Having read up a little on what happens when you buy a terribly old caravan on eBay, my next purchase was a damp meter.
This showed that essentially the timbers around the roof light are very damp (possibly rotten but....) and also the ceiling. Having poked it around a bit more, I decided that the roof light was leaky. So here's what I did:
- Tried to take off the roof light so I could put it back in and seal it properly. Discovered I couldn't, because the screws are knackered.
- Yanked off all the old mastic on this and the toilet vent.
- Used Captain Tolleys Creeping Crack Cure around the edges instead. Then applied liberally around all of the seams, trims and openings. This stuff is good shit. I plan to use it on everything in my life which is even remotely broken.
- Mastered the mastic gun and resealed both openings.
- Whacked some mastic tape over the top as well, just to be sure.
Having also established that removing the very damp timbers would probably make the whole caravan break, and reminding myself that it's a 30 year old caravan and really not worth it, I also painted the timbers inside with a can of wet rot cure. This seems to have hardened it up well and the damp readings are now very low, so I'm hoping that is Good Enough.
I've also pulled down the wet bits of the ceiling, ready to cut and fit some new ply.
The other thing I have managed to do is some new (black) seals along all of the awning rails.
Two of the windows are okay, the others have been screwed shut and will be staying that way until I get some new "window thingies". Once said thingies are in place, I will be replacing the window seals too. Waterproofing is the main task at the moment, before the Mancunian weather turns...well...Mancunian. I have cut some timber to fix along the bottom rails, to make up for some bits which appear to have fallen off, but need to treat them before I screw them in.
There's all winter to decorate the inside, and next spring to finally sand and repaint the outside. Those will be the fun parts.
