Soft Decking Repair
All things considered, my Overlander
had a very limited amount of floor damage forward of the bathroom considering
how may different leak sources there were.
Although leaks damaged all the countertops, the presence of a
countertop diverted the water onto the main floor where it could evaporate
off the rubber-backed carpet without damaging the floor. |
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The worst damage occurred just inside
the hinge side of the door. Through a
combination of a bad door seal & loose/missing sealant on an exterior
seam, water rusted a hole in part of the steel step’s
mounting structure allowing water to attack the decking. The carpet kept trapped water from evaporating
from the top, and a sheet metal plate associated with the step kept it from
evaporating from the bottom. |
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I believe the bulk of the damage on
the other side of the door was caused by a leak from the small fixed window below
the larger hinged one (not shown). |
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After repairing, or at least
identifying the leaks, each soft area was thoroughly dried with parabolic
work lights fitted with 100 watt bulbs. A floor fan helped keep the air stirred up. It is extremely
important to make sure the area to be repaired is thoroughly dry. Any water left will be trapped by the following
repair, and continue to do damage. A locally available product identical
to Rot Doctor was then applied to
each area according to directions. I
like the Rot Doctor’s general working principle, and was pleased with the
final result. Now, Rot Doctor type products are very
thin when applied so that they will soak into the wood’s fibers. When cured, and that does take some time in
cooler weather like I had, the area will still need smoothing and/or
leveling. Even though my master plan involved
leveling the entire floor with leveling compound, I went ahead & floated fiberglass
resin over the worst damage because of the amount of wood missing. |