Interior Panel Repair

[jimmied]

On my 17 Ft. Bigfoot, there is some dry rot, so I am removing and replacing the panels and will be painting the interior at the same time. A problem I am running into, is when I cut one of the panels which is alongside the bathroom area and meets the wall there (which is at the rear of the trailer and the window will be removed) the styrofoam can actually be moved and is pushing against the gel gloss exterior, and I need some way of reinforcing the styrofoam to the bathroom wall area, as there is about a 1/2 inch gap when I push against the styrofoam. I am thinking of using resin and fiberglass sheeting and tuck the sheeting into the opening at the bathroom wall area, and then put the sheeting on the styrofoam so that it acts like a solid mass. If this is solid enough, than the panelling would be put on top of the styrofoam and it, hopefully, would be solid. Does anyone think that this would work. The other option is to use epoxy, but I would hate for the epoxy to break apart, after the panelling goes up. Thanks, Jim

[Raz]

Without pictures I am having trouble visualizing what you are doing but it sounds like you are trying to fill a 1/2 gap between the trailer wall and the styrofoam insulation. We recently insulated the foundation of our house with rigid foam insulation. Despite my best efforts there were gaps between the sheets. We filled them with spray foam. Great stuff is one brand. Once cured, it is easily cut with a serrated bread knife. Just a thought. Raz

[jimmied]

P.Raz, Thanks for the reply. The bathroom wall is at a right angle to the panel I removed. I just cut the panel at the bathroom wall and need to hold the syrofoam tight against the bathroom wall. To explain it better, if I had a 90 degree bracket and screwed one side of the bracket against the syrofoam and the other against the bathroom wall, it would stabilize the syrofoam so that it would not move against the exterior wall. This of course is impratical, but hope I have explained it better. The foam spray would not work, as I want to keep the styrofoam tight against the bathroom wall. Thanks again, Jim

[Raz]

For what it's worth, Polyurethane adhesive sticks to wood, metal, foam, and fiberglass ( and people ) very well. I would suggest Gorilla glue but that needs to be clamped because of foaming. The construction adhesive type doesn't foam. That's what we used to stick the rigid foam to the foundation. Perhaps you could glue a piece of wood to the foam and then glue the wall to the wood foam joint? Raz