Water Damage Help- Roof, floor and mildew

[Georgia camper]

Hello,

I was given a 2001 Kiwi 21c camper. It had the notorious roof leak, mainly in the rear. There was a 1/4" gap all along the seam. I have scraped off the caulking and roof sealant then removed the metal strip that pinched the rubber roof to the metal. The roof was rotten in the ceiling. I have begun tearing out the roof.

Question#1: When I start repairing the roof what type of roof sealant do I need to use? Do the RV centers sell a product? I would like to go with the white roofing cement/rubber product that was originally used. Any advice?

Floors: I have also started tearing out the floor. It was spongy over 1/3 of the floor. The plastic vent cover for the fridge was brittle and broken and water came in there as well as through the roof leak in the back. So I will be removing the bathroom walls to get back down to the floor so I can remove and replace.

Question#2: Where can I get a "floor plan" or installation drawings so that I know how it was built and it will help me put it all back together.

I have construction experience so rebuilding will not be above my head. Has anyone experienced anything similar and have stories to share or advice?

Thanks, this will be a major project for me!

[sawdust]

Georgia camper

I removed the sealant and metal strip on this seam on my 21c last month. The products that I used are by dicor. I used putty tape under the metal of the back wall and under the metal strip. I replaced the pan head screws the factory use with oval head screws to reattach the metal strip. I used dicor rubber roof cleaner to clean the roof at the seam. This can be purchased in a spray bottle. Next I use dicor self-leveling lap sealent to seal along the edges of the metal strip and the heads of the screws. I didn't make any repairs to the roof I just wanted to reseal this joint before it became a problem. Hope this helps good luck.

sawdust

[sawdust]

Georgia camper

You can call Jayco's customer service to get drawings of your trailer. Have the last 8 digits of your vin. as they will need this to get the drawings for your trailer. Jayco will email you the drawings of your trailer.

sawdust

[Georgia camper]

Thanks sawdust for the help. This will be a huge project. I'm in the gutting stage on the inside and roof repair on the outside. I have to replace even the wood "floor joists" as they too have rotted. I'm almost getting discouraged with the amount of work here. But it was a freebie so I'm giving it a shot. I'm going to try and repair the back half first before I gut the front half. It will be a work in progress. Thanks again for the tips!

[sawdust]

Georgia camper

I bought my 2002 21c last year in Portland OR last year and brought it down to southern CA. While I was cleaning the trailer I found a soft spot in the floor in the corner of the dinette near the water heater. Further exploring I found the floor to be soft under the kitchen cabinet also. I removed the dinette and kitchen cabinet as well as the water pump and water heater. Using a pry bar I peeled the plywood up in pieces. I found the the 2x2s and 2x3s to be rotted under the kitchen cabinet and dinette. I removed the plywood on that side of the trailer back to the closet and to the pantry on the other side as well as all of the foam. To make the repair I sistered 2x2s and 2x3s using lag screws to what was left of the floor framing. The foam was replaced and 1/4 inch plywood was installed to the wood framing that I installed. The 1/4 inch did not lay as flat as I wanted so I installed 1/2 inch plywood thru out the whole trailer to get the floor flat. I used 12 inch square tile on the floor and completely rebuilt the kitchen cabinet and dinette.

I hope this information will help you. It took me about 4 weeks to complete my repair. I think the water got past the hinges on the bagage doors. I installed new gaskets to the bagage doors. We had a thunderstorm here last weekend while we were camping and didn't have any leaks. The job ahead of you is big but with care and thought you can complete it and have a good trailer.

sawdust

[Jason Biddle]

Do you have any pictures of the "notorious roof leak" area? I am having the same type of issue under my cabinet/closet area. Cannot find a leak anywhere. I did put new calk around the kitchen window. It is obvious that there was a leak in my roof in the rear and around one of the forward top lights(exterior). The previous owner sealed the roof and fixed the light leak from the inside and out. the floor under my cabinet shows wet when it rains but it is not coming from anywhere that I can find easily so it must be from behind a wall. Thanks

[BNear]

Hey, how's the repairs coming? I noticed that you're tackling it half a roof at a time. I'm just wondering if you're doing this with the roof still on the trailer or off because I can tell you that, if it's of a similar construction to the Jayco Kiwi 23b, it may be easier to lift the roof off and place it on the ground then strip and rebuild it. See my current post - Major Kiwi 23b Repairs - for complete details of how it's done for the 23b to get a feel for how it may relate to your situation.

My post has a blueprint and legend that I created, I contacted Jayco for blueprints but they provided me with the wrong ones of course. See the third page of my post for those items;

http://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f7...s-21848-3.html

[BNear]

One more thing to note; I read in a previous post that you had taped then screwed, I'm not sure what tape you've used but I recommend the tape be the last thing applied, for instance, put your trim, awning tracks, side rails or whatever back in place with the butyl tape under them, screw them down. Apply your caulking as required (may not even be required if using Eternabond) then apply the tape directly over everything else. If using Eternabond, it is pressure activated so you will apply the tape then use a roller to press it down which activates the adhesives in the tape. Using screws after the tape is applied renders the use of the tape void because the tape is your sealant in the case of Eternabond.

[herewego]

This thread MUST have pictures !!!! no pictures never happened

[VicS1950]

Originally Posted by Jason Biddle

Do you have any pictures of the "notorious roof leak" area? I am having the same type of issue under my cabinet/closet area. Cannot find a leak anywhere. I did put new calk around the kitchen window. It is obvious that there was a leak in my roof in the rear and around one of the forward top lights(exterior). The previous owner sealed the roof and fixed the light leak from the inside and out. the floor under my cabinet shows wet when it rains but it is not coming from anywhere that I can find easily so it must be from behind a wall. Thanks

I know this is an old post.

It does seem like most leaks do come from higher up and then they may follow down to most anywhere. That makes some leaks hard to track down. That said, I found the wheel wells on my 23b were poorly fitted and leaked into the back closet area. I believe that the wheel arch trim with sealant worked to hold water out for a time. After that deteriorated the water got down to the open joints.

Some detail is here.

http://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f3...tml#post128795

You may not have a similar issue, but it isn't very difficult to remove the trim to check. vic