replace coroplast with steel/aluminum

danf · 08-27-2018, 08:39 AM

Hi,

Has anybody replaced the coroplast lining the subfloor on the bottom of their trailer with steel or aluminum?

I want to do this for rodent control.

I was thinking of using 4x8 sheets cut to size. I would put cross braces on seams and possibly every 2 feet if there is significant sag. Depending on the bracing, the sheets might be overlapped at seams. I would also add metal to the frame around things like spring mounts so there is no location where the sheets don't directly overlay the frame.
I would cut larger holes for the waste and drains so the sheets are more easily removable. Then I would cut metal to fill those areas with tight tolerances to the drains and screw those pieces into the sheets that span the frame. This should completely seal the subfloor area.

thx

notanlines · 08-27-2018, 08:48 AM

I may be your only naysayer here, but not going to happen. You need to go home and start over. A mouse will get in where there is seemingly no hole. I vote no.

**hankpage** · 08-27-2018, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notanlines

I may be your only naysayer here, but not going to happen. You need to go home and start over. A mouse will get in where there is seemingly no hole. I vote no.

I agree. In my opinion, not worth the time or money. The little buggers are not coming through the coroplast, they are coming through holes. Seal the holes and you solve the problem. Black Gorilla Tape and Great Stuff foam should solve most of your problems. JM2¢, Hank

danf · 08-27-2018, 09:58 AM

Thanks, but they are chewing holes in the coroplast. I plug the hole with steel wool and Great Stuff and they just chew another hole in a different location. Eventually I'll have the entire subfloor area completely filled with Great stuff foam.

**JRTJH** · 08-27-2018, 10:02 AM

Our Holiday Rambler was ordered with an aluminum underbelly. Every twig in campgrounds, every rock that got picked up by tires, every piece of old tire that was laying on the road all found their way to the aluminum underbelly to puncture (and create leaks) in that expensive optional "upgrade"....

Coroplast is actually corrugated plastic sheeting. It serves more than just to cover the underbelly. It also insulates as it protects what's buried in the bowels of your trailer. It's almost indestructible and maintenance free.

If you "build a fortress" of iron, steel and aluminum to stop mice, you'll be deducting a significant amount of your payload capacity by installing a much heavier "first line of defense" while significantly increasing your maintenance requirements, not to mention increasing the cost to repair punctures, cuts, creases and bends. If you decide to go ahead and do it anyway, expect increased costs to heat your RV in cooler weather and stash away some extra socks/slippers for the colder floor.....

I'd vote no to fixing what ain't broken..... It would be much less expensive and less time to just do some "critical hole plugging" on the existing underbelly. All of the manufacturers moved away from using aluminum/steel underbelly material years ago. They didn't do it just to save money, but because it caused as many problems as they'd hoped it would solve.

**chuckster57** · 08-27-2018, 12:13 PM

How much weight would it add/ deduct from the cargo carrying capacity.

danf · 08-27-2018, 01:40 PM

Thanks for the feedback. I was leaning toward galvanized steel since it's more rugged than aluminum and much cheaper. In terms of thickness I was thinking thinner than 16 gauge, maybe 22 or larger gauge. 22 is 1/32. I've also considered gluing sheets of foam board insulation to the inside surfaces to help make it more rigid plus adding insulating value and sound reduction. 22 Gauge would be about 240lbs in sheet metal, 26 gauge about 160lbs. Then you have to add cross braces, screws and maybe foam board...another 50-100lbs maybe.

It's not really something I want to spend my time/ money doing, but the coroplast seems to be the weak link. From inside the subfloor mice can get anywhere in the trailer. There is absolutely nothing that serves as a barrier. I think the first time they entered the trailer was through the "mouse door" and they ended up below the floor and then above the floor wherever there was a plumbing or electrical line. I replaced the mouse door with a marinco plug and filled every hole for plumbing and wiring in the floor with steel wool, wire mesh, and foam. But even with those filled, mice can chew into a heater duct and make their way into the heater. I'm in the process of fitting wire mesh to the heater intake and floor grates. I still have to fit wire mesh to where cool air enters the refrigerator on the side of the trailer and also where it exits on the roof of the trailer.

**JRTJH** · 08-27-2018, 01:56 PM

We live "in the woods" (literally) and store our trailer in a pole barn. It sits adjacent to 30,000+ acres of state forest. There are "critters from hell" that migrate to that "pole barn shelter" when the snow flies. Even with all the increased activity in the fall, we've never had that kind of mouse infestation.

We did our "due diligence" with sealing as much of the underside of the trailer as we could find. I do use aluminum ducting tape to seal the furnace vent and put plastic sheeting (drop cloth thickness) behind the water heater and refrigerator side vent. To date, I've never sealed or covered the refrigerator roof vent. We also use Cab Fresh packets placed on paper plates throughout the trailer and use a product (can't remember the name) that is a synthetic fox urine to sprinkle around the inside perimeter of the building.

We've never encountered the kind of aggressive entry that you describe. Either we've been extremely fortunate or there is something else going on. Have you removed all (and I mean ALL) of the food products from inside the trailer, used some type of repellant (cab fresh, etc) to help reduce the desire to nest inside the trailer?

I'm wouldn't go so far as to suggest a "fortress" is necessary. After all, there are a number of areas on the trailer frame that you simply can't seal completely. The slide rams and cutouts for the tank valves come to mind.

I'd believe there's something else going on other than "determined mice"... Based on what you describe, if you do install steel on the bottom of the trailer, I'd be worried about them gnawing through the FILON sidewall or the front/rear seals along the frame of the trailer.

66joej · 08-27-2018, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JRTJH

We live "in the woods" (literally) and store our trailer in a pole barn. It sits adjacent to 30,000+ acres of state forest. There are "critters from hell" that migrate to that "pole barn shelter" when the snow flies. Even with all the increased activity in the fall, we've never had that kind of mouse infestation.

We did our "due diligence" with sealing as much of the underside of the trailer as we could find. I do use aluminum ducting tape to seal the furnace vent and put plastic sheeting (drop cloth thickness) behind the water heater and refrigerator side vent. To date, I've never sealed or covered the refrigerator roof vent. We also use Cab Fresh packets placed on paper plates throughout the trailer and use a product (can't remember the name) that is a synthetic fox urine to sprinkle around the inside perimeter of the building.

We've never encountered the kind of aggressive entry that you describe. Either we've been extremely fortunate or there is something else going on. Have you removed all (and I mean ALL) of the food products from inside the trailer, used some type of repellant (cab fresh, etc) to help reduce the desire to nest inside the trailer?

I'm wouldn't go so far as to suggest a "fortress" is necessary. After all, there are a number of areas on the trailer frame that you simply can't seal completely. The slide rams and cutouts for the tank valves come to mind.

I'd believe there's something else going on other than "determined mice"... Based on what you describe, if you do install steel on the bottom of the trailer, I'd be worried about them gnawing through the FILON sidewall or the front/rear seals along the frame of the trailer.

Now that sounds like the type of movies the DW likes to watch. " Mice from Hell"

Pull Toy · 08-27-2018, 02:10 PM

A little aluminum foil stuffed into all access holes in to living and storage places solved it for me. Lots cheaper too, and it doesn't rust like steel wool. I also plugged in three ultrasonic rodent blasters. One at each end of camper, and one in basement. Not sure if they actually work or not, but haven't seen mouse signs in over three years! (Knock on wood!) I've also heard that moth (Camphor) balls work, but I hate their smell

p.s. Drier sheets make great mouse bedding after the smell is gone! LOL

Good Luck,

danf · 08-27-2018, 02:19 PM

I'm in the woods too. I've heard it's particularly bad this year. My wife's car has had an ongoing an infestation. We put a whole box of dcon in there a couple days ago and they ate all of it in one night.

We've been doing dryer sheets and peppermint oil and has since it was new. There is no food in it. We stock it up right when we leave and empty it out when we return. Of course they smell any little crumb that might have been dropped. They are just in everything here though. Food doesn't help, but they get in every place that gets them out of the elements.

I trapped 12 in the trailer. And have since used dcon and put a 5 gallon/peanut butter trap below the coroplast hole which caught a couple more.I scanned the coroplast today and didn't see a new hole. I'm hoping that the holes in the coroplast are from mice that entered via the "mouse door" and now are making an exit rather than new mice coming in. It's also possible they ate some of the dcon. I'm going to monitor the coroplast for a while before I start buying steel.

thx

**JRTJH** · 08-27-2018, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 66joej

Now that sounds like the type of movies the DW likes to watch. " Mice from Hell"

Oh trust me when I say that it's more than "just mice".... Between mice, chipmunks, moles and voles, there's a wide variety of critters, all of which are a challenge come colder weather. My DW is not amused with any movie with "mice" in the title... She would shoot the side off the trailer if she had a 12ga in hand when she saw one..... Yeah, trust me when I say she doesn't like them......

bob91yj · 08-27-2018, 02:48 PM

The downside to the Dcon is you don't know where they go to die. Nothing worse than a few rotting mice corpses in your trailer during the heat of the summer.

**JRTJH** · 08-27-2018, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob91yj

The downside to the Dcon is you don't know where they go to die. Nothing worse than a few rotting mice corpses in your trailer during the heat of the summer.

If you think beyond the "escape of the Dcon mice" and consider that once they leave the trailer to die (which they hopefully will do), they become a part of the food chain for other forest creatures. It seems "innocent enough" to protect the trailer with Dcon, but when they do leave to die, you also poison the fox, coyote, eagles and hawks that prey on mice as their main food source. So, the damage isn't limited to killing pests, Dcon is one of those substances that keeps on killing after the indended is gone.....

No, I'm definitely not a "tree hugger" but feel strongly that it's not always, "Better living through chemistry"...... The downside goes much further than rotting mice corpses...

danf · 08-27-2018, 03:35 PM

One of my problems is porcupines eating the undercoating off the frame of the truck. I have to check brake lines now and then. It's pretty much a continuous battle here. Some collateral damage is unavoidable.

RocNYRunner · 08-27-2018, 05:52 PM

Newbie here. What's this "mouse door" everyone is speaking of? I'm thinking I should find it and lock it!

rogeru · 08-27-2018, 06:17 PM

I'm right there with you, Hankpage.....I just did my up close and personal inspection and filled every single little crack and crevice with expanding foam, along with tightening things up with the black gorilla tape. It's THE job I hate most, crawling on my back under my 34 ft. Sprinter TT. BUT - I have yet to have a single mouse EVER get inside my trailer. Going on five years now.....

mjeronimo · 08-27-2018, 09:05 PM

I believe that they are referring to the little round door where the shore power cord goes through.

danf · 08-28-2018, 04:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RocNYRunner

Newbie here. What's this "mouse door" everyone is speaking of? I'm thinking I should find it and lock it!

It's the shore power door. With the cord out, mice will just widen the gap and crawl in. I used to just shove a rag in the gap, but that failed in the end.

I replaced mine with one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

wiredgeorge · 08-28-2018, 07:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by danf

It's the shore power door. With the cord out, mice will just widen the gap and crawl in. I used to just shove a rag in the gap, but that failed in the end.

I replaced mine with one of these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Be cheaper to leave a barn cat around!

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