# RV Roof Replacement Cost, Start to Finish > A full RV roof replacement means tearing off the old membrane, replacing damaged decking, inspecting and repairing rafters, bonding new membrane, and reinstalling and resealing every roof mounted component. Expect $3,500 to $18,000 or more depending on coach length and how much wood is wet. Shop time is normally 7 to 20 business days. | | | | --- | --- | | Business | OCRV Center | | Service area | Westminster, Orange County, Southern California | | Facility | 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887 | | Phone | (949) 799-3387 | | Email | info@ocrvcenter.com | | Typical range | $3,500 to $18,000+ | | Source | https://ocrv.online/services/roof-replacement/ | The honest answer on rv roof replacement cost is that length and rot decide it, not the membrane brand. A 24 foot travel trailer with dry decking and two penetrations is a different job from a 34 foot Class A with two air conditioners, a solar array and soft plywood across four rafter bays. Owners in Westminster and the rest of Orange County usually get here because a leak went unnoticed, so we quote after probing the deck rather than from photos. ## Why a Coating Is Not a Replacement Roof coatings get sold as a cheap alternative to replacement and they are not one. A coating is a liquid applied UV barrier. Rolled over a sound, intact membrane on a dry deck, it does a legitimate job of slowing chalking and adding a few years to a tired roof. That is the entire scope of what it does. It has no tensile strength, it does not bridge a separated seam, and it does not restore a membrane that has shrunk away from the trim. The real damage a coating does is to wet decking. Plywood that has taken on water needs to dry, and the only path for that moisture is up through the membrane or down into the ceiling cavity. Sealing the top surface traps it against the wood. We have opened roofs where a coating applied three years earlier had turned a repairable soft spot into rot across half the deck. There is also a disclosure problem. A fresh coating hides seam condition, patch history, ponding stains and shrinkage from anyone inspecting the coach, including a buyer's inspector. If you are keeping the coach, you have hidden the evidence from yourself. If you are selling it, you have created a conversation you do not want. Coat a healthy roof to extend it. Do not coat a failing one to postpone it. ## Tear Off: What Comes Off and in What Order A replacement starts by stripping the roof down to bare deck, and the order matters because everything that comes off has to go back sealed. Air conditioners come off first, which means disconnecting power at the unit and lifting each one clear, and each will need a new gasket on reinstall since old gaskets take a permanent compression set. Vents, fans, skylights, antennas, solar panels and any racks follow. Then the perimeter comes apart. The membrane is captured under aluminum trim strips along both sides and under the front and rear caps, so those strips and their fasteners come off and the old butyl and sealant get scraped. Fastener holes get inspected, because a hole that has been leaking for years often has a soft screw seat that will not hold on reinstall and needs to be repaired. With the perimeter released, the membrane peels off the deck. Old adhesive residue has to come off the plywood, since new adhesive does not bond reliably to cured old adhesive. This is also the first honest look at the deck. Wet plywood is obvious once exposed, and this is the moment where a quoted job either matches the estimate or gets a supplemental. We photograph the bare deck and call the owner before adding a dollar. - Air conditioners lifted and set aside, new gaskets ordered for reinstall - Vents, fans, skylights, antennas, solar mounts and racks removed and labeled - Side trim strips and cap terminations opened, old butyl scraped - Membrane peeled and old adhesive residue removed from the deck - Bare deck photographed and probed before any additional work is authorized ## Decking Choices: Luan Versus Plywood Most factory RV decking is luan, a thin tropical plywood usually around an eighth of an inch, chosen because it is light and cheap. It is also the reason small leaks become big problems, because luan wicks moisture readily and loses structure fast once wet. Replacing luan with luan keeps the coach at factory weight and factory feel, and on a unit with sound rafters that is a perfectly defensible choice. Thicker exterior grade plywood, typically three eighths or half inch, is the upgrade. It resists future moisture better, it makes the roof considerably more comfortable to walk, and it holds fasteners for solar mounts and racks far better. The tradeoffs are real: it adds weight, it adds material cost, and on a coach with an already marginal cargo capacity that weight is not trivial. It also changes the roof height slightly at trim terminations, which has to be accounted for. We normally recommend a mix. Full sheets of thicker plywood in the areas that see foot traffic and carry mounted equipment, and lighter material elsewhere. What we will not do is lay new decking over wet framing. If a rafter top is dark and swollen, that rafter gets addressed before anything covers it, because a new deck screwed to rotten framing is a two year roof. - Luan: light, cheap, factory standard, wicks moisture and fails fast when wet - Exterior plywood at three eighths or half inch: stronger, better fastener hold, heavier - Weight matters, check cargo carrying capacity before upgrading the whole deck - Thicker decking changes trim heights at the perimeter and caps - Never deck over wet or rotted rafters, the new roof will not last ## Rafters, Trusses and the Structure Underneath Once the deck is off, the framing is visible for the first time in the coach's life. Wood rafters that have lived under a leak show it clearly: dark staining, swelling at the top edge, and softness when probed with an awl. Aluminum truss structures do not rot, but they corrode at fastener points and the wood blocking within them still fails. Either way, this inspection is not optional and it is the part of the job that most changes the final number. Damaged wood rafters can often be sistered rather than replaced. That means bonding and fastening a matching member alongside the damaged one so the load path is restored without dismantling the sidewall connection. It is faster and far less invasive than full replacement, and on most coaches it is the correct repair. Full replacement becomes necessary when the rafter has failed at its connection to the sidewall top plate. That top plate is the item to watch. It runs the length of the coach and ties the sidewall to the roof, and water that has traveled along a rafter ends up there. A compromised top plate has to be addressed from the roof side, which means opening interior ceiling panels and sometimes the top of the wall. This is the specific finding that moves a job from the middle of the range toward the top of it. ## One Piece Membrane or Seamed Sections Membrane comes in rolls of set widths, and coaches come in set widths. When the roll width covers the coach in a single piece with enough left over to wrap both edges under the trim, you get a one piece roof with no field seams anywhere. That is what you want. Every seam is a future maintenance point, and a roof without them only needs sealant maintained at penetrations and terminations. Wider coaches, or coaches where the available material does not cover the full length, need seamed sections. On TPO those seams can be heat welded, which produces a genuinely strong joint that is close to monolithic when done properly. On EPDM the seam is made with seam tape and adhesive plus a sealant cover, which is reliable but is unquestionably the first thing on the roof that will need attention. We quote one piece whenever the geometry allows it, and we will tell you when it does not. If seams are unavoidable, we place them away from foot traffic, away from ponding areas and never directly over a mounted component. Seam placement is a decision, not an accident, and a seam running through the middle of the walking path in front of the air conditioner is a sign the shop did not think about it. ## Putting the Roof Back Together and Sealing Every Penetration Reinstallation is where a roof job is won or lost, because every component that comes off creates a hole that has to be resealed correctly. Air conditioners go back on new gaskets, torqued evenly to the specification, since overtightening crushes the gasket and undertightening lets it channel water. Vents and fans get new butyl under the flange and fresh self leveling sealant over the flange edge, not just one or the other. Solar mounts, antennas and racks get particular attention. Those are the components most often installed originally with the wrong sealant or through the wrong location, and they are frequently the original source of the leak that brought the coach in. Where a mount sits over a rafter, we keep it there. Where it does not, we add blocking so the fastener has something to bite besides thin decking. The perimeter goes last. Trim strips are reinstalled with new fasteners into repaired seats, bedded in fresh butyl, and covered with non sag sealant. Cap terminations get the same treatment. Then the whole roof gets a documented walk with photos of every penetration, and the coach sits overnight before any water testing so the sealant has begun to cure. We water test before release, every time. - New air conditioner gaskets every time, torqued evenly, never reused - New butyl under every flange plus self leveling sealant over every flange edge - Blocking added under solar and rack mounts that do not land over a rafter - New fasteners into repaired seats, no reusing screws from leaking holes - Photo documentation of every penetration, then a water test before release ## What Length Does to the Price Body and paint labor is $210 per hour, and on a roof replacement labor is the majority of the invoice rather than a line item beside it. Parts carry 100 percent markup at or under $100 and 35 percent above $100, and parts and materials are taxed at 7.75 percent. Labor is not taxed in California. Any job above $2,000 takes a 50 percent deposit before we order material, and that deposit is applied to your total rather than added to it. Two worked examples show what length does. A 24 foot travel trailer with sound decking and two roof penetrations runs about 22 hours: tear off, minor deck patching, membrane install, reinstall and seal. That is 22 times $210, or $4,620 in labor. Materials are a 24 foot membrane at $890 cost billing at $1,201.50, three sheets of decking at $210 cost billing at $283.50, two gallons of bonding adhesive at $180 cost billing at $243, two vent assemblies at $150 cost billing at $202.50, and eight tubes of sealant at $176 cost billing at $237.60. Parts total $2,168.10, tax on parts is $168.03. Total $6,956.13. A 34 foot Class A with two air conditioners, four vents, solar and soft decking in three rafter bays runs about 42 hours. That is 42 times $210, or $8,820 in labor. Materials are a 34 foot membrane at $1,450 cost billing at $1,957.50, six sheets of decking at $420 cost billing at $567, four gallons of adhesive at $360 cost billing at $486, two air conditioner gaskets at $96 cost billing at $192, four vent and skylight assemblies at $310 cost billing at $418.50, and twelve tubes of sealant at $264 cost billing at $356.40. Parts total $3,977.40, tax on parts is $308.25. Total $13,105.65. Push that same Class A into top plate repair, interior ceiling panels and full rafter replacement and you clear $18,000 without anything unusual happening. The membrane is a small fraction of either number. Labor and rot are the whole story, which is why an inspection twice a year and a resealing pass every three to five years is the cheapest roof work you will ever buy. ## Frequently asked questions ### How much does a full RV roof replacement cost? The working range is $3,500 to $18,000 or more. A 24 foot travel trailer with dry decking and only a couple of roof penetrations lands near $7,000 in most cases, built from roughly 22 hours of body labor at $210 per hour plus about $2,200 in marked up materials and tax. A 34 foot Class A with two air conditioners, a solar array and soft decking in several rafter bays runs closer to $13,000, driven by about 42 labor hours and roughly $4,000 in materials. Framing damage at the sidewall top plate is what pushes a coach past $18,000, because it brings interior ceiling and wall work into the job. ### How long will my coach be in the shop? Seven to twenty business days for most replacements, and longer when framing has to be repaired. The breakdown is roughly two days for tear off and inspection, one to four days for decking and any rafter work, two to three days for membrane installation and adhesive cure, and two to three days for reinstalling and sealing every component. Then the roof sits overnight before we water test and release. Material lead time matters too, since coach specific membrane lengths are ordered rather than stocked. We give you a date after the deck is exposed and inspected, because that is the first point where the real scope is known. ### Can you just replace the section over the leak? Sometimes, and when it is honest we will say so. Section replacement makes sense when the damage is confined to one area, the surrounding membrane is still flexible and not shrinking, and the deck is solid outside the repair zone. It is a real repair with a real service life. What makes it a bad idea is an aged membrane, because bonding new material to a chalked, shrunken ten year old roof creates a seam in the worst possible condition. You also end up paying for tear off and reinstall labor twice when the rest of the roof fails two years later. On an older roof the full job is usually the better value. ### Should I upgrade from luan decking to real plywood? Often yes, but not necessarily everywhere. Thicker exterior plywood resists future moisture better, holds fasteners for solar and racks far more securely, and makes the roof genuinely comfortable to walk on. The cost is weight, and on a coach with limited cargo carrying capacity that weight has real consequences. Our usual recommendation is thicker material in the traffic areas and under mounted equipment, with lighter decking elsewhere. It also changes trim heights slightly at the perimeter, which we account for during reinstall. If you plan to add solar or spend time on the roof, the upgrade pays for itself the first time. ### Do I get a one piece membrane or will there be seams? It depends on your coach width and length against the widths the membrane is manufactured in. When the material covers the coach in a single piece with enough left to wrap both edges under the trim, you get a one piece roof with no field seams, and that is what we quote whenever the geometry allows. Wider or longer coaches need seamed sections. On TPO those seams can be heat welded into a very strong joint. On EPDM they are made with seam tape, adhesive and a sealant cover. If seams are necessary we place them away from foot traffic, away from low spots and never over a mounted component. ### Do the air conditioners have to come off? Yes, on every full replacement. The membrane runs under the air conditioner mounting flange, so there is no way to strip and replace it with the units in place. Each unit gets disconnected at the power connection, lifted clear and set aside, and it goes back on a new gasket rather than the old one. Old gaskets have taken a permanent compression set and will not seal against a new deck surface, which is a common source of leaks after a cheap roof job. Torque matters on reinstall: too tight crushes the gasket into a channel, too loose lets water track along the fastener. We torque them evenly to specification. ### What if you find rot after the job has already started? We stop, photograph the bare deck and framing, and call you before spending another dollar. Hidden rot is the most common supplemental on a roof replacement and it is the single reason a good estimate becomes a bad one at other shops. Our practice is to probe the deck and open a controlled inspection flap before quoting, so the odds of a surprise are low. When one happens anyway, you see the same photos we do and you authorize the additional scope in writing. Damaged rafters can often be sistered rather than fully replaced, which keeps that supplemental to hours rather than days. ### Is a new roof worth it on an older coach? Run the math on the coach, not on the roof. If the unit is otherwise sound, if you like it and plan to keep it several more years, a replacement at $7,000 to $13,000 is usually cheaper than the depreciation you would eat trading into something newer. If the coach already has significant delamination in the sidewalls, floor rot, or chassis issues, a new roof does not fix a coach that is failing in several directions at once. We will tell you honestly which one you have. That conversation is part of the assessment, and the $150 assessment fee is credited against an authorized repair. --- OCRV Center performs all work in shop at 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887. Serving Westminster and Orange County. Call (949) 799-3387 or email info@ocrvcenter.com. Posted labor rates are published at https://ocrv.online/prices/.