New Owners --Flood in Casita 2008 FD

[holder310]

Hi, folks! We are new owners of a fiberglass camper and had a hiccup. Well, I hope it's just a hiccup.
After attaching the city water yesterday, hubs turned it on and it ran for a while with really no water pressure. Since bed was laid out, we didn't realize it UNTIL we were standing in water. Determined that the previous owner had unattached the pump (our guess is for winterizing? ) After getting as much water out as we could, hubs attached the pex and turned the water back on and NO WATER LEAKAGE.

Is this really bad? I've gotten as much water out as possible. All the towels and several blankets later, plus a wet shop vac and we've left the Fantastic Fan on with all the windows and screen door open.

I'm hoping for 110 degree weather (not really, but maybe. ) Can we just continue to shop van each day and hope for the best?

How to deal with this? Never had water like this in a camper. Will take any and all advice. Thanks so much!!

[thrifty bill]

I would get everything out of the trailer and run a dehumidifier as well.

[Lisa in Michigan]

And more fans

[Jon in AZ]

I agree, and I would keep running fans and dehumidifier even after everything seems dry to touch. Casita's bathtub fiberglass bottom means water could be trapped in any voids between the wood subfloor and fiberglass underskin. You want to draw it out. Remove cushions and open all cabinets and benches for maximum circulation.

Depending on the the relative humidity in your area at this time of year, after an initial open-air drying phase, I might close most of the windows and continue to run the dehumidifier and fans. You're not trying to dry out all of Alabama!

[thrifty bill]

Lots of places for water to linger including under the frig, water tank, hot water heater, bathroom, closet, etc. if you have their carpeted floor, it really holds water. Lousy design in this regard

[holder310]

Thanks for your replies. Will def remove all we can and run a larger fan and dehumidifier. Also, would removing the carpet from the camper help? Is that an easy chore?

[Casita Greg]

Another good reason not to have carpeting in an RV or trailer, at least not permanently installed carpeting. I love having the linoleum floor and use a washable runner rug for the aisle way.

Unfortunately, removing the factory installed carpeting is not a quick nor easy task. It is installed before they put in any of the benches and lower cabinet work. They would all have to be removed in order to remove the carpeting. Some people have just cut out the carpeting they could get to and installed linoleum or laminate flooring instead.

As an aside, the reason that they charge more to install linoleum instead of carpet is not because the linoleum is more expensive. It is due to the fact that the fiberglass floor is very rough out of the mold, but the carpeting hides those imperfections. However, all those rough spots need to be filled and sanded accordingly to prevent them from "telegraphing" through the top of the linoleum. What you're paying extra for is the added shop labor required to smooth out the floor before they put it down.

[BARNEYCONE]

If you have a/c it could help dry the air.

[Steve L.]

I had something similar happen last year. Broken water strainer under that back kick panel. Water everywhere while camping, miles from home. I emptied most of the stuff in the cabinets leaving the doors open, went to a Harbor Fright and bought ~$60 carpet blower and ran it all day for about 3 days. Only shut it off when I went to bed, back on in the morning.


This started off as the trip from H*ll for a variety of minor aggravations but by the end things had smoothed out.

[Glenn Baglo]

If insured, the company may hire a restoration company to do a proper job for you.

[BARNEYCONE]

The underlayment of the floor is most likely obs plywood which will not wrap when wet. Cutting and removing the carpet under the furniture would expedite the dry out! And not so hard to replace, just saying.

[Vtec]

We had a similar hiccup last year after picking up our new to us Casita. Got it in central IL and asked if it was winterized? They said it was and they had blown out the lines. It was in the 20's the day we picked it up and I heard some strange hissing, didn't think too much of it. First time we hooked it up to water we found the noise when water started to spray out right away. Bottom of pressure pump had straight water in it apparently, it froze and cracked the pressure switch housing. They obviously didn't run RV antifreeze through it. Since we were camping with water hookup I went to the hardware store and just bypassed the pump for the weekend with a splice fitting.

[thrifty bill]

Originally Posted by holder310

Thanks for your replies. Will def remove all we can and run a larger fan and dehumidifier. Also, would removing the carpet from the camper help? Is that an easy chore?

No, its not an easy chore. It involves removing all of the fiberglass cabinets for example. Then there is carpet under the water tank, I think there is carpet under almost everything.

Casita is OSB. OSB is totally different than plywood. Its a lot cheaper, but it does not like to get wet.

[k corbin]

First thing I would do is take a powerful shop vacuum that is setup for sucking up fluids and use that on the carpets to suck out as much water as possible. If you don't own one you can take the trailer to an automotive detail shop and let them do that part of the job for you. Once the majority of the liquid is gone out of the carpets then a dehumidifier and air movement should be able to finish drying it out without having it go moldy on you.

You can rent dehumidifiers. You can also find them in thrift stores now and again. This last week I saw 3 good sized ones in the thrift stores in my neighborhood. However before buying a used dehumidifier do check to see if there are any recalls on the unit. There was a rash of recalled units a few years back and they were from quite a few of the manufacturers. So taking a smart phone with internet connection along while shopping for used dehumidifiers would be very wise.

[Jann Todd]

Originally Posted by holder310

Hi, folks! We are new owners of a fiberglass camper and had a hiccup. Well, I hope it's just a hiccup.
After attaching the city water yesterday, hubs turned it on and it ran for a while with really no water pressure. Since bed was laid out, we didn't realize it UNTIL we were standing in water. Determined that the previous owner had unattached the pump (our guess is for winterizing? ) After getting as much water out as we could, hubs attached the pex and turned the water back on and NO WATER LEAKAGE.

Is this really bad? I've gotten as much water out as possible. All the towels and several blankets later, plus a wet shop vac and we've left the Fantastic Fan on with all the windows and screen door open.

I'm hoping for 110 degree weather (not really, but maybe. ) Can we just continue to shop van each day and hope for the best?

How to deal with this? Never had water like this in a camper. Will take any and all advice. Thanks so much!!

With carpet you can dry it out and the wood will dry out also. If you had linoleum the water could get under it from the sides and get trapped. Keep the fans and dehumidifier running and keep checking all under the cabinets and everywhere you can find to touch. We had a flood in our motorhome one time and with carpet it was able to dry out. It takes some time but it happens. Take everything out of cabinets and let them dry real good. The faster you can dry it out the better. If it is cool you can use an electric heater with a fan also.

[dmad1]

Had a similar experience with the Carriage we don't own anymore. It had a kitchen sink faucet that would swivel past the sink and over the cabinet. Hooked up the water and went about hooking up everything else, etc. and was greeted by a flood of water when I opened the door. The faucet had been left on and rotated past the sink and when I hooked up the water, it poured onto the cabinet instead of into the sink.
I think of that ordeal often now that we have a Casita and the faucet rotates past the sink. Another disaster waiting to happen...

[tractors1]

I agree with the detailer shop approach - they can use their big vacs to suck up carpet water and run their fans inside 24/7 until it's dried out.

[brian05150]

well, at least the wood subfloor is encased in fiberglass so you are safe there.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by brian05150

well, at least the wood subfloor is encased in fiberglass so you are safe there.

Is it? I was told previously that Casita has fiberglass under the wood- the molded bottom of the shell- but not on top. I keep hearing different things...

[Cathy P.]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

Is it? I was told previously that Casita has fiberglass under the wood- the molded bottom of the shell- but not on top. I keep hearing different things...

I think maybe with that in mind, and I am familiar with wet OSB, I would call Casita and get some suggestions and understand the "possibilities". I would think if Casita is decent, they would be in a position to give the best advice on the situation knowing the materials involved.