Water Damage But No Signs of Water

Part of owning a recreational vehicle or travel trailer is keeping up with the maintenance. Owners of these types of vehicles know that they must make sure that sealed seams remain sealed so as to prevent water leakage. When water leaks occur, the signs are usually obvious: water stains will appear on ceilings, walls, and floors. In addition, when water has a chance to collect, spongy floors can be the result of rotting plywood. But, what about those times when the damage is there but the cause isn’t so obvious. Case-in-point, spongy floor but no water stains anywhere. This was an actual case that was recently encountered. Once the titled floor was removed from the damaged area, it became obvious that water stains were present and that water had caused the plywood subfloor to rot. Since there were no indications that the water came from outside the trailer, it had to have come from within. It was later determined that water lines had been routed beneath the floor where the damage had occurred. It then became clear that one of the lines had to have been leaking and caused the floor damage. Photos of the damaged floor and rotten subfloor are shown below.

Damaged floor adjacent to exterior wall

Title floor removed from damaged area, water damaged plywood subfloor found rotted