Roof Update

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We finally heard from the insurance company this morning, which is about right since today is Monday. After verbally explaining the damage to the adjuster, she said that they would definitely opt to replace, rather than repair, the roof. Unfortunately the replacement is going to fall under “collision” rather than “comprehensive” insurance, since I “collided” with a tree, so hopefully our rates will not be going up.  Even if they do, I doubt the higher rates are going to be less cost effective than paying for the replacement ourselves. She is located in Virginia, but will be sending a local tech out to visually inspect the roof tomorrow and confirm what I’ve told her. Hopefully by end of day tomorrow, this will be approved.

Over the weekend I did a lot of research on the various types of RV roofs, and have ruled out going with another conventional rubber membrane. Manufacturers use them because they’re light and cheap, but it looks like there are a lot of alternatives out there. One of the more popular ones is a spray-on roof called FlexArmor. It has been around for about a decade, but was a custom product manufactured and applied only by a small company in Florida until recently. They are beginning to franchise out, from the looks of it, and one of the six USA installers for it is just thirty minutes down the road from us. It cures with a texture sort of like a flexible, hard plastic, that is hard enough to grind on but flexible enough not to be destroyed by the forces exerted by a RV going down the road (AKA mobile earthquake.) It’s also lower maintenance since it adheres to most conventional RV materials and therefore doesn’t require caulking for items on the roof at the time it is sprayed, is repairable because you can re-spray select areas if they are damaged, and generally seems like a much better solution. It runs about $185/ft, which is in the range of most estimates I’m getting for TPO and EPDM roofs (7K total for a 38′ RV; ranges from $6-9k)

The insurance adjuster is requiring that we get a quote for a TPO or EPDM roof (what it came with) as well as the FlexArmor, though she did say she’s had several customers opt for FlexArmor and was aware of the product, and that they were all happy with the results. She said if it comes out more expensive than the traditional, we’ll have to pay the difference. If it comes out less expensive, they’ll cover it all. Unfortunately, whichever the case may be, I need to obtain a quote for a the rubber roof as well. That is proving pretty difficult because nobody wants to quote it sight-unseen, and most of the dealers I’m finding are insisting that we take it to them and leave it for a day. Then they assume that they’re going to do the work, so they expect us to keep it there. Alternately, I don’t want to waste the time of those that are willing to come to us, when I have no intention of actually using them once they spend the time and effort to make a quote. I did find a dealer who would give me a ballpark figure, “between $8 and $9K”, so if nothing else I may try to get them to put that ballpark in writing and see if it gets a pass from the insurance company.

We’re looking forward for this entire process to be over with, and a new roof to be on the unit. On the bright side, we’ll have a much more durable roofing solution with a lot less maintenance due on it, and a longer than standard warranty (20 years). Perhaps this is best to have happened now, rather than once we hit the road.