How to renovate a caravan?

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @michelekeane74. It's brilliant to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about restoring a caravan.

It really depends on the extent of the damage and how much of the floor and wall need to be removed for the repair. If there is substantial decay in the floor, you could be looking at entirely removing the floor and the walls that sit on top of it. If it is just a small section that needs repair, then you might get away with patching here and there. If you can provide some images of the areas you'd like to fix and the damage, then members like @twocutekelpies will have a much better idea of what you're working with, enabling them to make some helpful recommendations.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/33783#Comment_33783

i have removed all the walls . Damage was pretty bad. Only parts of the floor are damaged so hoping I can do patch ups. Floor is unlevel in parts to so obviously I want to level it out before laying floor tiles.I just don't know what to use to replace floors

Hi @michelekeane74,

Typically, plywood is used for floors, and you'll need to measure the thickness to determine an appropriate replacement. Ensure you thoroughly waterproof the underside so no water can penetrate.

Mitchell

Hi Michele. Is this caravan going to be going on the road at all? I notice in one of the photos that there is quite a bit of rust on the chassis, might be worth exploring further. Especially look under the walls where they connect to the floor, the "z channel" is notorious for rusting out and causing separation. The z channel isn't something that can be bought off the shelf but any metal fabricator/sheet metal place can fold some up and possibly install for you.

You're lucky that the floor doesn't go under the walls like some caravans, it makes it easier to replace. Most use 12mm ply sealed with something like Bitumen Paint underneath to protect from moisture, any thicker ply will be too heavy, any thinner will be too bouncy. If replacing just a section, make sure to line up the joins with sections of the chassis that will support your joins.

If you lift your floor out, it's a great opportunity to clean up, rust treat and paint your chassis. I put mine up on car ramps to give me better access underneath and not wear so much paint.

If you're handy with a router, you can create an overlap join between your pieces of ply, again making sure the join is supported by a section of your chassis.
Hope the above helps.

Shelley 😊

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/33980#Comment_33980

Wow this is a great reply... Thanks so much for your help... Will update soon.

So I've ripped the bad floor up and next weekend will be bitumen painting the chassis and wheel arches thanks to @twocutekelpies who commented on my post. (Really appreciate it). I'm excited about this project and would love tips and ideas. Thanks in advance

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/34114#Comment_34114

Looking good @michelekeane74.

Did you find much rust in the chassis?

I just wanted to ensure you're wearing appropriate PPE whilst conducting this renovation. There is a chance that asbestos was used in the carvans construction.

Caravans incorporated asbestos in their construction due to the prevailing building practices of that time, mirroring the standard features found in houses, such as power, plumbing, internal frames, linings, insulation, and windows. Consequently, similar to houses from the same era, various components within older caravans may contain asbestos.

Flooring Materials: The original floor tiles, as well as linoleum or vinyl flooring, could potentially contain asbestos, which was added for increased durability.

Sealants: Asbestos was commonly integrated into the mastic used around windows, following the prevalent practice for sealants and putties during that period.

Wall Cavity Insulation: The insulation within the wall cavity might also contain asbestos.

Electrical Components: Asbestos could be present in electrical components, such as flash guards in fuses.

Heat Insulation: Behind the metal cover of a heat shield, typically found at the back of a stove top or gas burner stove, there might be a layer of "fibro-type" material containing asbestos.

Fridge Insulation: In older caravans with antique refrigerators, the insulation within the fridge body might contain asbestos.

Brake Linings (Shoes): Original brake linings are highly likely to contain asbestos.

Mattresses: Some mattresses were manufactured using a combination of horsehair and asbestos to render them inflammable.

Mitchell

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/79351#Comment_79351

I never even thought about asbestos 😲. My bad. The chassis looks rust free. Next weekend I will prep the chassis for the bitumen paint. I will no more about the rust situation then. But all in all it looks in pretty good shape ☺️

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/34114#Comment_34114

Does anyone know how many sheets of floor plywood I may need for an 18ft caravan

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/79431#Comment_79431

The length of a caravan is often referred to by its floor length so an 18ft caravan would be approx 18ft floor or 5.5m, they're also often either 7ft or 8ft wide so ideally you'd lay the plywood across the van, making sure the joins are supported by the chassis. Plywood sheets are 2.4x1.2 so you'd need 5 sheets and have a bit left over.

Depending on the age of your caravan, you may have noticed it was originally one large piece with no joins and would've been laid before the caravan was built on top. As you can see from the below ad, even though the ply looks raw, it did have a protective weathershield.
one piece floor2.jpg

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/79431#Comment_79431

It's great to see that @twocutekelpies has already provided a helpful answer, @michelekeane74.

Please let us know if you have further questions.

Mitchell

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/79431#Comment_79431

So have laid the first layer of floor and will do the second layer next weekend ☺️.

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/104257#Comment_104257

Fantastic work @michelekeane74! That's looking great.

Many thanks for the update. I can't wait for the next one.

Mitchell

So lining the walls with 3mm is a lot harder than we thought. Well it's more time consuming with cutting the windows and holes for light fixtures and PowerPoints in. Awkward and frustrating so it will be a slow process. So far have spent 700$ on supplies and all from Bunnings. It's an after work trip on Friday nights, as we live an hour away, so we can get stuck in on Saturday morning. Hopefully will have updated pic next weekend. 😊😊

What would we use to fill the gaps between the plywood on the walls?

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/34921#Comment_34921

Great work, @michelekeane74. I'm living vicariously through you, as renovating a caravan has been a dream of mine for many years. Just remember, if projects like these were easy, you wouldn't experience the overwhelming euphoria of completion.

For the wall panels joints, I'd suggest using a flexible and paintable gap filler such as Polyfilla 475g P10 Gap Filler.

Mitchell

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/34921#Comment_34921

Sorry to disagree Mitchell but there's just too much flex in a caravan for gap filla, it has a tendency to crack and/or fall out. 3mm wet panels joiners are great for covering joins, corners etc, although not as great as they used to be since they've made them smaller and shallower, less room for error but still ok for making tidy joins. Variety of joiners available here https://www.bunnings.com.au/search/products?q=wall%20art%20joiner

You can see in the below pic, I've used internal corner between ceiling and wall, external corner around the cupboard, joiner between ply sheets above the door and capping around the door and where the cupboard meets the wall and ceiling.

Do you have a trim router? Using a trim bit with the ball bearing on it, these are great for tracing out the windows nice and neatly.

router action.jpg

And then to cover the edge of the window frame, you can get flexible camec window moulding from most caravan repair places. Unfortunately, the plastic angle that Bunnings has is quite stiff and not the right size.

Prior to putting up your wall panels, have you thought about where you're going to attach your cabinetry? I like to add noggins in my frame to give more anchor points to screw into. Cabinetry was originally screwed/stapled in from outside before the cladding went on, without being able to do that again, you're limited to only being able to attach to minimal frame, hence adding noggins out of either pine or meranti.

Hope the above helps.

Shelley

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/79774#Comment_79774

So the polyfilla can be sanded?

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/79784#Comment_79784

I thought about the joiners but wasn't sure I would like the look of it after painting. Because we are new to this we have a lot of joins as we found it easier to cut the 2400mm sheets in half to make the job a tad bit easier. So we were hoping there was some sort of filler that can be sanded smooth so after painting it will (fingers eyes and legs crossed) hide the fact that we have a lot of joins. Especially around the ends where it was hard to work with the big sheets.

https://www.workshop.bunnings.com.au/discussion/comment/104324#Comment_104324

Hi @michelekeane74,

No, that gap filler is not sandable. Sandable filler has little flex and will crack immediately. As @twocutekelpies has mentioned, they have concerns that even the flexible gap filler will crack and have recommended that you use joiners. I didn't recommend joiners because I presumed from your post that you've already installed the sheeting, and using joiners are no longer an option.

The filler is typically smoothed before it is cured for a neat appearance instead of sanding later.

Mitchell