ihsolutions
Well-known member
A few weeks ago, upon spring inspection of my rig I noticed the bottom flange on the bedroom slideout had pulled away from the wall, cracking the caulk loose and I suspected water could have entered over the winter. See original thread here.
This thread was posted while the coach was still under factory warranty. Since that time (Mar 29) my warranty expired and the weather finally cooperated long enough for me to tear into this to see exactly what was going on.
As I feared, water had entered the crack and wicked up into the wall plywood the entire length of the slideout. See photos attached. I took a razor blade and gently inserted it up into various sections of the wall. Some areas where it was wet I could have easily inserted the whole blade. Other areas were not nearly as bad.
I am torn on how to proceed. I believe I have figured out a way to seal this area more permanently, by running a strip of butyl tape behind the flange both on the wall AND at the bottom, where the factory already had one. Then properly caulking the gap and keeping a close eye on it for the rest of my life.
We are expecting another day of decent weather so my plan is to leave this exposed, as it is now, to dry as much as possible before permanently sealing in any remaining moisture. As far as I can tell, the slide room floor is not affected by any type of rot or softness... it is only the wall that is affected.
I'm afraid of sealing this all back up and then experiencing wall delamination at some point down the road.
Should I contact Heartland to see if 1) there is a better way to handle this, and 2) if they are willing to make the repair? It did happen under warranty after all. But even so, my local dealer has demonstrated a complete ineptitude towards doing anything correctly or in a timely fashion. If it's possible, I rather fix it myself, and fix it right.
What say you?
This thread was posted while the coach was still under factory warranty. Since that time (Mar 29) my warranty expired and the weather finally cooperated long enough for me to tear into this to see exactly what was going on.
As I feared, water had entered the crack and wicked up into the wall plywood the entire length of the slideout. See photos attached. I took a razor blade and gently inserted it up into various sections of the wall. Some areas where it was wet I could have easily inserted the whole blade. Other areas were not nearly as bad.
I am torn on how to proceed. I believe I have figured out a way to seal this area more permanently, by running a strip of butyl tape behind the flange both on the wall AND at the bottom, where the factory already had one. Then properly caulking the gap and keeping a close eye on it for the rest of my life.
We are expecting another day of decent weather so my plan is to leave this exposed, as it is now, to dry as much as possible before permanently sealing in any remaining moisture. As far as I can tell, the slide room floor is not affected by any type of rot or softness... it is only the wall that is affected.
I'm afraid of sealing this all back up and then experiencing wall delamination at some point down the road.
Should I contact Heartland to see if 1) there is a better way to handle this, and 2) if they are willing to make the repair? It did happen under warranty after all. But even so, my local dealer has demonstrated a complete ineptitude towards doing anything correctly or in a timely fashion. If it's possible, I rather fix it myself, and fix it right.
What say you?
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