Damp in floor

[Surfer]

Following on from my Aaargh - damp thread. The dealer is stating that they have never come across 60% damp in the floor in this model of caravan and need to consult Lunar to see if there have been other reports about damp in this area. Has any one had damp in the floor repaired and if they did, what needed to be done.
I am considering purchasing a Protimeter becasue I no longer trust the dealer to do a proper damp service, but not sure if I can justify the cost as I would really want to purchase solar panels. The Protimeter is about £70 second hand on eBay. Best new price I can find is about £120 for the Mini.

 

[xtrailman]

I have damp in one of my front lockers, its at the dealers as i write.
If the floor hasnt lifted, delaminated, then all you need to do is remove any floor covering, and apply heat via a fan heater, or even a hair dryer for localised drying, but be careful not to apply too much heat or the hair dryer will damage trim etc if nearby.

When not using heaters leave a window on vent to try and get some air flow.

If you leave a damp floor covered or damp too long unhealthy spors will start to grow.
My lockers had some black mould which i applied neat domestos too, then cleaned if off with a wet cloth.

Most floors are only 5mm thick on either side using ply, with a polystyrene type interior. If the floor has rotted it has to be replaced, some floors are not all one piece but a couple of sections, mine for example has a front seperate section joined to a larger rear one.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Following on from my Aaargh - damp thread. The dealer is stating that they have never come across 60% damp in the floor in this model of caravan and need to consult Lunar to see if there have been other reports about damp in this area.

What is the dealer messing about at!! Do they not beleive their own readings? Is damp only possible if Lunar say they've seen it before? So if Lunar say they've never had it before then yours can't be 60% What popy ****!
This makes my blood boil. It does not matter one iota what Luanr think, if the reading is genuine, then its there, and the dealer has a problem.
Any delaying tactic by the dealer to try and refer it to the manufacture is contrary to SoGA which tells retailers they must make reasonable repairs which includes the time element.

 

[Surfer]

Following on from my Aaargh - damp thread. The dealer is stating that they have never come across 60% damp in the floor in this model of caravan and need to consult Lunar to see if there have been other reports about damp in this area.

What is the dealer messing about at!! Do they not beleive their own readings? Is damp only possible if Lunar say they've seen it before? So if Lunar say they've never had it before then yours can't be 60% What popy ****!
This makes my blood boil. It does not matter one iota what Luanr think, if the reading is genuine, then its there, and the dealer has a problem.
Any delaying tactic by the dealer to try and refer it to the manufacture is contrary to SoGA which tells retailers they must make reasonable repairs which includes the time element.

Your post reflects my feelings, but the wife is even more furious as she can see right through their bullsh*t. We have always bought caravans with a hefty deposit to keep repayments minimal and this is where it pays off. A letter is being sent to the finance company stating the unreasonable delay plus hinting that we might be rejecting the caravan.
If you had listen to the workshop manager sprouting off excuses, I think your blood pressure would have gone through the roof. He actually said that he thinks a delay of 6 - 8 weeks is reasonable and we should be happy with that!
Also we cannot have any sort of mould in the caravan due to my wife suffering from asthma and my immunity system being very low so they woudl have to make sure that all damp is removed. We are considering purchasing a CEM DT-128 moistrue meter which has no pins.

 

[Parksy]

I am considering purchasing a Protimeter becasue I no longer trust the dealer to do a proper damp service, but not sure if I can justify the cost as I would really want to purchase solar panels. The Protimeter is about £70 second hand on eBay. Best new price I can find is about £120 for the Mini.

I've been following this thread with interest Surfer, and I fully understand your frustration at these excuses and delaying tactics from the supplying dealers.
One would hope that an item costing many thousands of pounds would have no defects but even if we accept that a percentage of new caravans will be affected by damp the dealers ought to be able to deal with it satisfactorily with the minimum of fuss and inconvenience to the owner. Let's face it, due to poor manufacturing quality all round they've all had plenty of practice by now

It's up to you how you spend your money of course, but an independent mobile service engineer has highlighted the damp for you so is there any reason why you couldn't spend your money on buying your annual service from this mobile guy rather than the dealership?
You really shouldn't have to buy a damp meter, just have the service and damp test done by someone who is trustworthy is what I'm getting at.
The mobile engineer has no hidden agenda and you will always get an accurate damp test done.
I have to say that although our own supplying dealership didn't exactly cover themselves in glory with their offhand dismissive attitude to points that we raised at the time, at least the results of the damp test were left with our other paperwork after each service so something is not right if you didn't have any results from the dealers.
We use an approved mobile engineer now, half the price and a better and more honest job all round.
Please keep us informed.

 

[Surfer]

Definitely keep every one updated. I think that the workshop manager is a bit peeved that we used a mobile service engineer and not the dealership, however when you spend £250 on a service you expect to get a copy of the damp report and also a check sheet and not just the invoice which is why we decided to use a mobile service technician who was £70 cheaper.
Although damp was found, an internal gas leak was also detected when doing a pressure check and repaired. We did think that we were using more gas than normal, but did not worry too much about it. As the gas leak was internal I would hazard a guess that it was there from day one, but obviously cannot prove it! Same applied to the water leak. No mention of a bung on the one tyre which makes us wonder whether they removed and checked the tyres on the last service as the bung should have been noted on the job sheet.