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Why Have I Got A Leak?
The first indication that you have a leak in your van may be a damp patch appearing in a wall. You may notice a discolouration in the wall covering or the wall may be soft to the touch.
For a damp problem to show itself in this way, the van may have been leaking for some time, depending on the size of leak.
Where Is It Coming In?
Water can travel through the van through capillary action and appear in a different location to the leak.
The main problems occur through the caravan’s external joints, such as the awning mouldings, the roof light and the window seals.
How Do I Stop It?
There are two different ways to do this.
1. The best way is to remove the moulding or joint cover, or roof light, and refit it using a recommended mastic or sealant tape. This is ok providing you are confident that the wood behind the moulding hasn't rotted. If it has, the moulding may not be able to be screwed back to the van, causing further problems. Removing and refitting joints is the method normally used by professional caravan repairers
2. The second, cheaper and easier way is to seal over the rail in much the same way as you would seal around a bath with a silicone sealant. This method should only be considered as a temporary measure.
What Do I Do About Damage?
Damage to the woodwork that has been caused by a leak is irreversible. Whether the woodwork is worth replacing totally depends on the age of the van and the amount of damage involved.
Replacing panels and timber is a costly job due to the number of man hours involved and in older caravans it isn't generally cost effective.
Although we have equipment which can indicate the extent of the damage, which is used when carrying out a damp check, the amount of damage is impossible to assess until the whole area has been exposed. Because of this it is difficult to provide a firm quotation before starting work but, naturally, having reached this point, the work needs to be completed.
Recommended annual moisture test
How to spot water ingress.
When water ingress is present and fairly advanced the main thing that you will find is that the panel goes "spongy", or will show signs of ‘pimpling’ and will sound dull when tapped.
The other thing to look for is staining of the wallboard; water will leave a tide mark. This is a good indication that there is damp in the wall.
A panel with no damp present will be firm and will be sound when tapped.
There are obviously different degrees of damage depending on how advanced the problem is. The sooner the problem is found the better and the sooner steps can be taken to reseal the caravan.
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