Help on Casita Floor!

[ACZ06]

I am about to fix my rotted Casita floor. Does anyone habe experience on doing this? How is the floor attached??

[Casita Greg]

I don't know what year your Casita was made, since you didn't post the age of it. Early Casitas, (like back in the early to late '90's,) just had unsealed plywood floors as did most early fiberglass trailers. Later models, (from the 2000's on,) had encapsulated MDF flooring, which is basically just a better grade of particle board, encased in a fiberglass resin coating to seal it. Unfortunately, wherever they later made holes in it during production, (as in table pedestal leg mount holes, plumbing and gas line holes, drain line holes, etc, were never edge sealed to prevent water intrusion. I always thought this shortcut was truly short-sighted and provided a ready avenue for liquid intrusion. Would it have cost anything to smear a bead of sealant around these cuts to seal the edges of the wood to keep the moisture out? But, that aside, if you have found rot in the floor, most folks who have done good repair work have removed the rotted wood and replaced it outright, or else just injected fiberglass resin into the void where the old wood was removed. Just where in the trailer is the location that you found the bad wood flooring?

[thrifty bill]

Originally Posted by Casita Greg

I don't know what year your Casita was made, since you didn't post the age of it. Early Casitas, (like back in the early to late '90's,) just had unsealed plywood floors as did most early fiberglass trailers. Later models, (from the 2000's on,) had encapsulated MDF flooring, which is basically just a better grade of particle board, encased in a fiberglass resin coating to seal it. Unfortunately, wherever they later made holes in it during production, (as in table pedestal leg mount holes, plumbing and gas line holes, drain line holes, etc, were never edge sealed to prevent water intrusion. I always thought this shortcut was truly short-sighted and provided a ready avenue for liquid intrusion. Would it have cost anything to smear a bead of sealant around these cuts to seal the edges of the wood to keep the moisture out? But, that aside, if you have found rot in the floor, most folks who have done good repair work have removed the rotted wood and replaced it outright, or else just injected fiberglass resin into the void where the old wood was removed. Just where in the trailer is the location that you found the bad wood flooring?

Newer yet they drill an oversized hole at each penetration and use a donut like spacer. I do not believe they use MDF, I. think it is OSB. MDF is a terrible choice if they are using it. MDF is interior ONLY and never, ever get it wet. I do not believe they ever put a layer of fiberglass on top of it, just fiberglass resin. Every several years you will see a change in the floor design, so 1985 is a lot different than 1995, 2005 more so, then 2015. Don't know the exact year of the change.

Lots of discussions on Casita floor repairs, both here and the Casita forum.
Try this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=casi...w=1409&bih=810

Or this:
https://www.google.com/search?safe=a...XkbATgQ4dUDCAw

As always, when buying used, inspect carefully. Many Casitas have solid floors with no rot. Soft spot = rot. Rot comes from inadequate maintenance + design.

Hundreds if not thousands of discussions on repairing Casita floor rot.

[CortesCampersCEO]

When a boat transom is made of plywood, it is only a matter of time until the wood rots out. You then have to cut out the entire transom and rebuild it from scratch. If you go through all that aggravation you should not put plywood back down but instead use a product called Coosa composite board. It will never rot and that should increase the value of your Casita. Option two is purchase liquid transom from Carboncore.

[Casita Greg]

Yeah, you're right thrifty bill, I had a brain cramp. I wrote MDF, but it is OSB that they use. Good catch.