Slide out floor replacement

[snoracer]

Has anyone had to replace their rotted out Slideout floor?  I have a 2007 Endeavor 40PDQ.  The underside of the roadside slide out is sagging and crumbling on both ends.  The floor appears to consist of a plastic or thin fiberglass sheet with an OSB plywood layer above it.  The OSB is rotted and crumbling.  I’m in the process of replacing the dometic 1402 refer with a residential fridge, so now is the time to repair the floor.  I just pulled out the old fridge, all of the cabinets and carpeting.  There is a plywood floor apparently covering the OSB.  One corner of the plywood (under the fridge) is slightly rotted away.  So, my question is, how are these things constructed?  Are the walls sitting on top of the floor?  What is the floor fastened to?  Suggestions for how I should go about replacing the damaged floor.  I’m sure there must be info from previous posts, but I can’t find it.  Thanks for whatever help or advice you can offer.

Tim 

[vito.a]

Search "AZ RV Expert" on YouTube.  He shows how to replace the floor without removing the slide. 

He temporarily screws 2x4s to each side of the slide and then jacks it up so he can access the underside.  

[Gary 05 AMB DST]

Is the white UMHW plastic outside under the slide attached to the wooden floor that is falling apart? How far inward from the side walls is the rotten wood? It sounds like a Talin Guardian plate "may" be the way to go.

Gary 05 AMB DST

[snoracer]

Vito - thanks for the info.  I’m familiar with AZ RV Expert, I’ll search for that video.

Gary - I haven’t dug into the floor as of yet, but looking at it from the outside it appears that the white plastic may have originally been glued to the OSB but is now loose.  I’ll start peeling the layers apart from the top and hopefully make patch panels to replace the damaged wood.  What is a Talin Guardian Plate? 

Tim

[AndyinMelbourne]

I have a 2005 Windsor with four slides.  One of the slide corners at the bottom was showing signs of the floor rot.  I took it to Talin RV in Brooksville and had the Guardian Plates installed on all four slides. This is a great product and it does a great job of fixing this congenital defect.  Here is a link for more information.  

http://talinrv.com/testimonials/

I was very happy with the quality of the workmanship and the professionalism with which I was treated from start to finish.

[snoracer]

Thanks Andy, looks very interesting.

Tim

[throgmartin]

Tim:

I invented the Guardian Plate system in 2015 due to the floor rot I had on my Monaco brand coach. I replaced one floor and 1 1/2 years later it started rotting out again. I had enough as replacing floors is labor intensive and for those who have to pay to have it done extremely expensive. It took me 2 years of working with industry experts to develop, beta test and then release the Guardian Plate system to the RV public in 2017. Since then we have sold 1,000's of plate systems. To this date I have not had a customer have a failure where floor rot returned.

It sounds like your slide would be a perfect candidate. Look over our case studies to see some of the floor rot we have corrected in the past.

https://talinman.com/casestudies/

[snoracer]

Thanks Chris - I'll be contacting you ASAP.  Sounds like we may be able to save this floor.

Tim

[BRBowers]

I’ll vouch for Talin RV and the Guardian Plate System. My ‘06 Camelot 40PDQ had a similar problem on the front street side back in 2021. Obviously I did all four slides, even though they all didn’t need it. It’s the way Monaco should have made them in the first place. They do great work and make it very easy to get the work done by having providing electric and water right at their shop. 

[Tom Cherry]

On 6/29/2023 at 5:47 AM, throgmartin said:

Tim:

I invented the Guardian Plate system in 2015 due to the floor rot I had on my Monaco brand coach. I replaced one floor and 1 1/2 years later it started rotting out again. I had enough as replacing floors is labor intensive and for those who have to pay to have it done extremely expensive. It took me 2 years of working with industry experts to develop, beta test and then release the Guardian Plate system to the RV public in 2017. Since then we have sold 1,000's of plate systems. To this date I have not had a customer have a failure where floor rot returned.

It sounds like your slide would be a perfect candidate. Look over our case studies to see some of the floor rot we have corrected in the past.

https://talinman.com/casestudies/

I'll also vouch or add that Chris' plates are great. On a trip in 2015, I must have "Curbed" a tire...probably my fault as I had to do some manuevering at a "TIGHT" fuel stop. MEMO TO THE FILE...never try to save a few pennies and use the wide open TRUCK STOPS.  I remember the curbing and narrow entrance/exit at a convenience store.

Had to replace a tire. Later when I was unloading the MH or maybe working on the batteries, I noticed a "depression" under the slide "outer" floor or the bottom of the main (long) bed slide. OK....marked it....eventually, it is getting longer. My ONLY conclusion.  When I hit the curb, the impact bounced or raised that corner of the slide and it came back down on the roller.  That impact (or maybe it was from a pothole and it was NOT MY FAULT...) dented the thin, VERY THIN, floor.  Talked to Chris and he consulted with a friend that was managing a repair/paint shop in Elkhart and was an Ex Monaco supervisor.  The consensus was "FIX IT".  The roller was not on the end....it was maybe 15" or so inboard or 15" from the rear wall of the slide. I actually cored a small hole and the plywood was thin and had a very thin plastic laminate layer on the bottom. 

The fix was to put on an extra wide Guardian Plate on that corner and a regular one on the other end. The roller on the other end was very close to the slide. I did the measuring and Chris sent me the plates. I installed them and learned a bit about the construction of the bottom plates.  I talked to an Ex GM of a Monaco Warranty shop and both the Monaco employees told me that there were "perlines" of cross braces and that the entire floor was a foam structure....vacuumed fabricated.  SO, you could not or did not want to go in and try to repair.  The dent was evident...maybe 3/4" and was exactly above where the roller was when the slide was retracted.  It started to elongate after use.  I made up my T Jack posts and did it myself.

I deviated from Chris' instruction and used Loctite PL instead of his 3M product. What I did learn was that any high strength adhesive will expand during curing.  The Loctite tech support person was very helpful. SO, after I drilled the holes and put in the pop rivets, I put the T Jacks back in place with barely any compression or lift and let that cure for 24 yours. I was meticulous and had a thin bead of the PL in sort of a matrix or pattern so that there was good contact, especially towards the side and also where the roller would be. No issues since I installed in 2016. 

The OTHER thing I learned....them blankety blank 3/16" SS Pop Rivets will destroy a hand, pliers type pop rivet gun. I had one that dated back to 1966, a really nice Craftsman and an old friend.  I gave it a decent burial....as I was called the Pop Rivet king by my kids and family....and I learned that building boats during a summer job.

Unfortunately, I needed two more....and installed them in 2018.  The only glitch was that if you have small plastic roller (3 or 4) on a bedroom wardrobe slide, check the clearance between the crown molding and the slide BEFORE you install. My Camelot had a very narrow gap on one end and the thickness raised the slide to an interference fit....and eventually frayed one of the 8 cables.... BUT, the one on the drop floor main living slide were a piece of cake...and all is well.

Thanks again for your ingenuity....

[Ivan K]

Just curious, once you install the plates that run over rollers, especially if only done in one corner, do you adjust the rollers or is the hight difference negligible to move the slide up?

[96 EVO]

If your slide was nice and square in the hole before you installed the plates, you wouldn't need to make any adjustments.