Bought an RV with hidden water damage, need advice on drying it & fixing it!

[sledhead5000]

So I bought a toy hauler RV recently, I inspected it carefully, but sure enough, when I got it home I noticed a bit of ice in the corner by the Hot Water tank. I'm sure I checked in there, but musta missed it.

Anyways, after pulling the water heater out, sure enough, 3" split on the backside of the tank, out of view. Water and ice everywhere, again, just beyond view. Previous owner musta cleaned up what he could see then gave me a good deal on it to get it out of there.

Anyways, I chipped out the ice, mopped up the water, put a space heater in there and removed the rest of the water and ice. Problem is that this likely happened back in November so it's been sitting there, soaking into the wood for 3 months.

What I need to know is, how screwed am I? Anyone with similar experience, did you wind up having to replace to wood or did it just dry out? If I leave it, will it rot? Is there any anti-rot cleaner that might stop the mold?

I'll attach some photos below, but what you can see is that the water soaked into the thin board (put my finger through it and tore away some of it to expose the fiberglass) and it has soaked into the wood beam. I can't tell if it got below the lino and into the floor-boards but over the 3 months, it probably has. Is there a way to just replace a small chunk of the damaged wood, or am I ripping out the whole front end? Any advice or even description of what the layers below look like is useful.

Lastly, anyone know of a good aluminum welding shop in Calgary that can repair the tank? New one is $500 I think.

Thanks,

 

[sledhead5000]

 

[RXN]

Not sure. Air it out best you can. Spray mould control on it. Hope for the best.

 

[Clode]

you could put a de-humidifier in it and let it pull out the moisture

 

[kimrick]

Pull off the rotted panelling. Remove wet insulation(Important step) and put heater in area and dry thoroughly.
Air circulation is your friend in removing the moisture. You have to ensure that air is circed at wall and under floor.
If this leak was just over the winter, the main wood beams should be fine.
By the looks of the wood panelling, I would say there has been a leak prior to tank freezing.

Once this area is completely dry, then start checking the beam wood, If it seems okay just replace insulation and panelling.
Spray in a mold killer prior to replacing insulation and wood. (you would be suprised what lysol spray kills and is cheaper)
If more rot is discovered you will probably have to start removing a small area of the floor (generally under the hot water tank for a more in depth inspection.
A router or zip saw is the easiest way to remove a 12 inch by 12 inch square in the floor and makes for a simpler replacement
Remember start small.

 

[52weekbreak]

Kimrick's advice X2. I would suck up the loss and pay $500 for a new tank. thin aluminum welding is always a bit challenging and I imagine you would like to deal with water damage just once.

 

[zal]

Any good welder can fix that no problem. We fix an average of 3-5 in the spring time. If they find it too tough, weld a patch over it. Good as new and cheaper.

 

[kimrick]

Absolutely fixable and much cheaper!
Like Zal states, "weld over a doubler and good to go."

Any good welder can fix that no problem. We fix an average of 3-5 in the spring time. If they find it too tough, weld a patch over it. Good as new and cheaper.

 

[sumx54]

Any good welder can fix that no problem. We fix an average of 3-5 in the spring time. If they find it too tough, weld a patch over it. Good as new and cheaper.

Never thought that would be possible. Awesome to know they can be fixed.

 

[sledhead5000]

Found varga custom welding in okotoks, he's done lots of them. $100, took 15 minutes. Looks like it will hold, very happy with the fix

 

[moyiesledhead]

Coupla ways to fix that....but in my experience, if you're gonna keep it then start stripping out any wood that got wet all the way back to dry wood. It's a PIA and it's gonna take some time, but it's the only "correct" way. You can get pretty creative making it strong enough without having to strip all the way back to the original structure. Been there, done that, and you have my sympathies. I have to tackle my camper in the spring.

 

[sledhead5000]

Easier said than done, whole front corner is wet, and the water tank can't be removed without taking out a whole wall so I'm gonna dry it, replace what I can, and spray the rest with mold stopper and hope for the best.

 

[jeffg463]

Bleach is the best mold killer. 1 ounce to 10 ounces of water in a spray jug.

 

[rotormech]

Are u saying the hot water tank can't be taken out,absolutely it can without talking out a wall,I am r rv tech in grande prairie and r&r 20 hot water tanks every spring because they are not winterized right.dry out what you can with a big fan and see how it looks.is it a hard wall unit or tin,if it is tin you can take the tin off carefully and get at the wall.

 

[rotormech]

Also if you get that tank welded it also has a lot of pressure in it to,doesn't just have to hold water.new tank should be about 300 $ because you can buy just the tank and change over all the other pieces.

 

[sledhead5000]

The fresh water tank can't be removed. The hot water tank I had welded.

 

[rotormech]

Always a way to take holding tanks out,it can be a pain though.

 

[Summiteer]

Never thought that would be possible. Awesome to know they can be fixed.

Me too. Figured HWH's were pressure vessels.

 

[rotormech]

They kind of are.

 

[sledhead5000]

New twist. I approached the seller by text message, looking for some sort of remuneration, and got told to **** off (As expected).

So now I'm looking at small claims court. I believe this guy knew about the leak, and intentionally cleaned it up so it wasn't visible. In my mind that constitutes 'misrepresentation by the salesperson' which is against some law according to this website. https://www.transportation.alberta.ca/2818.htm I just can't tell if it applies to private transactions (non-business).

He also lied about having it winterized by an RV dealership, I confirmed this morning with the dealerships manager that the RV was not serviced at the dealership as he claimed it was before the transaction.

Anyways, I don't know enough about civil law to know if I've got claim that will be successful. The fee to file my claim is $100. Anyone else got some experience in this?