# Roof, Slide and Awning

> Membrane and fiberglass roofing, vents, skylights, slide mechanisms, slide seals, slide structure and awning systems.

Source: https://ocrv.info/services/roof-slide-and-awning

Three systems account for most of the water that ever gets inside a coach, and they are all on this page. The roof is the largest sealed surface on the vehicle and the one nobody looks at. Slide rooms are giant holes cut into a wall that have to close tight against weather while sliding in and out thousands of times. Awnings hang off the side collecting wind load and ultraviolet exposure until something gives.

What ties them together is motion. A parked house does not flex, a rolling one does constantly, and every sealed joint in these three systems has to survive that flexing plus a hundred and twenty degree temperature swing between a July afternoon and a January night. Sealants harden, gears wear, fabric loses plasticizer, seals take a permanent set. None of it is a defect. It is a service interval that most owners were never told about.

OCRV Center handles all three in shop at the Yorba Linda facility, about twenty miles from Eastvale by SR-71 and SR-91. Indoor bays matter enormously for roof work, since a coach with the membrane peeled back cannot be caught by weather, and sealant needs a stable temperature to cure. The 35,000 square foot building takes forty five foot coaches with slides extended, which is the only way to properly service a slide room.

## How do I know which roof material my RV has?

Feel it and look at the edges. EPDM rubber is a matte black membrane with a white or grey coating on top, it chalks onto your hand when you rub it, and it is bonded to the decking with adhesive. TPO is a lighter, slightly slick thermoplastic that does not chalk and can be heat welded at seams. PVC behaves similarly to TPO with a different chemistry. Fiberglass is a hard, glossy laminated shell with visible gelcoat.

Aluminum shows up on older trailers and some commercial bodies, usually in overlapping sheets with sealed seams. Knowing which one you have changes the entire repair conversation, because coatings that work on EPDM are wrong for TPO, patches that bond to fiberglass will not stick to a chalking rubber surface, and heat welding is only an option on thermoplastics. We identify the material at the estimate rather than assuming from the model.

- EPDM rubber chalks when rubbed and is adhesive bonded
- TPO is slick, does not chalk and can be heat welded
- PVC membrane behaves like TPO with different chemistry
- Fiberglass is a hard gelcoated laminate shell
- Aluminum appears as lapped sheets with sealed seams

## Why do slides and awnings need shop service instead of a quick fix?

A slide room weighs somewhere between six hundred and two thousand pounds and it rides on a mechanism with tight tolerances. Diagnosing a Schwintek sync fault, a Lippert rack that has jumped a tooth, or a hydraulic cylinder that is bypassing takes the room cycled repeatedly under observation with the coach level and secure. That is not a parking lot activity, and doing it on unlevel ground produces misleading symptoms.

Awnings store enormous spring energy in the roller tube. A torsion assembly that lets go during service will remove fingers, and the correct procedure involves controlled unwinding with the right tools and a second set of hands. Beyond safety, an awning installed with the wrong tension or an out-of-parallel rail will not roll straight, will pool water, and will chew the fabric edge. Getting it square requires a level floor and space to extend fully.

## Services in this category

- [Roof Repair](https://ocrv.info/services/roof-slide-and-awning/roof-repair): Targeted repair of punctures, seams, sealant failures and soft decking on membrane, fiberglass and aluminum RV roofs. Range $750 to $4,500+, 4 to 20 hours.
- [Rubber Roof Repair](https://ocrv.info/services/roof-slide-and-awning/rubber-roof-repair): EPDM and TPO membrane patching, section replacement and full recover, including deck prep and rebedded penetrations. Range $3,500 to $18,000+, 20 to 80 hours.
- [Fiberglass Roof Repair](https://ocrv.info/services/roof-slide-and-awning/fiberglass-roof-repair): Repair of laminated fiberglass roof shells including crack repair, delamination, structural layup and gelcoat refinishing. Range $3,500 to $16,000, 20 to 75 hours.
- [Hail Damage Roof Repair](https://ocrv.info/services/roof-slide-and-awning/hail-damage-roof-repair): Storm damage assessment, documentation and repair for dimpled, bruised or cracked RV roofs and rooftop equipment. Range $2,500 to $22,000+, 15 to 90 hours.
- [Roof Vent and Skylight Repair](https://ocrv.info/services/roof-slide-and-awning/roof-vent-and-skylight-repair): Replacement and resealing of roof vents, fans, lids and skylight domes, including flange rebedding and opening repair. Range $250 to $2,500, 1 to 10 hours.
- [Full Roof Replacement](https://ocrv.info/services/roof-slide-and-awning/full-roof-replacement): Complete strip and recover of an RV roof including deck repair, new membrane or shell, and all penetrations rebedded. Range $3,500 to $18,000+, 20 to 80 hours.
- [Slide Out Mechanism Repair](https://ocrv.info/services/roof-slide-and-awning/slide-out-mechanism-repair): Diagnosis and repair of Schwintek, rack-and-pinion, hydraulic and cable slide systems including motors, gears and controllers. Range $500 to $8,500+, 3 to 35 hours.
- [Slide Out Seal Replacement](https://ocrv.info/services/roof-slide-and-awning/slide-out-seal-replacement): Renewal of bulb, wiper and D profile slide seals including corner joints and sweeps, with compression verified at both positions. Range $400 to $3,000, 2 to 14 hours.
- [Slide Room Structural Repair](https://ocrv.info/services/roof-slide-and-awning/slide-room-structural-repair): Rebuilding sagging, rotted or delaminated slide rooms including floors, frames, corners and room roofs, with mechanism and seals reset afterward. Range $1,500 to $7,500, 10 to 35 hours.
- [Awning Repair and Replacement](https://ocrv.info/services/roof-slide-and-awning/awning-repair-and-replacement): Fabric, arms, springs, motors and rails for patio awnings, slide toppers and window awnings on RVs and trailers. Range $400 to $3,500, 2 to 14 hours.

## Frequently asked questions

### How often should I have my RV roof inspected and resealed?

Twice yearly for inspection and typically annually for sealant touch-up on the penetrations. In the inland heat around Riverside County, self-leveling lap sealant on vents, skylights and the air conditioner gasket area degrades faster than most owners expect. A full membrane replacement is a different question and depends on material condition, but the sealant maintenance is what prevents most catastrophic water damage.

### My slide makes a grinding noise. Should I keep using it?

Stop cycling it. Grinding usually means a gear is skipping, a rack is misaligned or a motor is failing, and every additional cycle does more damage to parts that are considerably more expensive than the original fault. Bring it in retracted if it will retract safely, or extended if that is the position it stopped in. We would rather diagnose a stuck slide than rebuild a destroyed one.

### Can you replace just my awning fabric?

In most cases yes, and it is much less expensive than a full assembly. What we check is the condition of the roller tube, the arms, the torsion assembly and the mounting rail. If the arms are bent or the spring assembly has failed, replacing only fabric puts a new canopy on a bad frame. We give you both numbers so you can decide with the full picture.

### Do you work on commercial vehicle roofs too?

Yes. Box truck and high cube van roofs, translucent fiberglass panels, shuttle bus roofs and refrigerated body tops all come through. The materials differ from RV membrane, and fleet priorities are usually turnaround and water tightness rather than appearance. We scope those jobs accordingly and are direct about what is cosmetic and what actually affects the load.

### Does OCRV Center come out to Eastvale for roof or slide work?

No. Everything happens in shop at the Yorba Linda facility. Roof work cannot be exposed to weather mid-job, adhesives need controlled temperature, and slide diagnosis requires a level floor and room to fully extend. Eastvale owners generally run SR-71 to SR-91 and reach us in roughly half an hour, and we schedule drop-off around the actual bay availability.

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OCRV Center. 23281 La Palma Ave, Yorba Linda, CA 92887. (949) 799-3387. info@ocrvcenter.com. Serving Eastvale, California in Riverside County, about 20 miles from the shop. All work is performed in shop at the Yorba Linda facility. No mobile, roadside or on-site service is offered. Scope is body, paint, structural, fiberglass, interior and vehicle systems work. Engine rebuilds, transmission rebuilds, drivetrain work, DOT inspections and emission testing are not performed.