Waterproofing Missing on Underside - Wood Damage Underneath

[heyjude]

Hello! Unfortunately, we found missing waterproofing material on the underside of the rear Left-hand slide during other repairs/maintenance of our Heartland Bighorn. Please see the following pictures. Is there a reliable way to seal this exposed area of wood to prevent further damage? Has anyone had this problem before?

The rectangular slide seal reinforcing piece of tin under the slide is scraping bits and pieces of wood off of the underside of the slide floor, and depositing them in front of the floor slide rollers = stuck slide when opening/closing.

Thank you in advance!
Judy

 

[cookie]

Years ago mine did that and I determined that it was the slide roller that took the coating off.
My fix was to cut some galvanized sheet metal that fit the depth of the slide floor. I used some small screws and caulk under the sheet metal.
Just be sure that the screws are not in the path of the roller.
It has held up for about three or more years.

Peace
Dave

 

[sengli]

Looking at your second photo, it looks like the plywood is coming apart. It looks like the plywood is damaged and delaminating from water intrusion. Are you sure the water proof backing isnt coming off due to a leak from above? As far as sealing this area, with a little sanding, proper prep I would try two part epoxy.

 

[heyjude]

Years ago mine did that and I determined that it was the slide roller that took the coating off.
My fix was to cut some galvanized sheet metal that fit the depth of the slide floor. I used some small screws and caulk under the sheet metal.
Just be sure that the screws are not in the path of the roller.
It has held up for about three or more years.

Peace
Dave

I think we are going to try this route.

Thank you for the suggestion. A proper repair would be the replacement of the de-laminating plywood flooring. I'm not sure this is an option at this point.

- - - Updated - - -

Looking at your second photo, it looks like the plywood is coming apart. It looks like the plywood is damaged and delaminating from water intrusion. Are you sure the water proof backing isnt coming off due to a leak from above? As far as sealing this area, with a little sanding, proper prep I would try two part epoxy.

Yes the plywood is actually coming apart from water intrusion. Either the waterproof backing was torn off, and water was allowed to sling up from the tire, or the freezer that has had an ice buildup problem has been melting and leaking down into the floor.

 

[BlackT]

About a year ago a similar situation occurred on my trailer slide out. One of the slide pull cables had come loose allowing a bottom roller to overload the waterproofing material. I sanded the spot down to good wood and used 'Splash Zone A-788, Half Gallon Kit - Pettit Paint' (google it) to repair it. It is a two part epoxy material designed for boat hull repair. It works sorta like bondo if you've ever done that. After sanding the repair and a little black spray paint, you can barely see it. It has held up well so far.