Roof bubbling

[LMC3]

2014 Heartland Landmark Key Largo

Has anyone had roof bubbling issues? My roof, from one end to the other started bubbling about a year ago. At first, just a few small little bubbles here and there in the rear center area. I just assumed heat expansion where the roof was not well glued. Then they expanded to hundreds of tiny bubbles all over the RV's roof. The 4th year warranty inspection (end of 3 years ownership) showed the bubbles are now joining and bursting with a full ridge of roof material across the front of the RV completely delaminated from the decking. We've patched the bubbles as they burst with roof tape so luckily no deck damage issues so far. I can proactively burst the larger bubbles and they will relax enough to be patched proactively.

But, my concern is what is causing this to happen? I don't want to replace the roof and have it all start over again. Any clues or advice is appreciated.

 

[danemayer]

2014 Heartland Landmark Key Largo

Has anyone had roof bubbling issues? My roof, from one end to the other started bubbling about a year ago. At first, just a few small little bubbles here and there in the rear center area. I just assumed heat expansion where the roof was not well glued. Then they expanded to hundreds of tiny bubbles all over the RV's roof. The 4th year warranty inspection (end of 3 years ownership) showed the bubbles are now joining and bursting with a full ridge of roof material across the front of the RV completely delaminated from the decking. We've patched the bubbles as they burst with roof tape so luckily no deck damage issues so far. I can proactively burst the larger bubbles and they will relax enough to be patched proactively.

But, my concern is what is causing this to happen? I don't want to replace the roof and have it all start over again. Any clues or advice is appreciated.

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Hi LMC3,

If you have the Landmark 2/5 warranty and have had the annual inspections done, I would suggest you call Heartland Customer Service at 877-262-8032 / 574-262-8030. Have your VIN # ready. I would think Heartland would have thoughts on what's appropriate at this point, and whether your 5 year structural warranty would cover it. Could be a roof replacement.

If a roof replacement is needed, you might want to see about getting it done at the factory service center.

 

[LMC3]

Thanks for the quick reply. I've reached out to Heartland warranty today so hopefully all will be well.

The annual warranty inspection manager suggested I find out more about the bubbling issue before contacting warranty or replacing roof as he has been reading about roof failures due to underlayment materials so I wanted to see what others knew on the subject.

 

[danemayer]

When there are a few bubbles, it's usually not regarded as a problem. But perhaps yours has so many problem areas that more is required. It's possible there was a glue defect, or perhaps a Dicor roofing material defect. Or perhaps there's a water problem from a vent, or skylight, or fan, or A/C, etc.

 

[LMC3]

Thanks DaneMayer.

It started small but the bubbles have started to multiply and increase in size across the whole roof. They are actually less pronounced around fixed objects such as the edges and near vents and worse in the open area.

The bubbled areas seem to be sealed (sufficient glued) from each other such that if water had gotten under the rubber it would not have spread 35' to the rear. There is no sign from the few patches installed so far that water or moisture has gotten into the roof system.

From my reading of other forums and searches I think the issue may indeed have to do with off-gassing of underlayment materials. The repair shop said "they had heard" this was an issue with other Heartland brands so I wanted to know if indeed others had this problem to help validate his suspicion before claiming it an issue with Heartland warranty. Basically doing my homework.

 

[RoadJunkie]

It looks to me to be blistering caused by a negative chemical reaction to something that was applied to the rubber roof. It could be caused by something under the roof, but I would guess a topical application of some sort is causing the effect. A new roof is probably needed, warranty or not, and a close inspection of the under surface will tell if the reaction might repeat. I had a friend that melted his air conditioner cover because he parked under a garage heater. Could this unit have been exposed to some sort of heat source that caused the blistering? This case is really weird.

 

[danemayer]

I recall a somewhat similar problem not too long ago where there was some question about whether the problem might have been related to using a roof cleaning product sold by a large RV dealership chain.