Anyone Tackled Delamination themselves?

[Carol_5041131]

We bought our van last October with a 12 month warranty.

After 3 short uses we found delamination in the floor.

Now, the van cost £8000 secondhand.

The dealer will not repair under the warranty although our first van was from this companys other site and they did delamination under warranty.

With the labour costs on top of parts needed I dont feel I can pay the cost or indeed want to pay, in the circumstances.

Still my question is - has anyone tackled this job themselves ?

How difficult or easy is it to do yourself?

Where would I get the 'kits' needed for the job?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[coljac]

Hi Carol I have cured floor delamination on my old van . You have to remove the floor covering ,drill 6mm holes in the plywood ,usualy 12 mm deep dont drill any deeper, then inject 2 part Epoxy adhesive ,place weights onthe floor scpape of any surpluss adhesive .Before you start get John Wickershams [Caravan Manuel]

It takes you through the process step by step .Wear goggles and gloves ,as the EPOXY adhesive is powerfull stuff ,

Good Luck Coljac

 

[terrano47]

Hello Carol i have done my floor this year, i used a 1 part resin which i got from Bailey Caravans through my local caravan dealer, brilliant stuff and worked very well, i have photos of the project e mail me on terrano47@aol.com and i will email you the pics.

 

[Carol_5041131]

Thank you Coljac & Barry.

After reading your replies we are going to give it a go ourselves. Barry - I will email you for the pics.

Thank you both very much.

One question though - can you sleep in the van within 12 hours or not?

I guess from the comments about masks etc that we might not be able to. If we cannot do the job whilst we are touring we would have to get into our storage place to do it.

Carol

 

[Carol_5041131]

Coljac

Is the wickersham manual under the Haynes name?

We have a manual in the van but we think it is a Haynes manual.

Is yours different?

Regards

Carol

 

[mkej100]

Hi Carol...i have done many delams infacthave one to do this week on a Coachman and it is fairly straight forward.

Start by carefully removing the floor covering,you may need to undo fixings holding the furniture down in order to pull the covering out from under the furniture it also makes for a neater edge when putting it back down.

Then walk/bounce around the van to establish the extent of the delamination usually through the centre walkway of the van then mark this area with chalk or a pencil.

Next gaffer tape any joints in the floor underneath the van to prevent the fluid oozing out.

you will need to then cut up some little pieces of dowel to plug the injection holes with and i usually drill a series of 3mm holes around the parimiter of the delaminated area to allow air to escape and to also use as a check so you'll know when the epoxy has reached the whole of the area.

Apply weights to the injected area to help the floor to adhere to the epoxy.

Have plenty of paper tissue ready and wear latex gloves.

I also have a suringe that has extended end as used by mechanics for drawing excess brake from reservoirs they also stop fluid from squirting back out of the injection holes in the floor.

Allow overnight to cure or up to 3 days depending on temperature.

Remove the weights the walk/bounce over the area to test.

Once you aresatisfied that the floor has now regained it's hardness you can then carefully relay the flooring and remove any tape ...job done.

Hope this is of use.

 

[Donnalesley]

I'm not sure that I would be so keen to start repairing this myself until I'd exhausted every route to try to persuade the dealer to honour the warranty. The Sale of goods act will apply and even though the van was bought second hand the supplying dealer has a legal obligation to ensure that it is of merchantable quality and fit for purpose.

Trading Standards website might be a good place for you to start looking for some advice

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/calitem.cgi?file=ADV0054-1111.txt
http://www.consumercomplaints.org.uk/links.asp
Haydn.

 

[CliveV]

Mike J - Not a job I have done yet but I will be doing so later this Autumn - thanks for the description - I shall follow it - I hate reinventing the wheel!

As for Hayden - can I suggest caution in trying to force someone to do it - even if you have right on your side - if they do the job badly you could end up with more problems than you started with!

Also - there are firms that can inject from underneath the van so the carpet etc inside does not have to be removed. BUT this Thixotropic injection system is expensive and probably above the budget for most DIYers - but I have heard that some firms will undertake a delaminated floor problem for about

 

[Donnalesley]

I think persuasion rather than force is the way to go with this.

The legislation does apply to goods and services - so the dealer would have the same legal obligation for a substandard repair as he does for supplying substandard goods.

The reason that these cowboy dealers get away with this kind of thing is that too many of us (I'm not preaching here - I have avoided confronting poor service myself in the past) are unsure of our rights and willing to let them get away with it.

Sorry -self righteous ranting is over now.

Good luck with getting it repaired.

Haydn

 

[Carol_5041131]

Thanks to all who have replied to my post.

We were quoted

 

[Carol_5041131]

Mike J

Are you a repairer ?

Do you live anywhere near Gloucestershire?

Carol

 

[Carol_5041131]

Further to my previous post - SORRY MIKE J I meant thanks for your description. Got you & Haydn mixed up.

Carol

 

[vauxhall2]

hi,delamination...frightening no if you set out your stall and take your time.this is not a two hour job as stated,when you have finished you will know why they charge so much at the caravan repair shop.i have just done ours a few months ago.i will go through the steps best i can.ours had gone in two places,next to the door entrance and next to the sink four feet away.you will find that delamination is where the floor is used most.ie next to the sink and the door entrance.first decide how much delamination you have,ie.2 feet (old school) or 6 feet,this information is required when you go to order your epoxi resin mix.one mix will cover about 3 feet by 3 feet.got mine from barrons