I'm paying the price for not taking care of my rubber roof like I should have. with at least 2 leaks and some soft wood I decided to tackle this myself instead of selling one of my major organs on the black market to finance having the dealer do it( quoted $4500-$5000). I have $985 in the rubber, new vents, skylight, seals, adhesive, yada-yada-yada. The plywood is still to come. Now dont get me wrong, I'm not bashing the dealer, I work in the service industry and understand that this is a lot of labor. I just cant afford to spend that much money. After some reading on here it seemed as if Greywolf was the man I needed to ask for advice so I sent him a PM and this was his reply. Thanks to Greywolf I feel more comfortable doing this myself.


<!-- / icon and title --><!-- message --> <TABLE width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top>Quote:
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: 1px inset; BORDER-TOP: 1px inset; BORDER-LEFT: 1px inset; BORDER-BOTTOM: 1px inset">Originally Posted by nissandoc
hi greywolf,
it appears you are the man to ask for advice. i have an 02 carriage cameo and i havent taken very good care of the roof so now i'm paying the price. with some help from my brother we are goning to replace the entire roof. new skylight, vents and ac reseal parts are on the way. my unit is 35ft long which is about 33ft of rubber, the install kit came with 2 gallons of adhesive 6 tubes of caulk and 150ft of tape. is this enough? any tips or advice would greatly be appreciated. i'll have the plywood ready if i need it
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It's enough if nothing goes wrong. Don't cut any holes in that rubber until it's glued down except for a vent pipe.

First you'll have to pull all of the vents, reefer top halfs, and everything you can off of the roof including side trim and awning.

There will be vent pipe stubs (at least one) that will just have to be worked around - but you should get the rubber laid down on the roof to locate where it will be in terms of fore and aft & side to side.

Most guys wear only socks when working on a roof.

When you get the rubber sheeting laid out, "tenting" over any vent pipes, make any last adjustments in it's centering and overlap and then make the smallest hole(s) in it for the vent pipe you can possibly slip the vent pipe through.

If there is more than one vent pipe - keep in mind you don't want any slack to form folds in the finished roof. Do only one hole at a time, and stretch the covering a little if you have to to get an exact fit for the second (or as near as possible).

Once you have those done, they form the guides for laying down the entire covering. The rubber roof covering can be rolled back on itself before glue is applied to the decking OF the roof. Work from the center out, or from the plumbing vents inward - covering the ends last. Depending how you roll it up you can go a quarter at a time so long as you keep it lined up straight. It's important to get it lined up right with the vent pipes though before the glue dries appreciably. A cool day is best. A 35 may have two or even three plumbing vents. Usually they keep it simple though.

You might actually want to take one or two dry runs at laying down the covering before putting down adhesive anywhere just to make sure it will lay out right...

And TWO THINGS:
DO NOT skimp on the adhesive, even if you feel you need extra.
Secondly: Once it's down and dried on there, it would be nearly impossible to redo without getting new rubber covering. Mind your working time! Make any last minute adjustments before the adhesive sets up.

You CAN stretch it on to a degree - but don't overdo it. Just enough to pull out wrinkles is plenty.

AND WATCH OUT FOR THE VENT AND A/C HOLES! You can drop right through them if you can't see them. One tactic is to mark the edges with a black marker after the rubber is layed down and straight, you can find them by feeling with your hands while on all fours.

I mention that because I think a roof cover should dry overnight before those holes are cut out.
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I'll try to remember to get some pics of the progress as we are doing it and post them when I'm done. it will be at least a few weeks to a month before it gets done.

 

Subscribing.

 

The last of the parts arrived today. Now just gotta find the time and coordinate with my help. Will be in Nashville, TN all next week for GTR training so maybe the next couple weekends. Will have plenty of pics.

 

If I didn't already have jobs of my own to do, I'd hop on over and give you a hand just to get the experience. My roof needs to be replaced and I have some structural problems to deal with as well.

 

Appriciate the offer. It'll be at least 2-3 weeks. I'll shoot you a PM before I get started and if you have time you're welcome to come. Where are you located at?

 

Just North of Winston Salem.

 

I replaced my roof this past winter.It was not as bad a some would like you to believe.I replaced all the plywood on the roof and put new rubber roofing on it.
If you have not already purchased your roofing,give lotte's roofing a try (I think they have a website If not just let me know and I will find their number for you).I purchased my rubber membrane and the glue from them cheaper than I could find it anywhere else.also be sure and by you a 50' roll of the eterna-bond tape for sealing on the ends and around sky lights.This is some miracle stuff that works great

 

Can not wait to see some pics, hope it goes well for you.

 

Well, the weather and my work schedule finally allowed me to get started. I have the rubber membrane off and only need to replace five sections of wood. The rubber came up alot easier than I thought it would. Started by pulling the entire sheet side to side but found it better to run the utility knife length wise about two feet apart and pull strips. Will post pics tonight of what I've gotten done so far. Two different dealer told me that pulling the rubber would destroy the wood, not true in my case. It was more like splinters that came up with the rubber, some bigger than others, but in no way made the still good pieces unuseable.

 

Here are some pics.

1. front of camper with vents and skylight removed
2. rear with ac unit
3. starting to remove rubber

 

1. cutting then pulling in strips is a lot easier
2. the worst spot that was rotten
3. the other rear corner

 

1. new plywood on
2. this is the small amount of chips that came off when pulling the rubber
3. the worst spot

Gonna take off work Tuesday and put down the new rubber.

 

So, once that rubber roof was pulled it was an easy job getting those plywood panels replaced? Or did they run under the trim on the side of the roof and had to be cut flush?

 

The only hard part was getting all the screws out. Some were rusted and rounded off. The plywood was inset along both sides but went under each end cap, which was'nt hard to get out. I think that the clean-up of all the trim is going to be the worst part of the whole job.

 

Oh, yeah, getting all that excess glue off of the trim = yuck.
Thanks for the pictures, I'm going to rep you for them.
It shows me and a lot of others who had no idea about re-doing that roof, that it is not impossible to repair a water damaged trailer.