What's the better roof?

My 94 Bounder has a rubber roof and is still in good condition. I think with any roof it comes down to maintenance and having good covered protection for the time not on the road.

The thing to remember is no type of RV roof is maintenance free. EPDM and TPO require the most maintenance, special cleaners, and generally have the shortest life. Fiberglass comes in multiple types from thin Filon roll material, to stuff as thick as a boat hull, it too needs care, which includes repainting every 5-10 years (many people use boat deck paint). The final somewhat common type of roof is Aluminum roofs, again they can be thin roll type material, or thicker peaked roof material. Aluminum roofs are nearly maintenance free, but may need repainting in rare situations. All types of roofs need attention to their edge sealing, and caulking around roof penetrations (vents, antennas, etc.).

theoldwizard1 wrote:
Not familiar with TPO other than it is a rolled roofing material. Fiberglass will degrade with UV exposure so it must be painted or have a UV resistant coating.

Pros and Cons of TPO Roofing

Well,
Our '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the C-7 330HP CAT, is now 14 years old and the fiberglass roof is in flawless condition. I do wash it once in a while and, when needed, a coat of regular auto wax. We've camped in extreme weather all over and so far, no degradation yet. Our previous coach, a '99 Fleetwood Bounder, had a rubber roof. At right close to 7-8 years old, about 90% of the "white" on that roof, had degraded to almost all black so, I had to do a fancy surface prep and coating with some Dicor coating. It was very nice after that but, I swore I'd never have a rubber roof again.
Scott

Spent two days fixing leaks in a fiberglass roof for a buddy. All the while that itchy airborne stuff was swirling around us. The sun had destroyed it.
Couldn't give me one but to each his own.

In the beginning about the same. 20 years later fiberglass. How long are you planning on holding onto the RV? :h

Not familiar with TPO other than it is a rolled roofing material. Fiberglass will degrade with UV exposure so it must be painted or have a UV resistant coating.

Pros and Cons of TPO Roofing