Leak somewhere on Roof.....

[Mountainmanbob]

Originally Posted by Mountainmanbob

Factory left one gutter screw out.
Rain poured in.
M-Bob

Screws are behind a rubber (hide em) strip.
Could not have fallen out.
M-Bob

[BandJCarm]

OK, it is now days later.........and we (friend and I) have literally tried everything there is to try. He, being more Monkey than I (lol), has crawled in there with light and checked every nook, cranny, pipe, drain, everything. Not one tiny bit of a hint of water anywhere except under the thin wall to the Aft side of basement, and pooling on the driver's side by the wet bay. Not one drop of water close to that exterior wall.

It has rained like cats and dogs, and sometimes it has a bit of moisture, even in heavy, heavy blowing rain. Next big rain, it has big pool. Wipe it up, and even if rain lets up, it might pool right away, and it might look fairly dry for an hour or two, then show a pool when I go check it at random.

It is literally as if someone took a small bucket, about 4 cups, of water and poured it in the middle of basement floor. Everything above and next to it is dry.

I had a wild thought and lowered the OTA antenna, since it is right above the spot, sort of. This morning, after raining HARD all night, there was not much moisture. I thought I might be on to something. An hour later, a pool! It's almost like Rod Serling is involved.

I have manually 'tilted' trailer a tiny bit to get the water to run to a spot where I can see volume better. I am not sure I did it enough, but it just does the same thing......just does it inches from where it did it before.

We have sat inside the basement with lights during rain. We have sprayed sides and roof (on sunny day) with hose. I have put Duct tape (temporary, I know) above every crack and crevice on the side of trailer, such as running lights, furnace cover, J-strip connection (I will Dicor all those when it dries out). We have sprayed white liquid rubber around EVERY roof penetration..........vent, skylight, solar prep, OTA antenna, everything. Nothing has helped.

Wife says "Call an RV tech". I tell her it'd do no good. I don't see how he'd find a source, and if it isn't raining it doesn't leak. So I'd be paying for nothing I bet.

I'm very frustrated.

[Alleyantique]

The water is in the wall and coming out under the bottom between the wall and the floor. Very difficult to find because it can be coming from anywhere. It is probably running across the inside of the roof until it hits something that causes it to change direction and drop down. It may be coming from the antenna. Look for a loose or missing screw. It may even be a bad gasket or possibly coming in around the jack shaft. I never did actually “find “ my leak. I removed old docor and resealed until I finally ran across a screw that was obviously loose and rusty. After I tightened it and resealed the leaks stopped. Good luck, you will find your leak eventually.

[BandJCarm]

Originally Posted by Alleyantique

The water is in the wall and coming out under the bottom between the wall and the floor. Very difficult to find because it can be coming from anywhere. It is probably running across the inside of the roof until it hits something that causes it to change direction and drop down. It may be coming from the antenna. Look for a loose or missing screw. It may even be a bad gasket or possibly coming in around the jack shaft. I never did actually “find “ my leak. I removed old docor and resealed until I finally ran across a screw that was obviously loose and rusty. After I tightened it and resealed the leaks stopped. Good luck, you will find your leak eventually.

Thank you. WE have sprayed liquid rubber (temporary, I know) on every single piece of everything on the roof, except for those items (a/c unit, e.g.) that is down hill from the area above the leak. Water can't run uphill. My roof has a peak......right above where this is leaking....and it goes down hill both directions from there.

We sprayed liquid rubber ONLY as grasping at straws. Nothing was protruding from caulk, etc.

If it was/is coming from roof, something somewhere would be wet. Nothing is.

I have also put duct tape (also temporary, but effective for now) over every outside 'item'...........running lights, coax connection, door stop, elec receptacle........even along the J-panel, even though it's caulked. Water not coming from any of those, because it keeps coming.

I DO appreciate all the ideas. Yes, it MUST be something. But several of us are looking almost hourly, and it is the single most baffling thing I ever saw. We are getting inside basement and shining lights, etc. It's like it's not coming from anywhere. If it was running down a wall, I'd see the water on inside wall. The walls are not hollow. Nothing.

I have also 'tilted' the trailer nose down, and side to side, about 3 inches each.......to make the water run or pool elsewhere. It hasn't.

[CedarCreekWoody]

Is there any chance you have a water line leaking? Sometimes a leak is not constant and only shows up at odd times.

[CZNEDY]

I was thinking the same thing, but since it keeps leaking when it rains, that would have to be a real coincidence, but you never know. In my experience of finding leaks, they are usually not directly above where the water ends up and sometimes it is easier to find them from the inside starting at the top. Take a close look around all of the interior walls and even the walls inside cabinets. Run your hand on the wall and feel for small pointy bumps. That is a sure sign of water penetration in the wall. I hope you find it and are able to repair and wipe out the source.

[Alleyantique]

Long shot but have you looked at the possibility of a leak from inside the trailer. A pipe can leak and the water pool visibly only in certain conditions. Last summer I found a wet spot in my living area and traced it back to the cap loose on the sediment filter ahead of the water pump. Apparently it had worked loose and I hadn’t noticed before because I rarely use the water pump. I had to take a wall panel out of my pass through storage to get to it.

[cavie]

Can you remove the inside collars of your roof vents? Probably need cleaning anyway right? See if you can put a camera probe in the attic space somewhere and look around.They are cheap and plug into your phone. Someone recently did that and showed us pictures of hollow space with no insulation. He dug some out That was way in the back of the picture and it was cut up cushions and carpet pieces. Not real insulation at all. If your getting wet insulation, you may getting mold. Not good. Might try your AC vents if they are ducted. If your real amebiosis, you can cut a section of ceiling out of a closet or cabinet and patch it pack.

[BandJCarm]

Cavie, that's getting up above my pay grade. But "attic space"? There's attic space??

As to the other questions, We have literally crawled into basement and shined light all over, felt all pipes, connections, etc. They are all dry, all the time. Yet, YES, it's coming from somewhere and will probably be a surprise.

My next step......once it dries out for several days, maybe Wed/Thurs of this week......is to get Dicor and caulk the gutter, where it connects to roof. Also caulk every device attached to a wall. And anything else I can find. Not sure HOW to do that, 13 feet up, but I have to figure it out. Then wait on the next rain, I guess.

[cavie]

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

Cavie, that's getting up above my pay grade. But "attic space"? There's attic space??

As to the other questions, We have literally crawled into basement and shined light all over, felt all pipes, connections, etc. They are all dry, all the time. Yet, YES, it's coming from somewhere and will probably be a surprise.

My next step......once it dries out for several days, maybe Wed/Thurs of this week......is to get Dicor and caulk the gutter, where it connects to roof. Also caulk every device attached to a wall. And anything else I can find. Not sure HOW to do that, 13 feet up, but I have to figure it out. Then wait on the next rain, I guess.

Yes, not much. About 4 inches. Note the arch of your roof, I'm assuming here there is an arch, and the flat of your ceiling. Think of it as a small truss like on a house. look at the thickness of your roof vents.

[BandJCarm]

Hmmm. Ok, will look in the light of day.

Going to check the leak one more time, and go to bed. Maybe one day soon it will stop raining. Like Snuffy Smith used to say, there's no sense trying to patch a leaking roof on a sunny day!

Edit: My ceiling is just as arched as my roof.........fyi.

[cavie]

Another oddity. Above the water.......not touching the floor......is a cardboard box. The box is not wet anywhere! If it's dripping down from above anywhere that box would be wet. It's almost as if the water is coming from underneath the floor......raining upside down!!!

Since you have a dry box above the spot we can assume it's not coming from above. Place a level across the spot on the floor. Turn it 360 degrees around the spot. Mark the high side of the spot. The water is coming from that direction. Maybe you can eliminate 1/2 the trailer. Left/right, forward/back. From here it's up to you to figure from where it cometh.

[cavie]

If you don't have a level think "circle the wagons". Run a ring of paper towels around the spot on the floor. You'll then see which direction the water is coming from.

[GOTTOYS]

Had the same problem. I found mine. It was from the door side storage door. First I found they had tightened the bottom of the door frame down too tight which tipped it down along the inside edge. I pried it up in a couple places so it would drain out instead of in. Second I found the seal didn't always hit the edge of the door along the edge. I also found it didn't always leak due to the door being able slide toward the front or the rear just slightly in the hinge. I "tuned" the hinge by moving the plastic plugs on the ends to keep it centered and added a strip of foam weatherstrip along inside edge of the door for a better seal. No problems in over a year.

[Kenstrucks]

I have a 2017 34RE and I am fighting a water leak form around the rear main AC seal. Nothing you can get to and replace without removing the AC. We discovered it was from the AC seal by covering different sections of the roof with plastic taping it down. When we covered the AC unit with plastic and taping it down about a foot plus all the way around the leak stopped. Problem is dealer has replaced the seal three times now and it still leaks. This leak was easier to trace as the water was running out the end of one of the strips on the ceiling that covers the cracks between the ceiling panels inside the coach. Dealer and I are both talking to Forest River customer service trying to figure out why it is still leaking.