Repairing A Travel Trailer Rubber Roof, Damaged By A Tree Limb

by Greg Magerowski
(Greendale, WI)

Question: Hello,

I was looking for a few tips or proper proceedure on repairing a rubber roof on a travel trailer.

The previous owners had a tree limb fall on top of the left front corner. The underlying materials or supports are damaged, causing a couple of low spots that allow water to pool and sit in. Once dried there is no signs of a hole or tear, but by the very end of our season last year we noticed a very bad leak. The water was dripping from the bottom of the window and pooling in the ceiling inside our cabinet.

I went out to our campground a few weeks ago to check it, and there was water in the same spots. We even covered the area with a layer of tarps for the winter, but due to thawing the water still made its way to the low spots. My father and myself are very handy. Can you give us some ideas?

Thank you for your time,

Greg Magerowski
Greendale, WI 53129

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Robbie: This is a great question and from the description that you gave me you have a few things you can try to do.

The first is to remove the inside ring of the window and allow the framing around the window to dry. Be careful here because the window will now only be held in by the seal. If the seal is bad the window could fall out, it hopefully should not. Second, you really need to open up the damaged area and determine if you have wood rot. Remove the edge molding from the area that was hit by the tree branch and slide a wood shim in there to hold the roof up and to access how much damage has been done. Leave it open until it's dry.

After it is dry, a quick way to remove the low spot (providing it's not too large) is to cut and slide a piece of plywood into the area to support the roof. Replace the edge molding using putty tape and the proper sealers. Use a self-leveling sealer on the top to replace the seal. Replace the window and keep a close eye on the window for leaks.

Hopefully this was helpful. If this doesn't help I could better answer your question with a picture. You can send a picture to Robbie@money-saving-rv-repair.com so I can be more specific. Thanks for the question and I hope to hear from you about how it turns out.

Robbie