. The floor/carpet was wet, and when I pulled the carpet back to inspect, I can see the floor (wood) was wet along the outer wall to the corner. Verified(as best I can) that was the only spot woth water intrusion. I can see no evidence of water in/on the walls, and I inspected the exterior of the slide and there is nothing obvious, with exception of some Sealant that seems to be cracking above my slide window. I plan on fixing that as soon as I can.

What I am wondering is, is that the likely cause for the leak? Is there anywhere else I should inspect? What recommendations do you have for finding the culprit and remedying this? I attached a picture if the water damaged area, you can see the darkened wet wood along the outside edge and in the corner of the slide. Slide is permanently extended (full timing) Soni don't think it is the seal.

Thanks for any help/direction!
Also please excuse the typos, doing this on my phone.

[MrMark52]

There’s a window above where things were wet? Have you checked that the window water drains are clean?

If there are ~1/8” x 1” slots in the bottom of the window frame - you need to take a long piece of soft wire or long pipe cleaner, and while running water down the window, shove the wire up the left and right side of the slot and see what comes washing out. Our previous coach was pretty much ruined by the PO’s who didn’t take care to make sure those drains were clean (we got the coach for cheap so it wasn’t a big loss to us and it was still usable for our purposes).

When those channels clog, water spills over to inside of the coach and down the wall to whatever is underneath it.

[Newmar2856]

In addition to checking the weep holes as suggested above. Look closely at the bottom of the slide and if you have screws or the bottom bracket that supports the slide wall, as noted in the attached picture, make sure the sealant is good.

[tuffr2]

That is a common leak area. Water can wick up into the wood easy if the unit is not level or the trailer has a poorly designed drip edge. Water is supposed to drip down not wick up.

There are hundreds of posts about the corners of slide outs leaking. You might need to devise a drip edge.

The best you can hope for is a window weep hole is blocked. If you find that this is the case clean it out and consider yourself lucky.

Good luck.

[Zanzabar]

Thanks for the replies. I visually inspected the weep holes, but will have to acquire something to shove in there to clean them. I plan on taking the window out and resealing this weekend (weather permitting), so that should give me an idea if that was the culprit or not.

I did inspect the bottom of the slide on that side, nothing seemed to be wrong there, but I did clean and add some sealant to any suspect places for good measure.

So just something I thought of, we do have a skirt installed and while it fits good in most places, there were some larger gaps at the corners of the slide (both against the trailer and the outside of the slide) that I 'improved' with some tape (mylar I think?). I am wondering if instead of improving the seal of my RV skirt, I actually just inhibited the water runoff and allowed a place for the water to wick up as mentioned before... removed the tape just in case.

Any other words of wisdom? the floor still seems solid, so I dont believe the water damage was that bad, Have a fan running on it most of the day now to try and dry out as quickly as possible.

[Steverino]

Our first rig was a TrailManor. I went crazy trying to find a leak below a window - of course focusing on the window and opening, etc. Someone wiser than me told me to look at the exterior corner trim where the wall & roof meet. I replied that the roof caulking was all excellent, but he said - no, the BOTTOM edge. I said that's crazy - how could that cause any leaks? But he was right. Surface tension allowed the water to wick up and get inside. I sealed that edge and no more leak.

All that to say, if you're not finding the source, start at the very top and work your way down. Assume nothing. Water can get in odd places and then show up far from the point of entry, depending on what the path of least resistance is for flow.

Good luck!

[garywilson]

Lucky (or more than luck) that you found the wet spot before it rotted.

I had same issue except I noticed the water running during a rain. Weep holes were stopped up. 12ga Romex is just the right size to clean it out.