How to Maintain my RV Roof? Seeking Advice from Fellow RVers !

[desardo]

Hi everyone,
I just bough my first RV and I want to make some maintenance on my EPDM/rubber roof to make sure its in good shape for the next 2 years. I don't really care about how it looks, i want to make sure there's no leak. What products do you recommend for cleaning and sealing? Any common mistakes I should avoid?

I can take more picture if it helps.

Thanks for your help

[FIRE UP]

Well desardo,
You don't say how old you are, or what kind of shape you're in, or if you're afraid of heights, or afraid of A LOT OF WORK, but, without a doubt, based on the pics you've supplied, you've got quite a bit of work ahead of you. Without seeing every inch of the whole roof, it would be a bit tough to give a real accurate answer here. But from what's presented, I'd plan on a few days of fairly hard work.

Been there done that. Your rubber roof is in a bit of sad shape, to say the least. But nothing's impossible. Here's at least my suggestion(s) on what lies ahead.

1st. You'll need a strong long handle brush, about a 3 gallon bucket, some Dawn dish soap, some cleanser and maybe some bleach. OH, and whatever size ladder you have or can get ahold of to help with the ascent to the top of the coach. And of course, a nozzle controlled garden hose.


2nd. Making sure all windows etc. are closed and you're in a work area where all the run-off won't hurt anything, you'll need to bring all those supplies up to the roof. Once up there and the hose is secured so the hanging weight of it won't pull it back off the roof, it's time to go to work. I myself would start at the rear where the ladder is.

3rd, Spray down the roof with the nozzle and wet about 5'-6' of the length, and fully side to side. Then using a squeeze bottle, lightly squeeze a ribbon or so of Dawn all around, not too much, this stuff is seriously concentrated. Then, add some cleanser by shaking the container and spreading some about. Now, grab the brush and go to work scrubbing. Scrub as much as you dare without getting things too dry. Now, rinse all that off.

You'll scrub heavily around all vents and roof top items, including all edges and seams. If, after an initial scrubbing, you find things clean but not to your satisfaction, I'd repeat the process only with some BLEACH this time. Be kind-a careful, bleach is ornery stuff. By the way, it goes without saying, you'll definitely need some clothes and shoes on that you really don't care about.

4th, Keep in mind, all that soap and water and cleanser AND possibly bleach, will wash over the sides and may cause some streaking effects on the sides. With this in mind, try and keep plenty of water flowing so there's no concentrated amounts of the solution in any one spot on the sides and is constantly diluted.

5th. Repeat this scrubbing/washing/soap/cleanser/bleach process for the full length of the roof and over all four radius edges.

Stand back and let it all dry. If you're happy with the initial cleaning process and results, then it's time to move to phase two. Phase two involves a heat gun, about a 1.5" wide hard scraper and a trash bucket. Oh, and some knee pads if you have bad knees or just want padding for them since you'll be on them for some time.

Get yourself an extension cord and set it up on the roof and allow enough slack for full length of the coach. Then, here's what I've done plenty of times, yes, even on a rubber roof. Start where ever you please. What you're going to do is, heat the aged, old, decaying and degrading self leveling sealant that is all around the perimeter of every item, vent, ladder roof mount, fridge top, front and rear caps-to-roof joints and with the scraper, very carefully skim along the underside of that sealant and remove ALL OF IT.

Yep, remove every inch of that sealant from every place it is, around every item on that roof. Yes, it's all a TON of work, no doubt about. It's gonna be tough to scrape and make sure you get all around all screw heads on all the 14" x 14" roof vents but it has to be done.

Once all the old decayed-rotting sealant is all removed, you're now ready for the application of new sealant. For this, bring up there on the roof, a full bottle /container of alcohol and some clean rags. And, you'll need at least two, possibly three or more, BRAND NEW tubes of Dicor self leveling sealant. Once a joint or area is totally free of all the old sealant, you'll then wipe the area where the new sealant will be placed with plenty of alcohol. This insures a totally spotless, oil free surface that the new sealant will stick to.

You'll of course need a caulking gun. Now, the application amount and speed is all up to you. You can cut a small tip off the tube and take a lot of time at the application or, you can cut a VERY LARGE tip off the tube and take off! I find that when applying new sealant to a longer distance, like on the edges and over the screw heads of vents, using an almost figure 8 pattern with some overlapping involved works best. And, a pattern of about an inch to maybe an inch and a quarter wide is more than sufficient.

The rubber seals the roof, the Dicor seales edges and joints. You don't need to go crazy and apply enough Dicor to cover half the roof like some do.

Now, here's the thing. Dicor is SELF LEVELING! Meaning, it's primarily used on for the most part, a flat and level surface. It will NOT WORK on vertical edges. It will run off. For that application, where roof radius's are, you'll need another product. At present, I can't recommend anything in particular since it's been a while. Others may chime in on this.

Some go absolutely nutzoid with the infamous "Eternabond" tape! I have never, ever used any and most likely never will. I don't really have anything against it, I just have used Dicor for years and years and years without EVER having one failure of any joint or sealed area with it.

Anyway, sorry for the long novel on how all this is done but, you asked. Good luck and don't hesitate to ask questions.
Scott

[Gary RVRoamer]

Agree with Fire Up - that roof needs a good cleaning and the old seam sealant (probably Dicor 501LSW) is in poor condition and ought to be removed, the new applied in its place.

[ViperJD]

Desardo, just resealed my roof, after a few years of AZ sun. The roof (fiberglass for my case) was in good shape, but the dicor self-leveling sealant was flaking off. I cleaned as mentioned above, then scraped up the old sealant (took 8 hours of my labor, saved $1k of commercial labor). I am not very good at finishes, so I let NIRVC reseal the vents and such. Here are some before and after photos... The last photo shows old and new dicor sealant, what a difference. Hope that helps.

[desardo]

Thanks fire Up , that's exactly what I needed. I will start by cleaning it this week.

I'm 30 years old and not afraid of height or hard work.

For the 3 gallon bucket, what is it's purpose ? do i put the water and soap in it ? Or Spray with my hose an add the soap/cleanser ?

And what type of brush ? i found this on amazon : https://www.amazon.ca/Sections-Exten...dp/B0D5D2XPSB/

Thanks for your help, ill have probably more question along the way.

[Dutch Star Don]

I'll throw my two cents in. First, it's good your 30 years old, as it will be a work out.

I agree with Fire Up's assessment and good step by step procedure. I will add that some of that stuff is mildew and it won't always come completely off, so don't kill yourself. A heat gun for the work is available at Harbor Freight. Also check the vent lids and you should have one or two vent covers for the tank vents, they probably will need replacement. Pretty common parts that can be ordered on amazon.

A rubber roof can be kind of a pain to clean if it's the soft type rubber roof. If it's the soft type, be careful using a putty knife to remove old sealant as you can cut the roof.

Once you're all done and everything is resealed, you can use 303 on the roof as a protectant. Spray it on and rub it in.

Lastly, some may suggest painting it with a coating. It never lasts on a rubber roof and will look worse in a few years.

[jaydee325]

Comment on the last 2 photos in the OP.

That corner appears to have some damage that has leaked and caused some delamination of the side wall? Photos are deceiving sometimes so I just mention this as a potential area to inspect closely. Look inside of the motorhome at this corner to see if there is any evidence of water intrusion. If so, repairs will be in order.

Be on the lookout for for mold as this is a health hazard.

[deckape]

Be careful up there . It get slick even with good shoes on .

[ChrisDParise]

It is not recommended to use bleach on an epdm roof. It can damage and shorten its life.

Dicor has some great how to videos on cleaning and maintaining an epdm roof. Their roof cleaning and conditioning products work well. Dawn is good epdm cleaning product though.

From your pictures it looks like a former owner did not use a self leveling lap sealant but that is a cosmetic issue solvable by cleaning as recommended by Dicor and then covering with Dicor self leveling lap sealant.

Unless the existing sealant is loose or there's no need to remove it unless you suspect an underlying issue. The picture of your driver's side rear corner looks like there's been a leak because I can see some mild delamination of the filon below the corner. You may want to carefully remove the corner roof piece spanning that corner and reseal it

[desardo]

Hey guys !

thanks for all the information.

Yeah i notice the same issue with the corner. It's been 3 month since I bought the RV and I haven't notice any water from the corner side when it rains. But i want to reseal it soon to make sure.

Here is some picture of the same corner inside. To my untrained eyes its seems ok.

[ChrisDParise]

Originally Posted by desardo

Hey guys !

thanks for all the information.

Yeah i notice the same issue with the corner. It's been 3 month since I bought the RV and I haven't notice any water from the corner side when it rains. But i want to reseal it soon to make sure.

Here is some picture of the same corner inside. To my untrained eyes its seems ok.

I agree the inside looks fine no wall covering bubbles. My experience tells me they can handle small leaks early on pretty well. Sometimes they go unnoticed for whatever reason not always owner neglect imo. Possible a prior owner resolved the issue by noticing it inside cleaned it up dried it out and fixed the outside.