Mobile RV Repair in Miami, Florida
The most intense sun exposure in the state, and roof terminations that fail years before the membrane does.
Miami sits at the bottom of the peninsula with the highest ultraviolet load in the state, and the thing that pays for it is not the roof membrane, it is the sealant around every penetration through it. Terminations harden, crack and lift here years before a membrane wears out, and by the time it shows inside the coach the water has usually been traveling along framing for a while.
We are mobile - we come to your RV in Miami. Call 305-440-4611.
Almost every roof job we do in this county is at a termination rather than in the middle of a membrane, and almost every one of them was preventable.
This page is about the order the work has to happen in, because getting that wrong is the most common and most costly mistake made on RV roofs here.
Why does a moisture survey have to come before resealing?
Because sealing first destroys the evidence and can trap the problem inside. When a roof leaks, the useful information is the path - where the water is getting in and how far through the structure it has already traveled. That path is readable at the terminations as a lifted edge, a crack in a bead or a gap where sealant has pulled away from a flange, and readable inside with a moisture meter through the ceiling panel and walls. Run a fresh bead of self-leveling sealant over everything and the termination that was about to tell you where the water entered now looks identical to the fifteen that were never leaking. Worse, if moisture is already inside the roof sandwich you have just closed the last route it had to dry, and rot continues under a roof that now looks freshly maintained.
The Larry and Penny Thompson job: an Allegro Bus leaking at the front AC
A 2019 Tiffin Allegro Bus at Larry and Penny Thompson Memorial Park with a roof leak traced to failed sealant around the front air conditioner. We resealed the perimeter with Eternabond tape. The word that matters in that sentence is traced - the stain inside the coach was not under the air conditioner, it was further back, because water entering at a roof penetration runs along framing before it finds a gap to drop through. Had we sealed above the stain, which is what instinct suggests, we would have sealed a joint that was never leaking and left the real entry open. That is the single most common wasted repair on an RV roof, and the reason we survey first rather than reaching for a tube of sealant on arrival. Once the entry was confirmed we cleaned the flange back to a sound surface before taping, because sealant laid over chalked material bonds to the old failure rather than to the roof.
How often does a Miami roof actually need attention?
Intervals are the wrong way to manage it, because two identical coaches age completely differently depending on where they sit. One kept under cover sees a fraction of the ultraviolet exposure and a much smaller daily temperature swing, and its sealants last a long time. One parked in open Miami sun year-round is being cooked and thermally cycled every single day, and its terminations are the ones that fail early. What works better than a calendar is a twice-yearly inspection with your eyes and a fingertip, before and after the storm season. You are looking for beads that have cracked, hardened, lifted at an edge, pulled back from a flange or gone chalky and brittle. Any one of those is a termination that has stopped sealing, however recently it was done, and it is cheap to fix at that stage.
How do I check whether a reseal quote is really a reseal?
With a tape measure, and it is the most practical consumer protection on this page. A genuine reseal covers every sealed termination on the roof, so start by measuring what that actually is: the perimeter of the roof including both cap seams, then the perimeter of every penetration - each vent, the air conditioner, each skylight, the refrigerator vent, the plumbing vents, the antenna and any solar mount feet. Add them together for your linear footage of sealed joint. On a mid-size coach that total is far larger than people expect because the penetrations add up fast. Then read the coverage figure printed on the sealant being used and divide. A job quoted around a couple of tubes is a spot repair on specific terminations, which is legitimate work but is not a reseal and should not be priced as one.
Where can you actually park an RV in Miami-Dade?
Less easily than the size of the county suggests. Larry and Penny Thompson Memorial Park is the main county campground and sits out toward Zoo Miami, Miami Everglades Resort is west toward the edge of the park, and Homestead Bayfront Park is south on Biscayne Bay. Beyond those the realistic options thin out quickly, which is why so many Miami-Dade coaches live in commercial storage rather than on a driveway - lot sizes are small and community rules are strict. That storage arrangement is worth planning around, because it means most repairs here happen at a yard rather than at a home, access has to be arranged in advance, and a great many of those spaces have no shore power to test an electrical fault against. It also means most Miami-Dade coaches spend the year standing still in open sun, which is exactly the condition that ends roof sealant early - so the storage question and the roof question here are the same question.
What else does the sun do besides the roof?
Everything made of rubber or plastic ages faster here, and the failures follow a predictable order. Slide seals and door seals harden and take a set, so they stop conforming even where they look perfectly intact. Awning fabric loses its surface treatment, and once that coating is gone the fabric absorbs water and grows mildew rather than shedding it. The air conditioner shroud goes chalky then brittle, which matters far more than it looks because a cracked shroud is a water path straight into the control box holding the capacitor and the wiring. Tire sidewalls age on the calendar rather than on mileage. Nothing on that list is dramatic, all of it is preventable with shade or a breathable cover, and covered storage does more for a Miami coach than any product sold in a bottle.
Where RVs park in Miami-Dade
Miami-Dade has surprisingly little conventional campground space for its size, and what exists is mostly county park and one large resort out toward the Everglades.
What a visit costs in Miami
The service call is $299 and covers the trip out to your RV and the first hour on site. Work past that first hour is quoted to you once our technician has found the fault, before we carry on. Written estimates are free and you approve one before any work starts. Call 305-440-4611.
Sources for the Miami detail
- Dicor - roof sealant installation instructions - surface preparation and which sealant belongs on which surface
- Dicor - self-levelling lap sealant - the product data including its stated coverage, for the reseal arithmetic above
- Dometic Penguin II rooftop air conditioner manual (PDF) - the rooftop unit and shroud arrangement referenced above
- US EPA - mold, moisture and your home - why trapped moisture in a closed structure is the thing to avoid
What Miami-Dade owners book most
- RV roof repair - surveys, terminations and reseals in the right order
- RV water damage - what happens once a leak reaches the structure
- RV AC and heating - the rooftop unit and the shroud protecting it
- RV awning service - fabric that has lost its surface treatment to UV
Apex RV Repair Miami Office
Apex RV Repair - Miami
78 SW 7th St Ste 129
Miami, FL 33130
305-440-4611
Our Miami office is located at the address above, and visits are welcome by appointment. Apex RV Repair is primarily a mobile service - our technicians come to your RV wherever it is parked, at home, at a campground or on the road, so most customers are looked after without ever needing to travel to us.
Call 305-440-4611 to book a visit to the office or, more usually, to have a technician come to you.
Miami and Miami-Dade RV questions
There is a stain on my ceiling but the roof looks fine. Are they connected?
Almost certainly, and the roof looking fine is normal. Water enters at a termination, runs along framing and appears somewhere else entirely, often several feet away. A visual check from a ladder cannot rule it out - finding where the wet area actually starts takes a moisture meter reading through the interior surfaces.
Can you just reseal the whole roof and be done with it?
Not as a first step, and we would be doing you a disservice if we did. Sealing over everything hides the termination that was failing and, if moisture is already inside the roof sandwich, closes the last route it had to dry. Survey first, repair the actual entry, then seal. A reseal is the last step of a roof job rather than the whole job.
How do I know if a reseal quote is honest?
Measure your own linear feet of sealed joint - roof perimeter plus both cap seams plus the perimeter of every penetration - then read the coverage figure on the sealant and divide. A job quoted around a couple of tubes is a spot repair being described as a reseal. Asking a contractor how many linear feet they measured is a fair question.
Is covered storage worth the money in Miami?
More than almost any product you can buy. Ultraviolet is what ends roofs, seals, awning fabric and tire sidewalls here, and shade slows all four at once. If covered is not available, use a breathable RV cover rather than a tarp, because a non-breathable cover traps moisture against the coach and swaps a sun problem for a mold problem.
Can you work on a coach in a storage yard with no power?
Mechanical work, roof and seal work and most diagnosis, yes. An electrical fault is the problem case, because you cannot properly diagnose a shore power or converter issue on a coach that has no supply to test against. Tell us when you book and we will either bring what is needed or suggest meeting somewhere with power.
My AC shroud has gone chalky. Does that matter?
Yes, more than it looks. The shroud is a cheap plastic cover but it is what keeps rain out of the control box holding the capacitor and the wiring. A cracked shroud left through a wet season is how a working air conditioner becomes a failed one, and it is frequently the upstream cause of the electrical fault underneath it.
Do you cover Homestead and the south of the county?
Yes, across Miami-Dade - the city, Hialeah, Kendall, Homestead, Cutler Bay and the storage yards throughout. Travel is inside the service call rather than billed separately, so where you are in the county does not change the price of the visit.
How often should I be on the roof?
Twice a year for a proper look, before and after storm season, and only if your roof is rated to walk on. You are checking terminations for cracking, lifting and separation rather than looking at the membrane. If you are not sure the roof is walkable or the coach has any leak history, that is a good reason to have someone else go up.