Damp in my new motorhome!!! HELP! (1 Viewer)

longdog

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I recently purchased a "pre-owned" motorhome from a South Wales dealership. I was assured that it had had a full habitation check during the 2 weeks before I picked it up.
It was at the end of last week, just a week after picking it up on the 15th Feb. that I realised that I hadn't seen a habitation check sheet. I 'phoned up the dealership who were very apolgetic and promised to send me it in the post. Well it arrived yesterday and was dated 10th Feb. but there were no nice tick marks alongside "Damp Check"..........!
Everything else was ticked off except "Damp". Alarm bells rang and last night I borrowed a damp meter and found high readings, from 20% up to 100% inside the cupboards on the rear offside and back wall and in 1 cupboard on the near side wall at the rear.
I am pretty sure that I have a case for returning the vehicle and getting my money back. I would welcome your views on this please.
 

icantremember

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I should get back to the dealer asap and ask them to check and confirm your figures while you you watch.

It can't have got those figures in that short time, so if confirmed the dealer should sort it or return your cash in my opinion.
 

haganap

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First and foremost DONT PANIC.

You need it inspected first to establish what the levels are and what the extent of any damage may be.

Just because your readings are high does not always point to what you may or may not believe. For example, if you really are getting a reading of 100% touch the wall board, it would be soaking and rotten and easily identifiable as being ruined.

Speak to the dealer, tell them what you have found, ask them what they are prepared to do about it.

Be polite pleasant and firm about what you wish them to do about it.

Go in like a bull in a china shop accusing them of selling you a sodden van and you may get their backs up with out needing too, save all that for later if you dont get the result you want.

good luck, keep us informed:thumb:

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Scout

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A damp meter I untrained hands is a dangerous tool. It might be a good idea to get a professional one done then you have evidance prior tk going to speak to the dealer.
 
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longdog

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Thanks everyone, I will take the van back and ask them to check it while I watch. It will be good to get their readings and then we will take it from there, but I will keep you guys informed.
 

UK Pete

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Good luck longdog

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tonka

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I would take a copy of that report they sent BEFORE you think about handing it back, even "forget" to take the original and take just the copy..
Give them a chance to resolve it and if it was me and there was damp consider your money back.. All well and good them having it back in and trying to sort it but once their guarantee period is up your on your own..
 
Feb 16, 2013
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First and foremost DONT PANIC.

You need it inspected first to establish what the levels are and what the extent of any damage may be.

Just because your readings are high does not always point to what you may or may not believe. For example, if you really are getting a reading of 100% touch the wall board, it would be soaking and rotten and easily identifiable as being ruined.

Speak to the dealer, tell them what you have found, ask them what they are prepared to do about it.

Be polite pleasant and firm about what you wish them to do about it.

Go in like a bull in a china shop accusing them of selling you a sodden van and you may get their backs up with out needing too, save all that for later if you dont get the result you want.

good luck, keep us informed:thumb:

Are you sure ,as it's 100% that it isn't condensation on the wall and you are just measureing water.
 

haganap

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Am I sure chaser or the op?

All I know is that if your digging probes in to wall board that is reading 100% you have either a faulty meter a soaking wet wall board that you would poke your finger through or probed straight in to the water hose. ..

Condensation is of course a possibility in cupboards hence why as has been suggested a damp meter in the wrong hands can be completely misleading

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magicsurfbus

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I once had a mobile fitter who tried to prove to me there was no damp after a botched satellite dish installation by running his damp meter around the ceiling without the probe prongs fitted.

I pretended I hadn't noticed at the time then never hired him again.

If you're watching, make sure they've got their prongs fitted.
 
Dec 6, 2011
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most modern damp meters do not have prongs.. they are non destructive testers and is inductive.

they are supposed to be more thorough in the right hands as lots of readings can be taken without fear of damage to wall boards etc.
 

Dotplus6

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4 yrs in total but not consecutively. Just bought the 3rd.
Hopefully it's just condensation - it's a Hymer so I would have thought they were pretty well built??

Dot

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Feb 16, 2013
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Am I sure chaser or the op?

All I know is that if your digging probes in to wall board that is reading 100% you have either a faulty meter a soaking wet wall board that you would poke your finger through or probed straight in to the water hose. ..

Condensation is of course a possibility in cupboards hence why as has been suggested a damp meter in the wrong hands can be completely misleading

Ment the op , just agreeing with you, :thumb:
 
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longdog

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I would take a copy of that report they sent BEFORE you think about handing it back, even "forget" to take the original and take just the copy..
Give them a chance to resolve it and if it was me and there was damp consider your money back.. All well and good them having it back in and trying to sort it but once their guarantee period is up your on your own..

Well I went back on Friday. I spoke to someone who was very helpful. He went through my van with a "professional" damp meter and checked and re-checked at my request. Most of the readings were around 8% in the areas I was concerned about but there were a couple of readings in the 12 - 15% range, which he said was "acceptable" as long as it was below 20%

I voiced my concerns and there was no quibble, they said they are ordering the new panels from the manufacturer and will replace everything affected. They said it will take about a week to check, dry and replace panels.

Fingers crossed that it will all go smoothly but I feel a lot more confident now after dealing with the workshop directly rather than the sales people.
 
Feb 24, 2013
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sounds like a decent result, they must be good dealers, I would have expected them to put anything below 20% down to 'normal'

why are they changing panels? you did not mention any damaged or showing any signs of damp

Either way good for you and good on them, at least they will have a chance look behind the 'affected' area to see if it was serious, sounds like they care enough to do a good job

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magicsurfbus

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On the basis of reading this thread I bought a £41 damp meter today from B&Q and ran it around my MH ceiling in advance of its annual hab check just to see if my findings and the service guy's findings tally.

It's recently come out of winter storage outdoors, we've had non-stop rain for months, and I've been running a small portable dehumidifier in the MH for a few days, which picked up about 1cm of moisture in its tray:

Probing around the side walls I'm getting either very little or 10-15%

The ceiling varies considerably but has had water in there on at least three previous occasions in the past, including this time last year, which was fixed. Typical readings are 10-15% going up to 19% under the permanent puddle that's on the roof. Inside cupboards near the wettest part of the roof are around 15%. I can't probe above the top lockers.

I'd be happier if it was below 10% everywhere, but the MH is into its 10th year, it doesn't smell damp, and there's no sign of mould or moisture on the two reflective jackets I keep jammed between the top locker and the ceiling panel with the highest % readings.

To my way of thinking that's neither perfect nor a cause for major panic, but I'll be checking more regularly now I've got my own meter. It'll be interesting to see what readings I get in the summer.
 

Rob and Val

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Typical readings are 10-15% going up to 19% under the permanent puddle that's on the roof.
If you put the motorhome on ramps when you stored it for the winter, would that help to run off the water on the roof? Just a thought.
 
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longdog

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sounds like a decent result, they must be good dealers, I would have expected them to put anything below 20% down to 'normal'

why are they changing panels? you did not mention any damaged or showing any signs of damp

Either way good for you and good on them, at least they will have a chance look behind the 'affected' area to see if it was serious, sounds like they care enough to do a good job

In one of the cupboards where the Fiamma awning is mounted, he spotted a tiny rust mark, (that I hadn't spotted), which he said probably indicates water coming from the Fiamma mounting, so he wanted to change that panel for me when they removed and checked the Fiamma mounting.

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DBK

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Didn't need a moisture meter in my kitchen this morning. You could measure the dampness by the number of buckets we needed to collect the water dripping through. Leaking central heating pipe or rather one of the "magic" push fit connections. Never liked them but apparently failures are rare I am told.

Now sorted although the ceiling will have to wait until it has all dried.

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Puddleduck

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Didn't need a moisture meter in my kitchen this morning. You could measure the dampness by the number of buckets we needed to collect the water dripping through. Leaking central heating pipe or rather one of the "magic" push fit connections. Never liked them but apparently failures are rare I am told.

Now sorted although the ceiling will have to wait until it has all dried.

Oh no! Water makes such a mess.

You probably know this but for anyone who doesn't:

There are two makes of push fit connector and you have to be careful which you use on different type of pipe. Failures are rare but are not unknown. Most problems come when pipe inserts are required but have been forgotten.

My Superman works for NHBC - we built our own house and used the push fit type of connector all the way through the house. We have reinforced plastic pipes except for the boiler connections (which have to be copper). We had only one faulty push fit connector and one operator mess up when the pipe wasn't cut cleanly. The push fit connectors are very fussy about having a clean cut, there is no "give" as you get with solder connections. You must use the proper tool to cut the pipe or you'll have problems in the future.
 

easygirl

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Ive had about 4 plastic connectors fail, never had a soldered copper fail, so i stick with copper now, they are a lot better than they used to be, but still far from perfect

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Terry

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Have you had rats chewing at the ceiling ? a few 4 or 5 coats of vinyl silk mussy will sort it out :winky:
terry
 

DBK

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Have you had rats chewing at the ceiling ? a few 4 or 5 coats of vinyl silk mussy will sort it out :winky:
terry

Holes in the kitchen ceiling are very fashionable I am told. A sort of "feature". As is the dehumidifier chugging away in the corner at the moment. The dog will have to sleep in the living room for a few days. :Eeek:
 

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