RV Roof Repair and Replacement Services
RV roof repair covers membrane damage, sealant failure, vents, skylights, hail damage and full replacement across EPDM, TPO and fiberglass roofs. Recoat and reseal runs $750 to $4,500 across 4 to 20 hours. Full membrane replacement runs $3,500 to $18,000 across 20 to 80 hours, including deck inspection and repair.
Ballpark range $3,500 to $18,000 at 20 to 80 hours of labor. See the posted rate card.
How do you tell which roof material you have?
Feel it and look at the edge. EPDM is a rubber membrane that leaves white chalk on your hand and streaks the sidewalls after rain. TPO is a thermoplastic sheet that feels slicker, does not chalk, and usually shows a slight surface texture. Fiberglass is hard, glossy and does not deflect at all when you press on it between the roof bows.
The edge treatment tells you more. Membrane roofs terminate under an aluminum or vinyl edge trim screwed through the sidewall band with sealant behind it. Fiberglass roofs are either a molded one-piece with the edge integrated into the sidewall or a bonded panel with a trim strip over the joint.
This matters because each one takes different products. EPDM will not accept most coatings without an EPDM-specific primer. TPO seams are heat welded rather than taped. Fiberglass takes laminate repair and gelcoat, and a sealant that grabs fiberglass will not necessarily grab rubber. A tube of the wrong sealant on the wrong roof is a repair that peels off in six months and takes the owner's confidence with it.
Self leveling lap sealant is the standard for horizontal penetrations on membrane roofs. It flows out and levels itself around vent flanges, which is exactly what you want and exactly what you do not want on a vertical surface, where a non-sag product is required instead.
What is actually leaking when a roof leaks?
Almost never the middle of the membrane. In practice the water comes in at a penetration or a termination, and the membrane itself is fine.
The penetration list on a typical coach: roof vents, the air conditioner, the refrigerator vent, the plumbing vent stack, the antenna base, the ladder mounts, the solar mount feet, the skylight, the roof rack feet and every clearance light. Each one is a hole cut in the roof with a flange screwed over it and sealant around the flange. Each one is a leak waiting for its sealant to age out.
Terminations are worse because they are longer. The front and rear roof-to-cap joints, the two side edge trims, and the joint at each slide opening. Those seams run the length of the vehicle and they flex every mile.
Finding the actual entry point is a separate job from fixing the damage. Water tracks along framing and shows up ten or twenty feet from where it entered. Locating it means moisture mapping the interior to define the wet zone, then working outward on the roof to find the penetration uphill of it, sometimes with a controlled water test that isolates one area at a time.
Fixing the interior without closing the entry point is money spent twice. That is why leak work is quoted together with whatever interior repair the water caused.
When is a recoat enough and when does the membrane come off?
A recoat works when the membrane is intact, adhered and simply aged. It is a maintenance operation: clean the roof thoroughly, address every penetration with fresh sealant, then apply a coating system compatible with the membrane. That runs $750 to $4,500 across 4 to 20 hours and it buys years.
The membrane comes off when it is torn beyond patching, when it has separated from the deck, or when the deck underneath is soft. That last one is the important one. A coating over a rotten deck seals moisture in rather than out, and the deck keeps deteriorating under a nice new white surface.
Deck condition is checked by walking the roof and feeling for soft spots between the bows, then by moisture meter, then definitively by pulling the membrane back at a suspect area. Where the deck is gone, that section of plywood or laminated panel is replaced and tied into the framing before new membrane goes down.
Full membrane replacement at $3,500 to $18,000 across 20 to 80 hours includes stripping the old material, removing and resetting every roof component, repairing the deck, bonding new membrane and re-sealing every penetration. The component removal is where the hours go: an air conditioner, four vents, a skylight and an antenna all have to come off and go back on with new gaskets and new sealant.
Which roof sub services apply to my situation?
- Rubber Roof Repair: EPDM patching, reseal and recoat at $750 to $4,500.
- Fiberglass Roof Repair: laminate and gelcoat work on molded and bonded fiberglass roofs.
- Hail Damage Roof Repair: impact damage assessment and repair, commonly an insurance claim.
- Roof Vent and Skylight Repair: vent and fan replacement at $250 to $1,200, skylights at $350 to $2,500.
- Full Roof Replacement: complete membrane replacement with deck repair.
Sibling lines under roof, slide-out and awning services are slide-out repair and awning repair. They share the sidewall band the roof terminates on, which is why a leak reported as a roof problem is sometimes an awning rail problem.
How this job runs
Roof survey and moisture map
The roof is walked and every penetration and termination is inspected. Interior moisture readings define the wet zone so the entry point can be located uphill of it rather than guessed at.
Deck evaluation
Soft spots are identified by foot and by meter, then confirmed by pulling the membrane back at a suspect area. Deck condition decides whether the job is a recoat or a replacement.
Component removal
Air conditioner, vents, fans, skylight, antenna, racks and solar mounts come off. Gaskets are replaced rather than reused, because a compressed gasket does not seal a second time.
Deck repair and membrane
Damaged decking is cut out and replaced to the framing. New membrane is bonded across the full deck with the material matched to the construction and the way the vehicle is stored.
Reseal and water test
Every penetration is sealed with the correct self leveling or non-sag product for its orientation, then the roof is water tested before the vehicle is released.
Questions we get asked
How long does an RV roof last?
A membrane roof that is inspected and resealed on schedule commonly runs well past a decade. One that is never resealed can fail in a few seasons, because the failure starts at the penetrations rather than in the membrane. Storage matters too: covered storage roughly doubles the useful life.
Can I just put a coating over my old roof?
Only if the membrane is adhered and the deck is sound. Coating over a soft deck traps moisture and accelerates the rot underneath. That is why the deck evaluation happens before anyone quotes a recoat, and why a recoat quote sometimes turns into a replacement quote.
Is hail damage on an RV roof covered by insurance?
Comprehensive coverage typically responds to hail. The claim is stronger with a documented inspection that maps impact points across the membrane, the air conditioner shroud, the vent covers and the skylight, since those components are frequently damaged when the membrane itself looks intact.
Do you replace roof vents and fans?
Yes. Vent and fan replacement runs $250 to $1,200 across 1 to 5 hours. Any vent removal is also an opportunity to inspect the deck around the opening, since a vent that has been leaking has been feeding water into the deck edge for as long as it has been loose.