Help! Mushrooms growing in my carpet!

[Dkw1609]

We have a 2002 Springdale with double slides. It has been permantly parked since purchasing brand new 5 1/2 yrs ago at a camping resort in North-Central Wisconsin. I keep an extremely clean trailer. It still looks brand new inside. We winterize every year, but do not close the slide outs because they have supports underneath and siding from ground to trailer bottom. We have never had a water problem anywhere inside the RV. We just noticed 2 mushrooms growing in the carpeting right next to the bed slide-out. I also just noticed that the wood base board right next to the kitchen slide is water stained. Again, never noticed any water problem there either. We did have a problem this past winter with our vinyl flooring cracking and seperating. We had all the vinyl replaced and tore out much of the carpet this past spring. We use the trailer frequently - we are there at least 2-3 times per month. Are there leaks in our slides? Where do we start to look for the problem?

Appreciate any advice you can give.

 

[Grandview Trailer Sa]

Re: Help! Mushrooms growing in my carpet!

Yes, you have a leak.

If you have not gotten on the roof and checked for cracked caulking, you need to. Check around each and every vent that goes through the roof. Check around the slideout gasket and look for gaps that water could get through.

I have lots of customers that do what you do. For one of them, after about 3 years, one of his vent caps had gotten knocked off and water was coming in around the vent pipe, which was inside the wall, right next to a slide. He was convinced his slide was leaking, but it was not.

You are just going to have to get out and see what is going on.

Good luck and let us know what you find.

 

[Dkw1609]

Re: Help! Mushrooms growing in my carpet!

Thank you - my husband will be so happy to get back up on the roof, lol

 

[Kirk]

Re: Help! Mushrooms growing in my carpet!

While I agree with Ken, I think there is another place that you need to look very hard at. In both cases there is evidence of moisture near the slide out. I think that you need to take a very close look at the seals around the slides. Those seals do fail and with it sitting in one spot for five years, that seems like a strong possibility to me. Water damage can be very insidious and can also cause major problems that are expensive to repair so do this very soon.

The other thing that crosses my mind is the seals on your roof. Do you regularly check on the caulking around each roof opening and at each seam in the materials, as well as where the end caps connect to the roof and walls? Replacement of that caulking is considered to be normal maintenance. Most of it will last for three to five years, less if in direct hot sun. If there are cracks in the caulking or signs of it coming loose for any surface, it is time to remove it and re-caulk.

Once you find the source of the leaks and solve that, It would be very wise to examine all wood structure in the area where you have water damage as dry rot does not go away, once it has begun.

 

[Dkw1609]

Re: Help! Mushrooms growing in my carpet!

Thanks Kirk - this is all very helpful info. We are not what you would call experienced RV'rs and my husband is not the best at maintenance. So obviously this is a valuable lesson.

 

[big bilko]

I have a large T BONE steak that will go great with your mushrooms: Regards BIG BILKO

 

[tdphillips]

Hi DW! I can sympathize with you as my husband is not the best at maintenance either and it is usually ME that has to get up on the roof and that isn't very easy with a bum hip! So much to do to "keep up" with it all! Sure hope you can get to the bottom of this without it costing you a arm and a leg.

 

[hafiz mshahid]

Mushrooms are fungi that thrive on dead organic matter so they're probably growing on dead roots that are decaying or old scraps of wood that were buried/ covered by soil. If this is a big problem and you continue to find concentrated areas where the