Millie Master
Forum Member
When I built 'Millie' I was very aware of all of the dangers and associated pitfalls of fitting rooflights to panel van roofs that have strengthening ridges in them.
I spent ages searching around various scrap piles at my local UPVC double glazing installation companies before finding sections of off cut trim pieces that were exactly the same thickness as the depth of the valleys in the roof, I then methodically cut them so that they were exact fits, I then very thoroughly degreased and squeaky cleaned both the inside and outside of the roof where the tanalised strengthening ribs were going to be stuck to the inside and more importantly where I was going to be bedding the plastic trim pieces onto the outside of the roof using black Stixall which I quite literally flooded in before then very carefully mounting/fitting the MPK rooflight of my shower room. Perfect, well pleased with the result.
Roll on 5 high mileage years and hundreds of night stops later, when over in the Lincolnshire Wolds on Wednesday, continuous drips of a mucky brown watery liquid started to drip down, even when it wasn't raining outside. So yesterday we returned home a couple of days early and I immediately set to work removing the offending rooflight only to find all 4 pieces of the 25 x 50 tanalised timbers I had used and quite an area of the Morland vinyl faced ply was now sodden and rotten
So I have now fully stripped back and cleaned up both the inside and outside and in doing so I was scrupulously checking for any signs for where the bloody water had found its' way in, which, to be honest, if there were any points of entry, they were so finitely small that to the human eye, they were not visible!
Today, I will continue to clean up the entire area both inside and outside, treating the rust that has penetrated from the cut lines in the roof that I had painted after cutting, I will then be be re-painting with a few coats, before then refitting the roof on new plastic trim pieces and fresh kiln dried timbers and cutting and fitting a new entire ceiling to the shower/loo room............ What a pain it has been and all because of a couple or so minute pin prick holes through which water had seeped.
This time though, I will also be putting in a nice thick bead of Stixall around the entire van roof to rooflight joint when I have finished, after all the roof of a van isn't looked at all that closely very often is it. I will also be cleaning the entire areas around the other two installations and running a very thick bead of Stixall around them as well, just in case. Once bitten twice shy
I spent ages searching around various scrap piles at my local UPVC double glazing installation companies before finding sections of off cut trim pieces that were exactly the same thickness as the depth of the valleys in the roof, I then methodically cut them so that they were exact fits, I then very thoroughly degreased and squeaky cleaned both the inside and outside of the roof where the tanalised strengthening ribs were going to be stuck to the inside and more importantly where I was going to be bedding the plastic trim pieces onto the outside of the roof using black Stixall which I quite literally flooded in before then very carefully mounting/fitting the MPK rooflight of my shower room. Perfect, well pleased with the result.
Roll on 5 high mileage years and hundreds of night stops later, when over in the Lincolnshire Wolds on Wednesday, continuous drips of a mucky brown watery liquid started to drip down, even when it wasn't raining outside. So yesterday we returned home a couple of days early and I immediately set to work removing the offending rooflight only to find all 4 pieces of the 25 x 50 tanalised timbers I had used and quite an area of the Morland vinyl faced ply was now sodden and rotten
So I have now fully stripped back and cleaned up both the inside and outside and in doing so I was scrupulously checking for any signs for where the bloody water had found its' way in, which, to be honest, if there were any points of entry, they were so finitely small that to the human eye, they were not visible!
Today, I will continue to clean up the entire area both inside and outside, treating the rust that has penetrated from the cut lines in the roof that I had painted after cutting, I will then be be re-painting with a few coats, before then refitting the roof on new plastic trim pieces and fresh kiln dried timbers and cutting and fitting a new entire ceiling to the shower/loo room............ What a pain it has been and all because of a couple or so minute pin prick holes through which water had seeped.
This time though, I will also be putting in a nice thick bead of Stixall around the entire van roof to rooflight joint when I have finished, after all the roof of a van isn't looked at all that closely very often is it. I will also be cleaning the entire areas around the other two installations and running a very thick bead of Stixall around them as well, just in case. Once bitten twice shy
. Phil