Some months ago I posted that my Triton GT 420 gas locker door had, for some unknown reason, turned its self into a mushroom farm. I duly removed offending fungi cleaned of the surface and thought no more about it. I noted the replies to my post about killing spores with bleach and 'Chezmart's' post stating he had experienced similar and was going to strip down the locker door to have a go at the problem.

Needless to say, Blueyonder has pointed out to me that the offending fungi are back!

So, my fellow Eribarists, what to do? How do you (if you can) stripped down a gas locker door. Is bleach the fungal terminator required?

Clippie

My memory of 'O' level biology seems to remind me that what you can see is only the 'flowering' part of the organism. Therefore to guarantee killing it, it looks like you will have to get into the innards. Are the visible mushrooms appearing around the lock? If so, you could try removing the locks and using mould killer around the inside area then sealing it perhaps with pva or possibly mould resistant bathroom sealant!

Any chance of a picture?

TP

And I still haven't got round to taking the door apart. I was waiting for some warmer weather as I will need to leave the gas locker door off for a few days.
Does anybody know how the door comes apart?

You could try some sort of fish pond product for algae. There are a few that are copper based and may kill the fungi more than bleach may have. remember to do a patch test as I don't want to be responsible for adding to the situation. Or could I state possible what you have already tried 'how to remove fungi ? in google on inter web.

I keep forgetting to take a picture but it looks like that expanding foam stuff used in DIY, but lighter in colour and a bit denser and looks like it's oozing out of the back of the door lock. There's none at the front, so it's easy to miss when it's not being used. I think rain/damp has permeated into the inside of the door whilst we had the lock off for repair last summer. Forgive my ignorance but the panel sandwiched between the inner and outer skins is like marine plywood right? If that has got damp then there is no where for the water to go to dry it out, so the panel will rot and get worse and worse, although marine ply should be quite resiliant at first. I am a bit annoyed with myself for not dealing with this earlier. We are leaving tomorrow for 2 weeks in Switzerland but when we return I am going to take the door apart in the hope that we can dry out and treat the inside panel before its irreparable, as lord knows what a new door would cost. We will have a good look before doing it but one assumes that removing the locks and then taking the seal round the edge off should reveal all.

I recall having mushrooms growing on the skirting board in the bathroom of our first house in London and no matter what you put on there, bleach etc, they kept coming back. Replacing the board worked as, if the wood remains damp and has spores, it will keep coming back. So, we have to eliminate all moisture within the door. Hopefully, even if the ply is damaged, if we can get it dry, we can use wood hardener to treat any affected part if limited.

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I hope I worked out how to upload pics! Now, in addition to the mushroom on the inside, there is evidence if it on the outside along the seal grrrrrrr! All in the vicinity of the lock though, so hope the damp hasn't travelled too far.

I will put more pics up when we attack it!

Been out for a look at my door, the outside trim is in 2 halves top half and bottom half, (you can see the joins where the red arrows are)

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Best guess as to what is inside is a wooden frame to hold the front and back skins apart and provide somewhere strong enough for the hinges to attach and stop the lock fittings from crushing the inner and outer skins together, something like I have marked in orange.

What you seem to have is wet rot in that frame the fungus on the outside is just the fruiting part the rest is inside eating the wood away.

I had trouble trying to find a way to remove the edge trim, best guess is some screws under the black seal

Thanks Hob, yes I can see the joins in the edging on ours too. I think you are right about the wet rot but if it is confined to that corner, then maybe we can get it bone dry, kill the spores and apply wood hardener. Its probably just a piece of ply but its curved, so not easy to replace. Anyway, not much I can do about it, we'll look at it when we get back in a fortnight and decide the best way to deal with it.

Isn't this a warranty issue Simon?

I would be demanding a new door if I were you. Just send the pictures and a registered letter asking them to send you a door that you could fit yourself. Your warranty is with the vendor not Hymer and this is not a wear and tear issue!
Good luck
TonyP

This stems from the broken lock last summer. Lock came away in Simon's hand in Spain. As we weren't due back for 3 months, the only thing we could do was to send it back in post and for them to send another to our daughter, who brought it over when she met us 3 weeks later. AL needed the actual barrel to match our key to it they said. So water seems to have got in there and cant get out. I just rang AL but only sales guys there today. So, am going to write an email with pics and see what they say. If the lock hadn't broke, we wouldn't be in this position :(

Dry rot is still caused by moisture. I have just emailed AL. Lets see what they say.

Thanks for all your replies guys, it is all much appreciated. I have gone out and cleaned them off again and washed with a solution of something bleachy that Blueyonder concocted in her cauldron.

I have a feeling, as pointed out that, it is in fact dry rot. I strongly suspect that once the wood in the door has been attacked, that is it! Only way really to resolve the issue satisfactorily is a replacement door. I don't want to leave infected wood to have the opportunity to produce more spores and infect other parts of the caravan! We will have to wait for AL response to Blueyonder's letter. Not sure what the make up of the inner part of the door is. When replacing the lock it looked like some sort of fiber board. I sure if it have been marine ply this problem would not have occurred.
Fingers crossed

Clippie