Caravan DIY Repairs

The photo's below show each phase of the discovery and repair.

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Before we even considered attempting any repairs we invested in the Haynes Caravan Manual, which has to be said is a must for any new caravan owner!

After reading up on the subject of damp repairs and how caravans are basically made, we knew that new wall-boards would be needed as large areas of the wall underneath the front side window had become spongey, meaning that the existing boarding was soaked with water and rotten, so to make removing and replacing the boarding easier we removed the entire seating area by simply unscrewing it from the floor and wall, then we removed the boarding, as it was wet it came off quite easily with a scraper......what we found was shocking!

Severe damp had set in, and from the look of things it had been getting in un-noticed for some time...probably years!

The more wall-boarding we removed, the more water and damp we found...infact the entire length of the caravan on the door's side from front to back was soaked, so we had no choice but to unscrew the cupboards from the floor and wall on that side of the caravan and store them out of the way too.....this was turning out to be a lot bigger job than we thought!!

The entire strip of wood in the middle of the wall that runs from the doorway right upto the front windows that gives the caravan it's side strength is rotten so needs to be replaced...


....one of the metal rails on the outside of the caravan is screwed into this strip of wood so all of the screws holding the rail in place must be taken out before the strip of wood can be removed, the rail will need to be removed, cleaned up with a scraper and white spirit to remove the old mastic, then refitted. (not yet though!)

A new strip of wood (available from any DIY store) was put in place and secured with strong wood glue and a couple of screws at each end (black glue was used in our case, but as it will never be seen it does'nt really matter what colour you use) ....the rail on the outside was then re-fitted using mastic-on-a-roll and stainless steel screws.

There were a few blocks of wood here and there inset in the foam where the seating and cupboards were fixed (screwed) to which were also replaced and glued back into place....

With the foam and wood all dry and the wood strip replaced and stuck fast came the re-boarding......the new boarding (3.2mm ply) was meticulously measured and cut to size - this is where the mrs comes in handy as she is a dab hand with templates etc (and loves to get her hands on my power tools!).

Next came the glue for attaching the boarding back to the foam, PVA adhesive works a treat and is 100% waterproof, I just applied it liberally with a paint brush.

The boarding was then eased into place with clamps and props wedged against it to press it firmly against the PVA underneath, a couple of screws were also added in areas where they would not be seen once the seats and cupboards were back in place. - We considered taking out the window and removing the window rubbers before applying the boarding, but thankfully found that there was no need as the boarding slipped nicely back underneath the rubber seal with a nice fit. (we resealed the outside part of the window rubber with some silicone sealant just to be safe).

Next..a well deserved break.............Before the painting and decorating starts comes a hearty sandwich to keep me going....


ok, break over.

48 Hours later, the boarding is stuck fast and the walls are all solid again....... now comes the decorating, we were not sure whether to go for wallpaper or paint but in the end decided on the paint so that if we ever felt like changing the colour scheme in the future (a thing that my good mrs seems to want to do all the time!) it would be a lot easier to paint smooth walls than to remove or paint over wallpaper, plus a good vinyl paint is a lot easier to clean than wallpapaer!

 Peach Melba was the choice.


painting done...at last, we can finally see light at the end of the tunnel! - next comes the re-fitting of all the seats and cupboards which as it happens was much easier than their removal and was literally all done in less than an hour! all new screws were used of course, and while we were there a new carpet was fitted.



with the cupboards, shelves and curtains back in place it's almost impossible to believe that just a few days ago these walls were soaked and rotten!

Job done!...... dry, decorated, re-upholstered and all ready for holidaying in!! - Bring on the next project.....well, not just yet! going to enjoy this one for a while first!!!