A Floridian Company, Founded By The Adairs, That Works On Repairing RV Roofs With Their Signature Product: FlexArmor©
David Adair was an industrial chemical sprayer, working on anything from basketball courts to fishing vessels, when in 2005 an RVer in Florida asked him to do a new kind of job.
The man, who was traveling in a 5th wheeler, needed a new roof. As fate would have it, David had all the industrial materials and polymers at hand, so he decided to take the job. His wife, Jennifer, described what happened.
“Actually, he did it in a campground in St. Augustine,” Jennifer said. “We got an outside garage and built a paint booth right there and did it in the campground.”
After two weeks of work the 5th wheeler had a new roof and the traveler was so pleased that he implored the Adairs to do more RV roofs. That first customer paid $2,000, but said he would have gladly paid double. This assertion clearly caught the Adairs’ attention.
Turns out, the ancient adage that “necessity is the mother of invention” is at the heart of RV Roof, the Green Cove Springs, Fla., company the Adairs founded. With the economy in the dumps, the Adairs needed a new income. It just so happened that the RV industry needed someone to replace the ageing -- and seeping -- RV roofs on America’s highways.
The Adairs pulled their resources and started working around the clock to bring this idea to fruition. They worked with a chemist for two years and went through a myriad of tests to come up with their signature product: FlexArmor©.
“First thing we did is we got on the Internet,” Jennifer said about the incubation of the new company. “There wasn’t anything nationwide for you if you needed a new roof. In other words, there was no real RV roof alternative. And we started discovering that it was the caulking joints that cause everyone the problems, not the roofing materials.”
FlexArmor might evoke an image of a seasoned warrior rushing into battle with a shell of protective gear. But in the Green Cove Springs shop, it is a high-tech substance that they spray on the top of the RVs, drying in 6 seconds to a thickness of 3/16 of an inch, creating a “monolithic roof,” says the company Website. The end product is a slab of polyuria that is multiple times thicker than standard rubber or fiberglass roofs.
A decade after starting, the Adairs have completed more than a thousand RV roofs using their application method and special formulation. The average cost of a new roof is about $5,000. Other shops have taken the product and run with it, as well. Eight locations across Florida and the United States are using the method to seal and settle leaky RV roofs, all with a lifetime guarantee.
It hardly needs mention that many RV roofs are susceptible to leaks, gouges, tears, pinholes, and tree limb damage, which left untreated, can result in major repairs. Water damage is one of the easiest ways to scrap an RV that costs tens of thousands of dollars or more.
The reason is simple: The understructure and roofs of most RVs are made out of wood, or many of them contain cabinets and other furnishings that are made of wood. Those Amish cabinets now ubiquitous in the industry are no match for the ever encroaching water that likes to seep into the RV cabin.
Leaky roofs have plagued big and small RVs alike, and it is a major concern for an RV buyer and owner. Costs to fix a rotted out wood roof can exceed $10,000, even on a modest motorhome. At the best, water damage can render the RV structurally unsound and impossible to move around safely. At worst, it can make the RV uninhabitable.
“We are getting a lot of newer RVs because of some design flaws from some manufacturers,” Jennifer said. “When they can’t get it fixed and they can't find where it’s leaking, they end up in our shop.”
To stave off the long term damage of a leaky roof, some RVers have travelled clear across country, from Washington State to Florida, to get the FlexArmor cover.
A normal rubber roof is as thin as a few pieces of paper. FlexArmor, by contrast, comes in at the thickness of about 3 quarters stacked upon each other.
Around the same time the Adairs were getting started in the RV roofing business, Howard and Linda Payne of Louisville, Ky., went to the Alaskan wilderness in 2004 to reconnect. After coming out of the woods, they decided the RV life was the life for them. They sold their home, quit their high powered corporate jobs, and bought a 5th wheeler to explore the country on wheels.
In 2013 they contracted with RV Roof to make topside maintenance a thing of the past.
“Having that wilderness experience made it clear to us that we love nature and we were able to reconnect as a couple,” Howard said in an interview from a Florida campground. Eight years later, they started thinking about making their roof bullet proof.
“Our rig at that time was 9 years old – I wasn’t having any leak problems or anything like that,” Howard said. “I was looking for preventative maintenance for the future. I’m a little lazy so I thought the maintenance free, or no maintenance, was good for me. With it being seamless that meant I didn’t have to get up there and strip off the Dicor out of the seams and reseal them every other year.”
A former attorney, Howard and Linda started an online site called rv-dreams.com to talk about their personal journey and all that goes into it. They have had “no leaks” since the installation of FlexArmor, he said, and since he has recommended the product to several RVers, some of whom went on to buy the product.
While the economy goes up and down, business has been expanding for RV Roof. They continue to expand dealers across the country and are even in talks with a Canadian company to perform the service there. Their effort in this area means there are a lot of sealed up, dry campers rolling around the country. Not to mention their own.
So what advice does Jennifer Adair give to others thinking about striking out on their own to start a business?
“Just remember that you were the one solely responsible for everything, you do not get to go home at 5 p.m.,” she said with a chuckle.
The Adairs travel widely these days, visiting and setting up booths at a dozen RV shows a year. Previous to starting the business they were not RVers. Today they have two 5th wheelers, so they can stay comfortable, and dry, on the RV circuit.
Olivia Richman
A graduate of East Connecticut State University in Journalism, Olivia has written for Stonebridge Press & Antiques Marketplace among others. She enjoys writing, running and video games.
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