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Unhitched · 02-24-2019, 03:53 PM

Hi there! Long term gawker, first time poster. We just love old things turns out. Old house. Old boats. And now old Airstreams. Since we are gluttons for punishment we didnt just buy one airstream we just went ahead and bought two.

The older one we assumed we be a full reno (shell off), but we were hoping the 2000 would be more of a cosmetic job. As we we removed all the soft goods most of it looked pretty good but there was definitely a musty smell. This one had sat in someone's yard for at least a year but was pretty heavily used prior to that. There were definitely some notable leaks, but when we ripped up the flooring the wood looked excellent (for the win!).

In working on assessing the windows we started removing interior skins to see what lies beneath. Pandora's box!

See pics - beneath the front windows the glue from the pink insulation looks mottled black. This window we knew had a leak. but the windows on either side seem to be water tight and they don't seem to have the same issue below. For all sections the actual pink insulation was still nice and pink and was not discolored

- just against the inside of the exterior skins. Also the inside of the interior skins looked fine as well.

The first pic and second pic is underneath the front windows. The third is from underneath one of the side windows.

Per chance this is some chemical reaction between glue, heat, and aluminium (ha!) and nothing to do with mold (please?)?

Lumatic · 02-24-2019, 04:56 PM

There is mold and there is mold. Most are harmless. Penacylin is a common harmless mold. Black mold can cause problems. Since you are doing a reno as long as you have a good respirator and gloves I would not worry about it. Wash it down with chlorax. Might be a good idea to get a mold test kit. $40 at a big box home store. You get a petri dish you leave open for a couple of days. If you don't see any mold colonies you are good to go. If you do you send it in to the company and they tell you what kind of mold you have. If you have mold in the wall it is also possible you may have mold in the belly pan.

GMFL · 02-24-2019, 06:02 PM

That’s GLUE that was used to hold insulation in place.

Unhitched · 02-25-2019, 01:07 PM

Thanks Lumatic. We will get a test kit today and see what we shall find. I think knowing there is any mold behind the interior skins puts us down the path of pulling off all interior skins just to clean it out and start fresh. It is what it is.

GMFL we thought that too initially but up close it looks a lot like mold and being that it is specific to where we know there are leaks had me second guessing it was just discolored glue residual.

On another fun note we fed an electric cord through the basement window into the trailer to run lamps, heat. In the process it seems we relocated and upgraded a small little fellow into our basement. For joy! Dedicated part of sunday night to escorting him back into the wild (maybe back into the trailer?)

Lumatic · 02-25-2019, 01:25 PM

I found Mickey inside one of my walls. I think he was dead.

https://www.airforums.com/forums/att...8&d=1549246951

Unhitched · 02-25-2019, 05:07 PM

Ha! You are right - I don't think he will come back from that

Unhitched · 03-04-2019, 01:25 PM

Just as a follow up. It IS mold! All of them that test kit . So after doing some homework on the CDC website I am less concerned I will die, but have concluded we will take everything out, and replace to start fresh.

I am fairly convinced that I would have the result in any camper more than a few years old? Oh well....I guess this will be more involved than previously imagined.