How to refurbish Roadtrek with a goal to remove musty odor?

[Bud]

"I now have a ton of work to do."

Pete, are you a lucky fellow or not? You've already done 4 tons of works, nice too.

Fortunately, it is sure not the destination, the journey.

I used to read the kit plane magazine and the like magazines, much the same.

Hope you enjoy the good times, take care.

Bud

[VTPete]

Hi Bud! Yeah, obviously I enjoy fixing things and learning "what's behind that panel". I recently got into fixing up old vintage mopeds; not so much to ride them (I ride motorcycles), but because restoring them taught me so much!

If anyone knows of a good source of foam backed fabric, please let me know!

[BBQ]

.

Fiberglass insulation?
Do you mean the pink stuff?
Those are not good for vehicles.
Try Thinsulate.

[VTPete]

Not good for vehicles, or not good for humans? The original equipment is loaded with fiberglass... but in panels and as loose fluffy stuff.

With regards to Thinsulate, can you be more specific? I've already found an alternative for the panels (based on styrofoam), but would love an alternative for the random voids that need to be filled.

[BBQ]

Originally Posted by VTPete

Not good for vehicles, or not good for humans? The original equipment is loaded with fiberglass... but in panels and as loose fluffy stuff.

With regards to Thinsulate, can you be more specific? I've already found an alternative for the panels (based on styrofoam), but would love an alternative for the random voids that need to be filled.

LOL I meant to say "not good to install in vehicles".
Of course it is bad for humans.


Polyiso have excellent insulation value. One-inch is worth R-6.
But we alll know the challenge of installing a stiff board on a curved wall.


Thinsulate is a bit more expensive,
but lightweight, flexible, and easy to work with.
Most people use the 3M Thinsulate SM600L This is the thicker variant. You get both sound and thermal insulation.
One layer is about R-5.

[GeorgeRa]

I used Thinsulate on my van and never look back. Good as sound barrier, insulation, hydrophobic, easy to work with, no VOC, reworkable in case of additional wiring or accident. Many commercial outfits began to use Thinsulate, FMVSS 302 certified. 3M Thinsulate (TM) SM600L Acoustic Thermal Automotive Insulation for van and car | eBay

[VTPete]

Ok, you guys have me convinced about the 3M Thinsulate! I'm glad I mentioned it. It looks like I need at least $250 worth of the material to redo the back. The part that's the most annoying is I can't find a place that can get it to me in less than two weeks. I'm less cheap than I am impatient!

To quote Ned Stark, "Winter's coming."

I'm very bad at waiting. For $30 and a 10 minute drive to Home Depot I can buy the semi-flexible 1" white styrofoam 4'x8' boards with the foil on both sides. My brother mentioned, "It might squeak." Oh, that would not be good.

I'll keep you posted. -Pete

Originally Posted by GeorgeRa

I used Thinsulate on my van and never look back. Good as sound barrier, insulation, hydrophobic, easy to work with, no VOC, reworkable in case of additional wiring or accident. Many commercial outfits began to use Thinsulate, FMVSS 302 certified. 3M Thinsulate (TM) SM600L Acoustic Thermal Automotive Insulation for van and car | eBay

[Tucker's little brother]

[QUOTE=VTPete;63153.)

While doing all this I made a 16 minute video of the panel removal process for my brother, John. Shall I post it?


[/QUOTE]

Pete. Yes, please do post that video as this is something we may be undertaking sooner than later.Be nice to see what we'll be up against. The mice thing is disturbing and infestations like that are apparently pretty common with RV's.

[VTPete]

A month and a half ago I started this thread with the hopes of getting rid of the musty, mildewy smell from my Roadtrek 190 Popular. Since then I've replaced window gaskets, done mechanical work, replace all the door panels, replaced all the rear cushions and even torn out and replaced all the walls and ceilings in the rear of the van. To make the RV fully complete, I just replaced the cabin battery with the largest deep cycle that would fit and replaced both the black and grey water valves that refused to fully seal.

I've put roughly $2,000 and probably 80 hours into it. That money was a combo of routine maintenance, foam, fabric, plywood, insulation, etc. It was worth doing because as my mechanic said, "This baby is in fantastic shape and only has 23k miles on it!"

I also created some 7 videos of the process principally for my brother, who shares the "fixit challenge gene" with me.

Today after leaving the RV out in the hard rain all day I came home, entered the RV and wasn't hit by bad smells. Yes, some of the panels in the front are not quite perfect, but yesterday I took it for a ride and the smells didn't bother me! As the front panels are likely easier to replace than anything I've done, I might find the time to do them as well. (Below the leaking skylight windows are the trouble spots.) Tonight I just sat in the RV, took a big whiff, looked around at the brand new interior and thought, "I might be done."

Lessons I'd like to pass along include:

• Don't buy an RV without smelling it in person.
• If the RV smells strongly of some cover-up odor (like mine did), it's a warning sign.
• Signs of water damage to look for include staining and rusty screws. Pop the covers of the snap screws and inspect for rust.
• Nothing out there works to remove mold and mildew. For anything other than surface mold spots, ignore everyone who says Frebreze, Vinegar, Ozone, Enzymatic action, etc. If it's surface mold, hot water with a bit of bleach is all you need. For anything deeper, throw it out! You might be able to kill the biological agents, but you can't remove the damage without removing the material.

A big thanks to those who gave me kind words of encouragement in this forum! Here are a few final photos of the interior. Yes, I added USB power ports. And oh, those switch plate covers have since been replaced with better fitting and matching colors. Also the snap covers are the originals, but I have a dark grey coming in the mail soon.

-Pete

[Phoebe3]

That's fantastic! Glad you finally have your baby to the point where it is usable for you! Your posts were a big help and documenting the procedure will really benefit somebody, I'm sure.

[VTPete]

Several months after I started this thread....
I've now replaced every vertical surface except one panel behind the driver's side closet as I can't figure out how to get to it without tearing about the closet. I've even replaced the horizontal pieces above the driver's head. I've even stripped the wooden shelf above the passenger door, sanded and re-polyurethaned it.

I love the shocked look on my family's faces when they see the results! Even better is the "it smells like a new car!"

On hot summer days, there will likely still be some odor from the few places I've been able to get to. Perhaps next spring I'll be able to fix that last 5%.

But, in the end I want to repeat that there is no solution for mold and mildew. None. Ignore all advice about bleach, vinegar, ozone, etc. They may kill the spores, but certainly not remove the odor. You HAVE to throw it away. You HAVE to consider all horizontal and vertical soft surfaces a complete loss.

To illustrate: After I had removed the plywood panels, I would then strip off the old fabric so that I could better use them as templates. Then, I would place the old panels on the side of my garage. People who walked within 20 feet of these could smell them. The wood itself was smelly.

For me, stripping down to bare metal, scrubbing the walls with bleach and then fabricating new panels, cushions, etc. was the way to go. I estimate I have 120 hours into this project and if I had known this was necessary, I would not have bought the RV. But, now that it's done, it's a joy to sit in.

Do the captain's chairs still smell a bit? Yes, but I covered them with a cheap car seat cover and that helps. When I save up some $$$, I might have them replaced. The bottom line is that when I get into the RV now, all I smell is fresh new carpet. Mostly.

[Phoebe3]

I once saw a poster of a small, cute kitten stuck in a jelly jar. The caption read: Everything is easier to get into than out of.

Congratulations on working your way out of a less-than-desirable situation. Your tenacity and skills are admirable and something we should all aspire to. Here's to many happy travels in your new-smelling van!

[jmai]

Very impressed with your work and continued diligence. Many of the jobs you have done stink to do but now things seem to be coming up smelling like roses. Great job!

[gklugie]

My hat is off to you Pete. This is a tribute to persistence

[VTPete]

Spring is here and the RV still smelled bad.
So, this weekend I bit the bullet and decided to refurbish the driver side from the stove forward. I had left those because they didn't smell as bad and were tricky to get to.

I removed the shelf above the driver and one screw at a time started to tear out the walls. I removed the closet as well and the flooring below it. Down to bare metal. I removed the old insulation and put the walls and insulation in my garage while I scrubbed the walls with a soapy bleach solution.

A few hours later I went into the garage and was VERY happy to notice my garage now stunk! The insulation and fabric covered panels, like all the other insulation and wall panels, were horrid.

It took me approximately 20 hours to finish the job. This included sanding down the oak shelf and adding a new coat of polyurethane. I cut new wall panels using the old ones as templates and finished them with the "Home depot rug" I had been using. It's cheap, but flexible and good looking on the walls. Really good looking!

A bit of tweaking was required to get it all back together. But, the new flooring, walls, various panels, etc. have made a HUGE difference. Now that I've replaced 100% of the walls and coverings, I can honestly say that the RV smells, well, it DOESN'T SMELL. Ok, after I've got in closed up in the sun I can still catch a hint. (I never got behind the stove or the bathroom where I'm sure there's additional odor; but it's mostly sealed up.) And, it never got wet back there.

Anyway, I think my journey is nearing it's end! It's like new inside and is a joy to ride down the road now. In other threads I've mentioned the work I did on the fresh water tank, including getting new supports in there, new filter, new black and grey valves. She's ready to go. And, I estimate she's worth at least $4,000 more than when I bought it since it still has under 25k miles and every system is working perfectly.

[avanti]

Good work! Congrats.

One word of caution, though: Don't forget that the smell comes from fungi and fungi are alive, and thus infectious. You may well be over the hump, but it is important to maintain an environment that is hostile to reinfection. I don't know enough to say exactly what that means, but I suspect that dryness is a good place to start. Might want to aggressively run a dehumidifier for awhile. Clearly sunlight is good, too. Possibly another ozone treatment at this point might be worthwhile.

Speaking of which, be careful for your garage, too.

[BBQ]

.

Take the RV to New Mexico (or anywhere hot and dry) and leave it there for a week.

[Adriana]

There is a Youtube video where they replaced the driver and passenger seats with captains chairs from a different vehicle from a junkyard auto. The remodeler was able to reuse the swivel mechanism.

[VTPete]

In the end, I found a local person selling the seats from a Dodge Caravan.
After cutting and drilling some new cross rails for the base, I was able to bolt them to the existing swivels very easily. I mean, just four bolts easy.

I like these a lot as they only have the "inner" arms that drop down and they're easier to swivel inward because they're about an inch narrower without the left arm rest. To make up for the lack of a door-side arm rest, I built a custom arm rest that replaced the decorative plate on the door. It's wonderful!

I never fully got rid of the smell as some of the original stinky insulation is still behind the sink, stove and bathroom. But, it's 98% better. I occasionally still run my ozone generator to kill off any fungus or critters. My kids and I have done thousands of miles on it since I gutted it and replaced everything!

-Pete

Originally Posted by Adriana

There is a Youtube video where they replaced the driver and passenger seats with captains chairs from a different vehicle from a junkyard auto. The remodeler was able to reuse the swivel mechanism.

[Monica998]

There are 10 simple homemade tips to get rid of musty RV smells, you can have a try. (Which I have found it from the Google as follows)
https://camperreport.com/10-simple-h...sty-rv-smells/