Advice for leaky doors!

[mrslamb]

Hey guys ,

So we've completed our camper, but have been fighting some struggles with leaking on the doors. We purchased two doors and found that they leaked all throughout the window, which the company resealed and fixed, but then we had some more issues with their seal by the hinges while towing in rain. The company replaced those doors under warranty and just sent us two new doors. The doors seem to be watertight outside of the camper, but when we mounted them last night, we discovered that now they leak in an entirely new spot.

Before we mounted it in the hole, it seems that the door would not sit squarely. It had enough room up and down and side to side in the hole to move , but it didn't sit very flat against the camper(the driver side door did fit flush against the camper in the passenger side opening) . We were hoping that screwing would bring it up flush and not cause any problems. After it was all screwed in, it was very visible that the weatherstripping on the door was pulled away from the frame a little in the upper corner, and there was a gap. Sure enough, when we sprayed for a water test, water leaked in there and down the inside of the door.

Our trailer walls seem square, and it seems strange that the door did not sit right before, but then the other door does seem to sit right. Any suggestions? We were thinking about possibly trying to shim behind corners of the door to bring it flush?

I can add some pictures later today if I need, any help or past experiences would be appreciated!

Thanks!

[Fiferguy]

Admittedly, I'm not the uber expert that some here are, but I'll take a stab at it.

From your description (it's hard to visualize the problem without pictures), it almost sounds like the walls you're attaching the doors to are too thin for the door you're using. You might need to build a shim all the way around the door hole you have in your trailer to make it fit.

Just a thought.

[Gage]

Did the doors come with it's own framing? If not, my best guess is that's your problem.

[mrslamb]

Thanks for the input, the doors have a frame on the outside? no frame on the inside though. I think we ended up finding a gap in putty which may have been the problem- so an easy fix... though we will still probably need to make a gap in the weatherstripping on the bottom to let the water out from what has been recommended to us.

Now we seem to be having a problem with the other door closing properly. Anybody have advice on this? We've taken it out and grinded the opening bigger for a while, and the door can fit in and move, but when we screw it in, it really struggles with closing very hard.

[doug hodder]

Somehow, something is tweeking the door and causing it to bind. I take a piece of carbon paper and open and close the door while moving it around the opening. The telltale dark marks will show you where it is binding. I hit it with a grinder or a sander. If it's all trimmed in aluminum...pull it and grind take care of the problem, then reinstall, a new screw hole may be required. It's not an exact science. Chances are, once it was all screwed in, it caused things to move a bit. It's not an ideal world that we build in. You will probably need to adjust as necessary...just my experience. Doug

[48Rob]

The amount of torque applied to the screws may be the problem.

When installing a door or window, even pressure must be placed on all the screws or fasteners, it is very easy to get some of them "too tight" or "too loose".
When mixed together, this combination twists and pulls the door/window into a shape that no longer matches the frame.
Another consideration is that the opening itself is not flat.
If the door or window opening is not flat, neither will be the object placed in it.

Rob