climbed on the roof today.... Uh-oh!

EMD_Driver · 05-01-2010, 06:37 PM

Went to CW today and got the Wingman for our antenna today. I climbed up on the roof to put it on and found that the whole right-rear corner of the roof is mushy. The weak area is not very large, but the right side of the ladder is mounted there. When I got to the top of the ladder, that mount was sunk into the roof, about 1" compared to the other side. The left side of the ladder is still on solid roof.

I can see where the caulking is cracked, along the area where the rubber roof meets the fiberglass end cap. I know I'll have to remove all the caulking and rebuild the corner of the roof. I'd also imagine, that the truss in the corner is also rotted away.

John, That is where the mildew smell is coming from, that we smelled in Washington, PA. The ceiling and walls still don't show any signs of water damage.

ihsolutions · 05-02-2010, 08:45 AM

Oh no! Sorry to hear that, Gary. That must have made your stomach knot up when you found that. It sounds like a big repair job, but I'm sure with the help of your friends on this site it will be better than new when you finish!

Trailblazer · 05-02-2010, 07:03 PM

OUCH!!

Sorry to hear about the mushy roof corner. I as I read your post I could feel the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. Good Luck with the repair. Please keep us informed as to how it goes.

**JohnB** · 05-02-2010, 08:24 PM

Gary

Oh boy.... Well the good news is you found it now before it went on even deeper.... I knew that smell was "not good". It smelt like my slide floor.... One does not ever forget that smell.

Good luck, post pics and slowly we keep building our data base of "How to fix that....."

In time Sunny will be dry and a happy camper once again. All is fixable just some take more time then others....

We can soon add you to the list of Sunline reconstruction artists! I think you hold the record for those who have disassembled the most….

John

frank · 05-06-2010, 07:21 AM

Gary,

Sorry to hear about that. I too know the sinking feeling you get when you find something like that.

From your description, it sounds like you should be able to repair it fairly easily, and in a manner that should leave no signs of "tampering."

Good luck, and I'll keep an eye open for the pics!

- Frank

EMD_Driver · 05-23-2010, 04:21 PM

We made a difficult decision and took the Sunline, to have it professionally repaired. There ended up being more damage, than I originally thought. The rotted area goes forward, to the entry door area. Without a level area large enough to be able to do the work, it would have taken me weeks to get it done properly.

The man we took it to, used to work at the local Terry MFG plant and then for Northwood, until they closed their doors here. He showed us some of his work, in a 1978 Terry that he restored for himself. I will ask him if I can snap a few pics of it, since it is so beautiful! It looks inside, like something that just rolled off the custom assembly line!

His estimate for the Sunline's repairs is around $800. It will probably need three roof trusses and he will make sure all the rot is removed. The $800 estimate was less than music to my ears, but I know it will be fixed and done right.

kanyonkitty · 05-23-2010, 04:41 PM

Not the kind of news you want to hear, but this guys says it will be as good as new when he's done with it.

OH yeah, Gary just loved the entrance to his driveway and then the gravel hill up to his house & shop. Gary had even asked him if the driveway was big rig friendly. 4 wheel low to get up and around the curve in the driveway.

BUT, this guy sure does fantastic work. Gary just don't have the time and even if he did I can't help with roof work, so we have to bite the bullet and pay to have it repaired. I'm hoping the weather will co-operate so we can go camping next friday for Memorial Day weekend.

Kitty

Poppy & Nana · 05-23-2010, 04:51 PM

Hope all goes well and you have Sunny back for camping next weekend.

Leo and I have not been out yet this year

but we are planning on leaving early Thursday to meet up with friends that we have been camping with for 30+ years......we can only stay until Sunday as we have to be home to march in the Memorial Day parade Monday morning at 10AM.....

Galaxiedriver · 05-24-2010, 07:09 AM

I know this doesn't ease the pain of the expense, but for what you describe needs to be done, $800 sounds very reasonable for good work.

ihsolutions · 05-24-2010, 11:01 AM

That sounds reasonable for the amount of work involved. There is something to be said for the value of your time, and how many camping trips you would miss this summer while you worked on a project like that in your spare time.

I'm sure writing the check won't be pleasant, but your camping season will be!

EMD_Driver · 05-24-2010, 03:49 PM

After seeing the work he did on that vintage Terry, I know that Sunny is in good hands. The price may seem high, but peace of mind is priceless!

**JohnB** · 05-24-2010, 08:15 PM

Gary and Kitty

Hope all comes out well. I know $800 is a lot but in the RV repair deal pending what he get's into that is not a bad price either. And then there is the trust factor. Sounds like the guy you picked has that under control.

Good luck

John

Trailblazer · 05-25-2010, 07:03 AM

Good luck with repair. As John has said, it sounds like you have picked a good person to do the repair job. Looking forward to hearing about what the guy ending up have to do and seeing the finished product.

EMD_Driver · 05-25-2010, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnB

Gary and Kitty

Hope all comes out well. I know $800 is a lot but in the RV repair deal pending what he get's into that is not a bad price either. And then there is the trust factor. Sounds like the guy you picked has that under control.

Good luck

John

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trailblazer

Good luck with repair. As John has said, it sounds like you have picked a good person to do the repair job. Looking forward to hearing about what the guy ending up have to do and seeing the finished product.

We dropped the 5er off Sunday afternoon and I went by, to look at it today. To say I was astonished, would be an understatement. As of 3pm today, he was finishing up the sealing of the roof!

He ended up having to remove the rubber roof, all the way to the air conditioner. The bud-board Sunline used had wicked water over 8 feet forward of the caulking crack. He also found another smaller leak, over the slide and repaired it too. As far as the walk-on part of the roof, Sunline put a 4' by 4' piece of 7/16" OSB in the rear corner, where the ladder was and a 4' wide strip up the length of the trailer. There is also a 4' by 8' piece across the front of the roof.

When the OSB was put on the roof, they used very few screws to hold it to the roof trusses. There was no glue, between the OSB and the trusses. He told me that it was an industry standard, to glue the roof to the trusses. Instead of replacing the small piece of OSB, he put two full sheets of 1/2" plywood at the rear of the roof. It is VERY solid now!

He also found a crack in the caulking, in the front-left corner of the roof. He couldn't find any evidence of a water leak, so he re-sealed it properly. He's gone over the entire roof, looking for any signs of problems. Other than what he found and fixed, the rest is in good shape.

It's very hard to find someone, with this much pride in their work. From what I've seen so far, I would not hesitate to refer any RV owner to him. I am thoroughly please with his workmanship and attention to detail! To be honest, his work bears a striking resemblance to JohnB's work...

His wife took tons of pictures, so I'll be sorting and posting them asap...

Galaxiedriver · 05-25-2010, 07:58 PM

"It's very hard to find someone, with this much pride in their work. From what I've seen so far, I would not hesitate to refer any RV owner to him. I am thoroughly please with his workmanship and attention to detail! To be honest, his work bears a striking resemblance to JohnB's work..."

We call those kind of people Craftsmen. You are correct, these days they are very hard to find.

It's great that all is working out so well on your repair.

**JohnB** · 05-25-2010, 09:22 PM

Gary and Kitty

So glad for you. And really glad to see the good guys finish first. A good shop at decent prices is an asset for sure.

Curious to see the pics. Happy Camping

John

PS. Thanks for the kind words. Much appreciated.

kanyonkitty · 05-28-2010, 07:05 AM

YEAH, Sunny is home, well almost

Actually Gary did bring it to the house last evening, turned it around and we left for Brunswick Family Campground. We decided to take Sunny over last night so we could avoid a lot of friday night work & holiday travel traffic while towing.

Gary also brought a memory card home with some pictures of the DAMAGE and the repair. They are loaded on my desktop, but I'm not sure how to post them, so they will have to wait for him to do. SO, ya'll might not get to see them until after the holiday weekend.

I also know that when Sunny needs any repair that Gary & I can't handle, this guy WILL get the job.

Kitty

EMD_Driver · 05-28-2010, 08:13 PM

I finally got the pictures of the repair uploaded, but most of the best shots were too blurry to use. These pictures tell the story..

Here's the rear, after the bad roofing was removed from the rear.

Between the ladder rails, was where the damage/rot had gotten to. You can also see how far forward it had spread.

A profile shot. Notice how far down, the ladder ends go down into the roof area.

He's removing the wet bud-board, as much as possible.

Almost there:

Here's the corner piece of OSB, where the rear corner had rotted.

And where it came from:

Everything that was rotted and/or moldy, was thoroughly cleaned or replaced.

Another small area, that had just started to decay:

Here's the spot over the slide, that we didn't even realize was leaking:

Same area, different angle:

One more shot:

Here's the area under the front of the fifth wheel, to the left of the pin box. The wood you can see, used to be a piece of 2 x 6 and was mounted between the fiberglass outside wall and the chassis. On top of it, is where the wall studs attach. When we pulled the screw cap from the aluminum molding, most of the screws just fell out. What remained of the 2 x 6, looked more like mulch. Kitty and I thought of just using rot doctor epoxy, but the whole piece of wood had to be replaced. Sunline used an aluminum strip, with a 1/4" lip for sealing the area where the front cap meets the underside. This allowed a huge gap, which allowed water to intrude. The offending strip was replaced with a wider strip, with a 3/4" lip on it. I saw a few construction materials and techniques that Sunline chose, which still have me scratching my head....

The new piece of 2 x 6, being screwed/glued into place:

I have pics of the repair process, but they will have to wait for another post. Hopefully you can see, what 4 years on a dealer's lot can do to a rig.

henryj · 05-29-2010, 11:39 AM

Glad to hear this got done so quickly and you're out enjoying the long weekend camping.

I'm curious about how some of the repair was done:
Was the rear truss replaced?
Is the original rubber membrane re-used? Did something replace the budboard?
The 2x6 under the nose--is all that from water running down the nose or did the trailer get towed enough in rain to start the rot?
How is the upper part of the ladder anchored now?

It's a little scary thinking about what might be lurking under the surface. Most of us are happy not to have a bit of water on the basement floor after a downpour, but it's the water you can't see that's the problem.

Henry

EMD_Driver · 05-29-2010, 03:35 PM

[QUOTE=henryj;86650]

I'm curious about how some of the repair was done:
Was the rear truss replaced?
Is the original rubber membrane re-used? Did something replace the budboard?
The 2x6 under the nose--is all that from water running down the nose or did the trailer get towed enough in rain to start the rot?
How is the upper part of the ladder anchored now?

Henry[/QUOTE

Henry,

Approximately 3 feet of the truss was replaced. That part had totally rotted away. The new piece of truss was fabricated from a piece of 2 x 6 and spliced to the remaining part of the existing truss.

The EPDM was re-used. The bud-board was eliminated all together. The EPDM was glued directly to the new plywood. Sunline used a strip of luan on the seams and that was replaced as well.

Here is a picture, where the glue is being applied to the new roofing:

And the EPDM being put back down, where the repair over the slide was done:

The ladder is now anchored to the new plywood roof. It is very solid now.

The 2 x 6 rotted, because Sunline didn't use the proper aluminum molding for this application. It allowed water to wick into the joint. The new molding eliminates that possibility. The fact that the caulking was not maintained for years on the dealer's lot did not help. It allowed even more water in. We also found a lot of dead ants, in the rotted wood. Evidently, there is a colony in the wall. We now have an ant problem inside the coach, since their colony was disturbed and sealed-off from the outside.