Ok, job is now complete. The main thing that strikes me about the job is how good it smells inside... like a new camper! No more sour, mildewy odors; it now smells like fresh, clean wood. There is a little bit of residual adhesive odors, but I've got the vents open and a few windows and that should go away in a few days.
Six days. About 129 man hours. We had either three or four people working each day.
Total cost was around $3500. I think we used either 7 or 8 full sheets of 3/8" untreated plywood, about four 8' 2x4's, several hundred screws, the 32' by 9.5' EPDM roof and the manufacturer's installation kit. I picked up a couple of extra tubes of self leveling Dicor as well, per the RV parts manager's recommendation. I think we needed one of them.
We cut the old EPDM rubber roof off by using a razor knife to score around all the fixtures on the roof. Then we peeled off the old roof. Then we went around and removed all the old fixtures. There were only a few small places with wood rot; however, due to the old plywood being completely covered with old adhesive and me wanting to get all the old wet insulation out (most of it was completely dry) we went ahead and pulled off the old plywood.
The roof had started to sag around the air conditioner. This was causing the ac unit to pull out of its gasket, which was causing most of the leaks.
We jacked the ceiling up from the inside with two 2X4's in a T formation, and then shored up the 2X4 rafters with additional wood and construction adhesive/screws. By the time we got the new plywood on the roof, it was much stronger and as straight as it came from the factory.
The new roof went on per the EPDM manufacturer's guidelines: fresh new untreated plywood, 9" roller to apply the adhesive, half of the roof done at a time.
I had to put a 20X40' tarp over the project because it did rain one day. No big deal. We planned for it.
All the fixtures were replaced except for an additional Fantastic Fan for the bathroom. New butyl tape for all fixtures... and we used the Dicor self-leveling product, rather than the Eternabond tape because it came in the installation kit with the new roof.
We repaired several little things along the way, like one of the ladder support bolts was rusted and broken. Now it's firm and tight with new butyl tape.
It sure looks good. It's nice to be able to walk around up there without having to worry about stepping through the roof or destroying the brittle, thin old EPDM material.
We're going to get some rain on Friday ... 100% chance. So I'll see what kind of job we did.
I'll post a youtube video I found that is pretty much exactly like the project went for me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkF4nMX4w7Y
I called the manufacturer of my roof before I committed to buying the expensive (I paid $895 for the 32 by 9.5' material) roof and made sure I knew what they recommended as far as removing the old roof and putting the new one on. The roof also came with written instructions. It's no big deal, really... just a lot of work. Follow the directions and you'll be ok.
