Removing the rubber mat and repairing the floor in basement

I posted the following in the water heater discussion area and now I need to know if anyone has done floor repair:

Re: leaking water heater on 3055 rl

Patrick, you need to get the mat out and look to see what has happened. You might be surprised, there might not be much damage. With the mat out it might just dry up and be fine. Only you will know. Unless the plywood is soft and buckled....it will be OK. It would not be any different that replacing a section plywood sub-floor in in a house.

I have a section about 12" square that is soft. I feel that by pushing on the rubber mat. So far it appears that I will have to cut that mat out to get to the flooring and here in Florida I have limited tools. I will have to find some kind of job shop to cut a piece of sub floor. This leak must have been going on for months-maybe years BUT it was so gradual as not to be seen or drip outside the basement.

And all this for a $2 upcharge. I would gladly have paid $200 extra for the brass part or something to support the plastic part.

Now I am considering the possibility of using sheet metal under the rubber.

Patrick, if you already have the brass fitting now. Using sheet metal might be over kill now. If HL does install the "plastic" fittings then shame on them..but..maybe the "plastic" fitting comes already installed on the water heater from Suburban. Is the mat glued down?? Mine is not. You might have to remove the forward and rear bulkheads to get it loose.

This plastic valve on Heartland water heaters has a history of failure that has been well documented on this forum. In addition to failure, they are apparently a bugger to remove without having to chisel plastic tread remnants from the water heater side of the assembly. Because of the postings on this forum, I replaced a "perfectly good" plastic valve--with copper--on my rig prior to failure. The plastic valve was apparently new enough that it did not break upon removal. I suggest others may take the short amount of time it takes to replace this valve and heed this post as another example of the problems associated with this valve failing. It's clear (to me) Heartland does not view this issue as a systemic problem.

I paid $102 to have the brass fitting changed and the mat appears to be glued down. It just burns my *** to think I have to cut the rubber out to make the repair. Add this to a 1) kitchen sink that did not have the catches to hold it under the counter, 2) delaminated wood under the slides that did not have the proper trim on the edges. That cost more than $100. Many little things that would continue to be amiss were it not for this and the other forum.

I'm not sure if it is just Heartland or maybe it should be expected that they all cut corners when it doesn't show. We enjoy our RV lifestyle in the winter and our Bighorn looks nice but it makes me wonder whats next. It seems like many folks are continually upgrading or changing coaches. I'll tell you that I will never buy a used one in less it is from my brother.

So if it is CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT when I have to fix what someone else has done then I am there.

Bob&Patty said:

Patrick, if you already have the brass fitting now. Using sheet metal might be over kill now. If HL does install the "plastic" fittings then shame on them..but..maybe the "plastic" fitting comes already installed on the water heater from Suburban. Is the mat glued down?? Mine is not. You might have to remove the forward and rear bulkheads to get it loose.

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I have come to realize the RV industry works this way: Build an entire home, on wheels, with very few self-manufactured parts, constructed in days, with no significant whole-product testing prior to retail distribution.

I think Heartland learns from their customers and makes improvements. But maybe not as fast, and not on all issues, as we, the consumers, would like. I think they do better than most.

MHO,

Erika

One of the reasons that HL or any other manufacturer might not use brass is that brass is illegal in several states for water supply systems. Vermont and CA just to name a couple. If we want brass water fittings we have to sneak across the border to get them.

Sometime last year slaytop posted on how he replaced the floor in his basement and what he used.

slmayor said:

One of the reasons that HL or any other manufacturer might not use brass is that brass is illegal in several states for water supply systems. Vermont and CA just to name a couple. If we want brass water fittings we have to sneak across the border to get them.

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California's law took effect on 1/1/2011 - my unit left the line on June 2, 2008

Check this link out. I wonder how he feels about "CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT".

//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/24405-Storage-floor-replacement?highlight=slaytop