Roof Leak

[Pelledan]

Hello to All,
Well despite my fastidious efforts in maintaining my roof seals, one had apparently slipped through the cracks. My unit is an 06 Journey and has 3 ceiling mounted speakers spread across and in front of the TV. We were in S/E Montana during a significant rain (which continues as we speak) when my wife noticed a drip coming down from the center speaker. Panic set in immediately and I removed the speaker and about a half a shot glass of water that had pooled on its perimeter frame came out with it. I was able to look inside the opening and saw a group of wires coming through from a hole in the roof that were from my roof mounted satellite dome. I could also see the steady drip coming through the sealant used to seal that opening. I used a dish towel against the leaking seal to temporarily mitigate further damage and started looking for a service in the area but it was 7:00 am and the nearest services were 50 miles away in Billings. An hour later I made contact with an RV shop who politely told me they were booked for 2 weeks but referred me to another repair source. I made that call and the proprietor told me to bring it in and he would have things moved around in his shop to make room for me before I got there. 50 miles later I'm in Billings at Kurt's Repair Service. Kurt took me in immediately and I explained what I found. The wife and I went to brunch and about 3 hours later I got a call from Kurt that the leak was found and sealed. It turns out that the leak was from where the satellite wires came in but that area was directly below the center of the dome and completely out of sight. Even if I knew it was there, I could never have viewed let alone accessed it. Kurt had to remove the dome, reseal the area and reinstall the dome. Once I got the RV back I kept the speaker off and placed a small fan aimed up at the opening to dry out the affected area. From noticing the leak to repairing it took about 5 hours and it had been raining for 24 hours prior to noticing the problem. The leak is sealed but the ceiling around the speaker hole tells the story. The material used on the ceiling is a foam backed vinyl and in an area of about one square foot around the speaker hole the vinyl has separated from the foam causing a visible shallow bubble. Once I'm convinced the fan has done its job and the area is dry, I will need to find some way of reattaching the separated vinyl to the foam to eliminate the bubble. I'm sure this issue has happened to others so I am seeking advice from this consortium on what to use (spray contact cement come to mind) to restore the ceiling before reinstalling the speaker.
Thanks in advance,
Dan

[marjoa]

Originally Posted by Pelledan

Hello to All,
Well despite my fastidious efforts in maintaining my roof seals, one had apparently slipped through the cracks. My unit is an 06 Journey and has 3 ceiling mounted speakers spread across and in front of the TV. We were in S/E Montana during a significant rain (which continues as we speak) when my wife noticed a drip coming down from the center speaker. Panic set in immediately and I removed the speaker and about a half a shot glass of water that had pooled on its perimeter frame came out with it. I was able to look inside the opening and saw a group of wires coming through from a hole in the roof that were from my roof mounted satellite dome. I could also see the steady drip coming through the sealant used to seal that opening. I used a dish towel against the leaking seal to temporarily mitigate further damage and started looking for a service in the area but it was 7:00 am and the nearest services were 50 miles away in Billings. An hour later I made contact with an RV shop who politely told me they were booked for 2 weeks but referred me to another repair source. I made that call and the proprietor told me to bring it in and he would have things moved around in his shop to make room for me before I got there. 50 miles later I'm in Billings at Kurt's Repair Service. Kurt took me in immediately and I explained what I found. The wife and I went to brunch and about 3 hours later I got a call from Kurt that the leak was found and sealed. It turns out that the leak was from where the satellite wires came in but that area was directly below the center of the dome and completely out of sight. Even if I knew it was there, I could never have viewed let alone accessed it. Kurt had to remove the dome, reseal the area and reinstall the dome. Once I got the RV back I kept the speaker off and placed a small fan aimed up at the opening to dry out the affected area. From noticing the leak to repairing it took about 5 hours and it had been raining for 24 hours prior to noticing the problem. The leak is sealed but the ceiling around the speaker hole tells the story. The material used on the ceiling is a foam backed vinyl and in an area of about one square foot around the speaker hole the vinyl has separated from the foam causing a visible shallow bubble. Once I'm convinced the fan has done its job and the area is dry, I will need to find some way of reattaching the separated vinyl to the foam to eliminate the bubble. I'm sure this issue has happened to others so I am seeking advice from this consortium on what to use (spray contact cement come to mind) to restore the ceiling before reinstalling the speaker.
Thanks in advance,
Dan

Since it's foam, some sealants will melt(eat away) at the foam. If it were me, I'd go to HD, and buy me a tube of Liquid nails (LN) and give it a couple of shots in several areas. If you can't get the tube tip up in that area, squeeze some on a putty knife of even your finger and get it up in there and wipe it on in several areas, then push it together with your hands for a couple of minutes. It will hold itself from then. LN is very tacky and adheres really fast. Clean up with mineral spirits. Wearing latex gloves to do this will not work.

[FIRE UP]

Pelleden,
Well, depending on just what kind of access to you have to the portions of the vinyl that have separated. If you don't have any access that's an edge, and it's just a bubble in the "field", you might get a few tiny syringes (the kind used for insulin shots) and some super glue and, use the syringe for injecting the super glue right through the vinyl, in between the vinyl and the foam. All you'd have left is, super tiny holes, left by the syringe. And unless you walk around with magnifying glasses on, no one will ever see the holes. Just a thought.
Scott

[Forkyfork]

Liquid nails will leave ugly "snakes" in the vinyl unless you are able to spread it out. Headliner spray adhesive will probably work. Ive use it on foam backed fabric headliner in my truck. There is liquid that might work using FIRE UP's injection idea.

RV= leak on wheels. I run a dehumidifier.

[Pelledan]

Thank you ALL for the replies. After hashing this issue with a few people I decided to stop in at a large RV dealer in Billings. I spoke with the service manager about my problem who spoke with a tech that does their interior repairs. He returned with an aerosol can of a product called Sta'-Put. He said that they have done headliner repairs and in some cases replaced entire headliners using this product as the adhesive of choice. He further told me that this product does not attack the open cell foam used as headliner backing. Does anyone have experience with this product?
Thanks again, Dan