We have had a 5th wheel for 25 years. We've fixed at least 5 major leaks in it. We had a completely new roof put on it about 5 years ago and just covered up the 2 skylights and a TV antenna. We live in ours fulltime and have for most of the last 25 years. It's been a lot of work but it's been very cheap living and extremely cheap taxes. We probably should get one of those metal carport for it.
There are 2 kinds of skylights: those that leak, and those that will leak eventually. When we bought this house, it had 3 wonderful skylights we dearly loved. There was evidence that there had been some leakage, so we had them tested and re-caulked. This worked fine for 2 years, when we had a storm of biblical strength, and the middle one leaked. Had it fixed. But it was never the same. While having that one fixed a couple more times as it would leak even in a mild rain, we decided to pull out the skylight because the option was to have it completely rebuilt. And then the other two did the same thing, so we had them removed too, the roof made solid so no more skylights. I miss the skylights, but not the worry after every rain. I hope that skylight won't ever leak again.
The joys of owning an RV. Need to replace caulking regularly on roofs, reset windows every few years, store under a roof and tarp it in the winter. How do I know this? Learning the hard way. Don't kid yourself - water works its way down to the lowest point. It will be behind the walls and under the tub.
Bill, I live in Pennsylvania and it is 48° here and heavy rain. Just like you, we are going to have rain and a lot of it though next weekend. Good luck with the repair of the leak. As you know, “when it rains it pours.” Peace! 🙏
Those TPO roofs aren’t adequate. They usually need to be upgraded to a higher mill. Replace sky light and recalk is recommended. We redid our edge seams, removed all old screws and replaced with stainless, filled holes with silicone caulking. Keeping a water tight camper is a chore . Good luck🙏🏻
Oh man, if that were me, the result would be panic and being overwhelmed. It's such a good thing that you know what to do to fix things like that. Just taking each step and moving forward! :)
One of the worse feelings is finding water damage in a camper or house that you thought was water tight. Make sure you check the rest of the camper and seams for leaks. Your probably due for an all around seal on that camper. Im super sensitive to mold as well, luckily I don’t have asthma. I get a bad headache, tingling nose, throat hurts. I have a portable ozone machine that I’ve used on several spaces, and that kills anything that could be lurking. After using that I don’t get the headaches etc any more. The previous owners covered the roof of my camper so it doesn’t have damage, but all the corners had to be redone because of water damage. When I put everything back together I triple sealed it so it’s better than a factory job.
Can you place a tarp over your RV to “winterize” during the off season (tied down of course, to keep it from blowing away)? My sister’s father-in-law sells and sets up hoop barns as a side project from being a dairy farmer, so that’s an idea to park your RV under to help protect it during the off season. They also make the carport type metal “tents” that would also be an option. And you could get one wide enough so that you could place some chairs under and have an extra recreational seating area if you so desired.
Hello Bill & Elizabeth! I look forward to part 2. Do you have to put roof coating on your RV? I was just wandering. I just put roof coating on my mobil home in January when the Temps were up 50-60°. It wasn't because I had a leak in the roof, I had a leak in the side wall (where the porch roof is up against the gutter of my home.) They're real thin gutters. A lot involved. The whole wall, & floor, insulation, window frame, 2x4's, plastic sheeting, all replaced. Still have the leak.
You're always so diligent! When you were peeling away that ceiling I was thinking " oh man! " but then I remembered you are a very good carpenter! Campers are known to develop leaks. We love our camper but we watch it constantly for problems. That may sound bad but it's really not. My camper is like my second home and my husband keeps them both in good shape. But it does take some doing. I'll be watching your second video. I might learn a new tip!
I'm not a fan of RV sky lights. Good luck! By the way, I read that bleach does not kill mold spores, it only bleaches out the color. I read that ammonia does kill mold, but does not bleach out the color. Is that right? Anyone? Anyone? And NEVER mix bleach with ammonia.
Jerry from “I love rv life” has had to replace the skylight because of cracks at the screw holes of the skylight. He has 2 very good videos. Check it out.
Is that factory installed skylights? Jeez, what a hack job! I have the same astma as Elizabeth, and the slightest hint of mold sets me off. I was going to buy a house, but insisted on sleeping one night in it first. After a few hours, I packed up my gear and left. The house had leaks and mold inside a wall in the living room. I praise the Lord that I got that gut feeling, not to sign anything before I slept in it.
Oh OK I need to be checking this out! It’s not will your RV roof leak. It’s when will your RV roof leak?! So this will be good to know and watch. This is my plan. I am going to ride out the warranty roof period of time. Then once that is over I’m going to pay somebody professionally to go in and doctor up are roof. Then while they’re doing that I am going to have them install solar panels up there professionally. I don’t own my travel trailer yet but I think this is a pretty rocksolid plan?
Here was our roof solution for our RV tiny house (where we no longer live.) It's expensive, but it has a lifetime guarantee. ruclips.net/video/DOi1n8cU8QU/видео.html
Welcome to the leaky RV club, Bill! It's not a fun club to belong to, but, anyone who has felt that gut wrench when discovering your RV is leaking can relate. You seem to have caught it in time, which is awesome!! Looking forward to Pt.2!
I can’t believe how well and active Elizabeth is, keep up the good work what a difference a move and different way of living has made to you, so pleased for you considering how ill you were at one point take care stay safe 💕💕
Looks like you dodged a bullet and its salvageable Praise the Lord! Best of luck on fixing it all I know you will do wonderfully and it will be amazing in the end. Looking forward to part 2.
There is 1 type of RV/camper that does not leak and that is the fiberglass "egg" type campers. Usually built in 2 "shells" and seamed at about midpoint horizontally. Any leaks around ceiling holes for vents or AC can't do much damage since the entire top half is basically a boat!
Sky lights are a nightmare waiting to happen...Every RV we had with a skylight leaked eventually... our RV dealer told us you have to caulk around all the screws and around everything every two years.. they dry and crack...Good luck Bill👍
Hopefully it just need caulking and you be good to go . I know rv parts can sometimes be tricky to get. I been thinking about designing a tiny house thought about putting a rv truck camper style wetbath in tiny house to save on space and been struggling to find good website for rv parts.
Hi. Don't beat yourself up for not checking the RV. Ya'lls persons plates have been really full with family issues. Use add it to your computer calendar as an every month event reminder. Glad you will be able to do the work yourself. Your garden loves the free watering. Peace to you and yours
Oh man, as fellow campers, that’s one of our biggest fears! Do you think you have any issues in the walls behind the shower panels? We haven’t even uncovered ours yet and we have a trip coming up in 3 weeks! Been slackin’ lol! Hope it’s a relatively easy fix👍🏼 God Bless🙏
God is so lavish in His tender mercies toward us, in the little tests He allows, to reconcile our Earth-bound natures to the lovely person of Jesus Christ 💜
Our 5th wheel is fiberglass and we still have lots of leaks. We've had windows leak, seal around tip outs leak, AC units leak, we had damage from hurricanes on our roof leak. You name it, we've had it. We had a 2nd RV we bought for our daughter and the window in the door slipped down and it poured rain in. That RV was ruined and insurance refused to pay for repairs. We paid $22,000. for it and sold it for $500. At least we didn't have to pay someone to haul it off for us.
That was interesting ! There is so much work involved in a fix job .
Can't wait to see Part II. From other videos, what you fix will look better than the original work.
Thanks bill! ☺
Just another thing that you can do, Bill. Astounding! So much knowledge. Elizabeth is a lucky woman. And, vice versa!! Love you guys! ♥️❣️🙏🏼❣️♥️
Interesting, thank you sir.
We have had a 5th wheel for 25 years. We've fixed at least 5 major leaks in it. We had a completely new roof put on it about 5 years ago and just covered up the 2 skylights and a TV antenna. We live in ours fulltime and have for most of the last 25 years. It's been a lot of work but it's been very cheap living and extremely cheap taxes. We probably should get one of those metal carport for it.
You are so knowledgeable Bill🤩
Believe this or not, I needed this right now. Even though it was well tarped, there are some problems this year, maybe due to the very heavy snowfall.
Every tree, every building, every RV, everything is constantly seeking ground. This is what my Electricity 101 professor said during the first class.
You will getter done.😎👍
There are 2 kinds of skylights: those that leak, and those that will leak eventually. When we bought this house, it had 3 wonderful skylights we dearly loved. There was evidence that there had been some leakage, so we had them tested and re-caulked. This worked fine for 2 years, when we had a storm of biblical strength, and the middle one leaked. Had it fixed. But it was never the same. While having that one fixed a couple more times as it would leak even in a mild rain, we decided to pull out the skylight because the option was to have it completely rebuilt. And then the other two did the same thing, so we had them removed too, the roof made solid so no more skylights. I miss the skylights, but not the worry after every rain. I hope that skylight won't ever leak again.
Good morning Bill
Best wishes !
Have a blessed memorial weekend !
Brenda
Bummer! They say to check all seals every couple of months. Better check all other seals while you're at it. Good thing you're handy!
Oh Bill is to busy to check seals, living the jet setter life and all....
The joys of owning an RV. Need to replace caulking regularly on roofs, reset windows every few years, store under a roof and tarp it in the winter. How do I know this? Learning the hard way.
Don't kid yourself - water works its way down to the lowest point. It will be behind the walls and under the tub.
Great job Bill as always☺
Did you checked to see if the insulation inside the tub wall is also wet?
Bill, I live in Pennsylvania and it is 48° here and heavy rain. Just like you, we are going to have rain and a lot of it though next weekend. Good luck with the repair of the leak. As you know, “when it rains it pours.” Peace! 🙏
Wow Bill so glad it was not that bad
Those TPO roofs aren’t adequate. They usually need to be upgraded to a higher mill. Replace sky light and recalk is recommended. We redid our edge seams, removed all old screws and replaced with stainless, filled holes with silicone caulking. Keeping a water tight camper is a chore . Good luck🙏🏻
Jane, I hope you replaced the butyl tape too. Need to do it about every 5 yrs or so.
Well, at least it was leaking (dripping ?) over the tub instead of over your bed.
Oh man, if that were me, the result would be panic and being overwhelmed. It's such a good thing that you know what to do to fix things like that. Just taking each step and moving forward! :)
Things that just as to be done.
One of the worse feelings is finding water damage in a camper or house that you thought was water tight. Make sure you check the rest of the camper and seams for leaks. Your probably due for an all around seal on that camper. Im super sensitive to mold as well, luckily I don’t have asthma. I get a bad headache, tingling nose, throat hurts. I have a portable ozone machine that I’ve used on several spaces, and that kills anything that could be lurking. After using that I don’t get the headaches etc any more. The previous owners covered the roof of my camper so it doesn’t have damage, but all the corners had to be redone because of water damage. When I put everything back together I triple sealed it so it’s better than a factory job.
Can you place a tarp over your RV to “winterize” during the off season (tied down of course, to keep it from blowing away)? My sister’s father-in-law sells and sets up hoop barns as a side project from being a dairy farmer, so that’s an idea to park your RV under to help protect it during the off season. They also make the carport type metal “tents” that would also be an option. And you could get one wide enough so that you could place some chairs under and have an extra recreational seating area if you so desired.
Hello Bill & Elizabeth! I look forward to part 2. Do you have to put roof coating on your RV? I was just wandering. I just put roof coating on my mobil home in January when the Temps were up 50-60°. It wasn't because I had a leak in the roof, I had a leak in the side wall (where the porch roof is up against the gutter of my home.) They're real thin gutters. A lot involved. The whole wall, & floor, insulation, window frame, 2x4's, plastic sheeting, all replaced. Still have the leak.
No, the roof coating still looks fine. I just have to replace the caulk around the skylight.
You're always so diligent! When you were peeling away that ceiling I was thinking " oh man! " but then I remembered you are a very good carpenter! Campers are known to develop leaks. We love our camper but we watch it constantly for problems. That may sound bad but it's really not. My camper is like my second home and my husband keeps them both in good shape. But it does take some doing. I'll be watching your second video. I might learn a new tip!
Mr. Fix It Man!👍🏼
Sky lights lead to leaks.
You bet. I've never known a sky light not to leak... eventually.
New project...RV Barn
🤔
I'm not a fan of RV sky lights. Good luck! By the way, I read that bleach does not kill mold spores, it only bleaches out the color. I read that ammonia does kill mold, but does not bleach out the color. Is that right? Anyone? Anyone? And NEVER mix bleach with ammonia.
Hydrogen peroxide kills mold
You need one of those aluminum roof deals to store it under. And maybe a rubber roof sealer?
Enjoyed the video! Do you think you need a different mask to complete the repair?
No need, this one is fine.
There are two kinds of roofs, those that leak and those that don't leak... yet. ;)
Enjoyed the video Bill, thanks for sharing 👍
eterna bond is your friend. Look it up.
Jerry from “I love rv life” has had to replace the skylight because of cracks at the screw holes of the skylight. He has 2 very good videos. Check it out.
Is that factory installed skylights? Jeez, what a hack job! I have the same astma as Elizabeth, and the slightest hint of mold sets me off. I was going to buy a house, but insisted on sleeping one night in it first. After a few hours, I packed up my gear and left. The house had leaks and mold inside a wall in the living room. I praise the Lord that I got that gut feeling, not to sign anything before I slept in it.
Oh OK I need to be checking this out! It’s not will your RV roof leak. It’s when will your RV roof leak?! So this will be good to know and watch.
This is my plan. I am going to ride out the warranty roof period of time. Then once that is over I’m going to pay somebody professionally to go in and doctor up are roof. Then while they’re doing that I am going to have them install solar panels up there professionally. I don’t own my travel trailer yet but I think this is a pretty rocksolid plan?
Here was our roof solution for our RV tiny house (where we no longer live.) It's expensive, but it has a lifetime guarantee. ruclips.net/video/DOi1n8cU8QU/видео.html
We coat ours and check all of the time, its never ending but you can fix it so its good
Welcome to the leaky RV club, Bill! It's not a fun club to belong to, but, anyone who has felt that gut wrench when discovering your RV is leaking can relate. You seem to have caught it in time, which is awesome!! Looking forward to Pt.2!
I can’t believe how well and active Elizabeth is, keep up the good work what a difference a move and different way of living has made to you, so pleased for you considering how ill you were at one point take care stay safe 💕💕
Looks like you dodged a bullet and its salvageable Praise the Lord! Best of luck on fixing it all I know you will do wonderfully and it will be amazing in the end. Looking forward to part 2.
There is 1 type of RV/camper that does not leak and that is the fiberglass "egg" type campers. Usually built in 2 "shells" and seamed at about midpoint horizontally. Any leaks around ceiling holes for vents or AC can't do much damage since the entire top half is basically a boat!
So sorry about the leak. Thank goodness you are skilled at repairs!
I got here first, in time to say I'm sorry for your poor roof. Keep happy and free.
Bill get some of the product called Magic Seal works great sets up semiflexible
Hope you found a 20x40 tarp or larger ,,plus lowered the frount crank to the lowest tilt...yeeha
My 11x15 tarp was plenty. I have a larger one, but it was overkill.
Sky lights are a nightmare waiting to happen...Every RV we had with a skylight leaked eventually... our RV dealer told us you have to caulk around all the screws and around everything every two years.. they dry and crack...Good luck Bill👍
Your so fortunate to have discovered this now because like you said it really could have been alot worse. Looking forward to the fix video.
I am like Elizabeth. I am a human mold detector.
Hahahahah. I am sorry that it leaked and that there is mold. I truly am.
The original caulking job looks very questionable to me.
Hopefully it just need caulking and you be good to go . I know rv parts can sometimes be tricky to get. I been thinking about designing a tiny house thought about putting a rv truck camper style wetbath in tiny house to save on space and been struggling to find good website for rv parts.
Good thing you're a handyman Bill. I wouldn't know where to begin. You saved a lot of money doing it yourself.
Good luck Bill.
Hi. Don't beat yourself up for not checking the RV. Ya'lls persons plates have been really full with family issues. Use add it to your computer calendar as an every month event reminder. Glad you will be able to do the work yourself. Your garden loves the free watering. Peace to you and yours
I don’t like skylights. They always seem to leak.
They Do Make GREY Tarp😄
Enjoying.
I like these repair videos.
Oh man, as fellow campers, that’s one of our biggest fears!
Do you think you have any issues in the walls behind the shower panels?
We haven’t even uncovered ours yet and we have a trip coming up in 3 weeks! Been slackin’ lol!
Hope it’s a relatively easy fix👍🏼
God Bless🙏
I think the walls are fine. 😀
This was very interesting. I'm sorry to hear that you are having roof problems.
All the full time rv's say no if it will leak ,its when
Ouch
Please get it fixed as Soon as ya can!!am Happy it's not as bad as you thought!! Happy Days Ahead!! Things Will be Fine!!😁
It is not worth fixing.. Once you get mold, you cannot get rid of it entirely. Sell it or gut it and use for a wood shed.
Nope! As a contractor, I can tell you that I have removed mold and repaired moldy houses for years! And this does not have much mold.
Me too.
Do you have a twin brother what your twin brother's name
God is so lavish in His tender mercies toward us, in the little tests He allows, to reconcile our Earth-bound natures to the lovely person of Jesus Christ 💜
Sell it and get a used scamper or other fiberglass camper
Our 5th wheel is fiberglass and we still have lots of leaks. We've had windows leak, seal around tip outs leak, AC units leak, we had damage from hurricanes on our roof leak. You name it, we've had it. We had a 2nd RV we bought for our daughter and the window in the door slipped down and it poured rain in. That RV was ruined and insurance refused to pay for repairs. We paid $22,000. for it and sold it for $500. At least we didn't have to pay someone to haul it off for us.