90HiLo Classic restoration
 

Need some advice. We have ripped out walls but have left the styrofoam in. Should we replace styrofoam that is black and wet? Or just let it dry out.?Is there a spray that kills mold. So far I have used Minwax Early American stain on both sides of the 1/8 underlay. The stain is oil base. It stains seals and protects. Next I was going to spray on Thompsons water seal to both sides of the underlay. Hubby raised a question about weather the liquid nails would stick onto the Thompsons properly for the new 1/8 Georgia pacific paneling. Not all the styrofoam is wet. My daughter promised she would post pictures tomorrow. We figured out how to take the big cupboard out above the dinette. I ended up ripping out quite a bit of the old wallpaper as it had lost the majority of the glue and was 21 yrs. old and brittle. I appreciate any and all advice from others that have done restoration.

I say you should replace the styrofoam being that it is a porous material. Here's a decent link on mold in trailers. Hope it helps.

How Can I Kill Mold Inside Trailer Walls? | eHow.com

90HiLo restoration
 

I know that mold is not good and the styrofoam should be removed. I just need to convince my husband of this. The styrofoam is tight to the fiberglass skin. All three layers were laminated together. The styrofoam has gouges from scraping the 1/8 underlay off. We had a busy day and I didn't get toask my daughter to post the pictures. We went to get tires for our f250 and had to get them ordered in. Dunn Iire should have them in by mid day Tuesday. I keeping asking these questions and not getting answers. Would Thompsons clear water seal be able to adhere to liquid nails on the 1/8 underlay.? How do you get the last pieces of soggy paneling/underlay that is stuck between the halves? Jack up tyhe top? or would changing the bad seal give me a way to clean out the last of the soggy mess? Just trying to do this repair correctly. Any advice appreciated.

90classic restoration
 

Here are the pictures I took with my daughter's camera.I'm not good with most electronic devices,so the pictures are a bit crooked.

90 classic restoration continued
 

I couldn't upload all the pictures I took in one post.

90 Classic restoration
 

1st. set of pictures #3 shows how to remove the trim ring from the inside of the window. #5 shows where the Lexell caulk was applied above the trim on the upper half. This is where we think we got all our water intrusion.

90 Classic restoration
 

Today 9-30-211 Posted pictures of our restoration in progress Posted under off topic. Looking for answers to several questions. Thanks sam

Sam,
If it was me I would try to replace the Styrofoam, also if you have a dehumidifier, put it in the trailer and run it while doing the repair, or a small heater, anything to get rid of the moisture.

90HiLo restoration/Classic
 

I agree that the styrofoam should come out. It is defeniately a "Bear"job. Styrofoam is not that expensive. This way we will have all new materials,styrofoam,underlay and paneling. Last night I did a search on google for RV interior wall replacement and am still going through all the sites information. I told hubby that we should run the furnace to speed up the drying process. He thinks we would have to sleep in the trailer to monitor the furnace. Maybe I can sleep over later this week after mytwo MD apts. Oct. 21st is my rotator cuff surgery. I'm hoping to have everything torn out before my surgery.

90 HiLo Classic restoration
 

Today was a good day as we got to work on our restoration. Forgot to bring the camera with me. Another HI Lo owner that did construction for a living helped us. He has changed the cables on a previous HioLo. We cut 2x4's and placed them at the four corners and used the powerjack to raise the tophalf up more. I was able ro get some more wet underlay and paneling out withmy locking forcepts and a stiff putty knife. I,m hoping the wet area between the upper and lower half will dry out,,,It will be impossible to get all the "junk out." Other areas of the trailer have dried out beautifuly.Hubby took apart the Electrical cover on the outside and repaired the wood frame around the outlet on the inside. Filled the air leaks with expanding foam. This was a source of the water leaking in. He plans on using butyl tape to complete the repair on the outside.

90 Classic restoration
 

Stopped at My mother's and said hello to our HiLo..Today it is predicted to be 40 mph wind with gusts of 40 to 50 MPH. Sure don't want to be in the HiLo when it is so windy. Correction 50 to 60mph gusts. Any way has any one ever used externabond tape on other places besides the roof.? I'll check out their website.

90 HiLo restoration
 

The other day we stopped into a electrical place to get a Leviton 20 amp cover plate and male outlet as one unit. NoLuck,showed us something that would have worked and we would have had to order in the "guts. This unit is on the topoutside(driverside). You pull out the air conditioner cord and plug it into the top electrical box. Then you raise the HILo up. If youforget this step you can stand on a picnic table to reach the plug. The old unit was badly coroded from water intrusion. Called our HiLo dealer and made the ! 1/2 hr trip to get two parts we needed. Electrical part was $20.00. Hubby installed today used plenty of lexell caulk and expanding foam on the inside. Used lexell caulk on the edges of the weather tight box. Will take a picture and post soon.Had to replace the shallow electrical box on air con/upper plug. It felt good to lick this problem. Later we are again going to get rain so he will be able to see if his repair worked. Felt like we turned the corner on our restoration. He had to buy some new screws to reattach the awning arm on the outside. Still not satisfied will try using a small dowel rod as part of the repair. I continue to pick out wet underlay and paneling between the outside wall and the layers on the inside. Will probably sleep in the HiLo with the furnace on in hopes that it will dryout somemore. R&R plenty of radio and good books to reat as I recuperate from my shoulder surgery. We are hoping to finish up before the snow flies. Spent some time on the Externabond website and foundout they make several waterproofing products. Not just for roofs. Can be used in otherplaces and forms to keep the RV dry. Also our HILo dealer has a web site and will ship parts anywhere. They have even shipped a HILo or two to other countries.

Sam,
Can you post the website for your Hi-Lo dealer?

Information on ordering parts from a HiLo Dealer
 

Mantelli Trailer Sales,6865 Transit Rd. Lockport,NY 14094 Phone (716) 625-88. www.mantelli.com Info@mantelli.com Fax (716) 625-8395 Ask for Jay Simon in parts. Steve Brandell is the service manager -very experienced with HiLo. Here is the complete phone # (716) 625-8877.

Sam,

Thanks, for posting everything you have so far on this project. I am planning on doing something similiar to our Hi Lo when the wife and kids move up here.

Are you thinking of upgrading any of the appliances (water heater, furnance fridge) during your restoration?

Hope your doin well.

90HiLo restoration
 

Cav117,A few years ago our refrigerator died (original). Our dealer scouted around and found us a new two way ref. Couldn't get a three way for our application. So far the original furnice and original hot water are working. Our dealer put in the ref for us/got a three year warranty. The key is to do all the preventive maintenance on a yearly basis. If you take care of the HiLo it will take care of you. I know I'm not real good at describing our exact methods for repairs. Just want any one that does repairs to have an easier time of it. Today we were able to stop by our Harbor Freight store and picked up another pair of locking forceps,drill bits,cutting blades for the multi tool. The rest of the cupboards ect. in the HiLo are in great shape. We don't have any other repairs that I know of. We saved some of our tear off around the windows to use as a pattern for the new underlay and paneling. My biggest frustration at this point is getting the "junk " between the wall to dry out. I don't think it is a good idea to put in the new wall material when you have wet material under it. The walls are totally dry. We had leaks on the escape window,air conditioner exterior box and bottom exterior trim9top half). Caulk caulk and more lexell caulk. Take out each and every window and reseal. Our trailers are very sturdy and can be repaired. Thanks for letting me know my experience is helpful.

90 classic hilo restoration
 

We ended up doing a total tearout of the wall by our dinette as it was wet with our heavy rain. The last part was a super saturated brown paper that we scraped off. I'm thinking it was a water barrier paper. Does anyone know if it must be replaced? Looked at home depot today and couldn't find any suitable replacement.

Did you look at Tyvek Home Wrap? That's the stuff you see on new buildings before the siding goes on. It is an air and moisture barrier. House Construction ? DuPont You may have a hard time finding it in a small quantity. Try tracking down a contractor or someone doing a project, they may have some odds and ends laying around. Or, you could go buy a bunch of those big envelopes made out it. ;)

90 HiLo Restoration
 

Thank for your response on the vapor barrier question. This may be the answer. I will be calling JR to ask him several questions. Just want to do this whole repair correctly.

90HiLo Restoration
 

Here are the pictures I promised.
Attachment 1087 I am using my forceps to get out wet underlay/paneling. Black strip is for electrical/shielding? Should the rusted metal be treated in any way before it is enclosed with insulation,underlay or paneling.?

Attachment 1088Good to take a PICTURE And do a detailed measured drawing because you won't remember placement four months from now.

Attachment 1089Hardwear placement wall in good condition. Will just remove window and reseal with butyl tape.

Attachment 1090My hand with gobs of wet brown paper that was next to fiberglass. Need to take a photography class in my spare time LOL!!!!

Attachment 1091sm tearout area under window next to pullout sofa-my bed. I think we need to remove styrofoam in any area we remove paneling and underlay.

Here are the rest.
Attachment 1092Some areas of the insulation were soggy after an all night rain.Tore out quite a bit of the wall. Tore out until we reached dry wall.

Attachment 1093Inside AC plug repair.Some new wood and lexel caulk both in side and outside. Yellow is expanding foam. Had a good at times heavy rain and our AC box/repair passed the test. Hi and dry.!!You can't tell in the picture but the upper half of the wall has a curve to it. Hubby wonders how straight paneling will work on this?

Attachment 1094Hubby needed a break from the HiLo restoration. He finished restoring this park bench for our friends. He used all stainless steel hardwear and treated lumber and will clear coat it in the spring. Great to get this out of my dinning rm. Very heavy and sturdy.

Attachment 1095Delivered and a happy customer!!!!

90 HiLo restoration
 

Many unanswered questions. Hubby realizes that we need to do the procedure and raise the HILo up as if we are changing the seals(may do later) We will do this in the spring. Need to remove all the wet material below the rail. Our theory is that the water came in the Ac exterior box then down the wall and traveled both right and left. It did a good job of trashing the HiLo /upper section. All the rest of the HiLo is in excellent shape(new floor professionally installed) .The original oven works great. Our HiLo has never been in an accident and the most we use it is between two weeks to a month each year. We consider ourselves amateur remodelers. Any comments,suggestions-chime in. Today hubby winterized old faithful. Not sure how much more we will work on it this season.

(0HiLo Restoration Talked with Rob at JR Repair in Ohio
 

Rob was very kind and gave a lot of good advice. Ideally I would just send it to JR repair as they have all the equipment and expertise to do the repair. However a 21 yr. old trailer isn't worth 5 or 6 thousand dollars in repairs. My estimate of cost. JR repair would do a total tearout then they would coat the inside fiberglass with a primer and sealer. Didn't say exactly the name of any product. Talked about a recent customer that he thought used a latex primer and then a clear coat Automotive spray. Then they would get rid of all the rust on the metal interiorframe and probably prime and paint. They would be able to seal any leaks and do a lamination of foam,underlay and new paneling. Spoke about the curve in our upper wall. Rob said they use a lamination glue (not liquid nails as this would just slide). We will use contact cement. He thinks the aluminum strip was just in place to mount something(at the bottom interior of the top half). I will be removing this as it is old and seems to have no purpose. The brown cardboard was someones idea at the time and doesn't serve any purpose so it is fine to remove the soggy mes off the interior fiberglass. When I get some time I will call a automotive paint supplier to see if they have any suggestions for what to use to seal up the interior fiberglass. I may even call a local boat repair place. Yester we spent time tearing the BR wall in back of our wardrobe(passengerside. Seeme to me they doubled up on underlay and paneling. The brown cardboard seemed to have some thin foam in between. The wall was totaly saturated and delaminated. Hubby is going to take a real good look at the outside seams and will reseal with the lexell caulk. Didn't get to finish the wall. We will be able to work until the snow flies. Hubby called JR to ask about getting the wet material below the guide rail. He said we wouldn't be able to do this. His tecks know how to access this area. I hope this information helps anyone doing repairs.

90 Classic restoration
 

Today we picked up a push button light switch at Radio Shack. This for our outside lt. switch that broke. Hubby says he also will also be able to put a regular Lt. switch behind the BR vanity. This way we can turn the light on from both the outside and inside. We stopped by our specialty Autobody paint /supplier. He sold us a quart of polyester resin by marson to waterproof our interior fiberglass. It is a two part mix and then you put gloves on and work pretty fast to paint it on the interior fiberglass. It sells for $24.95 a quart. Pretty nasty stuff. Be sure to read all the directions and use adequate ventilation. I will probably pick up an industrial respirator. Just noticec the product is made by Bondo 3M. www.bondo.com Sunday it is going to be 63 degrees so we will probably do this in the afternoon. The store owner told us to bring the trailer by and he will give us advice on what we might consider doing to "freshen up the fiberglass on the outside". Hubby's boss is a carpenter and he advised us to use two half inch sheets of insulation as they will conform to the upper wall curve. We ripped out one inch thick insulation. I finally broke my curved locking hemostat pulling out so much wet underlay ect. he pair we got at Harbor Freight and "sucky" You can order them off the internet. Today we went to Hobby Lobby (grand Opening) and they had a pair of locking forcepts.

90 Classic restoration
 

Worked on the trailer for a few hrs. today. Hubby had removed the aluminum strip(mounting strip). This was located inside the tophalf at the bottom. This allowed me more space to pick out more wet material. I,m only getting sm.amts. of sl. wet material. Hubby continues to use a razor scraper to remove the residue from the cardboard(passengerside) BR wall.It sure is great to now have a working lt. Thanks for soldering and heat shrink tube. Exterior lt. Was wondering if anyone knew what the reason is for the curve in the top half interior wall.? Does this design have to do with the top going down over the bottom for towing? Do all HI Lo trailers have this curve.? I don,t think I noticed the curve until we did demolition. It rained some this evening. We'll get to see if our Br.exterior lt and all the caulking hold up. We've come to the conclusion that at times we looked at the exterior caulking and thought it looked fine or just touched it up. It probably neded to be all scraped off and renewed with Lexell caulk. Isn't hindsight the next best thing besides sliced bread!!!

90HiLo, Classic restoration
 

We have been working on the HiLo off and on for a while. Completed priming and painting inside metal frame. Looks good in High Gloss Rustoleum. Such a shame to close this lovely paint job in. Hubby put the bondo on the two areas where we did a total tearout down to the fiberglass. He said the stuff is thick when applying it with a brush. Went to Home Depot and purchased a $30.00 respirator. A defenite must have or the fumes from Bondo will kill you. It dried to a shiny hard surface. Still stinks some. Today we removed the big window at the stove sink area. Found some delamination in the back splash area and will remove atr our next work session. Gogone worked really well to clean around the exterior window area. Then I cleaned it with paint thinner. Two rows of butyl tape around the inside window edge of the actual window. Reinstalled with stainless steel screws. From the outside I slightly pulled the lowerfiberglass,underlay,paneling and lexell caulk put inside the track to hopefully catch any water. Very important to read all directions for products to see what temp they can be applied at. The big windows have 32 screws each and I need to order 200 more screws. Threemore windows to pullout and reseal. We haqve had some 50 60 degree weather and this has helped us. Thank goodness for our warm furnice and longjohns!! I'm trying to figure out the best course of action to replace the insulation. Just read about Dicor using Touch -N-Seal insulating spray foam in Rvs. This would make them leakproff. This would make them have closed cell foam and would be seal tite. This is just in the R&D stage. I hope I can locate the minimally expanding Touch-N-Seal as the wall has a curve in it and The foam spray would conform to the curve in the wall. Will post some pictures soon.

90 25ft. Classic restoration
 

Attachment 1156 More tearout around door.

Attachment 1157 Tearout continues under the sink. Had to tearout quite a bit in the backsplash area.

Attachment 1158 Filler purchased from Campingworld. Insert into outside fillhole(for fresh water tank) Freshwaterhose screws into yellow threads. Black piece on left is the on/off control.

Attachment 1159 Purchased in walmart automotive. Top comes off,has a strainer in black part. Lid is removed to add buckets of water into water tank. 15 buckets will fill fresh water tank. Good exercise to burn calories so you can eat more smores!!

Attachment 1160 Home made door replacement seal. I had vinyl fabric leftover from reupholstering my kitchen stool. Round foam caulk fillsout fabric. Screws or poprivet back in place. We did the same thing on several places on exterior of trailer.

90HiLo Restoration
 

Attachment 1161 BR. passenger side wall. All cardborard scraped off with razor blade scraper. Bondo applied-shiny look waterproofing/sealer. Metal framework wirebrushed,vaccumed. Rustoleum primmer and one coat of Rustoleum High Gloss paint applied. Leftover from painting our chainlink fence. Showing wire to outside lt.

Attachment 1162 Bondo to wall above dinette.

Attachment 1163 Area above ref. metal painted

Attachment 1164Bondo to area-inside ac electrical.

Attachment 1165 Bondo gives a hard finish unable to remove cheap paint bristles.Ready for 1/8nderlay,tomorrow. Consulted with the Co. that did our house weatherization. Had to order in 1""foamboard. This will conform to the curved ,wavy fiberglass. We plan on using contact cement.

90 HiLo classic restoration
 

We used Lexell caulk where the metal structure meets the fiberglass on the inside. We caulked anywhere we possibly could. Caulk is cheap insurance against water intrusion. I don't care how many tubes we use.

90HiLo Classic restoration
 

Hubby has been going down solo to work on the restoration the last two days. The contact cement idea isn't working out completely. Hde followed the directions and it won't tack up after 45 minutes. Could be because it is a low VOC formula. Some places the underlay did adhere to the old styrofoam. He used some poprivets (stainless steel along the edges). He is going to switch to liquid nails. Thinks the contact cement will work for the new 2x8 foam board insulation. Home Depot now has this in stock. We were able to save the paneling the went around the window for a pattern. Lots of cutting and fitting with the underlay around the ref. Used the underlay pattern to transfer to the back of the new paneling. We keep the furnice running at 65 degrees. Costs us about $15.00 to fill up our 30lb propane tank. Don't care how much propane we use as it is great to get this repair done in the off season. Cheap propane because no tax at the Indian reservation.

How about some photos of the new paneling Hint Hint :)

Garyk

90 Hi Lo Classic restoration
 

Worked on the project for three hrs yesterday. Installed some foam board and some more underlay. Contact cement just doesn't work-tack up. It just soaked into the foam board. I think it doesn't work because it isn't blazing hot. Used liquid nails,generous amt. on both surfaces in a s pattern. Then seperate and let underlay tack up for approx. ten minutes.Hubby purchased a $35.00 Floor roller and he used this to roll over the wall-pressure. He used shims and screw drivers wedged at the bottom to make sure it sets up properly. I asked hubby if he would install one piece of paneling so I could see how it looked. He wants me to be patient and wait until he cuts, fits all styrofoam and underlay. We can,t work on it today,but I could take a picture of the paneling the next time we work on it. I,m just as anxious to get it finished. Maybe by Christmas.!! The paneling is called SeaMist 1/8 by Georgia Pacific. You could look this up on the website. It was raining like crazy and we did some additional caulking inside the metal cross bar BR passenger side. Also outside,seems to have sealed up the small drip/leak. On a real sunny day we couldn<t see any pin holes in the fiberglass.

90 HiLo Classic 25ft. restoration
 

Worked on the trailer some today. We used liquid nails to glue the styrofoam and some underlay. 50-50 results even though we followed the directions.This liquid nails sail it would glue styrofoam We are now using Heavy duty Liquid nails and this was much better. Hint, if you have a classic model you can mark where the metal supports

90 classic restoration
 

The advantage of having a Classic HiLo is the you can measure and know where the metal supports are in the wall. Hubby put the pop rivets into the metal supports. Today hubby got all the styrofoam installed. Sure is cold,tomorrow is only going to be 27 degrees. Then a warm up for 4 days of 40 degree weather. Had our first snow today,1.7 inches. Will be going to our Ace hardwear today to look at foam trim. We may just use it in the corner where the cap meets the wall. This will workout in this very curvy place. Today, we will be celebrating all three of our Dec. birthdays. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. I now can get a "senior citizens discount"!! Isn't life grand.!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Hope you had a great celebration....I also have a Dec birthday (16th) I've been getting those senior discounts for several years now and they do come in handy. Some campgrounds we've been to give 10-15% senior discounts and even let you use the discount you get from any camping clubs that you belong to.

90HiLo Classic restoration
 

Went to our trailer today and I saw what hubby did the last two days. Very pleased. Then my sister came and checked our remodel out. She is a very handy women. She is a working supervisor at a cabinet shop(uses her chemistry degree). Any way my husband is 11 years older than me so some restaurants just have been giving us both senior discounts for some years. Now I'm 55 and hubby is 66. My Birthday is Dec. 13,daughter is Dec. 20, and hubby is Dec. 21. The last thing I wanted was a child born in Dec. Birthday presents wrapped in christmas paper. We got some money that will be used to buy the new trim we need for the HiLo remodel. Anyway a happy birthday to you Deb.

One of those Christmas babies I see. My wife, Joyce, has her 65th birthday on Dec. 24. She has never had a birthday party because it was always so busy getting ready for Christmas. My son and I took her for dinner this evening and gave her her birthday presents so she can enjoy them separate from Christmas. We try to do that every year.

Happy almost birthday Sam, Hubby, and Daughter!!

Sam
I know what you mean about not wanting a December baby. I also had a Dec. baby. My oldest daughters birthday is the day before mine Dec.15th. It really isn't a good month for having a birthday people are just so busy with Christmas. Use to get birthday/Christmas presents together, the few birthday parties that were planned for me as a kid got cancelled because of snow blizzards.

Rich,
Happy Birthday to your wife Joyce.

Joyce says thanks and Happy Birthday to you and your daughter. Happy Birthday to all of you deprived Christmas babies.

getting back on track, I know jim at j & r told me that when he rebuilt my wall in my 88 22L, he used a 2 part expanding glue that gets sandwitched under pressure and in above 65 degree temps to form a one piece wall section. For the foam trim in the corners, we tried useing it in mobile medical units(mri,pet-ct, cardiac cath labs) and it didn't work well at all. we went back to wood trim and it stood the test of time and abuse. P.S. Happy b.d. to all, an to all a good night and hope your remodel project goes better than the weather