I have a soft spot in the floor near my refrigator. Probably from the drain not being in place on the refrigerator when it thaws. It is about the size of a watermelon and covered by linoleum. I an considering covering the floor with hardwood but I don't know what I'll be facing when i cut out the lino to repair the floor. Is this too much of an undertaking or not. Any replies will be welcome.
Jim, your not going to know how big of a job it is until you do some exploratory surgery. If you're lucky, the water drained straight through to the ground. If not, it will have migrated around under the floor and could have done some real damage. Just buck up and start cutting, as it will have to be addressed sooner or later. You don't want to put down a nice hardwood floor, only to have problems later. Good luck!
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Funny you should mention it -- I'm in the middle of a similar project.
MH floors are usually made of pressed chipboard - ostensibly because it is very hard and lightweight, compared to plywood. (Also, cheaper.)
All is well until it gets wet, then it turns into soggy cardboard. Since it is often sandwiched between styrofoam insulation underneath and linoleum, or rubber carpet cushioning, on top, it stays wet virtually 'forever'. And, it grows lots of black mold (the bad stuff)!
Even if it dries out immediately, it is still just fluffy cardboard now,
Sorry to tell you, but surgery is the only option.
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alpenliter wrote: Jim, your not going to know how big of a job it is until you do some exploratory surgery. If you're lucky, the water drained straight through to the ground. If not, it will have migrated around under the floor and could have done some real damage. Just buck up and start cutting, as it will have to be addressed sooner or later. You don't want to put down a nice hardwood floor, only to have problems later. Good luck!
Just the problem that a fellow camper had last winter.. the fix was to repair the referr, which required a removeal and repair, and a floor fix.. without the refrig being done, you will be doing the floor again, and again..
alpenliter wrote: Jim, your not going to know how big of a job it is until you do some exploratory surgery. If you're lucky, the water drained straight through to the ground. If not, it will have migrated around under the floor and could have done some real damage. Just buck up and start cutting, as it will have to be addressed sooner or later. You don't want to put down a nice hardwood floor, only to have problems later. Good luck!
Just the problem that a fellow camper had last winter.. the fix was to repair the referr, which required a removeal and repair, and a floor fix.. without the refrig being done, you will be doing the floor again, and again..
Thanks for the reminder DutchStar! No moisture related repair should ever be done until the source of the moisture is remedied! (I meant to insert that on my original post.)
You didn't mention what kind of MH you have. My old ('96) Pace Arrow had soft spots in the bathroom and kitchen floor. I cut all of the old wood out and found that the thin plywood had not rotted at all. The plywood was sub 1/4" and the floor supports were over 2' between supports. We put in 3/8 flooring, added another support, and then put down laminate in the bath and parquet in the kitchen. We had a very solid floor and it looked great. My first thought had been rot because my GD had run the shower full and flooded the bathroom the previous year.
When I replaced the reefer on my '89 Chieftain I had to replace the flooring under it as well. It had managed to get wet from the outside vent at some time. So this is a common problem. It helps if you have a recip saw and several other tools.
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