Most RV roofs today are made from Ethylene propylene diene terpolymer (EPDM) which is a thin but tough covering that generally comes with a ten-year warranty.
Our motorhome is a 2006 model which means it is about 5.5 years old which also means it is about 2,000 days old. Here’s a photo of it I took recently in a California Redwoods State Park.
So…for these about 2,000 days…the roof has been subjected to exposure from harsh sun, moisture from rain, morning dew, fog and airborne contaminates such as dust, sand, trees, smog and proximity to freeway traffic and airports that emit large amounts of pollutants. Which means the roof gets very dirty and it is recommended that they get a good cleaning twice a year. So yesterday…up I went to do my duty.
In the below photo Mary caught me rinsing the roof. she did not catch me on my hands and knees scrubbing for two hours directly in the sun with temperatures in the high 70’s.
All the moisture the roof receives creates mold which the sun does do get hot enough to kill. A rubber roof is not flat but has small indentations which makes the roof rough to the touch and where the mold collects. All this makes it very hard to get the roof really clean. So today…back up on to the roof I will go to give it a second scrub down.
All this kind of translates from what your mother used to tell you. That is…you only have to brush the teeth you want to keep. The same thing can be said for RV rubber roofs. Roughly translated it becomes you only have to scrub and clean the RV roof you want to last. As you might imagine…RV rubber roofs are quite expensive to replace…just like your teeth. ‘Nuf said!
All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2011
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