Roof Repair

[Barry_J]

We have a 2003 Four Winds Camper with a 3ft x 3ft "soft spot, where it looks like the wood underneath has rotted away, which make an big indentation in the roofing material. At this point I am afraid that a tree branch will fall on it and punch the roof. Uncovered water builds up in the indentation from rain. Right now I have it covered with a piece of wood and a tarp. Asked for some estimates on fixing and get from $5,000-$8,000 to redo the whole roof, on-site since it is on a Camp ground lot, and does not move, it is attached to a Florida room.

My question is, that if needed, could I get a piece of metal, and glue or eternabond it down to the roof to cover the spot and protect it. and then seal around it, for a quick fix.

Any suggestions

Thanks

Barry

[Barry_J]

There is a couple different enternabond tapes, to seal around the wood and metal, which one should I use

[Barry_J]

The thing is, the soft spot and the leak are two different issues. The soft spot has not gone thru the rubber roof. The leak is on the other side, on the attached Florida room. The Florida room has corrugated metal roof, I think there was two spots in the campers small side gutters for the AC drainage and rain to go thru and down the corrugated roof, and find a way in. I just wanted to patch the soft spot so that it does not get worse. As for the Florida room leak, I believe it is coming from where the florida room and the camper are joined, I sprayed some "flex Seal" on the two spots, where I thought my problem was, and have not been back since to check for leakage.

[fj12ryder]

I would say you could do all that was suggested but until you find the actual source of the leak, and repair that, the soft spot will just continue to enlarge.

[Joe417]

I think since you don't travel with it, if you don't want to spend that much to repair the whole roof and the leak hasn't damaged the inside, you can cut out the 3 x 3 square nice and neat where it is soft, replace the damaged wood with a piece of plywood that is the same thickness as what is already on the roof.

You might need to sister up some of the rafter material and replace some of the insulation if they are damaged and let it dry out.

Get a piece of EPDM rubber roof slightly larger than the size of the material removed, 3 to 4 inch overlap all around. Be careful that the glue you use doesn't damage the rubber. You can bond it on with contact cement, acrylic water based glue, and I have used Dicor self-leveling caulk. Since you don't travel with it, it isn't going to matter as long as it holds it down. The caulk under the rubber will take longer to firm up but it isn't going to roll down the road so doesn't matter.

Once you've got it down, cover the edges all around with the self-leveling caulk and it won't leak. I have used the dicor as an adhesive for the rubber twice and it worked well. One of the patches was about 3 feet by 10 inches so not quite as large as yours, but it will work fine and make it water proof.

I will say, someone commented that your leak may not be in the area where the wood is soft, and that is true. I have always opened the damaged area up carefully so that I can follow the leak back to the source. Also, I forgot to say, before you put the rubber on the new plywood, tape the joints of the wood with some good duct tape. It helps reduce the wood joint from showing through the rubber.

FYI, if you can't find rubber roofing locally, building material stores sell it as bath and shower stall liner. It may not be white and isn't usually UV protected so you would need to coat it with some of the liquid rubber roof coating to make it last in the sun.

And yes, what you suggested with a piece of metal will probably work also.

[Barry_J]

No, I only put the wood and tarp there until I could figure what to do, which is probably bendable metal and eternabond

[BFL13]

You don't know how far away from the dip in the roof the leak is, only how big the indentation is. You could do a repair and still miss the leak farther out.

Without the piece of wood the tarp would go down into the indentation and you would still get a puddle. You want the wood or whatever cover to be higher so the tarp will be a bulge over the indentation and also reach out far enough all around to cover the actual leak(s) too. So it is all about the tarp unless you do the whole roof like they want.

So why do anything if it is working now? Does the campground have some sort of rules for unsightliness they will kick you out?

You might need a bigger wood covering and a bigger tarp, that's all. Or else do the whole roof properly and $pend, $pend, $pend.

[Barry_J]

I was figuring thin metal (aluminum) because the roof is slightly curved, and the metal could bend, I was afraid that any type of wood , would be raised a little around the ends, and not make a good seal

[Matt_Colie]

Find a place (I can't help you in GA) that does the pressurize the rig and spray it with bubbly trick. Works every time.

Matt

[gbopp]

Barry J wrote:

My question is, that if needed, could I get a piece of metal, and glue or eternabond it down to the roof to cover the spot and protect it. and then seal around it, for a quick fix.

Yes, that will work. It's the not the best long term repair but it will keep the water out, that is your goal.
Maybe a piece of plywood under the metal (thin aluminum?) would work better? It will give you strength and the metal/Eternabond will be waterproof.
I would use Eternabond, it's designed for the weather.
If applied properly, the repair can last a long time

[ScottG]

Sure you can do what you describe but it may be short lived.
There's always a right way to do things and straying from that usually ends up creating more work and expense in the end.

[Lwiddis]

And that's about the best that can be done without a complete redo.

[agesilaus]

OK there is a long thread about this which ended up at this, cut a piece of 1/4 luane plywood tho you'll probably find it called underlayment plywood and is now synthetic to cover the spot. Tape the edges with either Gorilla tape or eternabond, coat the whole thing with Hengs. Give it two coats and use the remainder of the gallon on the rest of the roof.