Floor flexing underneath and cracking noise within van (Lunar Clubman SE 2010)

[suttyd0lt]

Afternoon all, we have recently purchased a caravan and seemingly have discovered what I feel is quite a serious issue, a loud "cracking" noise can be heard when you apply pressure between the front seats and the fridge on the floor (private sale, although the issue didn't seem to be there when we inspected it) I've got under the van and can see the floor in that area flex on the joint followed by the noise. Below is a video hopefully somebody can shed some light on the issue and advise what I need to do to repair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wKF_-HjcOE&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0PkLqxB_ivyy3........

Just some further information,

- I checked for damp with a meter above and below the van with readings of 7% inside and 14% outside.

- I am around 17 stone so not the lightest.

- The van is level and isn't been supported by the steadies

- I have read about delamination but nobody really described the noise as a crack which if you watch all the video it certainly is.

- Someone had suggested nipping up a bolt underneath the van in front of the fridge but no such bolt exists.

Hopefully someone can provide insight!

 

[Jcloughie]

Might be floor delimitation, or furniture not securely fixed to the floor and walls, or the body to chassis fixings loose, or a combination of those things.

All are eminently fixable in my opinion.

Search on the forum for repair information.

John

 

[Gagakev]

Hi welcome to the forum.

First off I would NOT go in the van with the steadies up!! This may have caused the problem which you say "the issue didnt seem to be there when inspected."
I,m no expert on delamination but thought it is when the floor layers start to part company, you say yours is on a joint.
You could try a delam kit from ebay for less that £20.00, I would support the underneath first and do te repair from the top on this occasion, but not saying this is a fix but for the cost what have you to lose?
hope you get it sorted and it's not to serious.

 

[suttyd0lt]

Hi welcome to the forum.

First off I would NOT go in the van with the steadies up!! This may have caused the problem which you say "the issue didnt seem to be there when inspected."
I,m no expert on delamination but thought it is when the floor layers start to part company, you say yours is on a joint.
You could try a delam kit from ebay for less that £20.00, I would support the underneath first and do te repair from the top on this occasion, but not saying this is a fix but for the cost what have you to lose?
hope you get it sorted and it's not to serious.

Hey thank you for the reply, just for clarity I haven't been in the van without the steadies, just that I hadn't made the mistake of deploying the steadies to level the van, while I am a complete newbie to caravans I had done some significant reading before about that particular mistake.

I have read about this repair, my only issue is do I need to cut out the laminate? I have seen some vague references to it been done below which would be preferable as otherwise I'm going to end up ruining the inside!

 

[Hutch]

No no no, the possibility of a delaminated floor is there. And injectionable repairs are available.. I had a Creacky floor recently. I thought the worst. It turned out to be support panels to the floor needing the screws pinching up. 1/2 a turn on some 2vturns on others. Check them out. I was surprised. And relieved.

 

[Gagakev]

The fix can be done from either the top or bottom, easier from the top apparently but yes all floor coverings have to be removed and replaced.
As it is on a joint I would wait for more advice from the folks on here with more expertise and see what they think, they will be forthcoming.

 

[Beachball]

Welcome to the forum

 

[suttyd0lt]

No no no, the possibility of a delaminated floor is there. And injectionable repairs are available.. I had a Creacky floor recently. I thought the worst. It turned out to be support panels to the floor needing the screws pinching up. 1/2 a turn on some 2vturns on others. Check them out. I was surprised. And relieved.

Thanks for the reply, are you referring to the bolts under the van? I will give them a tighten up in the morning but the noise certainly doesn't seem to stack up with where pressure would be applied via tightening the bolts, they are down the frame whereas this noise happens across the floor joint. Unless there is screws inside the van?

If I understand delamination correctly, the bonding between the layers of ply and foam releases and then you start to get a gap due to pressure applied to the foam over time, this is then filled with epoxy as a fix, if that is accurate if I was to use some ratchet axel jacks to lightly press up against the joint, the noise should technically still happen if it stops I know I might have another issue? I find it difficult to accept something has snapped, I assume the joints are not inline to provide structure to the floor and the amount of give in ply makes it hard for me to accept It would of split.

 

[suttyd0lt]

on a slightly different subject should the noise be delamination and I get that fixed, the amount of flex in the floor is somewhat alarming when viewing from underneath, is there anything I can do particularly around the joins with some bracing, either just gluing some slats for additional strength or screwing up some stainless plate? (although I am not sure about screws in to the floor from below)?

Sorry for double post

 

[ProfJohnL]

The flexing you can see is a natural result of point loading, The symptoms you describe certainly suggest the floor has lost some of its structural rigidity and could be due to delamination. Adding bracing underneath might help.

I presume your suggestion of a steel plate was for the top of the floor, and the screws would be just to locate it. I don't think its such a good idea.

The floor shouldn't move like that, so there is something wrong. Covering it with a plate is just hiding it, and unless the plate was actually glued down to the floor I doubt it would stop the creak, and it will be reducing your payload.

Best to get to the bottom of the movement and creak, and sort it.

 

[Damian]

From what is viewable on the video you have a classic case of floor delamination, which is common in heavy use areas, particularly the entry area, cooker area and main walkways.
The creaking is most likely caused by the floor trying to flex downwards and the furniture fixings trying to resist the pull, and will eventually pull the fixings out.

The only cure is a delam repair which will involve removing the carpet and vinyl floor covering and drilling a matrix of holes over the affected areas, which may be extensive, the injecting the two part resin, leaving to cure for 24 hours then finishing the floor to smooth, if needed, and refitting the floor covering.

The holes are drilled in a 4 inch square pattern through the top layer of plywood and down to the bottom layer, but NOT through the bottom layer of plywood.
The resin is injected until it can be seen coming out of the next hole, then a dowel is knocked into the first hole and so on.

It can be done from underneath but that is very very messy and much harder to do and uses a lot more resin as gravity is determined to get the resin to go downwards, not upwards !!!!(think trying to fill a bucket with water with the bucket upside down)

Your question of bracing is a non starter as to brace needs a solid structure to brace against and that is not available in a caravan.
Secondly the lower plywood is quite thin and does not have enough strength to hold and fixings securely.

 

[suttyd0lt]

Thank you all for the replies, just a quick update. The caravan has now been moved from our house to its permanent home on a seasonal in wales, we decided to stay down and so I grabbed some chip board out of the garage and covered the area in an attempt to not make things worse, once we got the caravan levelled and the steadies deployed I went in the van and stood on the area and there was no noise at all, I removed the chip board and the floor feels rock solid with no creaks or cracks, leaving me slightly confused. The only difference between here and home is the pitch is grass and the back of the van is lower than the front therefore the steadies are closer in to the chassis at the front as they are down much further.

Happy the noise has stopped but I would quite like to understand why it was happening.

 

[otherclive]

Thank you all for the replies, just a quick update. The caravan has now been moved from our house to its permanent home on a seasonal in wales, we decided to stay down and so I grabbed some chip board out of the garage and covered the area in an attempt to not make things worse, once we got the caravan levelled and the steadies deployed I went in the van and stood on the area and there was no noise at all, I removed the chip board and the floor feels rock solid with no creaks or cracks, leaving me slightly confused. The only difference between here and home is the pitch is grass and the back of the van is lower than the front therefore the steadies are closer in to the chassis at the front as they are down much further.

Happy the noise has stopped but I would quite like to understand why it was happening.

Is it possible that your steadies may have settled unevenly. I go round twice on setting up then often may have to slightly tighten after a few hours or so.