Side skirt letting water in

Orca Brody

Orca Brody

Joined
Aug 26, 2020
Posts
105
Likes collected
258
Location
Fife, Scotland, UK
Funster No
75,017
MH
Benimar Mileo 201
Exp
2019
Hi all. A neighbour of mine has recently bought a motorhome. He was inspecting something underneath and has noticed a very small wet section of floor. I looked myself and it's right at the corner. Only a couple of inches before it goes back to solid wood. There was no internal leak and the wood above in the same area looks fine. I noticed the side skirt (are they called that?) at same area had a gap. So I got him to spray the hose in a mist over this area and underneath I could clearly see the water roll down the back of the skirt and then make it's way over to that patch of wet ply floor. So that's the source of the leak. The rest of it seems to have been sealed correctly. Just this 300mm of it is letting water past.

What is the best way of sealing this skirt without removing it? I have some Tigerseal, would this do? Would I just run it over the top where the panel meets the van? Should he remove the bad wood? It's such a small area, would he just patch a small piece back in?

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Depends how bad the floor/wood is damaged
I would start by sealing the joint to stop more damage and inspect when dried out
 
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I would clean out any sealant in that area and reseal the gap between the wall of the van and the side skirt..I don't know what tiger seal is but you can use purasealP40 from toolstaion.
Let the underside dry out and recheck. I wouldn't start removing any of the floor unless it was rotten. The floor construction on that van is a plastic foam between 2 layers of ply.
 
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Thanks for the advice. I was hesitant to tell him how to seal it as I know it can be difficult to remove the likes of P40 if he needed to. How are these panels sealed in the first place? I mean I can't see neat little beads of sealant on the edges of the panels.

The small corner of the wood I inspected seemed rotten to me. Really soft.
 
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Orca Brody said:
The small corner of the wood I inspected seemed rotten to me. Really soft.
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If it's small you could treat it with wood hardener then when dry a bit of underbody sealer.

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It’s worth checking other areas around the van as this could have happened in a few different places around the side skirts .
I would use sikaflex 522 .
 
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Swifter said:
It’s worth checking other areas around the van as this could have happened in a few different places around the side skirts .
I would use sikaflex 522 .
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Yeah I told him to have a feel around. Hopefully ot's just isolated to that area. Thanks.
 
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Sad to see Swift never learn from their mistakes. My 2006 van suffered the same well known problem but it was even worse due to the plastic coating Swift used to cover the floor back then . Great idea to keep out the damp , but they didn’t factor in that the flooring needed cutting to shape and therefore left exposed edges where water could soak into the timber . The plastic covering made it impossible for the floor to ever dry out.
It’s not difficult to re seal these side skirts and it should be looked at every year to prevent this problem .
 
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Swifter said:
Sad to see Swift never learn from their mistakes. My 2006 van suffered the same well known problem but it was even worse due to the plastic coating Swift used to cover the floor back then . Great idea to keep out the damp , but they didn’t factor in that the flooring needed cutting to shape and therefore left exposed edges where water could soak into the timber . The plastic covering made it impossible for the floor to ever dry out.
It’s not difficult to re seal these side skirts and it should be looked at every year to prevent this problem .
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Had the same problem with a 2006 Bessacar
 
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I was led to believe that the skirts didn't have a seal they were just decorative, is this true or not?

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robnchris said:
I was led to believe that the skirts didn't have a seal they were just decorative, is this true or not?
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Well I can't see a bead of sealant running down the skirts but I can definitely see that when water is sprayed on this section of skirt, it is coming down behind the skirt and creeping over on to the floor. It's not doing that on the rest of the skirt.
 
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Orca Brody said:
Well I can't see a bead of sealant running down the skirts but I can definitely see that when water is sprayed on this section of skirt, it is coming down behind the skirt and creeping over on to the floor. It's not doing that on the rest of the skirt.
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Yes a definite design fault by Swift, their Swift escape suffered from the same problem, one would have thought the side walls would go beyond the floor level instead of providing a channel for water to flow inside the motorhome.
 
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Heart goes out. The steps to my Swift collapsed due to damp getting in the same way, unnoticeable due to carpet. When I chopped it in for part exchange the damp meter the dealer was using went right through the wall on opposite side of the van. I recommend that anyone with a Swift check and fill around the skirt with silicone. Design fault because wall meets floor instead of wall dropping past floor level.
 
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If he hass just purchased from a dealer rather than privately, his 1st route should be trying the dealer.
 
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Purchased privately. He has no chance of having it repaired until late September and is booked in with someone for then and is hoping to just get on with using it until then. So best to seal it up around the problem areas. If I seal the side skirt for him as a temporary fix, what is the best product to use? I don't want to cause any problems for whoever repairs it. I'm more than capable with running bead of sealant on the side trim where it lies against the motorhome but want to make sure i use the right stuff and that it won't cause any issues in September. Any help greatly appreciated.

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It is indeed a design fault. If you study house tiles, you will see that the water is directed from one tile onto the outside surface of the next tile, thereby not allowing water to gain entry via the numerous gaps and joins. Swift in their lazy design, decided to 'Stick' the side skirts onto the outside surface of the side panel. Thus inviting the water to creep behind the skirts. It relies totally on a good seal rather than good engineering.
This issue then allows water to sit around the edge of the floor, which becomes sodden, hence the rot.

Geoff
 
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Thanks Braxton. Wasn't sure about using that kind of stuff as most seem to use Sikaflex or Soudal fixall. I just don't want to use something that will be a pain to remove when a repair is taking place.
 
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donkey said:
It is indeed a design fault. If you study house tiles, you will see that the water is directed from one tile onto the outside surface of the next tile, thereby not allowing water to gain entry via the numerous gaps and joins. Swift in their lazy design, decided to 'Stick' the side skirts onto the outside surface of the side panel. Thus inviting the water to creep behind the skirts. It relies totally on a good seal rather than good engineering.
This issue then allows water to sit around the edge of the floor, which becomes sodden, hence the rot.

Geoff
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I agree. If the panels had continued just an inch or two past the floor, the water would have hit the ground.
 
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I have had some very good results lately using Unibond Bath & Kitchen. It comes in a handy pressurised container and is dead easy to apply. It is slow drying so sinks right into the gap, rather than just bridging the gap. Therefore it pays to slightly overfill the gap and allow it to settle. Because of this feature any deep gaps need to be pre-filled with backer rod, which is available for pennies in a variety of sizes. It creates a very neat job and is very flexible.

Geoff

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Hi all. I've been having a look at neighbours MH and helping find the source of the leaks etc. The worst one is the rear locker. I 'think' I've sealed the appropriate areas. It's been a tricky one though. Anyway, it looks like water is going behind the sie skirt and tracking along to the underside floor and wicking it's way up. Doing a spray test on the side of the van showed the water eventually on the wood underneath. I felt a small spongey area in the rear locker corner. I then cut away the vinyl to let me have a closer look. Should have taken photos. Like most MH's, it's a sandwich construction. In the corner, the top layer of ply was done for but it didn't take long to find good wood. I scraped away all the mush. What confused me is that there is a square patch of approx 4"x4" that is not the sandwich construction. It was so rotten that I can't say for sure what the construction was. If I had to guess, I'd say it was the standard thin ply on the bottom and a much thicker ply on top. No insulation. Most of it was rotten but strangely the bottom ply was intact, relatively solid and is drying out fine. The wallboards are totally dry at the bottom. The struts under the side panels are still solid and will dry out fine.

My questions:

If the water was working it's way from the bottom, why is the bottom ply not so bad? Even some of the thicker ply was find toward the bottom. Is it because of the vinyl on top not allowing the moisture to escape and the wood to dry out?

Why is there this section that is different from the sandwich construction of the rest of the locker?

What is that round metal thing coming up through the ply? It doesn't go anywhere and is just bolted on the underside. I've seen it in other vans.



My plan is to help the neighbour make good this repair. I'm hoping the following is a good plan of attack:

Ensure the leak is identified and sealed.
Scrape the vinyl adhesive off the good ply.
Let everything dry out completely.
Brush a penetrating epoxy on the remaining ply top and under the impacted area and on to the wood supports under the side panel. This should help harden everything up and put a stop to the rot.
Put some PU expanding foam in the hollowed out area until level with the remaining floor.
Stick a new piece of 3mm ply on top and put new vinyl down.

Something like that anyway. Any help with my questions would be great. I'm new to all this (y)

locker floor.jpg
 
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Orca Brody said:
Hi all. I've been having a look at neighbours MH and helping find the source of the leaks etc. The worst one is the rear locker. I 'think' I've sealed the appropriate areas. It's been a tricky one though. Anyway, it looks like water is going behind the sie skirt and tracking along to the underside floor and wicking it's way up. Doing a spray test on the side of the van showed the water eventually on the wood underneath. I felt a small spongey area in the rear locker corner. I then cut away the vinyl to let me have a closer look. Should have taken photos. Like most MH's, it's a sandwich construction. In the corner, the top layer of ply was done for but it didn't take long to find good wood. I scraped away all the mush. What confused me is that there is a square patch of approx 4"x4" that is not the sandwich construction. It was so rotten that I can't say for sure what the construction was. If I had to guess, I'd say it was the standard thin ply on the bottom and a much thicker ply on top. No insulation. Most of it was rotten but strangely the bottom ply was intact, relatively solid and is drying out fine. The wallboards are totally dry at the bottom. The struts under the side panels are still solid and will dry out fine.

My questions:

If the water was working it's way from the bottom, why is the bottom ply not so bad? Even some of the thicker ply was find toward the bottom. Is it because of the vinyl on top not allowing the moisture to escape and the wood to dry out?

Why is there this section that is different from the sandwich construction of the rest of the locker?

What is that round metal thing coming up through the ply? It doesn't go anywhere and is just bolted on the underside. I've seen it in other vans.



My plan is to help the neighbour make good this repair. I'm hoping the following is a good plan of attack:

Ensure the leak is identified and sealed.
Scrape the vinyl adhesive off the good ply.
Let everything dry out completely.
Brush a penetrating epoxy on the remaining ply top and under the impacted area and on to the wood supports under the side panel. This should help harden everything up and put a stop to the rot.
Put some PU expanding foam in the hollowed out area until level with the remaining floor.
Stick a new piece of 3mm ply on top and put new vinyl down.

Something like that anyway. Any help with my questions would be great. I'm new to all this (y)

View attachment 744298
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Sorry to bump. I know I asked a lot but my main question is does anyone know why that specific area had no foam? I now can see that bolt with the round head inside was a fixing point for the chassis. Is that why it was only wood for that section? Any help would be great. It's not my van so only able to help out a little.
 
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Thought I would update this in case it's useful to anyone. No done too much on this as the neighbour has been away in his motorhome for a while. My query above as to what the 'round metal thing' coming through the floor was.....well it was obviously a fixing bolt to secure the motorhome body to the chassis (I'm learning!) And the reason why there was a section of solid wood there and not the sandwich construction is for the fixing bolt to have something substantial to fix on to (I'm assuming). Anyway, that section of wood was all rotten. The reason that the underside floor was damp but not rotten like the above wood is because the rain water was indeed running behind the side skirt and wicking along the underside as I mentioned but it was also finding its way into a badly sealed screw that I assume is to attach the side panel to the floor. This screw was fixed to a 30mm batten on the floor edge. Rotted out the a small section of the batten and started dripping on to the wooden floor. This has likely been going on for years.

I had to cut the fixing bolt away as it was too rusty to remove. Can't find like for like though. Seems to be more of an American thing. They call them elevator bolts or something similar. So have put a new section of 3mm ply down for the underside and on top of that have put a 28mm section of pine fixed to the existing battens with pocket holes and adhesive. The 3mm ply on top. And finished with another 3mm ply covering the whole locker floor. Unfortunately I've found a similar issue at the opposite corner. A quick look and feel with my finger from underneath confirms that the exact same thing happened. Water going past the side skirt and travelling along a screw that hasn't been sealed properly and rotting the floor from the middle. Stopped the ingress, I think, but have no more time to help much. This new issue is I fear a lot more time consuming as with the locker we had clear access from above and below. This issue would involve removing fixtures and fittings inside. The good part though is that there is a sofa directly above it so a 100% neat job wouldn't be required. Having a little poke from below, I'm also sure there is no blue insulation directly above. No fixing bolts around here though so not sure why this is.

Anyway, just an update for anyone that's interested.
 
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