Type A gas motorome roof water damage

[gregsisk]

I own (or rather, I am paying a bank) a 2011 Forest River Georgetown model 378TS gas motorhome. It has a fiberglass over lauan roof. (A service person at the Forest River factory recently told me that my roof has aluminum trusses.) I bought the motorhome from a Forest River dealer in Lake City, Florida brand new in 2011. It is 38 feet long and has three slides.

Almost from the first year, I have noticed evidence of roof water leaks at various times over the past seven years. When I have seen evidence of a leak, I always got up on the roof and applied self leveling caulk all around the area of the leak. I recently noticed fairly bad leaking (overhead light fixtures discoloring, dripping on the carpet floor) near the front air conditioner and became very concerned.

I went online and did extensive searching for a solution to the leak problem. I live in Tallahassee, Florida and I was impressed by the RVRoof website. They are located in Green Cove Springs, Florida near Jacksonville, Florida. I made an appointment to bring my motorhome to them for a roof treatment estimate. RVRoof does a spray-on application and guarantees their work for life.

The RVRoof owner's wife and a young employee climbed up on the roof of my motorhome and inspected the roof. She gave me a written estimate for their work and gave me an appointment to do the work about four weeks later. So, I drove to Green Cove Springs the day of my appointment. After pulling into the entrance, the owner of RVRoof immediately climbed up on the roof and did his inspection routine. He promptly informed me that my roof was not structurally sound, that there was extensive wood rot (I don't know how he could have known about the wood rot since one cannot see through the fiberglass sheet over lauan. Perhaps his insight came from his experience with hundreds of RV's.) and sagging of the roof under the front air conditioner.

It was obvious to him and even to me that the fiberglass covering had delaminated from the underlying lauan in many places. He also said the roof felt "soft" in many places.Bottom line, the RVRoof owner declined to do the work because he felt the roof was too structurally unsound for him to guarantee his work.

So now, what do I do? I called the Forest River factory and they won't lift a finger to help me. I am having a local Rv repair shop remove the forward air conditioner and replace the gasket. I am presently looking at various companies online that claim to do RV roof "replacement", but I have found that "replacement" really means replace only the top materials on the surface of the roof such as my lauan and fiberglass sheets.

Assuming that the owner of RVRoof was correct and the roof has structural damage, who would be able to restore the roof? Because I still owe the bank at least $65,000.00 and the motorhome loan is under water (there's that water thing again!), I do not believe trading it in is a realistic option. Even if repairs cost $20,000, that would be better than the financial bloodbath of a trade in.

One other option: attempt the roof restoration myself. I would deeply appreciate any advice on what a self restoration might involve I am a retired electrical engineer and have only moderate handy man skills. Perhaps I could hire a carpenter to assist me. Any comments on anything about my RV roof problem are most welcome.

Thank you very much for any help you can give me.

[wolfe10]

gregsisk,

Welcome to the FMCA Forum.

Yes, a tech who works on RV roofs for a living can usually tell if a roof is not structurally sound just by walking on it.  And, since he made zero $$ off you, he had no reason to tell other than the full truth.

As far as whether this is a job for you/you and a helper to undertake, only you can answer that.  There is nothing complex about removing roof-top accessories, roofing material and continuing to "dig down" until you find undamaged beams/luan. 

You would likely need a covered place to work, as pop up showers this time of year in FL would be a real hassle.

[hermanmullins]

Greg,

Welcome to the Forum.

Sorry to hear about your dilemma.

I would google RV Roof Replacement and see if you can find a company that will repair the trusess, replace any decking and replace the roof fiberglass.

Don't tell them your budget, their bid may be lower.

Good luck.

Herman

 

[manholt]

RV Armor is doing mine.  Starting 7/17 at the FMCA Rally in Gillette, WY.  Will let you know how that turns out.

[wolfe10]

7 minutes ago, manholt said:

RV Armor is doing mine.  Starting 7/17 at the FMCA Rally in Gillette, WY.  Will let you know how that turns out.

Carl,

But, do you have structural damage?? Roof coating and repair of structural damage are quite different.