Community Forums

NtheWind · 07-09-2010, 10:46 AM

During the course of my eleven hundred mile trip, cracks have appeared all across the ceiling. In some places the boards are sagging and appear to not be adhered to the material above. I'm now looking for advise about how to best and most easily fix this issue. I was planning on putting caulking in the cracks but with the material separated, I'm not sure what to do.

Can anyone offer advise?

Route 66 · 07-09-2010, 10:53 AM

Please post the make, model and year of your RV.

NtheWind · 07-09-2010, 11:14 AM

It's a class C seventy nine Midas on a Chevy Van chassis.

akcampr · 07-09-2010, 03:22 PM

an option mght be to fill the cracks then install headliner fabric or carpet with spray adhesive. If the panels are sagging too bad, remove them, and cover with headliner and re-install .

Alan_Hepburn · 07-09-2010, 06:35 PM

Depending on the construction of the rig, you can do many things. If the ceiling panels are 4X8 sheets of lauan plywood they are most likely stapled to the ceiling joists. I had a fifth wheel that was constructed this way, with an aluminum frame. The ceiling panels started to sag because the staples were pulling out of the aluminum frame, where they actually made it into the frame. I fixed it by removing the staples and replacing them with tiny screws - I drilled through the panel and the aluminum and installed the screws. Then I replaced the slats that were used to hide the seams with new ones, using double-sided carpet tape to attach them to the ceiling.

In your case, if the frame is wood you can still do a similar repair - just select some small wood screws to replace the staples, then hide the screw heads with some strips of material of your choice.

Gary RVRoamer · 07-10-2010, 10:29 AM

Are you sure that water has not penetrated the roof and caused damage to the structure? There has to be some reason that the ceiling suddenly began cracking on a 30 year old RV. Apparently it was solid enough in the past.

NtheWind · 07-18-2010, 10:19 AM

I suspect that the vibrations caused by wind resistance at modern highway speeds caused it to seperate. Some of the trim came loose also. The nails vibrated right out and dropped on the floor. I haven't detected any sign of water leaking in. I looked at the roof from the outside also, and it seemed ok.
Thanks everyone for the great info.

NtheWind