Whether it’s the approaching camping season or just your regular doting on your wheeled home, performing regular inspections of your RV is crucial.
It ensures that you detect any minor breaks early on, giving you the chance and time to fix them before bigger problems develop.
You might notice soft spots on the roof of your RV. These might or might not be accompanied by dark-colored puddle-shaped spots on the inside of the roof.
We’ll explain to you exactly what those spots are, what might have caused them, and how to fix soft spots on RV roof. Stick around!
What Causes Soft Spots on RV Roofs
Soft or saggy spots on your RV’s roof can be caused by several factors.
It can simply mean that your RV’s roof is dented due to large amounts of snow piling on it. It might also mean that moisture has escaped into the roof’s wooden boards causing them to rot.
Tiny cracks in the RV’s roof insulation would enable water or moisture from the atmosphere to reach the wooden boards forming your RV’s roof skeleton. Water collections between the RV’s roof boards might also appear as dark stains on the RV’s ceiling.
Having that in mind, you must remove any rotten wood early to prevent the rot from extending and ruining the entire roof, which would be harder and more costly to fix.
How to Check for Soft Spots on RV Roofs
You can start by inspecting the camper’s ceiling for any puddle-shaped dark spots. If you find any, make a note of their location to pay extra attention to the corresponding part of the roof when you’re checking it out.
To thoroughly inspect your RV’s roof, you’d need a ladder to get up there and a wooden plank that you can stand on to distribute your weight on the RV’s roof.
The right-sized plank should stretch between roof rafters. This prevents you from falling through the roof and causing even more damage.
Rafters are usually placed around 4 feet apart, so you should pick a wood plank that spans that surface.
Once you’re up there on the roof, inspect the roof for sagging areas, abnormally colored spots, and scratched or cracking sealant.
You should apply a new layer of the sealant if you find any cracks in it to prevent moisture from getting through them and causing even more damage.
However, if the damage has already been done and you find soft spots or sagging areas, your RV would need some more work to fix it up.
How to Fix a Soft Spot on an RV’s Roof
After you’ve inspected the roof meticulously, you should judge by the extent of damage whether this is a job that you can handle or if you’re better off calling the experts.
A small soft spot can be a DIY project that you can handle, but be careful when handling larger damages if you don’t have the required skills or you’ll risk causing more damage.
If you decide you’re up to the challenge, here are the steps you’ll need to follow to fix a soft spot on your RV’s roof:
1. Remove Ventilation Ports and Fixtures
Remove any object that goes through your roof, like ventilation ports or fixtures. You might need to heat any coating around them to loosen it a little and make it easier to remove.
You also need to take notes or pictures of every object you remove to know exactly where they go. This would come in handy when you’re reattaching everything back up.
2. Remove the Roof Coating and Insulation
Next, remove anything that’s in the way above the roof pillars. These include the roof coating, the plywood, and any insulating materials.
Just be careful not to damage any electrical wires or plumbing. Carefully disconnect them and move them aside.
3. Replace the Rotten Roof Pillars
Once you see the rotten roof pillars, cut and remove them. Next, measure wooden planks equal to the length and thickness of the ones you removed. After that, carefully replace the new pillars and fix them in place.
Use a suitable spirit level to make sure the new planks fit the RV roof skeleton in a straight line. This is crucial for the reinstallation of the vents and fixtures you removed.
4. Reassemble the Roof
Rearrange the wires and plumbing you disconnected before, and then put appropriately sized plywood. Carefully fix the new plywood into the roof pillars and walls as before.
Add new insulating materials to replace the damaged ones that you removed.
5. Reinstall Ventilation Ports and Fixtures
Use the sketch or pictures you took before to mark the places of vents, fixtures, and anything else that came out of your RV’s roof. Cut these openings using a jigsaw and put the objects back in place.
After looking through the manufacturer’s guide, apply roof sealant around ventilation ports and fixtures, and allow it to dry.
6. Final Touches
Lastly, apply a new roof coating and allow it to dry. You should also replace any damaged ceiling tiles or panels.
To Conclude
Water damage is a nuisance to all motorhome owners. It can cause serious accidents and cost a lot of money to fix if left for long.
With that said, we recommend that you meticulously inspect your RV’s roof and ceiling at least twice a year. This would mean you’d detect any minor cracks and scratches in the roof’s sealant and fix them before they cause serious damage.
And now that you’ve gone through our article on how to fix soft spots on an RV’s roof, you’d be able to mend any small damaged spots that you might occasionally find yourself.
Happy camping!