Sagging Roof - 1981 Sunline

[SSF156]

11/12/2024 Update:

This is in follow-up to my roof maintenance post here: https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f71/roof-maintenance-20889.html

Well, it apparently has a leak around the chimney. I forgot to note that my roof sags (see photos) and water collects on top of my roof. It doesn't roll off and ponds therefore I believe it's causing leaks. What can I do to re-level my aluminum roof? The wall in the dining area, under the big window has a soft spot. Any ideas how I can go about fixing this?

I'm slowly accepting that I may have to remove the walls and ceiling. What's a safe way to remove the walls and ceiling and replace it? I noticed there's some light trim/moulding around the walls and ceiling.

The discoloration on the ceiling is existing from the previous owner. I "resealed the joints" but I guess now I'm wondering how to flatten the roof so water drains off. Any resources on this?

If I have to replace the roof, how do I do this? I'm sure it'll be expensive?

 

[JohnGB]

Hi SSF156,

What you describe points to water damage from leaks over the years, both from the roof and siding penetrations. Your assumptions on the roof ponding water are correct; that is not a good situation.

All of this is fixable, and the cost is much more tolerable/practical if you can do the work yourself. If you have basic hand wood tools and a few wood power tools and know how to use them, this is very doable. It will take a good deal of time, but it will be spread out if you work and do this on the side when time is available.

If you take this to a dealer or even an independent RV repair place to have it corrected, the cost will be considerable. They may not even want to do it on a camper this old, as they know the cost will be very high—more than the camper's value. A total roof job can cost $5,000 to $8,000 if it is hired out. This is a high-labor job, which drives up the cost. Then, there is still the soft wall area to do.

If you provide the labor, the roof materials will be much less. Depending on what you want to do on the roof, the materials could range between $800 to $1500 on a camper as small as yours just for the roof part. This material figure will be better defined after you inspect further for where the damage is. The walls may be a little smaller, but there will be additional.

We have many posts with pictures of people doing the above themselves. Some are total restorations, and others are just large repairs. If you'd like to fix this, please let me know if I can hunt up some of these posts.

If you want to inspect the camper more closely before ever taking anything apart, there are ways to do this that can help you with a decision on whether to start this or not. Please look at this post about using a moisture meter to scan the camper for wet walls, ceilings, and floors. If you want to know how good or bad the situation is, this $45 meter can tell you a lot.https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f71/moisture-meters-for-inspecting-a-camper-17613.html

Whatever you do, do not start this project by pulling all the ceiling and wallboard off from the inside of the camper, thinking you can repair this kind of damage from the inside. That approach usually does not work; you create much extra work for yourself. These campers are not built like houses but from the inside out, not the outside in. To do this extensive repair, it is best to take it apart from the outside and repair it from the outside.

I do not want to discourage you; we want to help you work through this and help you understand going into this, eyes wide open on what you can get into if you start into this large of a repair.

After all that, let me know what you want to do, and we can discuss the next steps. You can review this further to determine whether you're going to take it on.

I hope this helps.

John

 

[SSF156]

I appreciate your help! I guess I'm just lost on where to start. Can you point me to a thread which can get me started? I am concerned about the water damage in the ceiling, so would it be okay to take the ceiling and walls out as well or should I definitely start on the outside first? I'm going to try and do some more research later.

 

[JohnGB]

I appreciate your help! I guess I'm just lost on where to start. Can you point me to a thread which can get me started? I am concerned about the water damage in the ceiling, so would it be okay to take the ceiling and walls out as well or should I definitely start on the outside first? I'm going to try and do some more research later.

Hi,

It sounds like you want to jump right into this. OK, I'll make a few recommendations first to help get you started. I know this is all new to you; please feel free to ask questions, and I will try to explain what you most likely will be up against.

You mentioned asking if you could start removing the ceiling and walls. I recommend “not” beginning to take it apart, just yet, to answer that question. The water damage you see has been ongoing a long time, most likely for years; it did not just start. There is no rush to take it apart right now, thinking it will stop the damage; the damage is bad enough from your pics that a few weeks or months will not make that much difference. These leaks are seeping-type leaks; they let a little bit of water at a time, but over time, it accumulates and goes unnoticed until it gets advanced enough you can see it in the living space as you have now. It happened long ago. You sealed the roof seams already, which helped stop a good amount of new water from entering the camper. If you want to take the extra step to make sure no more water leaks in until you can repair it, then tarp the entire camper.

Now, why not get into taking it apart just yet?

Once you open the camper from the outside to repair the ceiling and roof damage, it will become exposed to the weather and must be covered with a tarp if stored outside or taken apart inside a building. The roof repair alone may require a large portion of the roof to be removed from the outside first and then from the ceiling inside. When there is ceiling water damage, and you can see the damage inside, that damage most times extends down to the tops of the walls supporting the roof. You may/will end up repairing the wall supports before the roof can go back on. And it will take a significant amount of time to repair just the roof. There is also walls to deal with. I'm not trying to scare you on this; I’m being a friendly camper and being upfront and honest about what you may get into.

Now, where to start? First, I recommend starting an inspection to determine how far the water damage has spread across the camper. This requires using the moisture meter I discussed and linked you to in the reply above. Yes, it will cost you about 45 to 50 dollars (please try to get the brand and model I linked), but it can save you a lot of pain if, after the inspection, you decide this is too much for me to do in repairs.

The moisture meter can scan and see 5/8" deep into the walls, floors, and ceiling to determine where the water damage starts and stops. It can find damage you cannot see by eye before you take the camper apart. There will be water damage you can't see; the odds are extremely high there is.

This inspection process will take about one weekend day to a little more the first time through this process, but it will help prepare you to make a plan for what will be involved in the repair and when the time comes.

This file can help you with the moisture meter. It is stored in our FILES section on the forum. You can download it; it helps show what I will say next. https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=5638

When you look at that file, one of my friends on his camper did what I will tell you. He scanned the whole camper, and when he found a wet zone, he wrote down the wetness numbers and the approximate length of the wet spots. Please look at pages 3 through 7 in the PDF for what he did.

You will make a hand sketch of each wall, ceiling, and floor in the camper. It does not have to be fancy; use an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper for each wall. Draw in windows, doors, and openings in the walls, floor, and ceiling. You do not have to draw the cabinets; you will only scan the walls, floor, and roof. You can scan the wall where the cabinets are by reaching through the cabinet.

Part of this is learning how to use the meter. When the meter is in wall mode, it will read 0 to 100% of a wetness scale. It is not in percent of moisture; its sensor reads a level of wetness it can see up to 5/8” behind the sensor. You scan with the meter inside the camper. You cannot scan the metal siding or roof outside; the metal will peg the meter and give you a false reading. But inside, it can look through the wall or ceiling board for wet insulation in the walls, floor, and ceiling. You scan the entire surface, and when you find a damp zone, the numbers will start at 0 to 5%, being dry, and go up to high numbers when it is very wet. You write the numbers down on the sketch around the area you are scanning. When you find a damp location, you only write down the wetness number of every 1 to 2 feet of scan, measure it, and write down the length of the wet zone. NOTE: The meter will not work on frozen wood, if you had freezing temps the night before, the camper has to warm up before it can be scanned. The meter reads 0% on snow. Snow is not wet; it is frozen water, and the metering sensor looks for liquid form wetness.

When the sketches are done, could you take pictures of them and post them? Then, I can tell you how much of the camper needs to be disassembled to be repaired and in what order.

That will get you started. I will review your findings and respond with suggestions about how best to proceed. Then you can decide, yes, I want to take the camper apart, and I am prepared to spend XX months doing this repair. Or, you may realize this is too much for me, and I do not want to take anything apart and decide whether to sell or keep the camper.

We have had good forum members tear into their campers without knowing any of this. They took it apart before asking. Once they had the camper apart, they abandoned the project because it was too much for them. I'm trying to help you avoid that situation.

Here are some posts with many pics by others and some of mine to show you what you may encounter.

This is a restoration post on a 1987 Sunline by SunlineFan. He wanted to take the camper apart and restore it as close to its original condition. This may be more than you want or need to do, but you can see the process and the water damage.
https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f63/new-project-sunline-1979-12-1-2-mc-18647.html

Here is the front wall of Thomascine's 1987 Sunline. Tommie has woodworking tools, and she did a great job repairing her camper.
https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f71/water-damage-assessment-and-repair-17458.html

Here is another post by YellowJacket on his 1987 camper. He also did a great job repairing it. https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f71/1987-t1550-restoration-19403.html

Here are two of my restoration efforts. The first one is my son’s camper; it is a 2004 T264SR. This is a newer and larger camper; when we finish it, it will last him as long as he wants it to. This camper does not have a metal roof, it has a rubber roof, Sunline changed to rubber in the 1996 time frame. It shows the complete repair. https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f71/a-winter-project-roof-repair-picture-heavy-16834.html

Here is a smaller camper, one of my total restorations. It is a 2004 T1950 camper. You can see in the pics that there was not a lot of damage you could not see inside the living space, but once you open it up, there is a lot of damage. I listed all the materials and the work hours to do this. Again, you may not go this deep into yours, but it shows the time commitment and what material costs pre-COVID. I still need to finish the post, but the camper is completed, and my family uses it. I have about $5,000 in materials, but everything was restored: new wheels, tires, brakes, the frame painted, new LP tanks, a power converter, a shower stall, and so on. This is a trophy camper now and sealed up tight against leaks better than the new one. It will last my lifetime.
https://www.sunlineclub.com/forums/f71/2004-t1950-restoration-project-ugly-picture-heavy-17684.html

If you want, I have many other camper repair pictures to show you, and we also have other members we can see theirs. The above posts will give you an idea of what it takes to repair an older water-damaged camper.

I hope this helps.

John