EPDM Rubber Roofing

2012-01-09T07:25:00.000-08:00

We have finially started removing the old rubber membrane off of the camper. We found this to be very difficult because the old membrane was in so bad of shape it tore apart when trying to pull off. Once we removed the membrane we noticed that a lot of the wood decking had rotted and had to be replaced. The support rafters were still ok. On this install instead of removing all of the rotted board we covered it with new one quarter inch thick plywood. then screwed it into the rafters. We then cut all of our vent holes and cut a hole for the air-c0nditionare. We now had our Rv roof ready to install. We opened our box that contained our Roof-Top EPDM rubber membrane and carried it onto the RV roof. We unfolded the rubber roofing and completly covered the wood deck. We had about ten inches extra hanging over the edge, this was ok since we will trim the excess after the rubber membrane is glued down. After the rubber roofing was in place we folded it back in half over itself. We did this length wise not width. Always be carfull when doing this and avoid falling into the holes you have cut into your roof deck for your vents and air-conditionare. Once the membrane was folded back over itself we applied the glue onto the wood deck and membrane. We let dry to touch and then laid the membrane into the glue. Once this is done repeat the proceedure. The easiest way we found to lay the rubber roofing onto the deck was to get two ladders and put them on opposite sides of the RV. Then have a person on each ladder. Each person would grab the rubber roofing and pull into the glue. Try to stay to geather while doing this to keep from getting wrinkles in the roofing. This install went smooth and we are now ready to install the metal end pieces and the metal around the roof. Will do this later.

2011-12-06T08:28:00.001-08:00

We have started removing the metal strip on the top side of the camper. This metal strip holds the roofing on the edges to the camper. We first removed the rubber gasket and then started removing the screws. However some of the screws stripped out and could not be unscrewed with a screw driver. We had to get a small blade and cut the screws into to remove. You may also have to use a pry bar to help with the removal of these screws. The metal strip on the top of the roof on the front of the camper was also removed. We had to cut the caulking off to remove these screws. We are now ready to remove all of the old roofing membrane. This will be difficult since the membrane is so deterioated that it is in pieces. We will let you know how this goes.

2011-11-22T10:36:00.000-08:00

We have finially strated putting on a new roof on the RV that has been sitting here all fall. The first thing we removed off the old RV roof was the air-conditionare unit. You do this by removing the cover on the top of the air-conditionare. Then you go inside and take off inside cover and remove 4 bolts. This unataches the unit from the camper. You then unplug the wires and the unit is ready to lift off the roof. However on this unit we did have trouble getting it off. There is a foam gasket that attaches to the air-unit between the unit and the roof. On this seal silicone calk was also used. This make it very difficult when we tried to push the unit through the roof. We had to use pry bars to help lossen the seal. Once we broke the seal loose we removed the air-unit. We then started takeing off the vents. Each vent was fastened to the deck with screws going through the metal on the vent into the wood deck. It was then caulked over to prevent leaks. These also gave us a little trouble because of the extra caulking used during installation. We have already found bad deck board that will need to be replaced on the rv roof. We removed the other vents without any problems. We are ready now to remover the metal strip on the front of the trailer. Thats hold the rubber down to the deck. Should have more info tomorrow.

repair rv roof

2011-10-27T06:25:00.000-07:00

I was up at the lake winterizing our 36 foot montana camper yesterday and when I got up on the roof to sweep off the leaves, I noticed that where the front roof joined the metal there was a crack in the caulking. This is exactly the area we have talked about in the past. The EPDM rubber roof was glued down to the trailer and the metal was brought over the top and screwed down with a metal bar and then caulk was applied to seal the screws and metal bar. We have discussed before that this is a bad design. The factory could have used 6" cover tape during the original installation and I would not have had roofing problems. All I had with me was a tube of caulk, so I washed the area throughly and applied the caulk. However this is only a tempory repair. Next I am up I will install a new 6" cover strip of tape to make a perment repair. I will finially start the roof replacement on this RV camper. We will be putting a new RV rubber roof on this camper and taking pictures of it.

rv roof repairs

2011-10-06T06:16:00.000-07:00

We are just about ready to start our replacement on our RV rubber roof. This epdm rubber roof was leaking in several places. The worst was on the front where the metal joined the rubber roof. This area is usually one of the first places your RV rubber roof will leak. Sometimes you can just repair this area and not have to replace your entire roof. On one of my campers I had to repair this area and the camper was only seven years old. To make a permant repair on this area, I first cleaned with water. I changed rags constantly because the rags were dirty, not with dirt but with a chalk substance comming from the rubber roof. So be sure to keep using clean rags. If you do not clean this area enough your repair tape will not stick correctly. Once you have cleaned the epdm roofing membrane you need to apply a tape primer activator to the roof and the metal where the roof joins. Once you have coated this area with primer let dry then do it again. Then using 6" wide epdm cover tape put three inches on the metal and three on the rubber roof. Then roll with a roller the tape into the primer. This will make a permanent repair. I have been busy the last few weeks and it looks like it will now be the last of October before we do the RV roof replacement.

roofing maintance continued

2011-09-29T10:48:00.000-07:00

The last time we talked about rv roofing maintance we discussed why you should wash or not wash your roof. A lot of people in the RV industry tell you to wash your roof yearly and use a coating on your roof. This practice did not come directly from the manufactures. In a commerical application you would simply install the white on black EPDM membrane and leave it alone. Sure you might do a yearly inspection to look for holes or problems, but I can assure you they would never recomend that you wash your roof . This roofing product is made to withstand UV sunlight and exposure to the outside elements. A big concern I have about dealers recommending that roofs be cleaned yearly, is that a large percentage of RV owners are elderly and anytime that you work on a roof, there is a danger of falling. We need to remember the EPDM white on black roofing was designed to be a low maintance product. I own two different RVs with EPDM white on black roofing on them one is 14 years old and the other is 7 years old. I have never washed either roof and they are left outside all of the time. Rember once you start coating a roof it turns into an ongoing project. This could also prove costly over several years.

rv roof replacement

2011-09-20T06:37:00.001-07:00

Back in July I told you that we were going to replace a roof on a 32 foor Layton RV. I said we would give you more information about the install and product. It has been a long hot summer so we have putting it off. Well it is now almost fall and we are ready. We have recieved our RV roofing kit. We purchased it from rv-roof-top-com and had it delievered to our home. This kit was their 35 foot kit which has everything we need to replace the old roof. I will begin this work within the next two weeks and will keep you up to date on how the installation is going.

roofing maintance

2011-09-19T05:53:00.000-07:00

I have just returned from the annual RV Show in Hershey Pa. This is one of the largest RV shows in the country. There were over 900 RVs on display. There were also over 100 venders that supplied the RV market. If you are looking for a RV this is a great show to see so many different models of RVs. One thing I learned while at this show was the misinformation concerning RV roofs. Most RVs have a EPDM Rubber Roof or one that is smooth fiberglass. Most of the misinfromaiton is about the EPDM roofs. I don't think this wrong information is intentional but never the less it is out there. Over the next couple of weeks I will talk about the proper way to care and repair a EPDM rubber roof. I know we have talked about this before but I was shocked by the information I recieved about caring for your EPDM roof. One of the biggest concerns I had was with all of the people telling RV owners to wash their roofs each year. To understand why this is not a good idea we will have to deal with the manufacturers sugguestions and care for their products. To begin with there are only two different manufactures of White on Black EPDM roofing in the United States. There are Carlisle and Firestone. This may supprise you, since you never hear their name associated with the roofs on RVs. They only make the membrane and sell it to different distrubitors who sell to dealers and then to the public. The EPDM roofing product was developed for the commerical roofing market. It was sold in two colors black and white. These roofing products were sold all over the country and there are billions of square feet of EPDM roofing on roofs today. The warrantys varied from ten to twenty years. The black EPDM dominates the commerical roofintg market today but is not used in the RV market because of heat related issues. So we will deal specifically with the white EPDM roofing. White EPDM roofing tends to chalk. What I mean by this is that you will notice in a few years streaks running down the side of your camper. This occurs because the sunlight and UV rays shine on the membrane and causes this to happen. This will happen to almost any white rubber product when exposed to direct sunlight. So don't be to alarmed when you see this happen. The manufactures of this membrane have never recommended to clean it yearly. There is a reason for this. When you clean this membrane you are washing off the material that has chalked and crased. This exposed a new layer to direct sunlight and it will also chalk. In a round about way you are washing away some of your roof. I know that dealers say wash your roof and then coat it. We will deal with this in next post.

2011-07-11T07:09:00.000-07:00

I just thought I would let everyone know that I have a friend who has a 34' RV that needs a total roof replacement. I am in the process of ordering the materials for him. I am also going to help them tear off the old roof and install a new white on black EDPM rubber roofing membrane. I will make post about the materials I use and how hard or easy the installation process is. An estimate of $2,650 was given to hire a dealer put on a new roof on this RV. I have found the materials on line for about $500 plus shipping. I will try to keep up with all of the cost and time involved with this project and report it. I hope this information will help some of you decide if you can do this install yourself and if it will save you much money.

epdm repair

2011-05-04T08:35:00.000-07:00

I have talked about epdm roofing installations and coatings but I don't think I have made a strong enough warnings about coatings. I have said make sure your coating is compatable with epdm roofing, which is true. But I still run across people who try to repair this roof with an asphalt type of coating which will only work for a short time and then will attack the epdm membrane and cause failure. I just want to say never, never, never use an asphalt type product to repair a epdm rubber roofing system. If you do when your roof leaks again and you have to do permenant repairs it will only cost you more money.

2011-02-28T08:14:00.000-08:00

If you have a flat or low sloped roof on your house that is leaking and you need to fix this area, I would sugguest using epdm rubber roofing. If you do this yourself you can save a lot of money. In most instances you would take off the old roofing down to the wood deck and glue epdm roofing to the deck. It is always better to fully adhear the rubber to the deck. This will give you a good long term roof. Almost all epdm rubber roofing failures are related to the installation and I have found out from over twenty years of experance that a fully-adheared roof gives you less problems. Before you order your rubber roofing measure the roof and if possible buy it in one piece. This way you don't have to make any seams. But if you have to order your roof in pieces it will be easier to make your seams with a butly seam tape. This tape was developed to work with epdm roofing. You can make your seams with glue but this is more difficult and takes more experance.

2011-02-10T06:04:00.000-08:00

We are now in the middle of winter in most of the country. Of course if you are in an area where the temperatures are freezing, your roof is probably not leaking. But you probably know if it has been leaking in the past. Now is a good time to make plans to repair your roof or rv while most business are not busy. The economy seems to be picking up and most suppliers of roofing products are raising their prices. This usually happens around April. So you might want to measure your roof and determine which products you need and order them now. The only thing you need to note is that be sure the temperatures are above freezing for the shipping of these products to you. You can work with your supplier to determine if the conditions are right to ship to you. Be sure to store your adhesive in a place that it will not freeze untill you need it. Be sure to check with your supplier before you install, to make sure what temperatures the product will work in.

2011-01-25T07:45:00.000-08:00

There seems to be a lot of confusing with all of the coatings that are advertised for covering rv roofs. Some of these coatings are not compatable with EPDM roofs which have been installed for over 15 years on rvs. Always be sure that your coating is compatable with your roof. You could make your roof repair worse with the wrong materials. You need to be sure that anytime you apply coatings you spend extra time and effort cleaning you existing roof. After you have cleaned your existing roof and think it is clean it wouldn't be a bad idea to do it again. Then carefully examine your existing roof for major defects. Remember even if you do a good job coating your EPDM roof, your coating is only as good as the surface you coated. The biggest problem I have with any coatings is the application process. Most instructions will tell that a gallon is to cover a certain square footage. They tell you it should be a certain thickness on the roof to work properly. I can tell you from experience it is very difficult to spread a coating on a roof with a paint roller and keep the same thickness all over the roof. You will be heavy in some areas and thin in others. The insturctions on the can will tell you to measure a certain square footage and to apply a certain amount of coating in this area to see if you are using enough or too much. If you do coat an area to thin this will fail in time. The only plus side I see to using coatings is that you don't have to remover your air-conditionar or vents.

2011-01-25T07:35:00.000-08:00

folks I am sorry that I have ingnored this blog since july of 2010. I hope to spend more time and provide more information in 2011. I did have a question posted in 2010 about bicycle patch kits and why would'nt they work for EPDM roofing. A bicycle tire tube is mostly made of butyl rubber which is easier to stick a patch to than EPDM. The thickness of the intertube is usually under .020mil. The thickness of the EPDM roofing is usually .045 mil. So a patch kit designed for EPDM would be thicker and work better. I am not saying that bicycle patch would not work for small holes but it would not be recommended by the manufacture. Remember however you patch your rubber roof to be sure to clean it thourghly. This is the single most important thing you can do to make any patch stick.

2010-07-09T06:52:00.000-07:00

I have spent a lot of time discussing RV roofs. The reason for this is all of the misinformation about repair them. I would like to warn all RV owners that when you repair a EPDM RV roof that you use a product that is compatable and meets warranty requirements. Most of the repair products on the market are not what the manufacture sugguest and could void the roofing warranty. So be sure to check and make sure. It could save you a lot of money in the future.

2010-06-21T07:14:00.000-07:00

I have recently been looking on the inter net for information about patch kits that are used for the repair of rubber and metal roofs. I have looked at over ten different kits from different suppliers and none of them have any primer tape activator in them. I can assure you that if you don't use a primer that your repair will only be tempery. I use to work in a research and development lab working with epdm and other single ply rubbers. I have conducted many test on using tape with primer and without primer. In every case the non primed tape failed over time. If you don't believe me go out and pull on the edge of a repair done without primer you will see that it peels up easily. The reason that most suppliers don't use primer is because primer is flammable and can't be shipped normal channels. So they simply say clean thoroughly and apply patch. There are only two companies that have solved this problem and have primer in their patch kits. One is Firestone Building Products that has a pond patch kit with primer, tape, roller, gloves and scrubber pad. The other is Rooftop which is a trade marked division of flatroofsolutions.com who has a multi surface patch kit with white rubber tape, primer , roller, gloves and scrubber pad.

2010-06-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

RV ROOF INSTALLATION.

A friend of mine purchased a used RV unit in an auction. This rv's roof was leaking and had caused a lot of damage inside. It also appeared that the decking was water damaged. He decided that he would have to take off the old roof and put a new one on. So he contacted an rv dealer to see what it would cost to put a new roof on his rv. The rv is 9' x35' and does not have any slide outs. The dealer quoted $3,500 to take off the old and install a new one. Since I had some experance with rubber roofing my friend asked me if I would help install a new roof on his rv unit. I told him I had never done this before and was a little apprensive about tackling this project. He talked me into doing it and he purchased a complete rv installation kit for under $ 500 from flatroofsolutions.com. So the two of us started one morning and removed the old roof using the instructional dvd as a guide. It only took a half day to remove the air-conditionar unit and vents and remove the old roof. We then had to replace some of the rotten deck with new. This process was much easier than I thought it would be. We then installed the new rubber membrane on the roof that same day. The second day we finished the roof by attaching the air-unit and vents back onto the rv. It actually took only a day and half for the two of us to complete this project. The whole process was much easier than anticipated. As you can see , my friend saved about $3,000. This price could vary according to your local rv dealer. But if you are some what handy and can follow instructions you should be able to do this installation yourself. As you can see your could save thousands of dollars.

history of epdm roofing

2009-09-22T07:33:00.000-07:00

Carlisle was the first roofing company to use the dupont technology to make epdm roofing for the roofing market. They had this market to themselves untill early 1980s when colonial rubber works started making their own epdm roofing. Then firestone building products started making their own epdm roofing in the late 1980s. Even though there are many brands of roofing such as johns manville, celotex, mule-hide, centimark and others. All of the epdm roofing was manufactured by one of these three companies. Then in 1993 firestone building products bought colonial rubber works roofing division. So now there are only two manufactures of epdm roofing in the united states today. Both companies offer a quailty product that will withstand the harsh conditions often found on a roof. The only noticable difference between the two roofing membranes is that carlisle's has more visible dust on it. So it requires more cleaning. Both manufactures offer twenty year warrantys on their product. Epdm roofing is well known for it's great u.v. resistance. U.V. sunlight is one of the primiary factors in making other roofing products crack and fail. Epdm roofing is also a very user friendly product and can be installed by an individual homeowner with good instructions.

History of EPDM

2009-09-18T06:10:00.000-07:00

EPDM rubber roofing is a commercial product that works great on residential homes. Until recently it has not been offered to the homeowner and diy market. In the 1960s DuPont, Exxon and Uniroyal Chemical companies were developing a polymer called EPDM which is Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer. They discovered that this polymer gave them improved U.V. resistance and weathering ability over other products being used in the market place.
With this in mind DuPont developed a roofing compound using EPDM as the base ingredient. At this time the roofing industry was dominated with asphalt roofing products. Before long EPDM roofing membrane became the dominate force in the commercial roofing industry. It was chosen because of it 's superior U.V. resistance, its proven durability and ease of installation. U.V stands for ultraviolet. Even though epdm roofing is ideal for most flat roofs around the home it is still primarily sold through commercial roofing distributors, so this leaves out the homeowner and diy people. You can't buy this product at your local Lowe's or Home Depot. I hope to continue providing information about this product and its many uses. The good thing about this product is that most homeowners can learn to do their own installations saving themselves thousands of dollars.

RV Roofing

2009-09-17T10:43:00.000-07:00

RVs are enjoyed by millions of people annually. RVing is a great way to spend time with your family and friends. It provides a way for you to get away from your day to day problems and relax. However, like everything else, you have to do maintenance from time to time. The majority of RVs use White-on-Black EPDM membrane to protect roofs. This membrane has a proven track record in the roofing industry. One problem no one likes is roof leaks. Leaks may be caused by limbs falling on your roof or around penetrations like pipes or vents and air conditioning. When this happens your leak needs immediate attention.Now that you have a leak you will have to find a material to patch or replace your roof. What better material can you use other than the original to do repairs. Roof-Top® membrane and accessories are top quality and are permanent solutions to your roofing repair, unlike coatings and caulks, which you have to redo every few years.
We recently have been dealing with problems that RV owners seem to be having all over the country. One being sun rooms or extra rooms that are built and attached to stationary RVs. The major problem is the use of the wrong roof material to join the two together. Today most of the RVs have a white EPDM rubber membrane roof on them. RV dealers and repairers are still using an old technology which uses an asphaltic base material to join two roofs together. This type of material, being an asphalt product, does not work with EPDM rubber roofs. This material will usually stop leaks for a short time but will breakdown EPDM rubber membrane and cause it to fail.
The correct way to join two EPDM rubber roofs together would be by using EPDM rubber cover tape which is a 6” or 12” wide “peel and stick” tape. Remember to thoroughly clean the area of membrane prior to applying tape primer and tape. The white RV roof is very hard to clean, we recommend cleaning the rubber surface with warm water and a rag repeating to make sure the surface is clean. Apply the tape primer (activator) to the area to be taped, let the primer dry and applying a second coat. This will cost a little extra but will help to insure adhesion. If asphalt products have already been used, it will have to be removed. If the 12 inch tape is not enough to cover, with 3 inches on each side of the old repair, a wider piece of EPDM rubber would have to be fully glued down.
The other problem area is at the end of the trailer where the rubber roofing and metal meet. This transition leaves a small gap by which the manufacturer usually applies caulk, very heavy at times. Over a period of time this caulk will crack and fail causing a leak to occur. To repair this joint you will need clean and prime the area, then use our 6 inch wide cover tape to make it watertight.