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Old 11-15-2021, 08:40 AM   #1
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2015 23' FB Flying Cloud
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what does this look like?

*pics attached*
We have a 2015 23' FB. Out of nowhere we noticed this blotchiness on the floor at the space at the foot of the bed (front left side of trailer).

It is only in this one spot, nowhere else. I clean the floors every week and one day there was nothing, then the next week it looked like this.

I should mention that we run a very large dehumidifier at all times (I am very paranoid about moisture and RH levels!) and ironically enough the dehumidifier is located directly next to where this popped up!!

The staining is certainly underneath the vinyl, not on top of it, which is a scary thought to me because I have a sinking feeling its mold underneath the floor.

What do you all think, and what would be your next steps?
- I'm ordering a moisture meter to test it.
- Would you go at it from underneath the belly pan first, or just start pulling up the vinyl floor?
- Any idea what might be the moisture source? Only thing I can think is that our fresh water tank fill is nearby there, but we hardly ever use it since we are on city water.

We are full timers so it will be a big project to get a hotel and start ripping up the floor, but if it must be done, it must be done...

thanks in advance!
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Old 11-15-2021, 08:41 AM   #2
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Water leak with moisture under the flooring, between subfloor and flooring.
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Old 11-15-2021, 10:53 AM   #3
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Here are the steps I would take:

1. Pull up the trim on the wall and pull back the vinyl sheet. You can do that without turning it into a disruptive project. As someone who had water damage to the subfloor beneath the vinyl sheet, there was no visual evidence of damage on the vinyl itself, so I'm skeptical that it's water. If it is, you'll want to rule that out by taking a look. Also, is the floor soft there?
2. Does the dehumidifier you're using have rubber feet? And/or have you use a rubber bottomed mat or kept anything rubber there? The discoloration I'm seeing looks a lot like a rubber and vinyl reaction. I also had this issue, and regret to report that once the damage is done, there's no undoing it. It will look ugly until you replace the flooring. Would have been nice for AS to put out a PSA on that.

Fingers crossed that it's not water.
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Old 11-15-2021, 11:06 AM   #4
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It does look like it was caused by moisture.

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Old 11-15-2021, 02:45 PM   #5
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Originally Posted by coltnkat View Post
Here are the steps I would take:

1. Pull up the trim on the wall and pull back the vinyl sheet. You can do that without turning it into a disruptive project. As someone who had water damage to the subfloor beneath the vinyl sheet, there was no visual evidence of damage on the vinyl itself, so I'm skeptical that it's water. If it is, you'll want to rule that out by taking a look. Also, is the floor soft there?
2. Does the dehumidifier you're using have rubber feet? And/or have you use a rubber bottomed mat or kept anything rubber there? The discoloration I'm seeing looks a lot like a rubber and vinyl reaction. I also had this issue, and regret to report that once the damage is done, there's no undoing it. It will look ugly until you replace the flooring. Would have been nice for AS to put out a PSA on that.

Fingers crossed that it's not water.

Thank you! We do sometimes put a rubbermaid tub right there, although it doesn't live there permanently. Interesting that it could be a reaction to the rubbermaid bin - I am crossing my fingers for that!

If we pull up some of the vinyl and it's not moisture, I imagine it's pretty easy to glue back down?
We may actually just decide to replace that part of the floor anyways if it's stained and hopefully it won't be too unsightly to have a square that doesn't match the rest perfectly.
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Old 11-16-2021, 10:59 AM   #6
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I would pull the city water hook up loose and look at the back mine leaked and made the same stain on floor .
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Old 11-16-2021, 01:44 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nc.streamer View Post
Thank you! We do sometimes put a rubbermaid tub right there, although it doesn't live there permanently. Interesting that it could be a reaction to the rubbermaid bin - I am crossing my fingers for that!

If we pull up some of the vinyl and it's not moisture, I imagine it's pretty easy to glue back down?
We may actually just decide to replace that part of the floor anyways if it's stained and hopefully it won't be too unsightly to have a square that doesn't match the rest perfectly.
Easy to pull up because it's a 'floating floor'...no glue.

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Old 11-17-2021, 08:06 PM   #8
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Your floor is soaked and vinyl ruined. It has to be torn up, leak(s) found, sealed or repaired, and new flooring installed. Waiting risks more damage to plywood subfloor.
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Old 11-17-2021, 10:47 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gulliver72;
Your floor is soaked and vinyl ruined. It has to be torn up, leak(s) found, sealed or repaired, and new flooring installed. Waiting risks more damage to plywood subfloor.


X2….yup.
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Old 11-21-2021, 10:57 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gulliver72 View Post
Your floor is soaked and vinyl ruined. It has to be torn up, leak(s) found, sealed or repaired, and new flooring installed. Waiting risks more damage to plywood subfloor.

Glad to read that YOU actually went to their AS and inspected it and came to this conclusion.
They should be very thankful that you did this for them.
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Old 11-21-2021, 11:03 AM   #11
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Agree with prion posts regarding water leak. Same happened to us. Ensure that your sub-floor is COMPLETELY dry, or replaced before laying new vinyl, or you will be doing it all again. Like we did.
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Old 11-21-2021, 12:05 PM   #12
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We have this exact problem too and we called AS about it. Our bedroom window had a small leak (we have since caulked all around it and that problem is solved) but according to AS they use a black adhesive (not since 2019 which is our AS year) and if the flooring or subfloor gets moist or wet it leaches through. It is not mold. That was my fear but the black splotching is the adhesive. We are having AS repair it next spring. They only do one floor a week and the end of March was the earliest we could make the appt. The floor has since dried with no further leaching or issues so you probably want to be sure you don’t have a leak somewhere.
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Old 11-21-2021, 12:11 PM   #13
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I have seen these before, but in a house. Looks like mold stains. There is/was water somewhere for an extended period of time. A lot of great trouble shooting suggestions have been offered. We ran a dehumidifier until the source was located.
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Old 11-21-2021, 01:34 PM   #14
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Originally Posted by kbmwrs View Post
Glad to read that YOU actually went to their AS and inspected it and came to this conclusion.
They should be very thankful that you did this for them.
No need to inspect it to know what the problem is. Vinyl flooring needs to be fairly wet underneath for a prolonged period of time before you see the evidence on top. When you see this kind of staining coming from under the flooring, it is a good bet that the plywood subfloor has been soaked for some time. It is unfortunate news, but accurate non the less.
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Old 11-21-2021, 06:11 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by forestgirl View Post
We have this exact problem too and we called AS about it. Our bedroom window had a small leak (we have since caulked all around it and that problem is solved) but according to AS they use a black adhesive (not since 2019 which is our AS year) and if the flooring or subfloor gets moist or wet it leaches through. It is not mold. That was my fear but the black splotching is the adhesive. We are having AS repair it next spring. They only do one floor a week and the end of March was the earliest we could make the appt. The floor has since dried with no further leaching or issues so you probably want to be sure you don’t have a leak somewhere.
Same thing happened to us. We had a stain under the Airstream mat with the rubber back. It was wet under the mat from a leak. Airstream said it was a black undercoating (adhesive) welling up from under the floor.
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Old 11-21-2021, 06:18 PM   #16
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Glad to read that YOU actually went to their AS and inspected it and came to this conclusion.
They should be very thankful that you did this for them.
I also made the trip and reached the same conclusion.

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Old 11-22-2021, 11:05 AM   #17
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I had the same problem at my rear end and around the door. Water for prolonged time. Pulled up the flooring replaced decking where needed and installed new flooring.
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Old 11-23-2021, 07:11 AM   #18
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Update

Ok, bad news, it is water. I bought a $28 moisture meter on Amazon and it lit up like the fourth of July when I put it on the spots. Using the meter, we were able to figure out that the water is confined to one area only- surrounding the large closet next to the fridge in our 23fb layout. The water pump and regulator are both under there, and when we opened it up everything was soaked under there with multiple of the PEX tubes leaking.

Husband is a marine engineer, so luckily knows about all of this stuff. Was tinkering around with it for a while and he says he hates that PEX stuff, it's not the greatest. Good news is the subfloor is not soft, rotted, or damaged, just a little wet. We ran a mega dehumidifier all night last night near the area and it already looks very dry.

Anyways, we believe that has been the source of our leak and now we are likely looking at spending our Thanksgiving "holiday" ripping up our vinyl floors, drying out the sub-floor, and replacing vinyl. Any tips/help for that is greatly appreciated (of course we have also been scouring Youtube videos)

Thanks for the tips and Happy Thanksgiving all.
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Old 11-23-2021, 07:24 AM   #19
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Originally Posted by nc.streamer View Post
Ok, bad news, it is water. I bought a $28 moisture meter on Amazon and it lit up like the fourth of July when I put it on the spots. Using the meter, we were able to figure out that the water is confined to one area only- surrounding the large closet next to the fridge in our 23fb layout. The water pump and regulator are both under there, and when we opened it up everything was soaked under there with multiple of the PEX tubes leaking.

Husband is a marine engineer, so luckily knows about all of this stuff. Was tinkering around with it for a while and he says he hates that PEX stuff, it's not the greatest. Good news is the subfloor is not soft, rotted, or damaged, just a little wet. We ran a mega dehumidifier all night last night near the area and it already looks very dry.

Anyways, we believe that has been the source of our leak and now we are likely looking at spending our Thanksgiving "holiday" ripping up our vinyl floors, drying out the sub-floor, and replacing vinyl. Any tips/help for that is greatly appreciated (of course we have also been scouring Youtube videos)

Thanks for the tips and Happy Thanksgiving all.
I acknowledge that your pex is contributing to the leak, but while in there you may also like to consider the fridge vent.

I'm not sure how your fridge vent and chimney are configured, but on our '87 the chimney was poorly sealed at the roof seam. Water entered, ran down the inside of the wall, and pooled on the floor. This area is well hidden behind cabinets, and requires a gymnast's suppleness to get your eyes into the offending area. The fridge vent on the side wall is huge and when we get horizontal rain/high winds with rain the water blows in and pools on the floor as well. Having done our shell off I'm at a loss to decide what flooring to put over the new subfloor as I'd prefer something breathable vs waterproof. When we pulled up the old (beautiful) vinyl plank waterproof flooring it was gross underneath from trapped moisture. Having read everything that I can find on the topic here as well as the fbook A/S group, I've narrowed it down to three options: 1) don't use a glued down flooring that is waterproof; 2) use a glued down flooring that is waterproof; and 3) don't use a waterproof flooring. LOL. Lots of opinions! Cheers!
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