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Old 08-08-2011, 10:28 AM   #1
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Cost to Re-seal fiberglass roof???

Hey everyone,

I just stayed at LD over the weekend and my steps stopped working. I tried a couple things I found on this forum, but nothing worked.

I took it into the shop at LD and they fixed for $250(new brain)

They also did a few other things(at a cost), but they suggested i get my fiberglass roof completely re-sealed.

They said they have a summer special at $800 for a 34ft.

I have only been rv'ing for 7 months and I don't want to get ripped off.

Any thoughts on this out there.

Thanks in advance.

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Old 08-08-2011, 10:54 AM   #2
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Never heard of a fiberglass roof having to be re-sealed. How old is your MH? Does it show any signs of cracks or is it just chalking?
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Old 08-08-2011, 11:21 AM   #3
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Winnebago suggests the sealant where the roof meets the sidewalls be inspected every 6 months and replaced as necessary. The proper way to inspect the sealant is to press the roof material with your thumbs just above the sealant joint. If the roof feels squishy or pulls away from the sealant the sealant in that area should be replaced.
It isn't necessary to replace all the sealant if there are no signs of shrinkage or detachment from the roof or sidewall. To put things in perspective we have an 01 Adventurer with nearly 90,000 miles on the odometer. It's been inspected regularly by myself and the technicians at the Winnebago factory in Forest City IA. In all that time and all those miles we've only had to replace the sealant in 1 place about a foot long.
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Old 08-08-2011, 11:32 AM   #4
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Clarify--but I am sure they mean stripping the caulking around joints and roof openings (air conditioners etc then recaulking. It's a big job but most of your roof may be just fine.

We had the outer edges where the roof and the side wall join and the front and rear cap seems done once. We had a small leak so we had the circumference of the roof done rather than piece meal--it was around $400.

If your roof does not currently leak and you have the desire or capability (physically) to get up there much of this kind of stuff you can do. When I do my preventative maintenence before we head out for the winter I will be sealing my front and rear caps with Eternabond. I'm 69 years old.

Minimally it is fairly easy to get up there and look so once when I was posed with the same question I said "show me" and climbed up with the tech to see what he was talking about.

Eight hundred bucks? Well it is a lot of work if done correctly. But they are calculating materials at a heavily inflated price and labor at about $100 per hour---special or not.

I had a quote from CW for twice that amount----rediculous.

If it needs to be done---first determine that-----then decide how and by whom at what cost?

Your roof will need attention from time to time no doubt about it---but it needs it when it has problems---or displays severe cracking in the caulking---something like that.
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Old 08-08-2011, 12:24 PM   #5
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$800 is probably not unreasonable for re-caulking all the seams and around all the vents and roof fixtures, but this is definitely an area of maintenance where you can save a lot of money if you can do it yourself, as it is almost all labor cost to have it done.

Recently had our mh in to a local dealer for the 2nd Norcold fridge recall. Asked them to also look at the roof area above the driver's seat as I had recently discovered a leak. Had dried it out and covered the front of the coach until I could find it and get it fixed. They examined the roof and came back with horror stories of problem areas all over the roof and a price of about $1800, at $90 hr. labor and maybe 10 tubes of caulking at about $15 per tube to strip all the caulking and reseal around everything. Talk about up-selling! I just wanted the leak located and an estimate for fixing it. Their solution was to do it all whether it needed it right away or not, and granted from a preventative maintenance stand point it is probably time to do what they recommended, but I have the time, and from this forum and other searches I have learned all I need to know about caulking, etc., to do the job myself. I got the leveling caulking I needed at about $9 a tube, found the leak where the satellite tv cables came through the roof, removed the old caulking, removed the plate covering the hole, re-caulked everything and fixed the leak. Will work through the other areas that need attention as time permits for the cost of materials and pocket the labor costs.
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Old 08-08-2011, 07:25 PM   #6
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Sounds like a lot of money to me. I can't see a tech spending more than 3-4 hours for a roof caulk job and even at $120/hour that isn't $800.

This is flat rate quote - they - and the tech - gets the $800 whether the job takes 1 hour or 8 hours. Big money maker for the tech if he can beat the flat rate hours and he almost surely can. Unless yours is so bad it requires removing all the old caulk and re-applying (extremely unlikely in my estimation), you should not need anywhere near that much work.

As others have said, it's an easy opportunity for DIY.
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Old 08-09-2011, 01:28 PM   #7
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My MH is a 2008......this is what LD service told me, that is why I am throwing this question out there.
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Old 08-09-2011, 06:08 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gary RVRoamer View Post
Sounds like a lot of money to me. I can't see a tech spending more than 3-4 hours for a roof caulk job and even at $120/hour that isn't $800.
It all depends on the quuality of the job they perform. Winnebago recommends removing the old caulking from any area to be resealed. If you take the time to strip off all the old caulk and clean the surface before applying any new caulking it could be a very time consuming job.

On a 34' coach that would entail removing:
  • 68 ' - both lengthwise sides of the roof
  • 19' - front and rear caps
  • 10' - shower skylight
  • 3' - satellite dish
  • 2' - TV antenna
  • 1' - ladder roof mounts
  • 1' - refrigerator vent
  • 1' - black tank vent
  • 1' - solar panel mounts
  • Total of 106' of caulking to be removed
It would take even an experienced technician 3 - 4 hours just to remove that much caulking if he was being careful and thorough.

Once everything is removed I would estimate an hour of surface cleanup time and another 2 hours to recaulk everything. At $100.00 per hour (Winnebago factory service department rates) there's $700.00 in labor plus the materials.

So, if they do everything according to factory recommended procedures the price is in the ball park. However as I noted earlier I would be very surprised if everything needed to be resealed given the age of your coach. I would also want to personally inspect each stage of the process. It's awfully easy to spread a thin film of new sealant over the old if no one's doing a thorough step by step inspection.
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Old 08-09-2011, 06:36 PM   #9
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I have yet to see a shop do as Hikerdogs says. Usually they visually inspect the joints, clean off around any suspect areas and glob on the sealer right over what is there.
Actually there is no reason to remove sealant that is on good condition and sealed down.
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Old 08-09-2011, 08:41 PM   #10
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It is inconceivable that a 2008 RV would need to have ALL the OEM caulking removed. Winnie only says only to remove the caulk that is to be resealed, not to remove it all.

In 2008 I had the American Coach factory inspect the fiberglass roof on my 2004 coach. They spent one hour to inspect and repair the areas they felt might need attention. I would be greatly surprised if tipaulfla's 2008 needs anything more than that in 2011. And if it truly does, he should be asking why it failed so early?
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Old 08-10-2011, 02:58 PM   #11
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Below is a cross section of a Winnebago roof.
The sealant adhesive holds the fiberglass roof in place and it is important to make sure it is not failing. On mine there were two places -one in the front side drivers side about 4 inches long and another on the passenger side over the bedroom slide area about 6 inches long. In those places I pushed hard on the fiberglass right at the sealant seam it would pull away from the metal. It can be pretty hard to see - it's just a tiny black line.
The sealant chart for my coach (available on line for download HERE ) calls out Manus-Bond 75-AM from Manus Products Waconia MN. 952 442 3323.

To maintain the 10 year warranty it has to be inspected twice a year. You push on the fiberglass next to the sealant and see if it moves away (very small crack) from the gutter or fiberglass.
To repair it customer service said to use a flexible knife blade to carefully remove the old sealant and then re-caulk.

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Old 08-14-2011, 02:29 PM   #12
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I cleaned the roof edge with mineral spirits and put down a 2" strip of Eternabond tape. It worked great. I just had to be careful of how I put it on. That stuff is really sticky. I shouldn't have to worry about caulking again. This was on a 95 Winnebago Brave. 27'
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