Monday, January 30, 2012

Thank Goodness for Silicone

Rockport, Texas
Weather Condition; High 74, Low 57,

On Thursday afternoon I went to retrieve a roll of toilet paper from under the lavatory to find a roll of very soaked TP! @*!%@!

We just replaced a leaking faucet a couple of weeks ago. I got on my hands and knees and removed everything from underneath the lavatory and started searching for the leak. I noticed at the very back of the lavatory under a water line was water. O.K I have found the water leak but it’s on a water line and I don’t have the tools to make the repairs.


I emptied the basement and removed the light-weight plastic wall that protects the water lines in the basement area. I used my flashlight and looked at all the water lines and didn’t see any other water and could see nothing leaking. I turned off the water and called Jeff our new best-friend (RV Repairman). He was working in another city and said he would be by later in the afternoon.

Dawn and I hung around here. We waited and waited. About five o’clock I called Jeff and asked if he was going to be able to stop by. He said the repair he was working on took longer than he had planned and that he wouldn’t be able to make it until the following morning.

I put everything back into the basement. That is a task. Everything has to go in just so, so!

We’re so glad the club house has showers. They come in handy when something like this happens. We packed our lil shower bag and went to the club house for our showers.

We had dinner out.

Friday morning we got up walked the dogs and again unloaded the basement. I want everything to be out of the way and ready so the clock isn’t running on RV repair time, while I clear the basement, in case Jeff has to go in there for the repair. We waited for Jeff to show up to fix our water leak. We waited and waited. I finally called Jeff about ten o’clock. He explained he had twisted his knee and was moving kinda slow but would be coming by.

Several hours later, Jeff showed up. He was moving pretty slow. He said he thought he must have torn something in his knee and was not feeling so good.

He came into the trailer, went into the bathroom and laid down on the floor. He had flashlight in hand and looked under the lavatory and under the shower. Dawn turned the water back on and Jeff and I waited for the leaking water to appear. We waited and waited. No water leak! I told Jeff I knew we had a leak and had used a towel to clean it up.

Jeff decided we should leave the water on and go on about our normal business and he would return in the morning to see if the leak reappeared.

We were glad to have running water again but a little nervous to have a leak that could be doing serious damage somewhere in our rolling home.

I returned everything back into the basement.

We checked under the lavatory several time and didn’t see any water. We went on about our business.

Saturday morning came, we got up checked the floor of the lavatory and still no water!?! We fed and walked the dogs and took our showers. We just did our normal things.  I went again and checked the floor under the lavatory and now we have water. There is a leak!!!!!!

I went out and removed everything from the basement again! I crawled into the basement with my flashlight and looked around. No Leak in the basement. I don’t understand where this is leaking. I had removed the vent cover on the shower pan and looked around and didn’t see any water. There’s NO water in the basement. I’m stumped!

Jeff arrived about eleven. I told him what we had done and that I had found water under the lavatory again. He took out his flashlight and looked around in the basement. We went inside and he looked under the shower pan and then under the lavatory.

He then opened the shower door and looked at the drain and the shower walls. He said that he thought he found the problem. I suddenly had the thought of hundreds of dollars in repairs because the shower would need to be removed in order to fix the leak.

Jeff took his pocket knife out and poked around the corner of the shower pan and glass enclosure. He said I think the problem might be the silicone was missing and the water from our shower was running along the wall and out through the gap where the silicone was missing and then down the wall of the shower pan and under the lavatory.  This is the reason we didn’t see water leaking when we turned the water on. That makes sense to me.

 He recommended that I remove all the existing silicone and apply a new bead along the shower pan and the glass wall. He gave me the DAP silicone he uses. It can’t be purchased at the store.

As he left he told me that I needed to let the silicon cure for 24 hours before using the shower. He said if we noticed a leak just call him and he would come back over. He said we didn’t owe him anything for the calls.

This is great news!

I now have to get busy drying the shower and applying the silicone. I don’t have a caulk gun and so I had to go hunting for one. It just so happens that Bob a fellow RVer was outside working around his RV had all kinds of tools. I asked if he happen to have a caulking gun. He said of course he did. He was nice enough to loan it to me.

O.K now the work begins. I took a towel and wiped down the walls and pan of the shower. I then took a scraper and removed the existing silicon. Jeff had mentioned that I might also take a blow dryer and dry the seam areas. I did all that and then applied the silicon. This silicon stinks to high heaven! I opened the vent and turned on the fan. Now we wait 24 hours to see if this works!

Today I gave Odis a haircut. His body looks good but he won't let me get close to his head with the scissors so his face doesn't look so good. All the kids got a bath in the kitchen sink.

 Needless to say a few hours later, Odis was digging a hole in the sand and was covered in sand!!!