Camper Exterior Makeover – Assessing Pop-Up Camper for Water Damage

No matter what type of pop-up camper you own, a solid camper roof can make a difference between a good and a bad camping experience. A roof that doesn’t leaks will keep you dry and comfortable and also make sure that you don’t have water damage on your floor or other parts of your camper. If you have a pop up camper with some cracks in the roof, chances are there that these cracks will lead to water leaks if proper preventive steps are not under taken.

 
Making practical Assessment for Water Damage:

Remove the exterior trim to assess damage: In order to take out the trim you have to unscrew the vinyl lid covering the screws. After popping out the lid the next step is to remove the screws. If, the screws come out as rusted it means the water has been doing the damage for some time. After all of the screws are removed, use a metal putty knife or a scraper to remove all the old, gunky, sticky butyl tape. This whole process is tedious but worth the energy spends. After removing the screws and butyl tape you can easily lift the skin of your wooden roof to see the condition of your wooden roof.

Detach the canvas and the Roof: If you find the wooden roof rotting away than you need to replace or rebuild the entire roof depending upon the water damage that has been done. First of all, unscrew the canvas from inside of the roof. Basically, the canvas is attached to metal strips that are then screwed into the sides of the roof. You will also have to unscrew any lifting brackets providing support to the roof. After everything has been detached from the main body of the camper, the roof will be easy to pull out.

Remove rotted and water damaged wood: When the water damage is extensive you have to entirely removing the skin, the foam, and all of the framing lumber and rebuilding it from scratch. The other option is instead of completely taking apart the entire roof and replacing all the foam and framing, you just need to replace the pieces of wood that had taken water and were no longer structurally sound.

In short if the damage is extensive your whole camper roof will need replacing, otherwise if your camper roof needs some repairs than with some minor cosmetic changes you can give your camper roof a newer look.

If you are an RV enthusiast and want to take care of your RV roof visit, https://www.rvroofmagic.com/care-and-maintenance.php and for DIY guide to fix camper roof leak visit, https://www.rvroofmagic.com/blog/quick-tips-to-inspect-and-fix-your-rvs-roof-leak/