Water Ingress Damage We bought this 1997 Fiat Ducato Auto Roller 1.9TD about 5 months ago what we thought was a bargain of £6000, I could smell damp and knew there was water ingress in the ceiling at the rear, Been quite optimistic about being able to do the work easily myself. I knocked the guy down to £6000 from his asking price of £7500.
But on closer inspection and through taking down the ceiling, it was clear that it was no simple job, not a small leak. Massive task, leaking everywhere, in several different places from the 2 old screwed down rooflights, the bathroom mushroom vent, the Truma roof vent flu, the rear bathroom window, there was quite a large hole in roof at the rear and some pin size holes along the left hand side of the roof at the rear all resulting in damp and rotten timbers everywhere. The timbers were so saturated in some areas that the water just poured out when I took the ceiling down.
I had to rip out probably over a quarter of the structure, treat the corrosion on the Aluminium before filling, sanding down, applying a coat of special spray on the Aluminium surface on the inside, even before I started to rebuild it. I decided right from the beginning that as I would be doing so much work to this camper, that it made sense to improve it and modernise it a bit. So I ordered 2 larger Fiamma 50 Vent roof lights, better looking with better functions than the original ones, lift and tilt on all 4 sides, sliding blind and most importantly they don’t screw from the outside but use sandwich construction, screwing down from the inside. Been that bigger size enables me to cut out the 20 rusted screws around the existing ones.
I also decided that I will be changing the 3 existing Fiamma surface lights with car type bayonet bulbs for 6 flush fitting ceiling LED downlghters in chrome, operated by 3 independent switches, one for the 2 lights above the cab – sleeping area, one switch for the 2 above the seating central area and a switch for the last 2 at the rear passage to bathroom, cupboards and single bed. The switches will be CBE type one in flat line silver with pad switches, I have also improved the ceiling insulation from polystyrene to 25mm celotex with an extra layer of 1.5mm foam wrapping/packing roll on the top of the first layer of plywood facing the outside. All the timbers have been treated with 2 coats of Ronseal wood preservative, used only stainless steel screws. The job is slow but not rushing it as have job, and family 2 small boys, plus just moved into our new place that also needs completely redecorating. Progress is slow but to a very high standard. 🙂 Paul
Water Ingress Damage
We bought this 1997 Fiat Ducato Auto Roller 1.9TD about 5 months ago what we thought was a bargain of £6000, I could smell damp and knew there was water ingress in the ceiling at the rear, Been quite optimistic about being able to do the work easily myself. I knocked the guy down to £6000 from his asking price of £7500.
But on closer inspection and through taking down the ceiling, it was clear that it was no simple job, not a small leak. Massive task, leaking everywhere, in several different places from the 2 old screwed down rooflights, the bathroom mushroom vent, the Truma roof vent flu, the rear bathroom window, there was quite a large hole in roof at the rear and some pin size holes along the left hand side of the roof at the rear all resulting in damp and rotten timbers everywhere. The timbers were so saturated in some areas that the water just poured out when I took the ceiling down.
I had to rip out probably over a quarter of the structure, treat the corrosion on the Aluminium before filling, sanding down, applying a coat of special spray on the Aluminium surface on the inside, even before I started to rebuild it. I decided right from the beginning that as I would be doing so much work to this camper, that it made sense to improve it and modernise it a bit. So I ordered 2 larger Fiamma 50 Vent roof lights, better looking with better functions than the original ones, lift and tilt on all 4 sides, sliding blind and most importantly they don’t screw from the outside but use sandwich construction, screwing down from the inside. Been that bigger size enables me to cut out the 20 rusted screws around the existing ones.
I also decided that I will be changing the 3 existing Fiamma surface lights with car type bayonet bulbs for 6 flush fitting ceiling LED downlghters in chrome, operated by 3 independent switches, one for the 2 lights above the cab – sleeping area, one switch for the 2 above the seating central area and a switch for the last 2 at the rear passage to bathroom, cupboards and single bed.
The switches will be CBE type one in flat line silver with pad switches, I have also improved the ceiling insulation from polystyrene to 25mm celotex with an extra layer of 1.5mm foam wrapping/packing roll on the top of the first layer of plywood facing the outside.
All the timbers have been treated with 2 coats of Ronseal wood preservative, used only stainless steel screws. The job is slow but not rushing it as have job, and family 2 small boys, plus just moved into our new place that also needs completely redecorating.
Progress is slow but to a very high standard. 🙂
Paul