Warrior Roof Sag at A/C

[Mrlope]

I'm ashamed to say that it was at this point in my life where I actually considered giving up on the old Yoterhome.  This is my second attempt at a fix to the issue of a saggy roof around the RV air conditioner, and thankfully, she's still salvageable.  The water pooled so high in this spot that it actually went over the a/c gasket, into the coach, and onto my lovely carpet.  The first time this happened, I went with the easy fix, and inserted some small slats of 1/8" plywood into the roof layers to raise the lip onto which the a/c sits, and replaced the gasket, in the hope that this will at least get the seal out of the water:

Credit to this poster on toytoamotorhome.org:

http://toyotamotorhome.org/forums/index.php?/topic/3693-my-fix-for-leaking-roof-around-ac/

Since it doesn't rain much in Phoenix, it took another six months or so to realize that this fix was not going to suffice, and I was once again left with soggy carpet after an especially monsoony season.  So, I went on the hunt for another solution short of ripping the entire roof off and replacing the sagging support beams.  My roof seems to be in fairly decent shape otherwise, so I didn't feel the need to go all in.  Cue this fix found on IRV2.com:
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f50/sagging-roof-fix-165695.html

Using a variation of this method, I went and bought two 7' pieces of 3"x3" angle iron to use as support beams across the roof.  Here's the distance I was attempting to make up:

I placed the two angle irons where I wanted them to the front and rear of the a/c, then I drilled five holes in each of the supports and the roof to accommodate 1/4" bolts and fender washers.  I cut some 3/4"x5" white oak for the inside ceiling, measured to go from cabinet to cabinet.  Then I measured the center of those boards, and drilled the 5/8" hole there for the center bolt.  Once the center bolt was bolted and holding the support in place, I went back up to the roof to drill the remaining 4 holes through each of the boards.  I also used a floor jack to get the roof into approximately it's final position so that the holes were drilled accurately:

Then, after test fitting everything, I removed the angle iron supports and gave them a good coat of paint and primer.  I also took down the oak supports, hit them with a 1/4" round bevel, and gave them a coat of Danish oil (Golden Oak).  After all was said and done, I'm very pleased with the results.  I watched the angle iron as the jack was removed, and it looks like it didn't bend more than an 1/8 of an inch.  When looking at the inside supports, it actually has a domed appearance now as opposed to an a/c hammock!

Then of course I cut the remainder of the bolts, knowing that if those nuts were to ever come off, the ends of those bolts would disappear up into the roof.  Another important step to consider is sealing the holes that are drilled through the roof.  To accomplish this, I surrounded each of the holes with butyl tape:

For more info on this project and others, please see my blog here: http://lopedog.com/

Thanks for looking!

[WME]

Looks good. The only thing I would do different is to place a 1/2" block under the ends of the angle iron. This would let you raise up the center a bit and give you some arch, instead of just being flat.

[BobBeery]

Previous owner did something very similar on my rig. He used 1 1/2 inch by 2 inch metal tubing and placed a quarter inch pad under each end.  With two bolts near the centerline drawn all the way up the crossbar is actually pulled down nearly a quarter inch and the inside ceiling bows up but less than a sixteenth of an inch.  I have had some problem with A/C condensate not running off properly.

Cosmetics--PO left the boards inside unfinished.  We painted them white to match the ceiling and seldom notice them.

[redskinman]

On 2/7/2017 at 9:32 PM, Mrlope said:

I'm ashamed to say that it was at this point in my life where I actually considered giving up on the old Yoterhome.  This is my second attempt at a fix to the issue of a saggy roof around the RV air conditioner, and thankfully, she's still salvageable.  The water pooled so high in this spot that it actually went over the a/c gasket, into the coach, and onto my lovely carpet.  The first time this happened, I went with the easy fix, and inserted some small slats of 1/8" plywood into the roof layers to raise the lip onto which the a/c sits, and replaced the gasket, in the hope that this will at least get the seal out of the water:

Credit to this poster on toytoamotorhome.org:

http://toyotamotorhome.org/forums/index.php?/topic/3693-my-fix-for-leaking-roof-around-ac/

Since it doesn't rain much in Phoenix, it took another six months or so to realize that this fix was not going to suffice, and I was once again left with soggy carpet after an especially monsoony season.  So, I went on the hunt for another solution short of ripping the entire roof off and replacing the sagging support beams.  My roof seems to be in fairly decent shape otherwise, so I didn't feel the need to go all in.  Cue this fix found on IRV2.com:
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f50/sagging-roof-fix-165695.html

Using a variation of this method, I went and bought two 7' pieces of 3"x3" angle iron to use as support beams across the roof.  Here's the distance I was attempting to make up:

I placed the two angle irons where I wanted them to the front and rear of the a/c, then I drilled five holes in each of the supports and the roof to accommodate 1/4" bolts and fender washers.  I cut some 3/4"x5" white oak for the inside ceiling, measured to go from cabinet to cabinet.  Then I measured the center of those boards, and drilled the 5/8" hole there for the center bolt.  Once the center bolt was bolted and holding the support in place, I went back up to the roof to drill the remaining 4 holes through each of the boards.  I also used a floor jack to get the roof into approximately it's final position so that the holes were drilled accurately:

Then, after test fitting everything, I removed the angle iron supports and gave them a good coat of paint and primer.  I also took down the oak supports, hit them with a 1/4" round bevel, and gave them a coat of Danish oil (Golden Oak).  After all was said and done, I'm very pleased with the results.  I watched the angle iron as the jack was removed, and it looks like it didn't bend more than an 1/8 of an inch.  When looking at the inside supports, it actually has a domed appearance now as opposed to an a/c hammock!

Then of course I cut the remainder of the bolts, knowing that if those nuts were to ever come off, the ends of those bolts would disappear up into the roof.  Another important step to consider is sealing the holes that are drilled through the roof.  To accomplish this, I surrounded each of the holes with butyl tape:

For more info on this project and others, please see my blog here: http://lopedog.com/

Thanks for looking!

Good idea,I might be doing this in the future.

[MaineErik]

@Mrlope, Do you have the angle irons sitting on top of the edge trim of the roof?  From the photo it looks like one side is sitting on the trim but on the other side it is unclear.  I would think that placing it on top would work best, plus adding additional risers per @WME's suggestion.  But then I wonder about putting too much point load/stress on the small area where the angle iron touches the plates.

What about aluminum angle iron like this - do you folks think it would resist bending enough to do the job of lifting the roof?  I know steel will eventually react poorly with the aluminum roof on the Toy (galvanic corrosion) - the paint will only prevent contact for so long (maybe some form of full length tape to separate the two metals should be used as well). Plus with AL one would never have to worry about rust stains either.  Maybe a larger Al member if the one from Lowes is too flimsy?

I'd like to purpose the angle iron to double as a roof rack too.  They would make a nice set of cross bars to strap the kids to when they start bickering.

[Douglas17313]

I really like your idea.  My 1986 Conquest roof is a little bit concave. I don't know yet if it is enough to cause a problem. My first thought was to correct it from the inside, but I really like your idea going from the outside.  What about the nuts on the inside of the coach after the bolts are cut off?

[jjrbus]

This is a great idea. If doing it I would use aluminum angle instead of steel. I have aluminum angle so easy choice for me.  I would also put the head of the bolt on the inside with a cap, it would be easy to seal the nut and bolt on the outside with caulk.   I am not knocking what you have done, simply an observation of a great idea.

There are several ways the bolt heads could be covered inside from a simple coat of paint to some creative wood work or simply left au natural.

Thanks for posting

 

[hunkaman]

looks really good. inside and out. a relatively easy and cost effective "fix" for a potential major issue. great work. joe from dover.

[Nam]

I had the same problem on my 1990 Itasca. Ended up removin the roof top AC unit, place some shims in between and installed a fantastic fan there. For AC, installed a 8000btu window unit above the fridge as the fridge is now dorm type electric. The 2nd approach is great. If I have to have the roof top, I would pursue this idea. Simple and effective. AL angle is the way to go even if we need to go with bigger angled Al