RV Roof Maintenance (1 Viewer)

[RockieRV]

Thought this info was worth sharing, especially as we see so many posts relating to roof paint

RV Roof Inspection, Maintenance and Repair
Inspecting the roof sealant on an RV is something you should do twice a year, because that is the likely place that a water leak will first develop. Water runs downhill, of course, and a tiny leak on the roof will turn into a major problem within the structure of the RV.

Apparently one drip per minute (through a pinhole leak) adds up to 1440 drips per day or 10,080 drips in a week.

Closely inspect the roof sealant condition on every protruding fixture on the roof. Any cracks or thin spots can be touched up with the appropriate material. If the roof sealant is peeling or flaking in any way, then the old coating must be physically removed.

On metal roofs you can use a 1' wide scraper with a firm blade, like the ones used by auto technicians for scraping off old gaskets. For rubber roofs use a similar sized plastic scraper that won't cut the rubber membrane.

If you heat the old coating with a hot air gun, it will come off fairly easily.

So my suggestion is we have a twice yearly 'roof inspection' meet

 

[Lindy-C]

Good post Sharon

I wonder how many RV owners actually do get up there and inspect twice yearly?

 

[Peter JohnsCross MH]

So my suggestion is we have a twice yearly 'toof inspection' meet

All gums welcome!

Oops apologies, me specs steamed up

 

[johnsandywhite]

Good post Sharon

I wonder how many RV owners actually do get up there and inspect twice yearly?

:Cool: I do. It's the ONLY religion I believe in.

oh: In fact. I washed the roof 2 weeks ago. Washed the rest last week. I've been too busy otherwise to get out the Elastomeric paint and seal all the seams. :Sad:

 

[Tony Hunt]

Havent the yanks cottoned on to using fibre glass yet for their roofs

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[Lindy-C]

Havent the yanks cottoned on to using fibre glass yet for their roofs

They do on a few Tony but not many in relation to the number of RVs on the road out there.

Going back to the importance of roof checking......I spoke to someone today who confessed to not having cleaned his RV roof in the 3 years since he bought it........I promise I won't tell who you are

 

[TJ-RV]

Havent the yanks cottoned on to using fibre glass yet for their roofs

LOL Tony, we're still lighting fires by rubbing two sticks together over here.

Having owned several fiberglass boats and RVs, I can confirm that fiberglass construction doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with no leaks. We had a serious issue with the roof of our prior coach, partly due to poor design and partly due to lack of maintenance on my part. Leaks developed at seals around places where the roof is penetrated by vents, air conditionners, etc and at poorly designed seams. I didn't notice it until it had gone too far and water started pouring in over the dash.

Repair was going to be very expensive, requiring a visit to the factory because most dealers weren't equipped to handle it. We quit using the coach, but the kids used to borrow it. They didn't care, since most of the time they were camped in the desert. If it rained, they just put buckets on the dash to catch the water.

I finally got rid of it when we bought our current coach new. I did an as-is deal with the dealer, documenting everything I knew that was wrong with the coach, and charged him the obligatory $1 to make the deal legal in California. I was rid of a huge problem, but I didn't pass it along to some unsuspecting soul. After 15 years, I figured I'd had my money's worth out of it, and I walked away with a clear conscience. The dealer had a wholesaler come to the house and take the coach away. But that's another story.

 

[Tony Hunt]

Shortly after we moved into our old Newmar Kountry star that we are using as a fulltime home for now we developed a leak that used to pour in over where the television sits above the dash. After sealing over all the roof joints thinking it was somewhere along one of those the penny suddenly dropped. It turned out to be all the rubber seals had disintergrated under the 4 little orange lights that sit above the windscreen on the front of the roof. A simple repair with a tube of mastic solved the problem. Took me ages to suss that one out.