Slide out floor rotten

[bronc71]

Hi to all
New to this forum but not to heartland. This is my 2nd cyclone toy hauler my 1st was a 2008 4012 bought it used only 6 months old was a bank repo my 2nd one i bought new in june 2015 it's a 4000 elite 2014 model.
When i bought this trailer off the lot it had been there for 1 yr for sale i made the deal to trade my old 4012 on it i went down to do the deal dealer is 8yrs from me 1st thing i notice was that the slides did not have the protective 90deg vinyl strip in place and there was right beside my trailer a 4200 that had the strips. I asked the dealer about this and he said he would order some in for me the plywoood end looked a bit swollen but i figured it wasn't that bad i just got him to send them to me and i installed them a couple of weeks later. that was june of 2015.
This year when i winterized the trailer in October i noticed what looked like a small rip in the bottom of one off the slide out floors upon further inspection i noticed the one strip was hanging a little when i removed it i could see that the floor is rotten. The trailer is out of the 1 year warranty (June 2016) so i called my dealer and they asked heartland about this they are willing to supply the new floor but no labour under good will it has taken me 2 months to get a labour quote to replace the floor and it's $2500.00 canadian. Just got off the phone with heartland and all they will do is the supply of the floor am i asking to much for them to help whit part of the labour?
I will post pics when i can
I have only had the trailer for 1.5 yrs now and for the slide floor to have rotten seems not very good the guy from heartland said they have a coating on them must not be that good.

 

[danemayer]

Hi bronc71,

Sorry to hear about the floor. For the floor to rot, there must have been water intrusion over a period of time. If it looked swollen when you purchased the unit, it sounds like the damage started a year prior to your purchase.

So one way to look at this is that Heartland and the dealer both missed something when the trailer was built and delivered, and then having it sit on the lot for a year without maintenance allowed the problem to develop.

Given that, is it too much to ask Heartland to do more? No. But from Heartland's perspective, this is a 2.5 year old trailer. The 1 year warranty expired 6 months ago. So it's also fair to say that they are doing more than they are obligated to do.

Have you considered asking the dealer to help. They might recognize that they should have noticed the problem and if they had, the floor wouldn't have failed. And of course, they control the labor rate. So they could easily elect to give you a discounted rate.

 

[bronc71]

Thanks for the reply i did contact the dealer the first week of oct so really from my prospective only 3 months out of warranty been trying to get this resolved with dealer all this time with no luck

 

[danemayer]

It's probably worth a call to Heartland Customer Service at 877-262-8032 / 574-262-8030. Have your VIN # ready.

If you speak with Customer Service directly, it's possible they might step in with a good will accommodation and cover the labor. Or they might discuss with the dealer on your behalf to get a better cost on the repair. Of course it's possible they might say that providing the wood is all they can do. But it's worth a phone call.

Sometimes it's helpful to let the Customer Service rep do most of the talking. You might describe the situation and ask what might cause the problem. And then ask about what's involved in the repair and whether the dealer estimate seems reasonable.

Then you can circle back and ask if the missing vinyl strips would have caused the problem while the unit was on the dealer lot. If they come to the conclusion that providing the vinyl strips was not a complete fix during warranty, they might conclude that Heartland should cover the repair.

It's a long shot but who knows.

I think the factory might be closed over the holidays, so you might not get through until January.

 

[bronc71]

I was in contact with heartland yesterday with no luck even did the round about way with the missing strips this is one of the reasons i'm on here to see if this is heartlands standard practice. I have ran a plumbing and heating company for the past 20 yrs and have dealt with a lot of manufacturers and have come across with out of warranty problems in the past most times you can get them to come up to the plate and we do warranty labour at a reduced rate for them. To me i think just supplying the floor is not enough i'm willing to pay but $2500 is a lot. If heartland would talk to the dealer and make a deal of some sort i'm sure they would not be paying $2500 in labour for the repair. If the dealer came to me and said $1000.00 i would do that no problem and i'm still sure the dealer would not be out of pocket.

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[wdk450]

When you get a hold of Heartland Service on this problem, ask them if Parkland Plastics is still the slide room floor vendor, and if their floors are still sold as 100 % waterproof.

 

[whp4262]

Parkland Plastics claim that their doors are waterproof is a crock. They are also not a friendly bunch to do business with either. My floors rotted out on my Cyclone so I started searching for floors and thought I would give Parkland a try based on their advertising hype. When I called they needed the measurements which I sent and they gave me a quote. The quote was pretty high so I asked if I got get a small sample of the floor before I committed and they said sure we will send one. Well they never did and stopped replying all together. It was after that I found out the rotted floors in my camper were actually supplied to Heartland by Parkland Plastics originally. So I ended up ordering floors from Heartland at almost 1/2 the price that Parkland had quoted me and I believe they are still the factory supplier. Anyway the new floors are coated but it's a pretty thin coating and the edges are not 100% sealed but they seem to be at least a little better then the original floors.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[whp4262]

I was in contact with heartland yesterday with no luck even did the round about way with the missing strips this is one of the reasons i'm on here to see if this is heartlands standard practice. I have ran a plumbing and heating company for the past 20 yrs and have dealt with a lot of manufacturers and have come across with out of warranty problems in the past most times you can get them to come up to the plate and we do warranty labour at a reduced rate for them. To me i think just supplying the floor is not enough i'm willing to pay but $2500 is a lot. If heartland would talk to the dealer and make a deal of some sort i'm sure they would not be paying $2500 in labour for the repair. If the dealer came to me and said $1000.00 i would do that no problem and i'm still sure the dealer would not be out of pocket.

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Make sure you look closely at your side walls to make sure the water is not is not running down on the inside and f the filon and getting to your floors. I completely rebuilt 2 of my slides because of this problem. What I found on mine was the window opening was to big for the window used during manufacture and it wasn't shimmed when installed. So over time the window slide down and the inner window seal wasn't sealed against anything living the caulking along the edge as the only seal. Water entered around the window, ran down the inside of the filon and rotted the floors. The plastic strips my have helped but I doubt it would have prevented the damage I see in your pictures.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[bronc71]

Thanks for the replies There is no window anywhere around that side of the slide. I just think for heartland to say this is my problem just doesn't seem right to me if the floor is coated with something that is to seal it you would hope it would last longer than 2.5 yrs that's for sure. My 2008 cyclone 4012 did not have the strips on it and the ends of the plywood showing and it did not look like this.

 

[boristd]

Hi all. I too have a BC3250ts with rotten floors in the slide outs. 2010 manufacture date We'll the two living area ones. I'm going to have to replace them in the very near future. They certainly won't last another winter. I am surprised that the material used is not a water resistant material and you let your manufacturers get away with this level of crappy build quality. We have a "fit for use" consumer guarantee system here that even if the manufacturer gives a 2 year warranty you would expect 10 yrs at least from the floor and you would have a valid case against the manufacturer!!! Guess we are lucky in that respect and it soon weeds the worst manufacturers out or forces them to build better quality products.
I have a couple of questions on what I should use to replace the flooring. Getting full length sheets here in NZ is a bit of an issue. I can get a marine plywood of 3.1m length but am not 100% sure if this would be ideal. Anyone know what thickness the original material was? Anyone got any other suggestions on a product that would last and be structurally ok? Thanks in advance. Alan

 

[wdk450]

Other posters have suggested that the absence of wheel fenders to divert the road spray is a major cause factor of slide floor rot.

 

[boristd]

Not in my case. It is the water running the sides that has caused this issue as well as substandard build materials!

 

[TXBobcat]

I posted about this some time ago. The bottom of my slides, both on the living room, were rotting. I went to Texas Custom Coach in Pipe Creek TX.
The first photo is the bottom of one slide. The second and third is the aluminum supports they made and installed on both of my living room slides. They sealed it and I have had no further problems. It cost me $1,500 and it was worth it..





Under slide outside edge.

 

[boristd]

That looks like a good fix if you get to the problem early enough. Unfortunately I bought this trailer a few months ago and the damage has been done. There is a physical hole thru the ply and a lot of swelling. Interestingly the leading edges of both slide outs have an additional plastic L shaped bracket under the alloy L bracket at the bottom of the side walls but this hasn't kept the water out. It looks like my only remedy is to replace the floors.

 

[bronc71]

I posted about this some time ago. The bottom of my slides, both on the living room, were rotting. I went to Texas Custom Coach in Pipe Creek TX.
The first photo is the bottom of one slide. The second and third is the aluminum supports they made and installed on both of my living room slides. They sealed it and I have had no further problems. It cost me $1,500 and it was worth it..



View attachment 49222 View attachment 49223View attachment 49224

Under slide outside edge.
View attachment 49225 View attachment 49226

That looks like a nice fix and would work for me as well i will look into that
Thanks!!!
Marc