Mobile Business Vehicles

Pet Grooming Van Body and Interior Repair, Placentia Area

Grooming vans rot from the inside out. Hair, warm water and constant humidity attack the floor and lower panels while the tub, tank and dryers keep loading the body. OCRV Center repairs grooming vans in-shop at our Yorba Linda facility, about ten minutes from Placentia: tub and drain plumbing, tank mounts, corrosion, dryer electrical, ramps and van body panel work.

Why does the floor go before anything else on a grooming van?

Because it never dries out. Hair packs into the seams, holds water against the substrate, and the wash-down cycle refills it every day. By the time the vinyl or coating lifts, the sub-floor and the lower panel returns underneath are usually already gone.

We cut back the floor and lower panels to sound metal rather than coating over soft material, replace the substrate, treat the surrounding structure and reinstall interior wall coating so the wash-down surface is continuous again. A patch over a wet floor buys a season at most, and it costs you the same downtime twice.

The grooming tub and drain plumbing come out as part of that work. Drain routing is where most of the standing water starts, either from a slow line packed with hair or a fitting that has worked loose against a flexing floor. Reinstalled tubs get properly supported so the drain connection is not carrying the tub's movement.

Ventilation fan penetrations in the roof are the other water path, and on a humid interior they matter more than on a dry cargo van. We reseal or replace the fan and reflash the opening, because a leak here drips straight into a body already fighting moisture from below.

What goes wrong with the tank, generator and side entry?

Weight and cycles. A full fresh water tank is several hundred pounds sloshing against its mounts every stop and corner, and baffle fatigue inside the tank makes the load worse by letting it move as a single mass instead of in sections.

We repair and reinforce water tank mounting, replace cracked straps and rebuild the supporting structure under the tank when the floor around it has been working. A tank mount that is quietly tearing its anchors is a body structure problem before it is a plumbing problem, and it usually shows up as a floor crack near the corner brackets.

Generator and electrical work for the dryers is the other high-load item. High-velocity dryers pull hard and run long, which finds weak terminations, undersized runs and a generator mount that has begun to fatigue. We repair the mounting, correct damaged wiring and terminations, and verify the load under actual draw.

Side entry ramp and door damage is routine, since the ramp gets dropped, loaded and dragged all day. We straighten or replace ramp structure, repair door skins and hinges, and square the opening so the door seals against weather again. Van body panel and roof work is handled in the same visit, so Placentia owners make one trip.

What is included

  • Floor and lower panel corrosion cut-out and replacement
  • Grooming tub reinstallation and drain plumbing repair
  • Water tank mounting repair and support structure reinforcement
  • Interior wall coating replacement for wash-down surfaces
  • Ventilation fan penetration resealing and reflashing
  • Generator mounting and dryer circuit electrical repair
  • Side entry ramp, door skin and hinge repair
  • Van body panel, roof and paint work

How the work runs, step by step

  1. 1

    Moisture and corrosion probe

    We lift coating and trim at the floor and lower panels to find how far the wet material actually runs before quoting anything.

    At intake, about two hours

  2. 2

    Tub, tank and interior removal

    The tub, tank and interior panels come out so the substrate can be inspected and replaced from clean edge to clean edge.

    1 to 2 shop days

  3. 3

    Structure, panel and coating restoration

    Sub-floor and lower panels are replaced, structure is treated, then wall coating and wash-down surfaces are reinstalled continuous.

    3 to 8 shop days

  4. 4

    Systems reinstall and leak check

    Tub, tank, plumbing, dryers and generator go back in, then we run water and load the circuits before pickup.

    1 to 2 shop days

Questions we get asked

My grooming van floor feels soft. Is that repairable or is the van done?
Almost always repairable. Soft floor means the sub-floor has taken on water through the seams and the lower panel returns underneath are usually corroding as well. We cut back to sound material, replace the substrate and structure, and reinstall a continuous wash-down coating. The important part is not coating over it, because that traps the moisture and the repair fails again.
Can you fix the water tank mounts and the floor cracks around them?
Yes, and they are usually the same job. A few hundred pounds of water working against its brackets will crack the floor at the corner anchors long before the tank itself fails. We rebuild the supporting structure, replace cracked straps and reinforce the mounting so the load spreads into the body rather than concentrating at four points.
Do I need to bring the van to Yorba Linda for this work?
Yes. Everything is performed in-shop at 23281 La Palma Ave, which is about ten minutes from Placentia by Imperial Highway or the 91. Floor replacement, welding, coating and paint need the bay, the booth and the ventilation, and pulling the tub and tank is not something that happens usefully in a parking lot.

We Can Help! Contact Us Today.

Bring it to the shop and we will assess the damage, document it properly for your insurer, and tell you exactly what the repair involves. Serving Placentia and the surrounding area from our 35,000 square foot facility.

All work performed in-shop. We stand behind our work.