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Roof repair for the tightwad in me


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EPDM is usually under the bolts but I like to cover the bolts with a good gob of the sealant to reduce the chance of leaking under their heads.

 

Instead of a razor try an old credit card or a plastic putty knife, much less chance of damage to the roof or your fingers. Also it won't damage the chrome on the ladder and will avoid rust issues there.

First rule of computer consulting:

Sell a customer a Linux computer and you'll eat for a day.

Sell a customer a Windows computer and you'll eat for a lifetime.

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I've budgeted $200 from my last paycheck for this project. There are a lot of really great opinions coming back on this, but I think this is what I had in mind.

 

Dicor sells a rubber roof cleaner:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BRJURG/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=23242NYAHPMOI&coliid=I1CFPUQBUF54MK

 

Should I buy that to spot clean everywhere I'm putting down tape and the self leveling stuff? Or do I just use some soapy water and a sponge?

 

Eternabond makes a cleaner specifically for their tape. I have used it. The tape really adheres well after using the Eternabond cleaner.

 

Newt

2012 HitchHiker Discover America 345 LKSB

2009 Dodge/Cummins

 

LIVINGSTON TX

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  • 5 weeks later...

What a nightmare!

 

My 3 hour afternoon job turned into a multi-day unfinished extravaganzaloid.

 

I went up on the roof over three weekends, and patched the few spots towards the front that looked remotely suspicious with the eternabond tape. The tape is awesome by the way. Then I wandered to that ugly looking area towards the back and pulled off the cracked and beat up storage container that was up there. When I pulled it up, a foot of the secondary sealant lifted up with it. I ended up peeling off an area about 4' X 7' wide, which now has some original coat in excellent condition, and some spots with bare wood showing.

 

I called Dicor to see if they could recommend a coating to put over that one area. Dicor instructed me to rip up the entire roof and replace the decking, get new epdm sheets, and start from scratch with a roof kit. Alternatively they said I could put a second layer of "decking" over the existing layer and seal the new layer. (I'm not sure how that's supposed to be done but that's what they said).

 

I had a small home once that developed a leak in the roof by an antenna mast. Since the wood was soft, my carpenter and I decided to replace the two sheets of plywood around the mast and then put new roof tiles on that side of the house. We didn’t replace all of the plywood for the whole roof. We just fixed that one soft spot. I lived there problem free for another eight years.

 

What Dicor suggests seems like overkill to me. Everything seems to be solid when I walk across it. It might be appropriate to replace the wood that hasn’t been properly sealed, but it would kill me in labor and time to replace the decking for the whole roof. And since it feels solid I don’t think I should replace that one section either.

 

I’m open to suggestions, as long as they aren’t synonymous with “Rip up the entire roof and start from scratch”. If someone can point out a truly good reason for me to rip up the whole roof, I'll listen. But then I will just have to sell this motorhome at a huge loss and give up on buying another one for a year or two. It would be a shame because I paid $4500, have already spent $1000, would probably have to sell it for about $3000, and we haven’t even gotten it out of the driveway.

 

I'd really like to get it fixed just enough to take the kids on a few trips. I think I should take a palm or belt sander with a fine grit and run it over the damaged 4' X 7' area. If the original rubber stays put I leave it alone. If it bulges even a little I sand down to the wood. When I’ve sanded the entire 4X7 area I apply enough of the http://www.liquid-roof.com/ that Mike and Claudia suggested over the 4' X 7' area I uncovered, and continue coating the roof until I have an 8' X 8' layer. Alternatively, I do the same exact process with sanding just that small area, but I put that liquid roof over the entire roof. It's a 27' motorhome and I think I have about 24' of flat roof that I would need to coat.

 

Is this sheer folly or is there some merit in this?

 

 

 

 

PS.

I discovered plastic razor blades on Amazon. They snap into a regular razor scraper. They pulled up the sealant without cutting into the wood. They are awesome!

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Guess I'm just not getting it. The roof looks bad but you haven't seen any leaks. You don't know of any specific issues. You plan to sell it in a year. I would just do normal roof maintenance. If you see any cracks in the sealant use Dicor or Eternabond or whatever to seal those spots. Otherwise, don't sweat it. Sounds like you are making an issue where one doesn't exist. Am I missing something?

2007 Arctic Fox 32.5 rls for full-timing, now sold.

2014 Sunnybrook Sunset Creek 267rl for the local campgrounds now that we are off the road
2007 Silverado 2500 diesel

Loving Green Valley, AZ (just South of Tucson)

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Guess I'm just not getting it. The roof looks bad but you haven't seen any leaks. You don't know of any specific issues. You plan to sell it in a year. I would just do normal roof maintenance. If you see any cracks in the sealant use Dicor or Eternabond or whatever to seal those spots. Otherwise, don't sweat it. Sounds like you are making an issue where one doesn't exist. Am I missing something?

 

You're partly right. I'm venting my frustration about the advice Dicor gave me. However, I do have an issue (and a leak). I wasn't sure if there was a leak originally because the previous owner kept it covered and the interior looked undamaged. But I had to remove that broken container. It was holding several gallons of mosquito infested water and had a distinct odor. Now that it's gone there is definitely a leak where it used to be. I was surprised by an overnight rain shower two days after I removed the container. I ran out in my PJs and put a tarp on. Two days later I found bubbled wallpaper on the ceiling very close to that spot. After I seal the roof I will have to fix the interior. I'm hoping it's just wet wallpaper and not swollen wood.

 

I'm pretty sure two gallons of the liquid roof will do the trick.

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