Back Corner Roof Repair

[jakleggs]

My 2001 T-2370 has a significant roof issue in the back corner, by the door. The floor by the door also has partial rot because the floor is gummy. The door frame also appears impacted. The door does not function properly. We keep it closed. The inner ceiling is also impacted in the corner.

It has been parked on a slant away from the leak. I made a half-ass top patch using some scrap plastic sheets and gorilla tape, but it still appears to be leaking. Water puddles up in the corner. The patch is about 20 by 30. The most affected area is 15X20. Due to the age of the camper it does not seem worth it to replace the roof. There do not appear to be other leaks.

Should I install a skylight in the affected area as a means to patch it?

How might I patch it otherwise? Is cutting a flap in the roof and replacing the underlayment a good idea?

 

[JohnGB]

Hi jakleggs,

I may be able to help. I looked up your floor plan, if I have it correct you have the rear kitchen, front bedroom layout. Is that correct? The brochure is fuzzy and I cannot 100% insure I read the model number right.

If you are handy with wood tools and have basic wood working skills with time to do the work, this is all very fixable. Money wise, it is practical if you do the work. The materials are not that expensive but the labor will be high if hired out.

It sounds like you have a roof leak and possibly a corner molding leak. With the damage you describing water made it way down the wall and possible into the floor.

You can do a re-roof if wanted or you can do a partial roof. Odds are high the rear siding needs to come off, and maybe the right door side siding from the back wall to the entry door frame to address the wall rot and maybe into the floor system. While this sounds like a big deal, it really is not in the big picture of things. You would do this repair from outside the camper and fix the ceiling and wall board from the outside unless you have total wall board deterioration. This leaves the inside all intact and not damaged from yanking the cabinets etc out. They are screwed in from the outside.

The roof, I would not do a skylight, that will not fix the issue, there is no structure there to mount to. You can "carefully" remove the rear roof items to not damage the roof membrane and fold back the roof membrane, repair the bad wood under it, S1 resin treat partly damaged ceiling and wall board. Then using 1/8" luan plywood or 3/16" floor underlayment, create a roof sub straight screwed down to the rafters to glue the roof membrane back down too.

The rubber roof will shrink some when you undo the rear roof molding and the gutter rails to lift the membrane. You can repair that shrunk back wall section with Eternabond tape.

That can make a sound repair that will not leak. If you like the camper enough, a re-roof is very doable, it just takes more time.

This post can help on how to repair ceiling and wall board. https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/...d-wallboards-using-resin-treatment-20029.html

In the middle of that post are pics of a roof patch on a 2005 T264SR I did. That was a small leak but it was repaired in place. What you have is a large leak and the same concept on the roof part would be the same, just it may be all the way across the back of your roof and down the back wall into the floor. Odds are high water has wicked across the roof towards the shower.

This link to my Flickr pic site has more pics on that roof patch https://www.flickr.com/photos/camper-johnb/sets/72157708097404854/

This post is for a total restore, it is much more then you would do, but it shows how the camper is built and what it would look like when you take the rear wall and right side wall siding off. https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f71/2004-t1950-restoration-project-ugly-picture-heavy-17684.html

That link to the 2004 T1950 also talks about using a moisture meter. If you really want to know how far the water went under the floor, across the roof and down the rear wall, get a moisture meter like shown and it will tell you before you ever take the camper part. That can tell you if you want to deal with a project that large. This link has more on the meter. https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f71/moisture-meters-for-inspecting-a-camper-17613.html

I am short on time right now, but will be back next week to answer any questions. Read up on this and see how it looks for you doing this. We can help with the how to, and the where to buy, just you need to do the work.

Hope this helps

John

 

[jakleggs]

Thank You.

I will post some pics. I am going to start by buying a cover, which I should have done from day one, pennywise, pound foolish. I think it started with dry rot quite some time before I bought it.

I posted about my gummy floor before but decided to see if just patching the top might solve the issue temporarily. The floor does not appear to be getting worse but the roof definitely is.

The quandary I face is the repair v. value. I got a quote for a roof replacement but I can't see sinking $3,000 more into a 20 year old trailer.

I did buy a moisture meter. The wetness appears mostly restricted to the back corner. The back wall does show some but it fades as you move away from the corner. I am little intimidated by taking off the back wall.

Any help you can give would be great.

Ryan

 

[JohnGB]

Hi Ryan,

I can comment more on a repair approach when we see the pics as they help show things you may not even think of. Try and get roof seam pics, the back wall outside, the right rear wall outside and any inside pics where you can see damage. Also take some of the front roof seam to the front siding. It too may have some issues.

Taking the siding off is not that hard, yes it looks intimidating, but is not really that hard to do with the year of your camper. Nor will it take that long to remove it. In one weekends work, 2 days, you can have the back of the roof opened up, the back wall siding off and some if needed from the right side wall up to the door way. The large time is then doing the rot repair to get the old bad wood out and rebuild the new and put it all back together. Once you open the back wall up, you will see what you are up against as a first start. You can almost do that and access the floor damage with about 1 or 2 rear wall pieces of siding removed as the water all settles in the bottom. If it looks way more then you want to deal with, then put it back togther.

Short of taking the siding off, by knowing moisture readings of the floor top scanning down, the black membrane bottom scanning up, the inside wall scans, inside ceiling scans, and the rubber roof down scans, from those readings I can about predict what you will see inside. This file may help explain how roof and corner molding leaks get into the camper and then the water keeps going down and spreading along the outer floor band board. All of the campers shown in this file are restoration campers, not local spot repairs, but it helps show the amount of good info the meter can provide and how to understand the meter percentages. This file is a PDF file stored in our FILES section. You need to be logged in to down load it.
https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=5638

A tarp or your cover will for sure be a need as once the camper s opened up if you choose to go that route, it has to be covered.

As far as replacing the entire roof, there are now high solids silicone coatings that may offer a less labor approach to creating a lasting roof as an option that you can apply. First however, any water damage on the roof has to be replaced, then the coating can be applied. I have tested one of the two more popular brands and these types of coatings and they are different then the prior acrylics coatings. It all comes with a price point, a re-roof with new rubber or TPO membrane with a wood decking sub straight will be cheaper then the coating, but takes more labor. So this comes down to, to save funds, you can go the re-roof and decking approach, but to save some of your labor time, fix it bad roof parts then coat over the whole roof is an option. It will come down to costing each option out and deciding which to do and if there is other water damage on the roof like up at the front wall seam. Or, decide, this is too much for you.

The above should give you some more to think on, show us some pics and some meter readings and we can share better repair options and what it is you may encounter.

Hope this helps.

John

 

[John 04 2670]

This is a very helpful thread. I have a 2004 2670 and both of my roof back corners have been soft for several years, maybe a square foot on the right side and a little more on the left. They got soft early, I put a liquid roof on it years ago and that seemed to work well but I have damage to the rafters and the subroof. I noticed some dirty water coming in the back on the tub which is on the back wall and the last 2 trim screws on the right side are loose. I have caulked over that and stopped any leaking for now, but the structural work needs to be performed.

I have started calling shops for some information. It seems like most want to do a whole roof membrane or a spray down similar to a bed cover. The costs seem to run from about $200 - $300 a linear foot so a whole roof on my 2670 would be $5,500 just for the roof membrane and more for reconstruction. I am considering a partial roof repair, just the back couple of feet, and then putting the original rubber roof back down again. Without John B's picture I wouldn't try it, but they are extremely helpful!

 

[JohnGB]

This is a very helpful thread. I have a 2004 2670 and both of my roof back corners have been soft for several years, maybe a square foot on the right side and a little more on the left. They got soft early, I put a liquid roof on it years ago and that seemed to work well but I have damage to the rafters and the subroof. I noticed some dirty water coming in the back on the tub which is on the back wall and the last 2 trim screws on the right side are loose. I have caulked over that and stopped any leaking for now, but the structural work needs to be performed.

I have started calling shops for some information. It seems like most want to do a whole roof membrane or a spray down similar to a bed cover. The costs seem to run from about $200 - $300 a linear foot so a whole roof on my 2670 would be $5,500 just for the roof membrane and more for reconstruction. I am considering a partial roof repair, just the back couple of feet, and then putting the original rubber roof back down again. Without John B's picture I wouldn't try it, but they are extremely helpful!

Hi John,

Your dealer repair cost sounds common for a total re-roof and rot repair is above and beyond that.

If you want to look into doing or actual doing, a partial or full repair, consider making a new post of your own and post some pics of the roof the way it is now for both the front and rear roof of the camper. And take pics of each side wall (all 4 sides) of the camper outside. These kinds of repairs work best working form the the outside of the camper to fix the damage and to try and not disturb much of the inside.

From the pics, we can suggest a few "how to fix" suggestions that you can review and then make up your mind what works best for you.

Since you have a 2004 vintage camper, I have Gigs worth of pictures of camper rot repair form 04's to 07's willing to share and how the fix them.

The pics range from full restoration to a partial patch all depending on how bad the leak was.

Consider getting the moisture meter too. Odds are high the water went down the back wall and some into the floor system. You can scan right through the shower plastic surround to see what is wet behind in. And scan the bottom black plastic membrane up to see what is wet under the camper. And you can scan the front wall inside and under the camper and see what is going on up front. There are other ways to know what is going on not using the meter in the front and rear walls but inspecting screws, but it is not as complete as the meter can be. We can explain all this is you want.

This is all fixable, it will take time if you have the time and basic wood working tools to do it. We can help with the how to and where to buy materials if you can do the work. The materials are not that bad, the time though, that will add up and where the large cost comes in if hired out. You can do the front and rear of the camper in separate times.

Let us know how we can help.

John

 

[ChipEdog]

Question for you John B,

I’m still preparing to start my trailer! Weather and work have slowed the process down, but we’re in it for the long haul...
Anyways...

You mention the rubber roof shrinking and repairing with eternabond tape, can you explain that in more detail? Or point me to a thread that does

 

[JohnGB]

Question for you John B,

I’m still preparing to start my trailer! Weather and work have slowed the process down, but we’re in it for the long haul...
Anyways...

You mention the rubber roof shrinking and repairing with eternabond tape, can you explain that in more detail? Or point me to a thread that does

Hi Chip,

The rubber roof material shrinks in all directions over time from the sun exposure I do believe. It does stop sort of, or greatly slows down. I am not sure of the rate, however after 10 plus years once you removed the outer perimeter moldings, you may not notice it at first, but when you attempt to put the rubber back down on the roof, like the back wall area, it comes up short. You really do not want to stretch it and try pulling hard to get it back to the original screw holes as odds are high you will damage it.

What I have done when it gets too much (~ 1/4" short) like on a back wall repair, I first seal the roof with Eternabond and then wrap the eternabond over the back wall siding and seal it. Then install the rear roof molding over the top with butyl sealing tape on the molding and Dicor self leveling caulk. The molding is still pressing on the original rubber as it covers about 1" of the roof membrane and the membrane only shrunk ~ 1/4".

I never mage it yet to creating a post for this, but I have done it and have the pics of the process. This is on one of my project campers, a 2004 T2475. The rear wall was very wet as the rear seam had a sealant failure. In this case I did what I call "a quick repair" as the camper needed to be used. This quick repair may be considered permanent by some, in my case it was to buy me time until I can take the whole roof and siding off and do a full restore on the camper. Which I still have not made it to yet. I dried it all out and put it back together.

It seemed the membrane shrunk more front to back then side to side, and it may be as I only undid part of the gutter rail and not all of it. But the rear roof molding was totally removed and that was the way the membrane shrunk.

Here are all 92 pics on this repair on my Photo bucket site. https://www.flickr.com/photos/camper-johnb/sets/72157669487695367/

Here are few shots from that file to show what I described above. You can see here the membrane is short in the front to back direction. The new luan board under it shows up cream colored.

Here is the 4" wide Etenrabond covering the area

Here is the completed and caulked repair with the moldings back on

Hope this helps

John

PS. On the rubber shrinking, it is not always the same. I did a front and rear corner permanent roof repair on a 2005 T264SR that the shrinkage was minimal. But, I did not life the entire back wall or front wall membrane and that I feel did not allow the entire membrane to let go. I only lifted about a 3 ft x 3 ft section and I had no issues with the shrinking that I did not had to use the eternabond treatment. I never got all the pics of those repair uploaded, but here is the front left corner. https://www.flickr.com/photos/camper-johnb/sets/72157708097404854/

 

[ChipEdog]

Ah I see....

So the eternabond is acting as an extension of the membrane basically?

 

[JohnGB]

Ah I see....

So the eternabond is acting as an extension of the membrane basically?

Yes.