Interior roof repair

[kerry]

My 94 Northstar TS 1000 had a roof leak prior to my purchase. I stopped the leak but the vinyl skin on the interior roof panel had separated from the thin plywood ceiling panel and eventually pulled out from under the trim nailed on the joint between the two panels. It drooped down and was ugly. I had tried some contact cement to hold it up but it wasn't effective. So I found a 2" piece of plastic lattice at Home Depot and nailed it in place with my HF air brad nailer, angling the brads opposite each other so they would have little tendency to pull out. It's not perfect but I definitely did not want to remove the whole ceiling panel which for any effective replacement seems to require removing the whole roof and turning it upside down. Seems pretty tight. I know this because initially I nailed it in the wrong position and had to take it down to renail it. The material is pretty light weight.

 

[IdaSHO]

If you have some way to firmly press a sheet of plywood against that surface to flatten it, you can repair it without removal.

Drilling a few holes and injecting epoxy would do it. But as mentioned, you will have to force it flat somehow.

 

[kerry]

I did try that with the contact cement. I put in the glue with the roof up and then let the roof down onto a pile of stuff on the bed to press things into place. I think it didn't work because the plywood had separated at different levels in different places, hence the need for some mechanically fastened strip to hold it up.

 

[IdaSHO]

Sure, I can see that not working with contact cement.

A good marine epoxy will wick into the fibers of the wood, bonding it together.

 

[PNWINFERNOPRO]

Great information. I have a seam that has begun to droop from a prior leak. I plan to repair in the next week or so.

 

[kerry]

One thing I should have mentioned is that the plastic lattice wasn't in the same aisle as the molding and wooden lattice at Home Depot. It was against the back wall with the 'plastic' wood and fancy plastic molding pieces. They also had a narrower plastic lattice which might be better on less serious problems.

 

[kerry]

I also should add that in order to angle the brads effectively I had to activate the nailer's safety by hand since when I angled the nailer the safety wouldn't activate by pressing against the lattice.

 

[PNWINFERNOPRO]

One thing I should have mentioned is that the plastic lattice wasn't in the same aisle as the molding and wooden lattice at Home Depot. It was against the back wall with the 'plastic' wood and fancy plastic molding pieces. They also had a narrower plastic lattice which might be better on less serious problems.

Nice. I'll check it out.