syborg Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 hi folks. well. disaster has struck. i was pulling out paneling inside my caravan in a futile attempt to find the end of the damp. and it went on and on and on. ive now basicly gutted about 1/5 of the inside of my caravan. the board was so rotten it was almost compost. problem is that due to its age its the board-polystyrene-aluminium type panels. i ripped off the board and the polystyrene and was gettin sprayed with water as i ploughed through the inch thick layer. im now down to bare ali and found the window and door frames rotten as pears. problem is i want to go further but i have huge head height cupboard units in the way. ive looked inside and found a rail thats riveted the full length of the unit, im hoping that drilling these out will release the unit. im also hoping that i dont need to remove the sink. cooker and fridge unit. if i do well, i do but im really hoping i dont have to. ive had a quick measure up and the frames seem to be either 1" or 7/8. my plan is to use sikaflex to glue battons onto the ally and then fill the voids with insulation then using 3. 5 mm flexible ply, recover all the inside of my van. obviously im still in the process of resealing all the rails to prevent a re-occurance. i really need some encouragement here as i can see a mammoth task before me, has anyone other newbies had to do this as i feel like ive bitten off far more than i can chew. pity i cant post pics up as ive been doing step by step photos. many thanks folks syborg. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Lord Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 my plan is to use sikaflex to glue battons onto the ally and then fill the voids with insulation then using 3. 5 mm flexible ply, recover all the inside of my van. obviously im still in the process of resealing all the rails to prevent a re-occurance. i really need some encouragement here as i can see a mammoth task before me, has anyone other newbies had to do this as i feel like ive bitten off far more than i can chew. pity i cant post pics up as ive been doing step by step photos. many thanks folks syborg. you need to remember that the main strength of the walls comes from the fact that they are a laminated sandwich with the polystyrene bonded to the aluminium on on side and to the interior wallboard on the other. Simply battoning the wall and filling with insulation will not be sufficient. I had a part of a wall done and they did it in they way you suggested and had to do it again ( at their expense ) because the wall simply was not stable. Quote Bill Growing old is compulsory, growing up is not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syborg Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 cheers lord, i,ll have a rethink. maybe diaganol batons may help to fight the natural flex. ive managed to upload some progress to photobucket. have a butchers. http://photobucket. com/syborg cheers peace syborg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atom Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 (edited) Hi syborg Don't get too stressed, but Bill is right in what he says. ...dont skimp on materials now you have gone this far. .if you have removed furniture that screws to the wall you will also need plenty of ali shims to fix back onto the poly before reboarding to accept the furniture screws. Have a butchers at my website under repairs. . Ant Edited March 9, 2009 by Atom Quote Atom If it sounds too good to be true-----it probably is !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syborg Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 i did spy a few plates above the windows and imagined they were for reinforcement. i shall attatch some extra thick ply to the rear of the thin ply as back up. i,ll just need to work out to leave enough room with all the batoning. im pretty sure the 22mm baton is cheap enough to buy from my local merchants. they got me an 8x4 sheet of 3mm flexiply for 18 quid!! just need to order plenty of adhesive. lol cheers syborg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syborg Posted March 9, 2009 Author Share Posted March 9, 2009 i did spy a few plates above the windows and imagined they were for reinforcement. i shall attatch some extra thick ply to the rear of the thin ply as back up. i,ll just need to work out to leave enough room with all the batoning. im pretty sure the 22mm baton is cheap enough to buy from my local merchants. they got me an 8x4 sheet of 3mm flexiply for 18 quid!! just need to order plenty of adhesive. lol cheers syborg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSmiths Posted March 9, 2009 Share Posted March 9, 2009 Hi syborg There is an article in the current issue of Practical Caravan on the replacement of internal walls damaged by damp. May be worth having a look at. Good luck. Pam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matt-the-dj Posted March 10, 2009 Share Posted March 10, 2009 (edited) i had a simililar experience in my van, it is a task but if you take your time and do it properly you will get a lot of satisfaction from doing it and knowing you havent paid thru the nose for someone else to do it. please be careful what adhesive you use as some will melt the polystyrene. good luck regards matt ps. if you use thicker wall board than the original watch out as some of the furnitures doesnt line up with th original fixings. Edited March 10, 2009 by matt-the-dj Quote ***** old tow car + ***** old caravan!. .....new tow car in eight weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syborg Posted March 12, 2009 Author Share Posted March 12, 2009 hi there folks. well, after a long evening yesterday i managed to replace some rotten door frame. leaving the entire side of the caravan nothing but 0. 5mm ali!!!!!!! i also had to remove all the door trims and ali surround but im having a right mare getting it back in, it seems to have grown about half an inch and now cant quite get the door shutting right. sooner or later once ive sorted the inside im gonna rip it all out and spend some time on it. got my marineflex so can get busy now with adding more 1"x1" timber to support the panels and skin, im attatching both ends of all the timber to the upper and lower wooden crossmembers to help provide more support. peace syborg/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwyny Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 Very best of luck! Me and my husband have just spent every day for 5 1/2 months(even in sub zero temps)rebuilding about 30% of our van from the front to towards the centre. We couldn`t have been more unlucky as the front of ours was also constructed of numerous bow shaped timbers which were chamfered on 3 sides! It`s been a nightmare-ours was so rotten,that a lot of it just fell apart,so we didn`t always have old bits to use as templates. It was like trying to do a jigsaw puzzle without the picture as a guide! . We`ve taken it on a couple of test runs and it hasn`t fallen to bits yet! If we can do it,i`m sure you can. .... I`m glad it`s now over,but we do have a great sense of achievement,are now armed with experience of what NOT to buy next time and will not be scared of taking on any further repairs in the future. This forum has been very helpful/useful along with what`s known as the "fixit club" on another caravan forum. You could try googling it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
syborg Posted March 18, 2009 Author Share Posted March 18, 2009 hi folks. well ive structuraly strenghtened the offending wall using 2"X3/4 batten which hasnt added too much weight to the panel. the window has been removed and the frame has been rebuilt using batten. ive also got some trade wall paper to re-do the inside and also just gotta order the 3mm stiff ply to cover the panel which will also give it even more rigitity. happy days, peace syborg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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