how to repair your RV slide out roof 15

DIY RV Slide Out Roof Repair: How to Replace the RV Roof Membrane (With Photos)

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Camper and RV repairs are almost inevitable, when your rig is in a constant earthquake going down the road, things are bound to break. What you hope doesn’t happen though, is that all your repairs need to be done all at once, and unfortunately that’s what happened to us.  In this article, I’ll share the story of our RV slide out roof repair along with photos showing step-by-step how to repair an RV slide out roof, including repairing the wood and replacing the RV roof membrane.

While in the process of replacing the subfloor in our slide-out, we had an unexpected thunderstorm; the rain from that, along with our slide being at a different angle than normal caused water to pour out of the light in our ceiling. 

We had a hole in the membrane that had been letting rainwater in for a while, and it finally made its way inside. We knew this RV slide out roof repair had to be addressed quickly before it caused more damage.

rv slide out roof repair

Signs you may need to replace your slide-out roof:

  • Water damage inside your camper
  • Water dripping from ceiling
  • Tear or hole in the membrane
  • Bubbles in the membrane
  • Delamination 
  • Soft spots on the roof

If you don’t have a huge tear, or have caught the tear early enough to prevent wood damage, you may be able to patch it with some RV roof repair tape. However if it is bad enough, you may need to replace the membrane and the wood underneath.

Preparing the slide-out for repair:

If you have determined that replacing the membrane is the best solution, you will need to do some prep work prior to removing the old membrane.

First, you will need to take off all the trim pieces and flashing around the outside edges. There are more pieces than you would expect, so be sure to take a picture or mark where each piece goes so you know how to put them back on at the end. 

Some of the membrane will also be on the inside of your camper, so you will likely have to remove the decorative trim pieces around the inside of the slide-out as well.

Removing the old RV roof membrane

Once all the trim pieces are removed you are free to tear off the old membrane. This part was pretty easy, we took a box cutter and cut it along the edge of the camper wall, and peeled it right off. 

On the inside we brought the slide-out in about 6 inches so we would have some extra room to work with. Pay attention to how the membrane is wrapped around the edges and seals. Ours was folded over the top seal a couple times, and this was important to know when installing the new membrane.

Assessing the Wood Damage

Now that the membrane is off you can assess the damage of the wood. If you had a hole or tear in your membrane for a while, it most likely damaged the wood underneath. Check for soft spots or discoloration. We only had 2 small spots that were rotted, so we decided to cut them out and patch them. If the water damage is bad enough, you may need to replace the whole board. 

Patching the wood

We cut out the bad pieces and tried to make the edges as straight as possible. We then took a 1×2 plank and framed out the squares so we would have something with structure to attach the new pieces to.

We cut the new pieces out of a ¼ inch thick piece of plywood, and used a nail gun and construction adhesive to attach them in place.

Replacing the RV roof membrane outside

Since we were only replacing the slide-out roof and not the entire camper roof, we didn’t want to buy an entire roll of membrane. We called around to the RV repair shops in our area to see if anyone would sell us a scrap piece they had. We were lucky to find a shop that cut us a 20ft piece (our slide out is only 12ft.) and charged us just $60, what a steal!

The glue was the most expensive part of this repair, but we liked that it was forgiving, and we would be able to move the membrane around to be sure it is straight, flat, and has no bubbles.

We started by rolling up the new membrane lengthwise and laying it on top of the outside edge of the slide-out. We then pinned the edge down with the trim piece.

Next we rolled the glue over the entire slide-out roof, then rolled out the new membrane. We smoothed it out then slid the excess under the slide-out seals towards the inside. 

Installing the new RV roof membrane inside

In order to glue the inside portion of the membrane we had to bring the slide in a little bit. We had someone on the inside watching, and two people outside to make sure we had no puckering, wrinkles, or tears of the membrane. 

We glued the inside portion of the membrane down and wrapped it around the seal, just as the old one was. Lastly we cut off any excess and stapled the edges down. 

Now you should be able to put all your inside and outside trim pieces back on. On the outside we put fresh butyl tape on each piece before screwing it in, and we put new caulking on all the edges as well.

Replacing insulation

We opted to also replace our insulation since we could tell it was holding on to the moisture from the leak. We did this from the inside since we didn’t have access from the outside.

We used a crowbar to open up the front of the ceiling, then we pulled out all of the old wet insulation. We replaced it with pink foam insulation that we cut to fit in between each stud. We then used a nail gun and put the ceiling back up.

Putting it back together

The last step for us was replacing the decorative framing on the inside of the slideout. We decided to update it, and installed pine boards that we stained to match other wood pieces in our camper. We absolutely love the modern rustic look it has!

Repair cost breakdown

Does insurance cover a DIY RV slide out roof repair?

I spoke to our insurance agent to see if this was something that our policy covered, and unfortunately it was not. He said if the damage was caused by a one-time event like a storm, or motor vehicle accident, then it would be covered. He said this would be the same for most camper repairs and most insurance policies. But, since we had no idea how it got there, or how long we’ve had it, we didn’t feel like we could file a claim for it. 

Conclusion

Overall this RV slide out roof repair was pretty easy, and not too expensive. We were also able to complete it in one day. We feel good to have found the source of the leak that likely caused the water damage in our floor. And the new rustic framing we put inside, inspired us to repaint our cabinets as well, and we are so thrilled with the outcome!

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