Preventing wood rot after water leak

[Dr. Dan]

My 1976 Minnie Winnie suffered a leak during an outing last week. The "flashing" around the black-water tank vent stack, where it exits the roof, got cracked (from impact with tree limb? Age?) and water leaked in, soaking our clothes, the carpet, the plywood underneath. Dang weather gave us rain every day, too.

I finally got an opportunity to put prodigious silicone sealant around the vent and that sealed the leak. (Temporary fix, though: I want to replace the cap/flashing later on.)

Well, the clothes got washed and I ripped out the carpeting and it has dried. The wood, however, hasn't. Since this is part of the Thermo Panel structure, what I really need to know is how to keep it from rotting. Is it safe to use a hair dryer on it or will that cause the wood to crack or separate? I've "Lysol'd" the heck out of it and I'm pretty sure that I got it in time to keep mold or other organisms from setting in.

[Oz]

Sorry to hear that Dan.  Lord knows it's happened to many of us.  Unfortunately, if the wood was badly soaked, there is going to be some degree of permanent damage to it... cracking and or rot. 

I think drying it as quickly as possible by using a blow dryer will cause the wood to shrink faster and increase the likelyhood of having cracks.  If it's possible to protect the area and let it dry naturally, that would be best.  If the integrity of the panel isn't degraded too badly, you may get away with re-sealing and doing the new flashing. 

I know how it is sometimes to have to seriously look at repairing something as cheaply as possible simply due to lack of fundage.  Not all of us can just rip off a roof and replace with all new stuff, arched beams, rubber and all that.  For me, it was always, "What can I do to effectively fix this if I don't have the money to completely replace it."  Hopefully, there are more construction knowledgeable members who can give you better advice.

[tiinytina]

Put a fan in the RV and aim it at the water soaked areas and let it run... make sure a top vent in RV is open so that air is exchanged with outside or if you have a dehumidifier run one inside the RV with vents closed (make sure it drains into a sink) ... Bleach is actually what you want to use to prevent mold/mildew.  if the wood is "bare wood" once it is dry which may take a good while.. you can paint it with "KILZ" which will seal the wood.

good luck!

Tina

[RedneckExpress]

First off, yer going to need to heat the space up and then yer going to need to remove the moisture. 

A large dehumidifier will help in the removal of moisture, if it was a horizontal surface, I'd say go and get a bunch of the Damp Rid suitcase satchets and put them face down on the wet wood, they'll naturally wick the water out till they've absorbed as much as they can hold.

Once it's dry, get a couple cans of Minwax Wood Hardener, and a chip brush.  Using a cottage cheese container, brush this stuff on liberally to the area that was exposed, letting it set a bit between coats.  Repeat until the surface dries shiny.   

USE A Respirator, the wood hardener uses acetone as part of the chemical mix and the fumes will mess you up something serious after about the 4 or 5th application. 

Once that's dried, paint over the surface with a good Urethane or Epoxy finish to protect it.    The Hardening agent will have embedded fiberglass epoxy into the wood, protecting it from water entering again, but it has to be dry before application.

[Froggy1936]

Well i did not expect to be back here again (all replaced in 2004) last fall when i was unloading i found that i had a water leak somewhere up front traced it down to a leaking clearance light   i thought ? removed all wet items and dried it up. But this summer i noticed some mold seeping up between the cracks in the self stick flooring i finished the shelf with. So now back home i checked and found that the wood had deteriorated badly so out it all comes again to reseal everything (found a few holes in the aluminum skin under the shelf above the windshield not visible wile assembled noticed them at night with a light in the vehixlw) after all the wood was removed The water was being forced in wile driving in the rain only and never showed up on top of the shelf  I am going to coat the inside of all the visible aluminum ( with rubber spray)before installing new wood which i will urethane on the bottom also is not learning the ways of old vehicles FUN  Frank