Roof skin lifting at front

[NERoamer19]

Oh, man. It feels like I'm having every conceivable issue one can have with an rv.

I was up to check the roof seals yesterday (last time was May, a little overdue but not bad) At the front of the roof right where it meets front wall the roof skin or membrane is lifting up the from the trailer. :sad

Last time when I checked in May it wasn't like that but I felt like line of caulk there looked like it was raised a bit at the edge and was concerned water could maybe get in there so I added a line of Dicor self leveling lap sealant. I don't think this should have caused anything but when I got up there yesterday I also noticed that the caulk had separated down the middle (almost looked like a serrated knife had been taken to it). I was a little freaked out by this and pulled away the caulk and put a fresh bead of caulk down. Today I went out to take a look at it and the skin had ballooned up even more it seemed. Now it looks like I put a band-aid on a bad wound.

So I definitely need to address this soon I think before the end of season. I have lost complete faith in my dealer to fix anything to satisfaction in my lifetime so I'm going to have to tackle it myself.

I did a little reading yesterday and it seems like I should be able to get the glue used to adhere the membrane to the trailer. These are the rest of the steps I imagine; Obviously making sure no rain for a few days.
1, Remove the existing caulk and front trim piece (if necessary).
2 make a couple small cuts in the membrane to be able to get a caulk gun with maybe some plastic tubing to reach more area. Squirt it all around underneath.
3. Use a roller to even the skin back out again. Maybe put some weights down to make sure it stays.
4. Re attach the trim piece (again, if necessary) and re-seal the whole area.

Has anyone had to do this job before? Any pointers?

[Jim_HiTek]

I've read about the bubbles and the fix and it usually involves cutting a slice on the edge of the bubble then squirting some sealant in there, pressing it flat, putting a weight on it, and moving to the next as it drys. Then coming back and sealing the slice. Back before I had a fiberglass roof, I had EDPM or whatever it is and in 12 years only developed one small bubble. Sliced it, pressed it down, and sealed the cut with Eternabond. Soon after sold the rig so don't know how well it lasted.

Here's a picture of how I EBonded things:



What I'd do is use Eternabond roofing tape extensively on the seams, including the slices that were made to the bubbles. Tuck the roofing under the front, sides, and rear seams before sealing it up with EBond. Done once, never need to do it again.

I should mention that you remove as much caulking as you can as the EBond tape doesn't stick to Silicone, but it sticks like crazy to the roof. And lasts for decades.

Here are some examples from my ad free blog:

'94 Rubber Roof Ebond info...

'02 Fiberglass Roof and Roof Items...

[Newmar2856]

Attach some pictures if you can, but you’re on the right track with getting it glued back down and then I’d follow Jim’s advice posted above about finishing off the seam with Eternabond.

[NERoamer19]

Here's a pic of the left side. It's not bubbled so much on the right side but it is loose.

Just as I was up on the ladder my dtr comes out and tells me her bed broke. Lol, never a dull moment.

Only up here at front is it bubbled/loose. The rest of the roof seems fine so I think this seems manageable.

[Jim_HiTek]

Looks like you've got a lot of scraping to do.

Here's what EBond looks like if the seam is cleaned up first. With most of the old caulking gone. Not necessary to remove it all, just enough that the EBond sticks to the roof instead of caulking. That is, if you decide to go with EBond.



Stuff comes in several colors, in 2", 4", 6" widths, and 50' rolls. I've only needed to buy 2" and 4" from Amazon or eBay and even Home Depot carries an off brand in their paint department. I always carry some with me.

[garywilson]

Originally Posted by NERoamer19

Oh, man. It feels like I'm having every conceivable issue one can have with an rv.



I did a little reading yesterday and it seems like I should be able to get the glue used to adhere the membrane to the trailer. These are the rest of the steps I imagine; Obviously making sure no rain for a few days.
1, Remove the existing caulk and front trim piece (if necessary).
2 make a couple small cuts in the membrane to be able to get a caulk gun with maybe some plastic tubing to reach more area. Squirt it all around underneath.
3. Use a roller to even the skin back out again. Maybe put some weights down to make sure it stays.
4. Re attach the trim piece (again, if necessary) and re-seal the whole area.

Has anyone had to do this job before? Any pointers?

Depending on the age of your roof, it may or may not be worthwhile...but you seem to have the gist of it. I've only worked on one, and it wasn't as bad as what you are describing. If the entire roof is lifting I'd probably lift it up and roll on the glue.
I'm replacing my roof with 'FlexArmor' next month...defective roof (10 years old) is deteriorating...some of it stuck to my boot toe.

[NERoamer19]

Originally Posted by garywilson

Depending on the age of your roof, it may or may not be worthwhile...but you seem to have the gist of it. I've only worked on one, and it wasn't as bad as what you are describing. If the entire roof is lifting I'd probably lift it up and roll on the glue.
I'm replacing my roof with 'FlexArmor' next month...defective roof (10 years old) is deteriorating...some of it stuck to my boot toe.

The trailer and roof are only two years old. Should NOT be doing this. If RV repairs worked the way they should I'd definitely take it to the dealer to have it done. As I said in my lead off post though, I've already been through a hassle with them. Had my trailer for months and I had to re-do a lot of what they did or fix what they missed all together. Only the front is doing this and I'm thinking its wind cutting under the front seam, with that in mind the Ebond tape sounds good. I'm a little intimidated using it as once it's on, its ON. But if I'm gonna do all repairs myself I've got to get over it.

[Jim_HiTek]

Originally Posted by NERoamer19

The trailer and roof are only two years old. Should NOT be doing this. If RV repairs worked the way they should I'd definitely take it to the dealer to have it done. As I said in my lead off post though, I've already been through a hassle with them. Had my trailer for months and I had to re-do a lot of what they did or fix what they missed all together. Only the front is doing this and I'm thinking its wind cutting under the front seam, with that in mind the Ebond tape sounds good. I'm a little intimidated using it as once it's on, its ON. But if I'm gonna do all repairs myself I've got to get over it.

'Tis true that once it's down it's pretty much down forever...BUT...you can use a hair dryer and heat it up and it'll peel up easily enough. And there's a trick too. You can jam a plastic scraper under the leading edge and pry a bit of it up off the roof. Then drive like normal. The wind will deposit tiny bits of dirt on the sticky and slowly but surely over many months it'll work it's way back slowly lifting the tape off the roof until you can just peel the rest of it off.

You can pretend you're driving and peel a section at a time and toss baking soda or corn starch on the exposed sticky edge as you heat it and pull on it. That helps make it easier to get off and it won't try to restick itself. And it's cheap too.

Just a note...you don't need to re-glue that bubbling roofing I see in the picture IF you use EBond because the EBond will grip it tight enough that it won't flap, as long as the roofing is clean and dry. I'd try to smooth the bubbles out as I moved along, maybe add some weight as I worked the bubbles towards the seam, try to tuck the edge of the bubbles under the end cap before EBonding it of course. That all depends on doing a good job removing most of that caulking. That work was pretty bad.

[kurtbelyeu]

Originally Posted by NERoamer19

The trailer and roof are only two years old. Should NOT be doing this. If RV repairs worked the way they should I'd definitely take it to the dealer to have it done. As I said in my lead off post though, I've already been through a hassle with them. Had my trailer for months and I had to re-do a lot of what they did or fix what they missed all together. Only the front is doing this and I'm thinking its wind cutting under the front seam, with that in mind the Ebond tape sounds good. I'm a little intimidated using it as once it's on, its ON. But if I'm gonna do all repairs myself I've got to get over it.

I had the same issue with my 2020 PUMA 32RBFQ. I followed their recommendations and used about 10 tubes of Dicor because I noticed cracks and what appeared to be a receding roof membrane at the front of the RV. I thought I had it licked then one day I was driving down the road and noticed the whole damn roof ballooning up. By the time I made it to my destination there was a large tear in the front right corner. I notified Progressive who sent out an estimator who denied the claim saying it was a manufacturing issue because he couldn't find any physical damage. I left the RV with the dealer and started rasing hell with Ron Hoover RV who in turn pushed Forest River to replace under warranty (even though the warranty had expired a year before) Forest River eventually agreed to replace the roof under warranty.